Ones to Watch: Plaster Paris Studio unites brutalism and bohemia

Plaster Paris Studio – comprising Tessa-Rose Vardy and Olivia Engelhardt – began as two friends with a shared interest in space, objects and furniture. Today, the pair explore the intersection between furniture and art, using materials such as ceramics, metal, wood, and plaster. As ‘Birds Eye View’, the studio’s first collection of contemporary artisan furniture and sculptural objects, is showcased in a Paris exhibition coinciding with the city’s Design Week, 3 - 7 September 2025, we took time to find out what makes these emerging designers stand out.

Get to know Plaster Paris Studio

It was a hazy afternoon in Ibiza when Vardy and Engelhardt, decided to launch their joint practice. Spending time in Engelhardt’s garden on the Spanish island in 2017, they spoke about the idea of creating objects together that merged their different backgrounds (Vardy is from South Africa, Engelhardt is from Germany, and they are based in Paris and Ibiza, respectively ). ‘Coming from different backgrounds, we were excited to explore the synergy of what that could look like,’ say the duo. ‘At the time, it felt far off, but in 2024, we finally gave it a name.’

They had met in 2017 while studying in Barcelona. Engelhardt worked in web and graphic design, while Vardy worked in art direction and image. As individual visual designers, they felt they were missing a tangible, hands-on connection to their work. Over time, they dabbled in getting their hands dirty with ceramics, wood and metal.

‘These individual explorations became essential stepping stones, giving us both the technical and creative tools that would form the foundation of Plaster Paris Studio. Everything we learnt along the way has shaped the direction we're in now and contributed to the visual library we draw from today. It was through this process that we found common ground, and from that, our signature style began to emerge,’ they tell Wallpaper*.

The ‘Birds Eye View’ collection is a harmonious balance of brutalism and bohemia, and nods to the two locations in which the designs were conjured up. ‘Curiously, both [our] studios are on islands,’ says Englehardt of the duo's respective bases. ‘In Paris, we work from the fifth floor of Tessa’s apartment building, tucked between the rooftops of Île Saint-Louis. In Ibiza, the studio was hand-built by me and my family, and has been a sanctuary for us to start our process and get inspired away from the noisy city life.’

She continues, ‘We try to find the best of each place and merge [that] together as an outcome of our work. The song of the cicadas and soft light of Ibiza, in combination with the brutalist contemporary energy of Paris. We love that both environments contrast with each other, and we try to find that quiet space in between. That is really what feeds our work; whether it's through colour or material, we are constantly playing with the dialogue between the two locations.’

Drawing inspiration from these two environments, the designers work balances hard and soft materiality, and warm and cold tones. In their first furniture collection, they explore this contrast by pairing industrial materials such as stainless steel with more traditional and warm materials such as African sapele wood and Japanese washi paper.

‘We always start from a small detail, a texture maybe, or a particular feature in a landscape, and this develops into a concept,’ says Vardy. ‘We try to maintain a refined, aesthetic tone across all of our work, letting the connection to nature shine through, whether it’s in the raw materials we use or the earthy colour palette we mostly turn to.

'Having said that, it’s still important to us that beneath this you can get a sense of the eclectic sensibilities and experiences that make up who we are as designers and people, so adding an element of fun to the pieces we create is something that comes naturally, and even though we’re drawing on references from all different corners of our worlds, this seems to tie everything together.’

The duo's goal is to keep things light-hearted and to allow people to feel surprised when exploring the diversity of their work, which spans from ceramic dog sculptures to industrially charged metal lamps. The pieces are designed to be versatile in the sense that they could be a collector's item or simply add a contemporary warmth to a space. ‘We think there’s something to be said for discovering the connection in difference.’

plasterparis.co, ‘Birds Eye View’ is on show at 5 Rue Bailly, Paris 75003, 3-7 September 2025