In their latest furniture-design effort, Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay of design studio Raw-Edges continue their examination of colour’s potential, taking their ongoing research to a new level.
The studio now presents ’Endgrain’, which explores natural wood patterns through vibrant hues. ’Endgrain’ launched at the Brussels design gallery Senne, on the occasion of the city’s design week.
The inspiration for the collection comes from nature itself. The designers used their understanding of how water and nutrients travel through the woodgrain to feed a tree to imagine how colour would affect the grain of the wood. They stained the wood by adding different pigments to the grain from the inside out, ’just like those fake blue roses’, they explain.
’Endgrain’ is essentially a materials project: the duo used coloured timber blocks as a starting point, which became the building blocks for a larger design collection. They created benches, tables, stools and shelves by combining blocks of different colours and shapes. The new visual language merges a strong graphic sensibility with more random elements that appear when the wood is cutting and sculpted into shape.
The designers’ playful approach comes through in the wild colours, which emerge from the otherwise simple forms. The collection sets a new bar for experimentation with colour and form, so we’re curious to see where the pair take us next.
