Fashion brand Kassl Editions teams up with Zara Home to present a new collection of furniture and homeware. Antwerp-based Kassl Editions (best known for its fishermen-inspired coats and padded bags) made its first foray into furniture design through the ‘Pillow sofa’, designed by Muller Van Severen and part of Wallpaper’s inaugural Re-Made issue in August 2021. The pieces by Muller Van Severen used deadstock materials from Kassl Edition’s garments and bags and featured a minimalist, flexible design.
A year later, the sofa has inspired a new collection, created in collaboration with Zara Home and designed by Kassl Editions’ creative team. Shown in Milan during Salone del Mobile 2021, the new furniture further expands on the concept of ‘modular dressing for the home’ with exceptional designs inspired by contemporary culture and available at an affordable price.
Kassl Editions x Zara Home
As often happens with Kassl Editions, the collection started with a casual meeting. ‘We never say no to a coffee,’ explains Ilse Cornelissen, one of the brand’s co-founders alongside Bart Ramakers, Charlotte Schreuder, Tim Van Geloven and Christian Salez. ‘[Zara] contacted us initially for a conversation around coats; we made a proposal that went beyond fashion. We took this collaboration as an opportunity to create something which shows the world of Kassl.’
The project accelerated the development of Kassl Editions’ collaborative, multidisciplinary world; over the past few years, the brand has partnered not only with Muller Van Severen and Wallpaper*, but also with Selfridges, on a 2019 installation featuring the work of Dutch artist Bob Verhelst, whose forms partly inspired the Zara Home collection.
The Kassl Editions x Zara Home collection comprises a quilted sofa, geometric side tables and a modular chests of drawers, as well as graphic rugs, angular ceramic lamps, organically formed mirrors, stationery and art posters. It’s a series of objects that vastly showcases Kassl Editions’ traditional focus on tactility, quality, longevity, and inspiring colour palettes.
Each piece sleekly combines form and function, with multiple configurations to suit different spaces and home environments. The rich colour palette features the deep, saturated tones of Kassl Editions’ A/W 2021 collection, including dusty pink, dark green, navy and burgundy.
For the Kassl Editions team, the embodiment of the collection’s modular and flexible nature are the lacquered wood side tables: available in two shapes and three colours, they allow for an array of configurations, adapting to a variety of spaces.
Other pieces that well represent the brand’s design ethos are the utilitarian-looking chest of drawers, featuring a modernist plywood structure painted with blocks of burgundy, navy, custard and green, the composition of modules allowing for combinations of colours and shapes. Another example of this flexibility can be found in the mirror: the organic silhouette can be turned to face the wall, and its navy matte back transforms into a sculptural artwork.
The collection of homeware and furniture is accompanied by a line of clothing bearing the Kassl Editions x Zara label. Although the objects are all created in limited editions, their prices and accessibility are kept democratic, in line with Zara’s affordable ethos.
‘There is an extreme focus on making a beautiful product: product is a sort of holy grail for both Zara and Kassl Editions,’ adds Ramakers. ‘It’s amazing to see that, and to unite forces and creative visions. At Kassl Editions, we want to be democratic by working beyond age and gender, and this collaboration allows us to be even more democratic, to reach a customer we usually couldn’t reach.’ §
Notebooks
Lacquered wood mirror
Mini art posters collection
Deep blue ceramic lamp