Handmade 2013: the projects
For our annual salute to craft and creativity, we bring together the best designers, artists, and manufacturers to make one-off wonders. Here, browse all the fruits of Handmade 2013
’Blue Porter’
Mathias Kiss and Pierre Frey
This is a reflection on the fold and deformation of rigid materials, using a combination of craftsmanship and contemporary experimentation. Mathias Kiss drew and painted the marble patterns using an oil painting technique he learned as an apprentice Compagnons, the French guild of craftsmen and artisans that dates back to the Middle Ages.
Mathias Kiss
Mathias Kiss is an artist and interior designer based in Paris. He has also designed sets for Wallpaper* photo shoots and runs the Attilalou workshop with Olivier Piel. In addition to creating his glorious hand-painted interiors, he also produces objects for gallery Armel Soyer in Paris. His ‘Froissé’ mirror won a Wallpaper* Design Award this year.
Pierre Frey
Founded in 1935, French luxury design house Pierre Frey is a family-owned business that designs, creates and manufactures fabrics and wallpapers. The company’s collection of over 7,000 items includes not only Pierre Frey designs, but also collections from the company’s three brands: Braquenié, Fadini Borghi and Boussac.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Wine chillers
Joe Doucet and Neal Feay Studio
It’s not just our proclivities that make us love these beautiful wine chillers. They keep chilled wine cool by trapping air between the bottle and interior of the container, reducing heat loss caused by conduction, convection and radiation. There are two shapes, one for Burgundy bottles and one for white Bordeaux. The decoration on the outside is inspired by natural patterns, particularly wind-worked sand and snow, and wind directional maps.
Joe Doucet
American designer, inventor and artist, Joe Doucet’s work deftly brings together function and visual appeal and, at the same time, conveys layers of meaning and message. Doucet believes that design and, more importantly, a designer’s thought process can play a larger role in innovation and problem solving, as well as aesthetics, be it for brands, their product portfolios or for a broader social context.
Neal Feay Studio
Neal Feay are the global leaders in creative aluminium. They are master craftsmen as well as technical wizards and are the only people who could have created the final forms of these wine chillers to such an elevated level. They developed several new techniques to achieve these forms, not only new to them, but to manufacturing in general.
Photography: Matthew Donaldson
Chess set
Richard Meier
Chess is pure mathematics, and the sublime geometry of Richard Meier’s bespoke set translates the game’s familiar pieces into abstract sculptures, paring down the distinguishing features into the most minimal expression possible. Handcrafted in wood at the New York studio’s model shop, a subtle stain distinguishes each player. Proportions are hugely important, and Bishop, Queen and King are made distinct by the addition of a square sliver of wood, which intersects the piece at three different angles to determine its function. The board itself is comprised of carefully routed squares, enabling each game to be an evolving work of abstract art.
Richard Meier
2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Richard Meier’s studio. From his earliest domestic projects on America’s East Coast, through to a run of high profile cultural buildings around the world, Meier’s architecture has been characterised by its purity of form and geometry. The practice has won countless awards – including the Pritzker Prize for Meier back in 1984 – and is currently working on projects in China, Israel, Mexico, Italy and the US.
Photography: Jan Lehner
’8ung!’ glass bowls
Klaar Prims
Belgian glass artist Klaar Prims essentially draws in glass, creating coloured strings that she can weave and melt together before moulding the entire form – in this case, into a glass bowl. It is remarkably simple and pure, beautiful work, the product of many years of research, hard work and development.
Klaar Prims
Starting out as an interior designer, Klaar Prims found herself repeatedly integrating elements of glass into her work. Then, a decade ago, she decided to immerse herself into the craft of designing and making glass objects. She now has two lines – Artwork features pieces made by Prims herself, while Collection is a range of objects created in collaboration with a team of artisanal glassblowers.
Photography: Matthew Donaldson
Valet brush set
Sebastian Bergne and Kent Brushes
This set of eight brushes addresses the specific needs of today’s well-dressed man, some of which he may not realise he has until now. The same shape of satinwood handle is used for each brush, each time re-orientating the block to give a different holding position and bristle arrangement for a specific function. Whether it’s for cleaning different leathers, servicing your watch, brushing your cashmere or dusting your shoulders, there is a dedicated brush for the task.
Sebastian Bergne
The very cosmopolitan, London-based designer Sebastian Bergne made his name by reinventing everyday objects for contemporary contexts, but in a gentle, almost unobtrusive way so that only repeated use reveals their quiet functionality. His Design Office has worked for scores of producers, including Authentics, Moulinex, Driade, Muji and Vitra.
Kent Brushes
Kent Brushes has been producing brushes since 1777 and has a long established tradition for hand-manufactured brushes of the highest quality. It has been granted Royal Warrants by nine British monarchs. This brush set was made entirely by craftsmen in its Hertfordshire factory, using the finest quality bristles from China and India and sustainably-sourced wood.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Concrete Tupperware containers
Philippe Malouin and Tupperware
Canadian designer, Philippe Malouin, has been experimenting with architectural materials for a long time. Working with Will Yates, a fellow designer at his studio, he has created a range of concrete Tupperware-moulded containers. Inspired by London and its ‘Brutalist architecture, concrete bollards and worn pavements’, the range has been formed using aggregate concrete, which has then been sandblasted to reveal the irregular aggregate within.
Philippe Malouin
After graduating from the Design Academy of Eindhoven, Malouin worked under the watchful eye of Tom Dixon. In 2009, he set up his own studio in East London, where he now works closely with designer Will Yates. Already a firm favourite on the design circuit, Malouin won a Wallpaper* Design Award in 2009 for his ‘Yachiyo’ metal rug and, in 2012, was awarded the ‘Designer of the Future’ award by W Hotels. As well as running his own studio, Malouin is the director of architectural and interior design practice, Post-Office.
Tupperware
Founded in 1948 by Earl Silas Tupper, the Tupperware brand is an international household name. The products are concerned with preparation, storage, containment and preservation.
Photography: Victoria Ling
Candlesticks
Lola Lely and Bronze Age Foundry
Lola Lely’s candlesticks are handcrafted from bronze using the lost wax technique. The colouration was developed with a master patineur from Bronze Age Foundry, using a combination of age-old metal colouring methods, innovative formulae and oxidisation processes. The tops are made from a variety of wood off-cuts, including spalted beech, prehistoric bog oak, London plane and chestnut burr. These have been selected for their hardness and unusual grain; some with a natural polish to enhance the patina, others with artificial patina created with pigments.
Lola Lely
Vietnamese-born, East London-based designer Lola Lely graduated in 2012 from the Royal College of Art, where she studied under Tord Boontje. Drawing, making and the explicit connections between material, process and maker are all central to her practice. She likes to work in interdisciplinary environments and has collaborated with an anthroplogist, a weaver, a chef, an engineer, a storyteller and a silversmith.
Bronze Age Foundry
Based on the Thames in Limehouse, Bronze Age is one of London′s largest fine art foundries. It has been producing sculptures for artists since 1995, and its services include restoration, origination, scaling-up, mould-making, lost wax casting in bronze or aluminium, and patination.
Photography: Victoria Ling
’Box of secrets’
Harry Winston and Stephen Burks
We’ve long been fans of Harry Winston’s narrative take on diamonds, so when we heard that the brand was a keen follower of our Handmade project, we started talking. From the start we agreed on the concept of an object, with one condition – it had to be practical but not wearable. Harry Winston asked designer Stephen Burks to join in and together devised their first ever Handmade project – a transparent jewellery box designed to give a tantalising hint of the pieces within. Made using opaque quartz, crystal and chrome, it’s the sheer scale of Harry Winston’s vision that dazzles: it measures 60cm x 40cm, more than any dressing table could ever accommodate. Hence, the box becomes a rare and beautiful thing all of its own.
Harry Winston
The luxury American jeweller began life in 1932 in New York, revolutionising modern jewellery design by buying great collections of estate jewels and transforming precious stones into pieces that appealled to contemporary customers. It has since grown to become the jeweller de rigueur for runways and red carpets.
Stephen Burks
Stephen Burks is one of America’s most recognised industrial designers. His New York studio, Readymade Projects, has been responsible for creative direction and industrial design on projects ranging from retail interiors and events to packaging and home accessories. Burks says he is interested in ‘the space between the activity and the object, as well as the activity around an object in space...this is where the most potential lies for innovation.’
Photography: Dan Forbes
Stealth Kate
Marc Quinn and Manifold Editions
This limited edition of 75 digital prints of Marc Quinn’s iconic 1996 Kate Moss sculpture has been signed, titled and numbered by Quinn on the front. It was printed with silkscreen glaze and diamond dust by Quinn, the publisher Manifold Editions and master printer Brad Fein of Coriander Studios. Quinn chose the digital print process for the image because it accentuates the colours and shades of the image, while the diamond dust provides an amazing contrast to the clean, detailed and sharp image of Moss.
Marc Quinn
Marc Quinn’s sculptures, paintings and drawings often focus on the dualisms of the body. His best-known works, such as his head sculpted in his own blood and the sculpture of Alison Lapper, examine the body’s physical and cultural interpretations. This image of Kate Moss, with her limbs contorted in an extreme yoga pose, is a reflection on the distortions of global media. It is not a portrait of a person, he says, but ‘a portrait of an image twisted by our collective desires’.
Manifold Editions
James Booth-Clibborn launched Manifold Editions in 2011 with a mission to make buying contemporary art a more painless and transparent exercise than frequenting galleries and auction houses. His website sells high quality signed limited or single edition prints of contemporary works by some of the best-known names in contemporary art. His e-gallery also commissions original work, as well as printing a selection of sought-after classic prints published over the past 20 years.
Photography: Christoffer Rudquist
Tasting cabinet
Christian Haas, Marquis de Montesquiou and Theresienthal
Inspired by Marquis de Montesquiou’s fine armagnacs, Christian Haas aimed to create a contemporary tasting cabinet for armagnac connoisseurs. This minibar features five decanters in a mirrored box, delicately lit from underneath. The decanters are made of clear and smoke-grey crystal by Theresienthal. Each decanter contains one of the outstanding armagnac millésimes of the 20th century (1904, 1934, 1955 and 1977), plus a special blend created for Handmade.
Christian Haas
German industrial designer Christian Haas, who has studios in Berlin and Paris, produces ceramics, glassware and other tabletop products which, while pared down in their lines, still have a sensual quality to them.
His clients include Villeroy & Boch, Bauscher, Tafelstern and Volkswagen.
Marquis de Montesquiou
One of France’s most illustrious armagnac houses, the Montesquiou family has been making armagnac since 1431, and is now part of the Pernod group.
Theresienthal
Theresienthal is one of the most prestigous glassmakers in Germany. Since founding in 1836, it has made glassware for royal houses all over the world. Each glass is mouth blown by highly skilled glassblowers, then engraved, cut and painted by its artisan craftsmen at its factory in Bavaria. Theresienthal also melts its own fine glass, so it is able to control the quality of the whole process.
Photography: Matthew Donaldson
Make-up kit
Kjaer Weis and Linley
Every well-groomed female can attest that carrying around the tools of the trade is no easy feat. The act is made all the more challenging when it comes to the beautiful, yet solid offerings from boutique make-up label Kjaer Weis. Thankfully, the creative forces at Linley have offered us a handy solution – an architectural box clutch, handcrafted from silver rippled sycamore, with just enough room to hold a cream blush, eyeshadow and lip colour, along with some other key evening essentials. The faceted clutch, which honours the swinging opening mechanisms of its contents, not only functions as a fashion-forward clutch bag, but as a tabletop display, too. Lined in velvet in Kjaer Weis’ signature crimson, it is a true treasure to behold.
Kjaer Weis
Danish-born, New York-based make-up artist Kristin Kjaer Weis launched her eponymous make-up collection in 2010, and it has since become a constant fixture on our essentials list. Every part of the line is covetable, from its tactile reusable compacts to its red grain-textured boxes and the modern palette of colours themselves. The line will include foundation and mascara later this year.
Linley
David Linley founded his eponymous business in 1985, and over the years it has become a cornerstone of the British design scene. Long-associated with decadent furnishings and heritage furniture, the company has recently upped its game by collaborating with figures like chef Tom Aikens and brands like Crème de la Mer to create some unique collections.
Photography: Victoria Ling
Five ways with... bush tomatoes
Rockwell and Sons, JOY / CONGA and Design Tologata
Seasonal produce is at the heart of Rockwell and Sons, a Melbourne restaurant run by Manu Potoi and Casey Wall. Which makes sense of their decision to work with in-season (in Australia) bush tomatoes for our project. With the help of creative friends and food lovers, they came up with five flavoursome condiments – fermented hot sauce, vegetarian jerky, ketchup, meat seasonings, aromatic bitters – that are as homely in feel as they are refined in taste.
Rockwell and Sons
This 2012 start-up came about following regular pop-up dinner events hosted by the duo in the space that now houses the Rockwell and Sons restaurant. They discovered a mutual passion for food and, with an army of gourmand pals, decided to invest in a restaurant. With a menu focused on carnivorous dishes, the results of their handmade contribution make perfect sense.
JOY / CONGA
In keeping with the restaurant’s style, each individual condiment has been encased in Rockwell and Sons and Wallpaper* Handmade stamped brown paper packaging designed by JOY/CONGA. Samuel Bristow headed the design project, working closely with Rockwell and Sons and Design Tologata to complete the finished packaging.
Design Tologata
Jacob Tolo, of Australian design studio Design Tologata, helped conceptualise the minimal, rustic design. Primarily an illustrative studio, with art direction tendencies, Tolo’s diverse skills helped develop the food-focused project as a whole.
Photography: Darren Harvey-Regan
Five ways with... chilli
Manifiesto Futura and Alfredo Villanueva
Revered Mexican design studio, Manifiesto Futura, teamed up with fellow Mexican creative, Alfredo Villanueva, to curate a unique quintet of chilli-based food products. A South American dietary staple, chilli seemed like the appropriate choice of ingredient. Villanueva designed and produced a range of five preprations; a spicy pomegranate and mezcal jam; chocolate and habanero toffee; a spicy meat seasoning; hibiscus and chilli bite-sized jelly; and red hot chilli amaranth chips. Contained in quintessentially Manifiesto Futura packaging, the collection is presented in a wooden box.
Manifiesto Futura
Founded by Vicky Gonzalez and Ivan Garcia, Manifiesto Futura has been making waves across the international design circuit for five years. Based in Monterrey, the creative duo have recently developed from a graphically- focused atelier into a multi-disciplinary studio, trying their capable hand at other ventures, such as art direction and branding. Their typography is distinguished by their love for ‘raw materials and the colour black.’
Alfredo Villanueva
Based in Nuevo Leon, Alfredo Villanueva has seen his culinary star soar in recent years. Co-owner of several eateries in Mexico, including Cafe Xbox in Monterrey, he was recently invited to participate in the Mesamerica gastronomy event, which aims to promote Mexican cuisine globally. Villanueva’s creative flair is reinforced by his background in visual arts, which he studied before turning to food 13 years ago.
Photography: Darren Harvey-Regan
Five ways with... ginger flower
Spa Esprit and Ryan Clift
A beautiful native Singaporean flora, the ginger flower was the inspiration behind this food collaboration. Spa Esprit joined forces with chef Ryan Clift to invent five food products (salt, cordial, dipping sauce, relish and jam), all with the delicate aromas and flavours of the subtle ginger flower.
Spa Esprit
Spa Esprit is a Singaporean beauty and food brand that focuses on health and well-being. Founder Cynthia Chua led the project, recruiting the culinary expertise of renowned chef, Ryan Clift.
Ryan Clift
British native Ryan Clift has worked under such culinary luminaries as Marco Pierre White and Peter Gordon, and he spent eight years as head chef at the esteemed Vue de Monde restaurant in Melbourne. He currently heads up one of Singapore’s most acclaimed restaurants, Tippling Club.
Photography: Darren Harvey-Regan
Travel clock
La Montre Hermès
Though it has been involved in creating watches since the 1920s (long before it started making silk scarves), it was only last year that Hermès presented its first in-house mechanical movement, the ‘H1837’. And that got us thinking – what if, in the era of digital clocks, Hermès revisited the idea of time as a luxury? So, after a brainstorming session with the company’s creative team and a look through its watch archives, we settled on the idea of revisiting the travel clock. Hermès was already working on a new pocket watch design that fitted our brief perfectly as we wanted a neat, functional and beautiful object that was portable enough to use everyday. The strap makes the watch easy to tie to the inside of a handbag or carry case, while the leather stand allows it to become a chic bedside travel clock, designed to add a comforting touch of luxury whichever time zone you happen to wake up in.
La Montre Hermès
In 1978 Hermès founded La Montre Hermès, as a subsidiary of Hermès International. It operates a production facility in Biel, Switzerland, the heart of the Swiss watch- making industry, and has grown to become a serious contender on the watch scene.
Photography: Regan Grey
Copper barware
Tomás Alonso, Lobmeyr and Absolut Vodka
Absolut Elyx provided us with the inspiration for a barware set that synchronises with the vodka’s hand-honed, purified-through-copper ethos. Designer Tomás Alonso conducted his own research into copper’s qualities and discovered that its history as a drinking vessel and plumbing material is based on the fact that it doesn’t dissolve easily in water and, when it does, it imparts trace elements that are bactericidal and fungicidal and so beneficial to the body. Developing a set of copper and crystal glasses, complete with copper cooling balls, he stuck to pure geometric shapes so the materials and craftsmanship could shine through.
Tomás Alonso
Spanish-born designer Tomás Alonso studied at the RCA and has worked in the US, Italy and Australia. He is now based in London, where he experiments with structures, proportion and spatial relationships to create unique objects that still maintain a strong relationship with their function and context.
Lobmeyr
Viennese company Lobmeyr has been making the finest chandeliers and glassware since 1823, as well as being an early advocate of the Modern Movement. Lobmeyr glasses are first mouth-blown, then cut, engraved and polished by hand.
Absolut Vodka
Swedish vodka brand Absolut recently launched a new premium variation, Absolut Elyx, which is manually distilled in a copper still dating from 1929, using winter wheat from a single harvest. The bottle design reflects the importance of the purifying role copper plays in the manufacturing process.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
’Mille-Feuille’ storage units
Emmanuelle Moureaux and Schönbuch
Imagined as thin layers of coloured sheets scattered in the air, then settling randomly on top of each other, creating overhangs and recessions, the ‘Mille-Feuille’ storage series was designed by Japan-based architect Emmanuelle Moureaux and created by German furniture manufacturer Schönbuch. Employing her signature use of colour, Moureaux draws inspiration from similar but larger-scale previous explorations, such as her Sugamo Shinkin Bank (Shimura Branch) project. The colourful storage pieces are handmade out of layers of lacquered MDF and come in three sizes.
Emmanuelle Moureaux
French architect and designer Emmanuelle Moureaux set up her practice in Tokyo in 2003. Her passion for colour led her to explore in depth its role in architecture, and to create the concept of Shikiri (which translates as ‘dividing space with colour’). Her award-winning work includes new builds – such as a series of Sugamo Shinkin Bank branches in Tokyo – as well as interiors.
Schönbuch
Since its creation in 1960, Schönbuch has been masterminding the perfect welcome, specialising in the field of high quality entrance furniture. Since 2005, the company’s collection has been overseen by managing director Michael Ress and creative director Carolin Sangha, and it now includes work by leading designers such as Stefan Diez and Verner Panton.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Travel bike
Explorateur and Rapha
We invited London-based bicycle frame- building company Explorateur to build a bespoke frame for Simon Mottram, founder of Rapha. Made of Columbus Spirit and Kaisei steel tubing and painted in the distinctive Rapha livery, the design incorporates the ingenious Ritchey Break-Away system and can be dismantled for travelling. Mirroring the geometry of a Colnago C50 (Mottram’s number one ride), other features include carbon fibre disc forks, internal cabling and stainless steel rear drop-outs.
Explorateur
Explorateur is owned by bike collector and former skateboarder Kadir Guirey and Danish architect/designer Max Broby.
Rapha
Cycling apparel outfit Rapha was launched in 2004 by cycling enthusiasts Simon Mottram and Luke Scheybeler to celebrate road riding and to develop the best performing and most stylish cycling clothes and accessories.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Tabletop collection
Bethan Gray and Lapicida
Bethan Gray has collaborated with world- renowned stone specialist Lapicida to create a series of tabletop products for Wallpaper* Handmade. Inspired by the spectacular black and white stone configurations found in historical buildings such as the Amalfi Cathedral and San Giovanni Battista in Mogno, Switzerland, Gray’s collection consists of a cakestand, bowls, cheese dome, candleholder, trivet nest and chopping board. The glass section of the cheese dome was produced by Hertford-based glassblowers, Rothschild & Bickers, who handmake unique pieces using age-old glassblowing techniques and traditional machinery.
Bethan Gray
Welsh designer Bethan Gray combines a passion for luxurious natural materials, such as leather, marble and solid wood, with an extensive knowledge of craftsmanship and cutting-edge manufacturing technologies. In 2004, she was made head of Habitat’s furniture department, where she worked closely with designers such as Matthew Hilton, Robin Day and Terence Woodgate, before founding her own studio in 2008. She has since designed for retailers including The Conran Shop and John Lewis.
Lapicida
Lapicida can scan any object in 3D, render it, then recreate it in virtually any stone, any size, using CNC shaping mill technology. It is then hand-finished by Lapicida craftsmen. Lapicida, based in Harrogate in Yorkshire and Central London, boasts Europe’s biggest natural stone shaping mill.
Photography: Stephen Lenthall
Table, tray and bowl
Silo Studio and UPM
Silo Studio used UPM ForMi to create a table, a tray and a bowl. UPM ForMi is a new cellulose fibre-reinforced plastic composite with a high recyclable material content. It is specially designed for injection moulding applications. The combination of cellulose and polypropylene creates a light, strong and sustainable new material.
Silo Studio
Experts in a kind of handmade hi-tech, Silo is the London design studio of Bristolian Oscar Wanless and Spaniard Attua Aparicio. Based in a plastics factory, they experiment with industrial materials and processes in order to adapt them to a more craft approach. Silo look at how industry makes things, trying to find a simpler and more expressive way of working.
UPM
UPM started life in the Finnish forest industry in the 1870s with pulp and paper mills and sawmills. It now has production plants in 17 countries and employs 22,000 people worldwide in energy and pulp, paper, and engineered materials. It is increasingly taking the forestry industry into a new, sustainable and innovation-driven future.
Photography: Matthew Donaldson
’Octopus’
Adam Khan and AHEC
Created for the Wallpaper* Workspace project, presented last month in London’s Howick Place development by Doughty Hanson & Co and Terrace Hill, this installation is one third of ‘Octopus’, designed by award-winning UK architect Adam Khan as a proposal that rethinks the modern office. The installation was created with the support of the American Harwood Export Council (AHEC) using natural and heat-treated tulipwood walls and maple flooring provided by Morgan Timber, working closely with Kent-based sculptor Adam Kershaw.
Adam Khan
Established in London in 2006, young architecture practice Adam Khan Architects prides a diverse and award winning portfolio. Khan’s work spans museums and galleries, private houses and larger housing developments, as well as a variety of public and commercial buildings. Combining practice with teaching at Kingston University, Khan was the architect behind the multi- award-winning Brockholes Visitor Centre.
AHEC
A leading international trade association for the US hardwood industry, the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) is our instant go-to choice for hardwood timber. Work with more than 25 different species and representing American hardwoods in over 50 export markets, AHEC is the ultimate wood specialist.
Photography: Leon Chew
Hand tools
Chauhan Studio and Fiskars
To create a modern-day set of tools for life’s little jobs, we recruited the talents of the London-based practice, Chauhan Studio, who promptly honed in on combining the contemporary technology and purpose of Fiskars, with an elevated, heirloom-like quality. This resulted in a collection of six implements, featuring a dual-headed screwdriver, hammer, measuring tape, pliers, pencil-holder/spirit level, and hand drill, complete with elm wood accents. Fiskars’ signature orange branding has been reinterpreted as a clever detail on each piece. Together with the accompanying leather tool roll, the collection satisfies both our practical and aesthetic needs.
Chauhan Studio
Industrial designer Tej Chauhan made a name for himself early on as a technology specialist. Before setting up his eponymous practice in 2005, Chauhan put in several years at Nokia, creating some of the company’s most memorable models. These days, his signature aesthetic has touched everything from kitchen tools and eyewear to televisions and door handles, making for one of the most wide-ranging oeuvres around.
Fiskars
With roots going back to around 1649, Fiskars is one of the oldest businesses in the western world. Originally founded as an ironworks making metal implements, the Finnish company only began making its signature plastic-handled scissors in 1967. Today, the recognisable brand counts other Finnish stalwarts like Iittala and Gerber under its roof.
Photography: Jan Lehner
Headphones
Aëdle, Bettenfeld-Rosenblum and FLOZ
When we approached our new favourite audio brand Aëdle to design a quality pair of cans we could take travelling with us, it enthusiastically took on the challenge. Working in collaboration with Paris’ oldest leather atelier, Bettenfeld Rosenblum, and graphic studio FLOZ, the team’s efforts have resulted in a sleek pair of headphones, neatly packaged in a compact origami-inspired case that features a handy pocket to store the wires. The team used hand-sewn lambskin leather, while the earpieces feature crisply machined metal enclosures.
Aëdle
Raphaël Lebas de Lacour and Baptiste Sancho set up this Parisian firm in 2010 after delving into the audiophile world while studying at Tokyo’s Keio University. With no compromise between sound quality and design, all products are hand-assembled in Brittany with a high quality ethos and a ‘Made in France’ attitude.
Bettenfeld-Rosenblum
Founded in 1895 by Jean Bettenfeld, Bettenfeld-Rosenblum is the oldest art leather atelier still in activity in Paris. Relaunched in 2010 by David Rosenblum, the firm now works on special projects for major fashion brands and luxury houses.
FLOZ
Founded in 2010 by trio Kathia Saul, Rémi Andron and Thiébaud Chotin, FLOZ is a Paris-based graphic design studio that focuses on art direction and visual identity. Past clients include Swatch and hip urban culture magazine, WAD.
Photography: Stephen Lenthall
’Life is precious’ survival kit
Fort Standard
Designers Gregory Buntain and Ian Collings, of Fort Standard, have reimagined the standard outdoor ‘survival’ kit, making use of their love of hiking and the outdoors to create ‘Life is Precious’, a comprehensive emergency aid designed to look and feel as precious as its contents would be to its user in an emergency situation. Combining form with function, it comprises a compass, fire-starting kit, whistle and signal mirror, sewing kit, and fishing kit, packed into a tool roll screenprinted with instructions. The kit is contained in a waterproof brass canister engraved with motivational lines that encourage the owner to familiarise themselves with the contents of the package.
Fort Standard
Set up in Brooklyn in 2011 by industrial designers Gregory Buntain and Ian Collings, Fort Standard marries traditional methods and materials with innovative thinking to produce functional furniture, home accessories and jewellery that are simple, contemporary and pleasantly tactile.
Photography: Matthew Donaldson
Marble installation
Michael Anastassiades and Henraux
Michael Anastassiades’ inspiration for this marble installation was the red cellophane fortune-telling fish you used to get in Christmas crackers that would curl and wiggle in the palm of your hand. The challenge he posed to Henraux’s marble technicians was to push the limits of what is technologically possible while preserving the inherent qualities of the marble.
Michael Anastassiades
Michael Anastassiades is a London-based Cypriot whose work has been exhibited at MoMA in New York and the V&A in London. For years he produced his work in very limited quantities, but, in 2007, he set up a company to increase the availability of his objects. He travelled the world seeking small family-run workshops to fabricate his pieces and selected those with unique skills and traditions in the use of materials.
Henraux
Based in Monte Altissimo, near Pietrasanta in Tuscany, Henraux was founded in 1821 to exploit the marble of the region that had been well known to Michelangelo and the Medicis. It is now an international leader in the marble industry and a dedicated supporter of artists, architects and designers.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Aroma capsule
Eisuke Tachikawa and Le Labo
We’ve hankered after an accessory that would allow us to travel with our favourite scent for a while now and we could think of no better person to design our aroma capsule than past Wallpaper* Design Award winner, Eisuke Tachikawa. Teaming up with New York-based fragrance company Le Labo, Tachikawa produced this lovely, understated creation that is both an aroma diffuser and a case that can hold a small vial of fragrance oil. Made from cherry and walnut, the handcrafted capsule is weighted to stand on its own and designed to be stackable.
Eisuke Tachikawa
In 2006, while still at school, Eisuke Tachikawa established Japan-based design firm Nosigner. Combining architecture, graphic design and product design, the company’s multi-disciplinary approach has resulted in a range of global awards. Tachikawa is also the founder of ‘Olive Project’, an initiative to provide meaningful design during times of disaster.
Le Labo
Le Labo, founded in 2006 by Edouard Roschi and Fabrice Penot, opened its first store in New York, and has now expanded to launch stores all over the world. The perfume house only uses materials from Grasse to create its collection of made-to-order perfumes, home scents and candles.
Photography: Matthew Donaldson
Felt lights
Snarkitecture and The Woolmark Company
These light fixtures, made from 100 per cent wool, are formed by stacking layers of thick wool felt to build up forms that recall familiar pendants or table lamps. Whether suspended from the ceiling or placed on a table, the undersides of the pieces reveal a hidden world of excavated topography that play against the careful, precise form of the exterior.
Snarkitecture
Operating somewhere between art and architecture, Snarkitecture is a collaboration between Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham which ‘searches for sites within architecture with the possibility for confusion or misuse’. Snarkitecture aims to make architecture perform the unexpected. The Brooklyn-based practice focuses on the investigation of structure, material and program and how these elements can be manipulated to serve new and imaginative purposes.
The Woolmark Company
The Woolmark Company has been the world’s leading authority on wool textiles since 1964, representing over 29,000 Australian producers. A dedicated and enthusiastic supporter of the Australian wool industry, and our go-to wool specialist, Woolmark highlights the natural fibre’s unique quality and characteristics.
Photography: Daniele De Carolis
Loafers
Gucci and Simon Fujiwara
’My uncle gave me his old pair of Gucci loafers when I was a teenager and I used to wear them in the school art studios,’ says Simon Fujiwara. ’My paintings were in thick oils in the style of Frank Auerbach and the shoes became covered in stains. I don’t know what happened to those shoes, but getting a new pair reminded me of this period of repression, but also excitement and early formation. My original idea was to revisit those early paintings in my studio in Berlin, but the results weren’t great. So you have the shoes, stained, which is where it all started.’
Gucci
Gucci was established as a small leather goods company in Florence in 1921 by Guccio Gucci. By the 1950s it was establishing itself as a global brand and in 1981 it staged its first runway show in Florence. Tom Ford, appointed creative director in 1994, transformed the fortunes of a brand which has started to falter and Gucci is now the hub of a major luxury goods group.
Simon Fujiwara
British/Japanese artist Fujiwara was born in London, but grew up in Carbis Bay, near St Ives in Cornwall. He studied architecture at Cambridge and fine art in Frankfurt, and is now based in Berlin. His first New York solo exhibition, ’Studio Pietà (King Kong Komplex)’, is currently on show at Andrea Rosen Gallery. A series of photographic prints, it details Fujiwara’s attempt to re-stage a photograph remembered from his childhood of his bikini-clad British mother in the 1960s in the arms of a former Lebanese boyfriend on a beach near Casino du Liban outside Beirut.
Photography: Ester Grass Vergara; Writer: Nick Compton
’Light Catcher’
Eyal Burstein and Pret A Diner
Eyal Burstein’s ‘Light Catcher’ cleverly unites the worlds of art and design. Produced especially for Handmade by the fine dining experience specialists Pret A Diner, it features laminated, highly polished glass and acrylic panes, which come to life when touched by sunlight.
Eyal Burstein
Berlin-based Eyal Burstein thrives on the challenges and opportunities that lie in the cross between art and design. The Tel Aviv-born designer has created striking installations for Swarovski and W Hotels and has exhibited work at the likes of the V&A in London and MoMA. Burstein’s first book, Taxing Art, delves into the effects that taxation has on creativity.
Pret A Diner
Aiming to create a platform where fine culinary art, contemporary design and high-end entertainment meet, KP Kofler and Olivia Steele founded Pret A Diner in 2011. The concept revolves around pop-up restaurant experiences, and the Pret A Diner team has curated Michelin-starred events around the world, including Berlin, Sao Paulo and Miami. Exploring the field of bespoke art and design commissions, the ‘Light Catcher’ is its first specially commissioned design item to be realised.
Photography: Victoria Ling
Architect’s portfolio bag
Sealup
Shaking up the traditional notion of the generic black portfolio case, this architect’s bag is completely waterproof, unfailingly sturdy, and easy on the eye. To pull it off, we turned to outerwear supremo Sealup, who constructed an A2-sized portfolio case out of strong waterproof bonded cotton and lined it with 3D padded netting. Roomy enough to fit in a whole host of blueprints and plans, the bag comes equipped with handy shoulder straps to allow for easy carrying. Completing the blueprint for the perfect architect’s companion, it is also equipped with an inner pocket to fit an iPad, and has been accessorised with two straps at the bottom to store tubes and drawings.
Sealup
A storied Italian company that has been producing quality outerwear since 1935, Sealup is the hand that feeds the rainwear output of some of the biggest international designers and fashion houses. The heritage brand, based in Lomazzo (between Milan and Como), is known for its technical fabrication and skilfully-produced waterproof garments, placing emphasis on luxury and high quality manufacturing.
Photography: Jan Lehner
Kayak
William Matthews Associates and Sekani Kayaks
Celebrating one of the oldest forms of manmade transport, British architect William Matthews created the KAYAK, together with Portuguese-based specialist fabricators Sekani Kayaks. Matthews worked with the traditional kayak’s timeless shapes, largely defined by performance and function, to create his own version of the boat. The KAYAK is formed by 6mm-thick strips of cedar, hand-laid over a skeleton mould. The cedar shell, weighing less than 10kg, is then wrapped in GRP to form a lightweight and robust composite hull.
William Matthews Associates
British architect William Matthews worked at the Renzo Piano Building Workshop for nearly two decades, most recently working on one of the practice’s most high profile projects, The Shard. This year, he left to set up his own London practice, William Matthews Associates (WMA), to explore a variety of projects and different scales; a recent commission includes a private house near the White Cliffs of Dover.
Sekani Kayaks
Following a successful career in carpentry and a portfolio that includes train moulds and the Lisbon Aquarium, Zdzish, Barbara and Nicholas Kazanowski set up Sekani Kayaks in 2012 in the Algarve. The team share a passion for boats and a talent for woodwork, using top quality cedar to create beautiful hand-built products that are finished to the highest standard.
Photography: Fernando Alda
’Book’ shelf lamp
Thierry Dreyfus
‘I have always wondered how to light my bookshelves... how to make the light source invisible both when it’s turned off and when lit,’ says Dreyfus. Hidden between the books, this lamp opens like a book enclosed in a precious casket. A discreet presence, the light is revealed when the book is pulled from its holder. The wood, the main material of the book’s support, becomes a lamp. Made entirely from cedar wood, a fine LED line is hidden in the vertical element, which opens and closes to allow the light to be controlled manually. The amount of light which emanates is thus regulated by how open it is. The perfume of the cedar mixes with the perfume of the books and once the lamp is closed, leaves only the memory of the light.
Thierry Dreyfus
Legendary French lighting designer Thierry Dreyfus is a long-time Wallpaper* collaborator, including recently channelling his conception vision into ten dazzling covers for our November W*152 issue. He has produced some of fashion’s most memorable catwalk shows of the past decade for the likes of Dior Homme, Helmut Lang and Jil Sander, and he also once transformed Notre Dame for Paris’ Nuit Blanche 2010.
Umbrella
Naoto Fukasawa and Ombrelli Maglia
What problem do you throw at probably the most respected product designer in the world? This was a question we had to give some thought to when Naoto Fukasawa signed up for this year’s Handmade. We thought about the weather. We thought about the rain. We thought about umbrellas and asked Fukasawa if he would pay a visit to Ombrelli Maglia, producer of high-quality, handmade umbrellas in Milan. He came up with an idea for a smart umbrella that would be a lifelong comfort and support, an umbrella to cherish rather than lose, and one that would look as beautiful off-duty as on.
Naoto Fukasawa
Born in Yamanashi in 1956, Naoto Fukasawa work aims at a higher form of functionalism based on the deepest understanding of what the end user actually needs. He has worked for many of Italy’s leading design brands, established the Plus Minus Zero brand in Japan, and is on the advisory board at Muji, for whom he designed the iconic wall-mounted CD player in 2000.
Ombrelli Maglia
Ombrelli Maglia was founded by Francesco Maglia in 1856. His namesake and brother Giorgio are the fifth generation of Maglias to run the business. The company produces handmade umbrellas at its workshop in Milan, making-to-order for individual clients and supplying some of the world’s leading luxury goods brands. It uses high quality, bespoke Italian fabrics and woods such as chestnut, malacca, hazelnut, ash, cherrywood, maple and hickory.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
’Branchline’ bicycle stand
Quarterre
London-based design studio Quarterre’s Furniture for Bicycles range addresses the challenges of owning and living with bikes in an urban environment. Spacially efficient and capable of accommodating two bikes, the ‘Branchline’ bicycle stand adapts to its owner’s lifestyle – either leant against any wall or inverted to clear floor area in smaller spaces. Made exclusively in England using FSC-certified Bamboo and hand-finished in leather, the quality and sculptural lines of the ‘Branchline’ artfully frame any racer, single-speed or Porteur.
Quarterre
Formed in 2010 in Clerkenwell by four designers and bike fiends – Daniele Ceccomori, Clive Hartley, Nick Mannion and Jason Povlotsky – Quarterre uses its distinctive approach and playful vision to create bike storage solutions that combine form with function.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
’Pressure Point’ shoe heel
Paul Cocksedge Studio and EPFL+ECAL Lab
When we discovered the innovative minds at the EPFL+ECAL Lab had been working on a groundbreaking way of making soft wood stronger, we wanted to try it out. Timber is machine-compressed into the desired shape using a mould and a process of densification that can reduce it to a third of its original size. We invited London-based designer Paul Cocksedge to test this method and he devised the ‘Pressure Point’. Its super strong spruce heel goes from a very low (20 per cent) densification at the top to 100 per cent at the tip, while the shoe’s beautiful leather upper print shows a close-up of the timber as it compresses.
Paul Cocksedge Studio
London designer Paul Cocksedge set up his studio with Joana Pinho in 2004. The Studio has created work for the likes of Established & Sons and Flos, while the team continues to explore materials and techniques, pushing the boundaries of technology to produce witty designs and interdisciplinary work.
EPFL+ECAL Lab
Established in 2007, the EPFL+ECAL Lab is a unit of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), supported by its founding partner, the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL), and it seeks to look at the potential springing from the unity of design and technology. Its explorations into compressed soft woods form part of the ‘Under Pressure’ project, which will be presented in full by the Lab later in the year.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Desk and writing set
OeO, Stellar Works and Japan Handmade
In collaboration with designers OeO and producer Stellar Works, a collective of Kyoto craftsmen has created a bespoke version of French furniture maker Laval’s writing desk with inlay fabric produced using a 1,200-year- old Japanese weaving technique. On top is a tray for writing tools in 2,000-year-old lignified Japanese cedar, two precious boxes, a writing mat in refined bamboo, an iPad sleeve in bamboo and leather, a small encrier in black porcelain, a notebook with Harlequin fabric, and an ink pen, magnifying glass and letter opener in decorative brass.
OeO
OeO is based in Copenhagen and services clients worldwide within the design, lifestyle and hospitality sectors. The company’s portfolio includes the development of the Georg Jensen brand.
Stellar Works
Shanghai-based brand Stellar Works’ roster of designers includes vintage lines from the likes of Carlo Forcolini and Børge Mogensen, as well as contemporary Asian and Danish designers, such as Japan’s Shuwa Tei and Neri & Hu from Shanghai.
Japan Handmade
Japan Handmade is a collaboration between six traditional Kyoto-based craft companies who, between them, have hundreds of years of history and are now applying their skills to new products and markets. They are Hosoo, a textile specialist; Asahiyaki, a 400-year-old family-owned pottery; Nakagawa Mokkougei, a woodcrafting company; Kaikado, a maker of tea caddies since 1875; Kohchosai Kosuga, a bamboo workshop; and Kanaami-Tsuji, a specialised metal working concern. Their names may be unfamiliar, but their beautiful pieces speak for themselves.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
‘Vendôme’
Stéphane Parmentier
Designer Stéphane Parmentier has taken a slightly postmodernist approach with his piece, starting with an assemblage of Bauhaus-inspired elementary shapes that make a U-turn back to Classicism with the use of noble materials and sophisticated finishings. The piece is structured with supporting contrasts – heavy and light, perforated and solid, fake black and white, lines and dots.
Stéphane Parmentier
Stéphane Parmentier started his career in fashion, heading up women’s ready-to-wear at Givenchy at one point, but in 2000, he set up his own interior design agency. His muscular debut furniture collection for Ormond Editions won Best Launch in our Design Awards 2012, and it had the same natural feel, in wood and stone, as the room divider he has created for this year’s Handmade. As well as furniture, he has also designed tabletop objects for Christofle and has executed interiors for a number of commercial and residential clients.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
’Butler No. 4’
Ron Gilad and The Woolmark Company
‘Butler No. 4’ follows on from Ron Gilad’s ‘Butler’ series which the designer first debuted in 2009. In the same vein as these previous design/art pieces based around the concept of a valet, ‘Butler No. 4’ is Gilad’s ‘investigation into the absurd’. Essentially a giant room divider, each panel comprises a pair of white-gloved hands holding up a panel of wool fabric, from under which a disembodied pair of shoe-wearing feet is seen peeking out below. When viewed from the front, ‘Butler No. 4’ seems almost like a hyper-realistic servant, yet from behind its form is completely abstracted into a wireframe stick figure, altering the spectator’s perception by questioning the relationship between form and function.
Ron Gilad
Known for his witty hybrid objects that straddle the line between the abstract and the functional, Ron Gilad shone at last year’s Salone, and his conceptual style earned him a 2013 Wallpaper* Design Award for ‘Designer of the Year’. Based in New York, where he has established his studio Designfenzider, the Israeli-born designer and artist’s cerebral designs translate into both one-off limited editions and production pieces.
The Woolmark Company
The Woolmark Company has been the world’s leading authority on wool textiles since 1964, representing over 29,000 Australian producers. A dedicated and enthusiastic supporter of the Australian wool industry, and our go-to wool specialist, Woolmark highlights the natural fibre’s unique quality and characteristics.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
‘TYS’ ceiling light
MIXCV and Mutina
This light sculpture resulted when we asked Swiss metal designers MIXCV and Italian ceramics manufacturer Mutina to produce something that highlighted their respective specialised materials.
MIXCV
The collective formed when metalworking company MI and design studio XCV joined forces to forge contemporary furniture, with no unnecessary frills, out of metal.
Mutina
Founded in the 1970s in the ceramic-making town of Sassuolo, Italy, Mutina offers floor, wall and mosaic tiles, and has collaborated with designers such as Patricia Urquiola, the Bouroullec brothers and Rodolfo Dordoni.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Tipi
Emiliano Godoy and The Woolmark Company
Emiliano Godoy has reinterpreted the portable tent structure that has been used for centuries using five elegant fabrics in different shades of grey. Its purpose is to remind people of the potential toughness of wool. The structure was created using contemporary materials and CNC manufacturing processes, creating a flat-pack structure that can be assembled in minutes. The new fabrication technique allowed for a more complex structure that provides a sheltered entrance area.
Emiliano Godoy
Emiliano Godoy’s small design practice in Mexico City concentrates on social and environmental design projects. His stated aim is to search for sustainable innovation processes, so he loved working with a renewable, biodegradable material like wool that can be produced with minimal ecological impact.
The Woolmark Company
The Woolmark Company has been the world’s leading authority on wool textiles since 1964, representing over 29,000 Australian producers. A dedicated and enthusiastic supporter of the Australian wool industry, and our go-to wool specialist, Woolmark highlights the natural fibre’s unique quality and characteristics.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Garden wall
Hassell Studio and The Woolmark Company
The garden wall is the result of a close collaboration between Hassell and Woolmark, and its intention is to emphasise the natural character of wool. Referring to the origin of the fabric, Jon Hazelwood, from Hassell’s London studio, used a simple weaving method to generate interstitial spaces, where selected plant species can grow. With green spaces becoming increasingly limited within cities, the idea is that such ‘living partitions’ can be introduced to make space for nature.
Hassell Studio
Hassell is an international design practice with 14 offices in the United Kingdom, Australia, and across Asia. With a history spanning 70 years of practice, it employs more than 900 people and works globally across a diverse range of markets. An interdisciplinary practice, it combines expertise in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and planning.
The Woolmark Company
The Woolmark Company has been the world’s leading authority on wool textiles since 1964, representing over 29,000 Australian producers. A dedicated and enthusiastic supporter of the Australian wool industry, and our go-to wool specialist, Woolmark highlights the natural fibre’s unique quality and characteristics.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Curtain
Simon Heijdens and The Woolmark Company
Simon Heijdens has developed a way to make the individual fibres of wool change their tint so that together they are able to make up a changing image. The curtain is following his ‘Shade’ project (nominated for Design of the Year Award 2012 at London’s Design Museum), which saw cells on a window change their opacity in response to passing wind patterns. The curtain connects the indoor space with the outdoor by showing, through the fibres, the patterns of wind that pass outside.
Simon Heijdens
Simon Heijdens was born in the Netherlands and studied experimental film in Berlin before enrolling on a design course at the Eindhoven Academy. He applies the techniques of film to many of his designs by focusing on how things change and evolve. In his ‘Broken White’ ceramics series, as each piece was used, cracks appeared in the glazing and spread to form a delicate pattern of flowers.
The Woolmark Company
The Woolmark Company has been the world’s leading authority on wool textiles since 1964, representing over 29,000 Australian producers. A dedicated and enthusiastic supporter of the Australian wool industry, and our go-to wool specialist, Woolmark highlights the natural fibre’s unique quality and characteristics.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Woollen bench
Esrawe Studio and The Woolmark Company
Using folded woollen cushions on a walnut base and frame, the concept behind this bench by Mexican designer Héctor Esrawe is simple. It is expressed by the strength of its repetition and the honest character and elegance of the wool. In its own minimalist way, it evokes an antique textile display.
Esrawe Studio
Héctor Esrawe’s multi-award-winning eponymous studio in Mexico City works for both local and international clients, including Marriott Hotels and Nouvel Studio, and his range includes interiors for retail, restaurants and private residences, furniture, glassware, and the occasional special project.
The Woolmark Company
The Woolmark Company has been the world’s leading authority on wool textiles since 1964, representing over 29,000 Australian producers. A dedicated and enthusiastic supporter of the Australian wool industry, and our go-to wool specialist, Woolmark highlights the natural fibre’s unique quality and characteristics.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Bonbonnières
Julie Bonde Bülck
With sugary treats never far from our minds at Wallpaper* HQ, we thought not only to develop our own sweets, but also something to put them in. We turned to the young Danish ceramicist Julie Bonde Bülck, sensing she was of similar mind – she had already worked on a collection of seductively sweet- shaped bonbonnières. Developing a new prototype and casting mould for our project, she used nature as a reference point for the pieces, creating glazes and textures that turn them into large, but very tactile pebbles.
Julie Bonde Bülck
Julie Bonde Bülck has been interested in ceramics since the age of 14 and skipped school to attend local pottery classes in her hometown in Denmark. After working in a pottery studio in Scotland and attending the Danish School of Design, she set up her own brand and studio, Uh la la, in 2010, where she focuses on slow, low-tech processes using traditional analogue techniques.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
’Kage’ suitcase
Tsatsas
This is just the suitcase for seasoned business travellers and weekend escapers who know too well the perils of airport commuting. Called ‘Kage’, which is Japanese for ‘shadow’, and small enough to comply with airline hand-luggage restrictions, Tsatsas’ trolley suitcase, complete with debossed Wallpaper* logo, features three compartments – one for clothing, one for shoes, and one that opens while the suitcase is upright for easy access to a specially designed section for laptops, boarding passes, and a specially crated plastic bags for those all-important liquids.
Tsatsas
Based in Germany, the Tsatsas bag label was established by Esther Schulze-Tsatsas and Dimitrios Tsatsas in 2012, who expanded into bag design from the family’s long-standing tradition of leatherwork. Focusing on unparalleled quality and perfection, the company only uses high-quality leather from animals reared for meat production.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
‘Virgule’ wall lamps
Thierry Dreyfus
A pure line, a movement, a breath, a comma. The light slides over this elegant form thanks to hidden LEDs which are reflected in marble, alabaster, onyx or brass. A different light provided by the chosen material is created for each piece. Here you have one in Marmara marble and one in cedar wood, made with the help of Turkish artisans.
Thierry Dreyfus
Legendary French lighting designer Thierry Dreyfus is a long-time Wallpaper* collaborator, including recently channelling his conception vision into ten dazzling covers for our November W*152 issue. He has produced some of fashion’s most memorable catwalk shows of the past decade for the likes of Dior Homme, Helmut Lang and Jil Sander, and he also once transformed Notre Dame for Paris’ Nuit Blanche 2010.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
’Buzzy Bee’ wall lamp
Thierry Dreyfus
A secret light comes from the hexagonal cells of this wall lamp created in Carrara marble, polished stainless steel, resin and aluminium. A bright crystal produced in 3D printing polymer is hidden inside the lamp. Two extremes are connected with exactitude: on one side the tradition of manual skills, and on the other, an advanced technology. Made with the help of Israeli artisans.
Thierry Dreyfus
Legendary French lighting designer Thierry Dreyfus is a long-time Wallpaper* collaborator, including recently channelling his conception vision into ten dazzling covers for our November W*152 issue. He has produced some of fashion’s most memorable catwalk shows of the past decade for the likes of Dior Homme, Helmut Lang and Jil Sander, and he also once transformed Notre Dame for Paris’ Nuit Blanche 2010.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Drinks cabinet
Hosun Ching
We chose Hosun Ching for this project after seeing his graduation project at Eindhoven Design Academy last autumn – a stand- alone walk-in wardrobe that had been very carefully considered. He has brought the same thought-through process to his drinks cabinet for a vodka lover.
Hosun Ching
Members of the public who visited the final year show at the Eindhoven Design Academy voted for Hosun Ching’s wardrobe in large numbers and he received the Youth Award by popular acclaim. He describes his practice as ‘creating opportunities to do things differently, maybe in an original way, smarter or just with a playful touch’. He calls his approach ‘product design with a twist’.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Exhibition wallpaper
Rosy Nicholas, Jaguar Shoes Collective, Anstey and Zoffany
Our exhibition wallpaper was produced by Rosy Nicholas for her first solo show, inspired by her lifelong love affair with Ancient Egypt and held in London bar Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes. The wallpaper shown in the original exhibition was hand painted by the artist. For the Handmade show she has teamed up with wallpaper producers Anstey to create a bespoke printed version.
Rosy Nicholas
After graduating from Camberwell College of Art, Rosy Nicholas began working across a range of fields including illustration, props and accessories. She sees herself as a craft-based maker who favours simple, handmade techniques and modest materials to make her paper collages, hand drawn patterns and art deco-inspired shapes.
Jaguar Shoes Collective
Jaguar Shoes is an arts organisation that collaborates with illustrators, designers and brands to create unique products, exhibitions and events. Famous for its ambitious and experiential shows, held in its East London venues, Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes and The Old Shoreditch Station, Jaguar Shoes Collective stands for purposeful originality.
Anstey
Zoffany helped us work with its paper supplier Anstey to turn Nicholas’ hand- painted design into a manufactured product. Anstey is based in Loughborough, England, and has a history of producing premium wallcoverings that goes back over 100 years.
Zoffany
Fabric and wallpaper house Zoffany uses its unique archive of historical documents and contemporary techniques and treatments to keep the company as a leader in its field.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Felt shoes
Adam Goodrum and The Woolmark Company
One of Adam Goodrum’s earliest memories is of his mother spinning wool at a timber spinning wheel. He would help her comb the fleece because the lanoline was good for his skin. Goodrum decided to use wool to make shoes because of his interest in the way flat graphic patterns can come together to create a three-dimensional form. Plus, shoes were also something he could bring to Milan in his hand luggage.
Adam Goodrum
Adam Goodrum is an award-winning Australian industrial designer whose work focuses on furniture, product and interior design. His work pursues his fascination with geometry and movement, and his practice combines self-initiated work with designs for illustrious companies such as Cappellini, Normann Copenhagen and Made by Tait. He also lectures at the University of Technology, Sydney.
The Woolmark Company
The Woolmark Company has been the world’s leading authority on wool textiles since 1964, representing over 29,000 Australian producers. A dedicated and enthusiastic supporter of the Australian wool industry, and our go-to wool specialist, Woolmark highlights the natural fibre’s unique quality and characteristics.
’Julia’ folding chair
Brunno Jahara and The Woolmark Company
Brazilian designer Brunno Jahara brought a cosy, wintery material to play on a piece of classic summer furniture. His relaxing, foldable chair, upholstered in hand-stitched, light blue and greyish green wool, will warm you like an afternoon on a Brazilian beach. He named the piece ‘Julia’, after the artisan who sewed the fabric together with woollen thread and made the project possible.
Brunno Jahara
Brunno Jahara is Rio-born designer who mixes organic shapes with tropical inspiration using a selection of sustainable and recycled materials. He also likes to express the multicultural nature of his homeland. This combination produces uniquely Brazilian results that have an international appeal.
The Woolmark Company
The Woolmark Company has been the world’s leading authority on wool textiles since 1964, representing over 29,000 Australian producers. A dedicated and enthusiastic supporter of the Australian wool industry, and our go-to wool specialist, Woolmark highlights the natural fibre’s unique quality and characteristics.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Clothes horse
Jonah Takagi and Another Country
The daily ritual of dressing takes centre stage with this modern clothes horse by Jonah Takagi. The arching clothes rail, which incorporates a full-length mirror and vanity shelf, builds on his previous explorations of creating structures that work to define a larger space. Together, the all-encompassing dressing unit forms a worthy alternative to what might be typically found in the bedroom. Despite its straightforwardness, there is still a theatrical thread in the piece; from the front, most of the stretched wooden rail is hidden from view. British wood specialists, Another Country, were the perfect partners to bring this modern piece to life. Realised in ash wood painted in the brand’s signature Pigeon Blue, the piece is a timeless vision that boasts exposed brass hardware and visible joinery to highlight the honesty of its construction.
Jonah Takagi
Since establishing his design studio in 2009, Jonah Takagi has accrued a slew of design successes, making him one of the most exciting young American designers to watch. The productive Takagi has not only produced work for some high calibre clients, including Kvadrat, Roll & Hill, and Matter, but somehow manages to fit in running his own accessories label, Field, in between.
Another Country
Bringing together the familiar traits that appear in British Country, Scandinavian, Shaker and Japanese design, this young British craft furniture maker consistently puts out contemporary wooden products, from desk accessories to coffee tables and sofas, that make an understated, yet beautiful statement.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
’Högalid’ sofa
Karl-Johan Hjerling and Karin Wallenbeck
For their sofa, Karl-Johan Hjerling and Karin Wallenbeck wanted to represent the craft and heritage of English furniture maker George Smith but highlight it with a contemporay contrast. A pouf is transformed into a sofa using a wooden and leather frame, creating a wonderful contrast between the soft pouf, with its curved shape and upholstered velvet mohair, and the rigid wooden frame with its hard expression.
Karl-Johan Hjerling and Karin Wallenbeck
Swedish designers Karl-Johan Hjerling and Karin Wallenbeck are the creative directors of Stockholm carpentry company Snickeriet. Between them they have backgrounds in design for retail interiors, furniture, products and the culinary sectors. Their work is both beautiful and innovative, and they have worked for the likes of Swedish stalwarts Svenskt Tenn and Acne.
George Smith
Named after the famed 19th century cabinet-maker George Smith, upholsterer to the Prince Regent, the company draws its inspiration from its namesake’s eclectic use of neoclassical, gothic and Chinese designs. The brand’s heritage is one of rigorous craftsmanship, but while synonymous with quality and tradition, it also contributes some outstanding contemporary designs.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Love Collection
Verreum
We just asked for a little loving and we got traditional craftsmanship, new technology and contemporary design in this 25-piece tabletop collection designed for two to get intimate over. Using a long-lost internal silvering technique, Verreum’s glass masters have crafted a lamp designed by Karim Rashid, cacti vases and candleholders by Arik Levy, a tea ceremony set by Sebastian Herkner, a champagne collection by Sebastian Bergne, and a coffee for two concept by Defne Koz and Marco Susani.
Verreum
Verreum was founded in 2009 by Pavel Weiser. His mission was to revive traditional Czech glass-making craftsmanship with a particular focus on silvered glass. The exact details of this technique are kept secret, but it involves coating the interior of double- walled glass objects with silver and then draining off the excess. Verreum has its own glass-blowing facilities in Nový Bor, and its quest to sustain the glass-making traditions of Bohemia means it also works to support other Czech glass manufacturers.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Wall clock
Jean-Baptiste Fastrez and Amtico
Flooring specialist Amtico has very precise cutting machinery that it uses to produce bespoke patterns and designs for individual customers, with each design then being assembled by hand. Jean-Baptiste Fastrez wanted to use the technique to create a wall clock inspired by a marine watch or car speedo, with the vinyl marquetry used not to decorate its surface, but to directly link it to the clock’s functionality.
Jean-Baptiste Fastrez
Parisian designer Jean-Baptiste Fastrez likes to use surprising combinations of material, form and function – as seen in his mirror frames made from acetate, or the wooden axe-style handles he created for hairdryers. He has an impeccable design pedigree, having worked for four years with the Bouroullec brothers, and having exhibited at Gallery Kreo and collaborated with Kvadrat.
Amtico
Amtico has established its position at the top of the flooring market by putting design at the heart of the company’s philosophy. It has a large, dedicated in-house design team, who travel widely looking for inspiration and keeping abreast of latest design trends. By experimenting with new pigments, artwork and embossing techniques, Amtico has created a unique portfolio.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Globe
Mathias Hahn and Bellerby & Co
Mathias Hahn’s globe manipulates the logic of calculating a sphere from a flat, with the different hues for each longitude and latitude creating coloured bands. These bands represent layers of light and reflection, similar to the way colours physically arise and mix, when we see them in nature. The pattern is similar to the weave of a blanket. The 72 longitude sections and 36 latitude sections generate 2,592 different shades.
Mathias Hahn
German-born Mathias Hahn, who creates simple, useful objects with a twist of fun, was one of the founding members of London’s OKAY Studio. After graduating in industrial design in Germany, he moved to the RCA, where he studied product design under Ron Arad.
Bellerby & Co
Peter Bellerby’s north London-based globe- making business grew out of a search for a globe for his father’s birthday. It now employs a team of craftspeople and artists working to both contemporary and traditional designs. They also make limited edition, luxury globes including a range with aluminium bases engineered by Aston Martin welders.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Lamp shade
Øyvind Wyller and Magnor
Norwegian designer Øyvind Wyller hates lights that are too strong and destroy a room’s atmosphere, so he designed a handmade lamp shade in blown glass with a shape that means the light is filtered through tinted glass to dim the light sideways, while letting the light fall freely down on the area beneath. He also made the cord a part of the whole by including it in the function of the hanging of the shade.
Øyvind Wyller
Since graduating from Oslo National Academy of the Arts in Norway in 2010, Øyvind Wyller has won a couple of ICFF awards and best newcomer mentions in magazines and at the Salone. His furniture and products have a classic Scandinavian simplicity and purity about them.
Magnor
There has been a high-quality, specialty glassworks at Magnor near the Norway- Sweden border since 1896. It was situated there to use the local forests as fuel for its furnaces. Teresa Bergerud, head of design at Magnor, provided a great deal of advice and expertise to Wyller, enabling him to achieve the shape and colour of his design.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Coffee bar
Coming Soon Coffee, Architectural Titanium and Kebony
Hoi Chi Ng developed the blueprints for this year’s Handmade coffee bar. Calling in help from numerous collaborators, all of which are experts in their field, the bar is a triumph, thanks to Kebony, who supplied the dark timber for the main body, and Architectural Titanium, who supplied a light titanium for the louvres and other finishing touches, as well as a host of coffee growers, grinders and machine makers.
Coming Soon Coffee
Cross an architect with a barrista and you’ll have the unusual hybrid that is Hoi Chi Ng. With business partner Matthias Suchert, he has formed upcoming coffee company, the aptly named Coming Soon Coffee, which is dedicated to creating premium brews by whatever means possible.
Architectural Titanium
The architects’ go-to titanium consultants, Architectural Titanium is based in Kansas in the US, but its pull reaches far and wide across the globe. Collaborating in projects of varied scales, from architecture to art and design, the company represents the largest and most cutting-edge titanium manufacturers. Its portfolio includes icons such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Kebony
Born out of a patent-protected process that makes sustainable wood more durable and stable using biowaste materials, Norway-based Kebony is one of the most environmentally-friendly woods in the market. The Kebony technology combines sustainability, technology and style, producing a dark wood that turns silver grey in time. Applications range from cladding, decking and yacht decking to furniture.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
Chocolate dragées
Hatziyiannakis
For Wallpaper* Handmade this year, we asked Hatziyiannakis, one of Europe’s leading confectioners, to develop a bonbon. It came up with some strawberry and orange chocolate almonds that are irresistibly bright, shiny and delicious. Witness, too, the plain chocolate dragées that bear the Wallpaper* Handmade seal – each one is an exquisite, and edible, work of art.
Hatziyiannakis
Hatziyiannakis has been producing luxury chocolate dragées in Piraeus, Greece, since 1950. It offers an array of chocolate-enrobed treats, including almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, cherries and kumquats. Not content to simply trade on an impressive heritage, it’s constantly evolving, developing new flavours, combinations, and technology. It is a master of the specialised technique of laser printing with edible ink, and will print their 70 per cent cocoa dragées with any design you desire.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
‘Up and Down’ bathroom tap
Studio MK27 and CEA Design
Adding a touch of sophisticated playfulness to the traditional bathroom, São Paulo-based architects Studio MK27 created the ‘Up and Down’ tap with Italian brand CEA Design. The architects focused on enhancing the tap’s functions by allowing the user to redirect the water flow upwards or downwards. Designed in CEA’s signature stainless steel, which the architects offset with a splash of colour using Technogel details, this is a tap with a twist.
Studio MK27
A leading name on the Brazilian architecture scene, Marcio Kogan established Studio MK27 in the early 1980s. His masterful modernist-inspired designs have won him many awards and commissions, both in Brazil and internationally. Having tried his hand at furniture design as well, there is little Kogan and his team cannot tackle.
CEA Design
Founded by husband-and-wife team, Natalino Malasorti and Roberta Bertacco, CEA Design has been a leader in the field of high quality bathroom fittings since 2007. The company focuses on clean forms with a strong technological bias, and its range includes bathroom taps and accessories, kitchen taps, outdoor showers, and ceiling fans.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori
’Mirror’ chair
Nina Tolstrup, 19 Greek Street and Marc by Marc Jacobs
Dressed in a fabric from Marc by Marc Jacobs’ S/S 2013 collection, the ‘Mirror’ chair is a unique extension to Nina Tolstrup’s ‘Re-Imagined’ collection, created in collaboration with London gallery 19 Greek Street. The collection is made from abandoned metal chairs, which the designer rewelded into new chairs, daybeds and sofas, before upholstering them in Marc by Marc Jacobs’ fabric off-cuts. Her one-off creation for Wallpaper* Handmade sports a print originally intended for a day dress. Inspired by the concept of the vanity set, Tolstrup’s design combines the traditional mix of table, chair and mirror into a single item. It’s a vanity set with a twist – literally, as the mirror can be rotated to catch you at your best angle.
Nina Tolstrup
London-based Danish designer Nina Tolstrup founded Studiomama in 2000. Trained at ENSCI Les Ateliers in Paris, she mixes a pared-back aesthetic with a good dose of wit, whether creating products for leading brands, design galleries or her own label. Many of her pieces reuse discarded materials, such as her ‘Pallet Project’ series of furniture, crafted from wooden crates.
19 Greek Street
Opened last year by Marc Peridis, this six-floor Victorian townhouse in Soho is home to an eclectic collection of specially commissioned furniture from international names, as well as the UK outpost of Espasso, which specialises in modernist and contemporary design from Brazil.
Marc by Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs introduced the Marc by Marc Jacobs diffusion line in 2000 as the playful younger sibling to his eponymous main label. The line now offers accessories, footwear, jewellery, watches, eyewear and fragrances alongside its ready-to-wear collection.
Photography: Tommaso Sartori