It is now like half a lifetime ago that I met Czech designer Daniel Posta in Vienna. He was one of the selected designers for Passionswege, a concept that brings designers together with Viennese shops and manufacturers, during the Vienna Design Week. In 2010 Daniel teamed up with the traditional steel merchants Lorenzi, who produces all kinds of tools for the household, especially knives since 1835.

Instead of just focusing on the various tools, Daniel’s main interest was the company’s unusual and long family tradition and their social connections. They have more than 30 Lorenzi steel shops across the globe and celebrate a big Lorenzi family reunion every August in Northern Italy. All together. It must be a big party. Daniel was invited to join the party. He got closer to the family. From some of the Lorenzi’s he requested the personal objects that symbolised the tradition of the family, which he presented, together with a series of illustrations of a befriend artist, in a shop window across from Vienna’s very own Lorenzi shop.

I have to admit that I almost forgot about Daniel Posta and his project until an accumulation of coincidences. First of all I started making a list of content, especially of drawn interviews that I want to publish until the end of the year and second I decided to spend Christmas in Poland and New Year’s Eve in Czech Republic. After sending an email to Adam Stech from Okolo requesting some information about Prague, Daniel came into my mind. I am actually curious if he forgot about our encounter. I will find out soon.

Owner Elvira Lorenzi herself talking to a customer. The 15 m2 shop is filled up with Lorenzi steel products. Most of them knives, keys and shaving sets. You can find the historic shop at Siebenstergasse, Vienna. Have a look at the beautiful historic images of the shop here.

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A honest smile from Max at the back of his studio

I remember when I took a picture of Max Lipsey underneath his coathooks in 2009. His work was exhibited at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan. That was shortly after I met him at Maarten Baas in Eindhoven, where he used to work as a freelancer. Max is from Aspen, USA and came to Eindhoven to study at the Design Academy, which he completed in 2007. He stayed in the country, not just because he met his Austrian girlfriend, also because he wanted to establish himself as a designer.

Max answering the drawn interview

One of his biggest obsession are bikes. Not just for the principal means of transportation, but also because of the history and the aesthetics. He made a series of furniture called ‘Acciaio’, which is Italian for ‘steel’ and launched it in Milan this year. To make the concept complete he presented it at Rossignoli Cycles. The first series of the colourful seating made of steel bicycle tubing was a great success for him. He made his devotion and his workshop skills into a series of products with distinctive shapes. Obviously Matter must have thought the same when they say the pieces and commissioned him to make new work, that they presented at the Quibique in Berlin fair last month.

Models of Acciaio Series: Stage 2 for Matter

Max gave me actually a hard time several months ago. I asked him to come to Basel shortly before we opened the Depot Basel, a place for contemporary design. First he refused and told me straight away that he is working on many projects, like the Copy Nature and Mass exhibition for Dutch Design Week. He underlined that he wanted to finish them all off to a good standard. It took me a few Skype conversations until he agreed to come to Basel for the first occurrence and to build some pieces we needed for the first infrastructure for our space. When it comes to Max, I just instantly knew that he suit this project. First he is a honest, hard-working person and then, after adding all his skills, he is a designer who is able to not just make functional products, but also aesthetically pleasing objects.

Acciaio Lounge chair at DMY, 2010, from the first stage

Acciaio Series: Stage 2 at Mass during Dutch Design Week

Concentration chair for Depot Basel, 2011

Benches for Depot Basel, 2011

Work in progress at Depot Basel, 2011

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Bashko Trybek is a Art Director who lives in Warsaw. He decided to become a designer one year ago. Fascinated by form and colour in not just two dimensional shapes this seemed to be a logical consequence. Since he presented his first projects at SaloneSatellite in Milan this year, the blogs and magazines were full with his Serpent shelving and Anti-Stress chair. In September the chair was also presented at Maison & Objet in Paris, where I met Bashko the first time.

Bashko, who is educated in Architecture and Photography and made an surprising turn into Product Design, was suddenly standing at Gallery Bensimon next to me and was happy to hear me talking Polish. That’s how easy people from the East connect: just through recognising homeland. Last month I saw him again at the Łódź Design Festival, where he was selected for the exhibition ‘Young Polish Design -Selected objects’ with his playful chair that fits 240 anti-stress balls. One for every working day in one year.

You can take every single anti-stress ball out of the frame. You can change the order of the balls and even the colour if you are up for it.

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Tristan at Depot Basel

Scotland born and self thought designer Tristan Cochrane was part of the Prelude 01 event for Depot Basel end of August 2011. Tristan is an educated fisherman. Through various favourable terms he came across Maarten Baas in Boisbuchet where Tristan works as workshop assistant once a year. The Dutch designer was impressed by his skills and his way of thinking and asked him to work for him in Eindhoven, where Tristan was a part of the Baas & De Herder team for about two years.

Concrete podiums for Depot Basel

His extraordinary history was one of the reasons we decided to invite him to Depot Basel. The other one was that we believe in the potential of Tristan, who says that he is still confronted with a laborious process with several setbacks before he arrives at something he is even half-happy with. A common thing among designers. He found his desire to be a designer by a fluke and met his girlfriend the same way. Also at Boisbuchet. About one year ago he moved to Barcelona for a change, the focus on his own career and his girlfriend Paula Benvegnú. Shortly before he came to Basel the two of them made a lamp out of ribbons.

Concrete stand for Depot Basel

It was a spontaneous action, unplanned but fruitful. They started to like working together and people started liking their so called ‘jellyfish lamp’ that was suddenly featured all over the internet. Paula’s background is Advertising and Social Communication which complements Tristan’s self-thought skills in making things. I think Tristan is a great example for someone with great ambition who should keep on working until the next good thing happens to him. Time will tell.

Work in Progress

Concrete stools ‘Faultline stools’ 2008 at Gallery Fumi

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I met Tobias Schäfer in Basel at Laura Pregger‘s place, my colleague at Depot Basel, during the Basel’s annual design and art events in June. Laura and Tobias were exhibiting their work together at the newly opened DW1 gallery at the Rhein promenade. Tobias is a calm and open character, he wears a Russian ‘Back in USSR’ Raketa watch, likes mixed material, sculpture and bright colours. Despite a very brief encounter I had the feeling that I know Tobias. The trained stonemason who studies Fine Arts in Karlsruhe and Stuttgart in the class of John Bock and Joachim Fleischer started to make his first pieces of furniture and objects in 2009. Shortly after he began his education as a teacher. For the first occurrence of Depot Basel our team invited Tobias and 8 other designers to make the infrastructure for our silo. He is an incredibly sincere person and a focused creator of things with an unique sense for form. He was a perfect match for our project. Two days ago I got an email from him, where he told me that he quit his traineeship. I will quote him now:’I am free! Finally I can make things all day long’. How glad I am to hear this!

Tobias always wears this silver ring. It is a one of the pieces by creative collective Cooperation//Standard and Tobias is a member of them, being mainly responsible for the displays and the funriture

A mixed material display at the DW1

Crowdwalker at DW1

Verner Panton‘s chair & a sidetable by Tobias Schäfer at DW1

Dissquared box for Depot Basel

Carpet bench for Depot Basel

Clustered displays for Depot Basel

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Bernadette Deddens and Tetsuo Mukai met during their studies at ArtEz in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Dutch Bernadette and Japanese Tetsuo formed Study o Portable about two years ago, where they investigate materials in order to produce uncommon accessories. The small series of carefully designed objects are always linked to a different technique that they explore and fabricate by themselves in their tiny studio in North London. When I visited both the other day, I entered a cozy 20 square meter space that is packed with personal objects and memories. The married couple made the place very homely but also a very effective workshop. I guess this is a good example of Japanese organisation combined with Dutch spontaneity that makes this household work. While we snacked a carrot cake and played Mastermind we talked about the second show they will curate during this year’s London Design Festival with the title Methods of Imitation. I wish it would be already September.

Some of the leather bangles, modeled by Bernadette

Work in process: various Fuzz containers in different shapes

Two necklaces: one consists of modular acrylic beads and the other one wooden blocks with black-and-white linoleum

As a child Bernadette’s parents put a bell around her neck. She was able to play outside and her mum could tell where she was by the sound of the little cowbell. An ancient and honest GPS signal. These days kids would probably get an iphone.

Self-invented and hand-operated rotating spindle that is used to make the Fuzz collection and the Baum bangles, that are inspired by the process of producing ‘Baumkuchen’ cake

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Laurens & Daphna in Ventura Lambrate, Milan 2011

Daphna Isaacs and Laurens Manders were presenting their ‘Tafelstukken’ at the DMY in Berlin last year, where they also won one of the DMY Awards for their precious lights with embedded extra function. These lights are made in porcelain and oak. The ‘table pieces’ (dutch: tafelstukken) are centerpieces for the table. But sometimes also for whole space. Material and shape are well combined: everything in porcelain is round and the wooden legs and switches are square. The various storage options in the pieces allow the user to give every light an individual and final touch.

Ceremony of the DMY awards, June 2010

Until this year’s Salone del Mobile all Tafelstukken were handmade. I bumped into Daphna and Laurens in Milan again. They were full of energy and on the run to catch their flight back to Eindhoven. The couple that works together under the name Daphna Laurens told me the news that famous Italian manufacturing company Cappellini added three of the lamps to their range of products. How great is that!

Small fruitlamp (small legged piece) from the first edition

‘ What we can do, if we are allowed to’ says the the Berliner Zeitung

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Raphaël Charles in his living room, sitting on ‘Please tag me’, a seat made of flexible coat foaming. In the background you can find some of the vases he made in 2006 and the magnetic table he launched last year. The wall decoration ‘Coral Invasion’ is also a project from past year. Raphaël’s house is in a charming quite side street, surrounded by a scenery with many trees.

‘Les Cheminées’ Vases

My first encounter with Raphaël Charles was in Milan earlier this year. He and his friends were at the opening of the exhibition I co-curated. It was quite packed, but Raphaël stand out with his t-shirt that said ‘God bless Belgium’. Very humorous for someone from a country that seems to be somewhere in between the French and the Dutch, I thought with a smile. Next time I bumped into him and his friends in Berlin during DMY where we spontaneously went together to an opening. Raphaël always seems to be at ease and natural. And proud, of course. When he talks about his work he takes his time, he never gives you a feeling to be hectic or doubtful. When it comes to his designs I particularly like that he feels no objection to use various material, to interpret them in versatile forms and to experiment with functions. In his portfolio all of them are different, clearly made by someone who has the urge to create.

’20/30′ Rug

‘Multiple’ Table

‘Just a bag’ Multipurpose bag

Zoé, Raphael’s and his girlfriend’s rabbit

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Judith Seng in her studio in Berlin. The spacious 3,300-square-foot space is Judith’s and her boyfriend Alex Valder‘s studio and apartment. Both moved in about one year ago. Around Judith are various versions of Trift, which are wooden sculptures that are half-dipped in colorful high-gloss car paint, that are presented by Phillips de Pury in New York at the moment. An ongoing project she started in 2009.

Ecdysis, 2010, are various objects covered in wax inspired by the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body

I visited Judith’s studio during the DMY. During the Design Festival the creative couple opened up their studio to the public. Hand-made pasta by Alex was served while visitors and friends were able to take a look at some of the designers they made in the past ten years. As many designers, Judith was mostly excited about her current project. ‘Acting Things’ is the title. The starting point of the concept is the idea of turning a theater stage into a temporary factory in which guests produce tables themselves in order to dine on them together. The project will be presented on the 24th June in the Hau 3 in Berlin.

Fingerbowl, 2005, an enlarged version of an imprint of an individual finger becomes a bowl. Identity lies on the table.

Open studio with pasta and friends during DMY Festival 2011

Hide & show, 2004, is a framework that turns your clothing into the main detail of the furniture’s aesthetic

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After strolling though the Design Academy Eindhoven show in Milan, I found myself in the courtyard of the great spazio staring at a robot who makes chairs out of a plastic string which he continuously adds in new layers until a 3d shape comes into existence. Very impressive programming skills for someone who just graduated, Dirk van der Kooij. I quickly made a move towards a friendly girl that gave out flyers and met Dirk van der Kooij’s girlfriend. She liked my drawn interview request and forced Dirk to stop with a conversation he had in order to draw for me. That’s nice, isn’t it?

Eindhoven-based designer Dirk changed a robots life, whose previous life was in a Chinese factory, and made him become a designer in Europe. The process of reprogramming the robot took about one year, says Dirk.

Dirk uses old refrigerators that are pulverised and melted as material for his furniture. The recycled plastic gives the whole concept a good story. At the end some pigment is added and the robot gets to work.

‘Endless’, brings the idea of ‘furniture rapid prototyping’ to the point.

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Ellen in her house with 6 of her bags and her cat Oscar

About 5 years ago suddenly people were talking about this bag designer that lives in Maastricht. Ellen Truijen: simple shapes, high quality leather (it’s a pleasure to touch all of them!) and extraordinary craftsmanship combined into a bag. Until last year I didn’t own one of her bags and now it became a part of my everyday life. That’s how it is with Ellen’s leather bags: when you get one it adapts to your daily routine and everyone around you want to know where you get it from. But next to her bags it is just adorable that Ellen is also co-owner of the Mos Store in Maastricht, a mother of two and a wife to her husband Rob. During my stay at their house, which is literally next door to the store and their studio’s, it was a pleasure to see that you can run a successful business with having your family around.

The cabinet in the livingroom is a design from her husband Rob Truijen. They found the wood during the reconstruction of Rob’s brothers kitchen and decided to use it for a piece in their own space. Ellen’s best friend Audrey van der Krogt made the vase for them. Both graduated together in 2000 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht.

Daan, Ellen’s and Rob’s little boy, is hiding in front of his mum’s sewing machine and work desk, which stands in the Mos store – a good way to be in the store when customers arrive, while being able to work. Anyway, Daan was shy in the beginning but at the end he was happy to jump on my back and to be carried around. What a cheeky monkey.

Why a using a figure of the Pacman game for her bags? Ellen says that she wanted to add something ‘light’ to her bags that makes people smile. The idea of a Pacman Blinky popped in her head and stayed there until she decided that it will be strong enough to come along. She is still happy with the choice and observes people smiling about it all the time. Also it is an icon of her generation.

Ellen is watching her little boy while her little girl called Teun spends the day at a friend’s house. During lunch we were joking that it would be perfect of Daan would become a stylist and Teun a tax officer. It’s always good to do business with family. : )

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Costas wears a Sotiris Georgiou jacket : )

Imagine you just finished an internship with dezeen and you recieve an email of the editor in chief of another very established design magazine called yatzer who just read your bye bye dezeen post and asks why you are leaving the flagship of design online magazines. Back then I thought: ‘Cool, people actually read my blog!’ His final words in the email were ‘But your Mat & Me was always there for you!’ And he was damn right already back then in 2008.

Mat & Me meets Yatzer

That’s how I met Costas Voyatzis, a Greek boy who made Greece a topic in Design and who is sometimes surprised how successful Yatzer became since he started in January 2007.

What astonishes Costas is very obviously for his followers, because hard, continuous work pays off one day and Costas deserves that after supporting so many creative heads. The smart and very fashion conscious Costas got his love for design though his work at the Greek magazine, Maison & Decoration and basically decided to build up his own online platform for high aesthetics. When I ran into him in Milan he told me he couldn’t believe that some magazine voted him one of the best 5 blogs about design. With some people you would think he is a a show-off but with Costas you think ‘good job’!

Always up to fool around! Costas liked the idea of our sticker glasses for the Achille is watching us exhibition me and my friend Marco Lorusso curated. I told him they don’t stick properly on the face but he insisted to put them on anyway. : )

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Maarten

I will keep this entry short, because I am in Milan and I am lucky to have an internet connection. Maarten de Ceaular is a Belgian designer who I visited in his studio earlier this year. When I got offered a space in Milan during Design Week I asked Victor Hunt if he wants to use one of the rooms in the house. We had to choose what we will present but at the end the choise was easy, because we decided that Maarten´s new Ballon Bowls are perfect to accompany the Achille is watching us exhibition. If you want to find out more about Maarten come and meet him tomorrow and the opening at Via Laghetto, where he presents a special selectionm of bowls in the spacious cellar of the house.

The studio in Brussels

Ballon Bowl made of plaster

Some upcoming work

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Mark Braun, a catchy name with a concept of running a studio in order to produce and not just to make. He studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam and graduated in 2006, but before that he trained as a carpenter. Quite early he realised how costly it is to produce your own designs. With this thought in the back of his head Mark focused on finding manufactures and trying to work as close as possible with them. No surprise you can find a list of companies like Raumgestalt, Authentica and Asa on his portfolio, which is just 5 years old. Meeting Mark at his studio in East Berlin was a good moment on an early morning. Luckily he got time for a tea. When I called him one day before, he liked the idea of my drawn interview, but gave me just two time slots for passing by: 9am or 7pm. Guess what he does in between. He works on his designs.

Mark calls this shelf ‘Ding Regal’ which means ‘things shelf’, where he displays various articles he collects and cares about

‘Ova’, eggcup or glas in one, get it at Sompex

Samples of ‘fortune’, collection of water carafes features engravings of the shapes and outlines of Austrian bodies of water

The ‘fortune’ carafes at Lobmeyer during Vienna Design Week

‘Lift’, roto mould tables

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Niek does the ‘patch up and roll’

Niek Pulles sees himself as experimental and visual inspirator. The Eindhoven-based Design Academy graduate stayed in the city and dedicated his life to a long list of disciplines: Visual arts, Fashion, Video, Interior, Photography, Design. And that’s just some I can name from the top of my head. One of his recent projects are the ‘Architectural Acoustics’, foam panels for public spaces which improve acoustics an insulation. An idea inspired by old tapestries and translated into work that suits the aesthetics and value of our times.

Niek’s production station. Yes, the boy can sew!

Niek says that the fashion world is fast and exchangeable. Probably the reason why he always hunts for new materials and visuals that he can feed to the world. He also wants to stimulate new ideas in fellow designers and hopes for spectacular eye candy in design. Before I left his studio Niek gave me a little orange car and a business card in plastic bag for an exhibition next month. He told me how obsessed he is with bumpers and showed me a big book in which he coloured hundreds of them. It’s a book he made for the application to the Design Academy. His current logo was printed on the book cover. Obviously 25 year old Niek knew already where he is going 5 years ago.

Niek’s living and working space is a huge moodboard

A piece of foam from his ‘Architectural Acoustics’ and one of his handmade and hypercoloured leggings, which he calls ‘Legwear’

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It was my first year of my product design studies when I begged my design tutor if I can join the 2nd year students at a workshop with Chris Kabel and Wieki Somers. Both of them were one of the first designers I got in contact with. And the first designers I payed attention to. Back than this blog not even existed. Now I went an visited Chris in his studio in Rotterdam.

Sticky lamp for droog

Chris’s signature piece is the sticky lamp for droog. It’s a lamp he developed for his graduation and which, after it was picked up by the dutch conceptual design producer, went in production. This year Chris celebrates ten years of ‘official designing’. The shared space III for Witte de With is one of his last big projects. Its is a circular bench made from one 10 metre-long wooden beam. Simple and nifty.

Shared space III for Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art

Chris’s studio is not far away from the station. Some designers would dream of such a spacious space in the centre. He got lucky and is happy about it, even if he could be kicked out anytime, which seems not going to happen because he settled there in 2007. When I enter I meet two of his interns while they work on a new chair project. They are both not dutch. Obviously they and want to have an insight in the dutch way of creating things.

Flames for Moooi

Both interns made a good choice, because even if Chris is just in his mid thirties, he is one of the founders of what people would call Dutch Design. He likes to give things which have long been ascribed a function to elicit something new in order to appreciate them in a different way. Funny enough I just had a look at Wikipedia and typed in ‘Dutch Design’. Chris is missing. Can someone edit this bloody post??

Money vase

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Kwangho, one of the non-dutch designers at the show

Kwangho Lee‘s pieces seem to wind, coil, or wrap themselves precisely in the right shape. The Korean designer approaches the material first before he starts to think about the shape. That’s something his grandfather recommend him warmly. Kwanghoo’s series of seating options and lights are all made in purposefully tangled electric wire. It seems his technique of wire weaving has reached the level of perfection since his final grad project at design school in Seoul.

At Object Rotterdam I was delighted to Kwanghoo and his designart dealer Victor Hunt, who is not just Kwangho’s agent, but his friend. I arrived at the fair just on time: the snacks and the champagne were served. That’s why we sat down on Kwangho’s pieces, which passed the comfort test, and had some nibbles while we were talking about the upcoming Design Week in Milan and other stuff that shouldn’t bother us.

If someone would ask me what my favourite moment at the Object Rotterdam was, I would probably answer sitting together with Kwangho and Victor. At the end it’s all about the people and the experiences and not about the things you see.

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Barnaby ‘s new studio & oven (on the left): both are probably the best purchase he ever made. It must have been a truly happy day for him.

Barnaby Barford gives porcelain figurines a new activity. The London-based designer (he actually lives so far east that you could call him an essex boy) discovered his sympathy for the fragile characters during his studies at the Royal College of Art. After graduating about 10 years ago he did various design jobs, but after a while he decided to start focusing on his Art pieces. Very consequent.

If you think about porcelain figures you picture an ideal, romantic situation in a small scale that is place on your grandma’s dressing table. Sometimes it’s a boy in a pastel shaded tailcoat playing the violin and sometimes it’s the little girl in a white dress that dances ballet while holding a flower in her hand. How absurd, isn’t it? Barnaby buys these undesired figurines on fleemarkets, salvation army shops or anywhere where he sees them and takes them home. He cuts the figurines and re-assembles them. He uses Milliput, an epoxy putty and his secret weapon, to change certain forms on the pieces in order to put them in a different situation. Some of them are similar to situations you see when you switch on the 8 pm news and the police is involved.

I understand that peoples reactions to Barnaby’s figurines are mixed. Most think they are humorous, but their are some that say they are ugly. Others go as far as saying that they are shameless and a disgrace to the originals. Personally I think Barnaby uses his great sense of British humor in just the right way. The fact that his figure create such debate, is a sign that his work is a sucess. When you look at vintage porcelain figures the seem surreal, like distorted versions of the real world though usually fairly boring and unexciting in muted colours. Created in total contrast, I wonder what our children will make of Barnaby’s work in years to come?

Watch Barnaby’s first movie, his figurines in leading parts, here
Watch Barnaby’s interview about the idea of the movie, here

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Cyril Duval is Item Idem, a synonym that stands for the potential of becoming an icon. Our first encounter was in 2007, when he won the Great Indoors Award for the Bernhard Willhelm Tokyo flagship boutique. A showroom interior made with material, that some people would call trash. He did something different, something unexpected. He actually just did something he likes. Paris-born Cyril also runs his own Galerie since he moved to New York. It is called Galerie Lafayette, due to the fact that he lives in Manhattan on a street with a similar name. You might think that it’s a little bit too much to declare your space as showroom, but that’s just how it feels when you enter it. It’s Cyril’s world and it’s worth to have a look at it.

A conceptual artist and a connoisseur.

He is not hard trying, every move comes natural.

Maybe not his bible, but a title that fits his person.

Cyril is able to consciously act out an adopted role. Always trying to overdose of consumption, he is not shy, very polite, genuine and loves masquerading. I highly enjoyed taking pictures of him.

Follow Cyril at his very own Colette blog.
Look at some of his projects here.
Watch and listen to him here.

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Jason Miller at his Brooklyn-based studio. His surfboard reminds him that he should sometimes take some more time off. That’s probably the reason why it stands next to his desk.

When you look at Jason Miller‘s portrait above you wouldn’t be surprised that he once worked for Jeff Koon‘s as studio assistant. Some day after he was one of Karim Rashid‘s designers. Regardless of his experience with others Jason made his own choices and developed his own style.

Jason does everything. I guess, anything that is creative and brings money in. He also designed his own interior for his apartment with a budget ‘for what most of the people spend on a couch’ he points out on his website. The list pf companies he developed products for include Areaware, Brookstone, Benza and many more. Recently he opened a new lighting company called Roll & Hill. We will see what’s coming next.

‘Ogel Vase’

‘Seconds’

‘Woolly Chair’

The spot for the team at the studio.

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Jan at his studio in Manhattan. He holds his signature piece, a duck made of sponge, in his hands. He obviously is a Star Wars fan.

I got in touch with the designer Alissia Melka-Teichow, when I found out that her boyfriend’s name is Jan Habraken. Before my trip to New York in September I asked Alissia if she would like to do a drawn interview for me. Back then I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and asked if Jan would be interested as well. Both were happy to meet me and invited me to their office. That was the day, when I met Jan, who is one of the people who look on pictures exactly like they look in real life. Maybe because his haircut never really changes. : )

Jan and Alissia met at the Design Academy during their studies. They have a the same story when it comes to leaving Europe and going to New York. Somehow they needed a change. They share a work space but separate companies. In the beginning Jan was running Wat Design together with Maarten Baptist, who was in EIndhoven. After a while they realised that it is not so easy to run a company in different time zones and decided to go seperate ways. That was the birth of Studio Jan Habraken. Jan can’t really think about going back to the Netherlands. New York feels right for him. While I am tipping this words I actually wonder why I haven’t asked Alissia and Jan if they ever argue. I mean, they obviously spend a lot of time together. They are also tutors at the Industrial Design course at Pratt Institute. That day I met them for the first time and whatever it is, I feel that being in New York is the right choice for both of them. Look at Jan’s happy face and see yourself.

‘Sponge Duck’

‘Soap Bottle Soap’

‘Flow Chair’

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Alissia in her studio in Manhattan. The large storage rack is full of various diamond rings in different sizes, shapes and materials.

I bought my first diamond ring by Alissia when I started studying product design in 2006. I got it at the Conflict store in Maastricht. Back then I was amazed about this simple idea, that was able to sell. A laser-cut acrylic ring. 4 years later I find myself sitting at Alissia Melka-Teichroew‘s studio in New York. The designer is raised in the Netherlands, but decided to establish herself as a designer in New York. She wrote in her emails that they recently moved from Brooklyn to Manhatten with their studio. Because ‘they are grown-ups now’.

When you talk about design, she points out the huge differences between European, especially Dutch, and U.S. Design. With the Americans all is very based on rational explanation. The Dutch are keen on involving their instinct. No surprise she curated an offsite event called ’400 Years Later’, a Dutch design exhibition with 23 designers at last years New York Design Week.

Anyway, entering the studio is like entering little Holland. 4 Dutch people were sitting at the table including Stroopwafeltjes brought by the new Dutch intern. Next door is Kikkerland, one of Alissia’s clients. I guess that makes scheduling a meeting easy. I asked Alissia if she would ever go back to the Netherlands. She answered ‘ I personally want to move back to europe :-) But work wise it’s harder as I have established something here and it’s always hard to leave that wherever you are.’

Alissia’s launched a new ‘Jointed-Jewels’ collection this year. The pieces have a familiar shape but are made using 3D printing process laser sintering, where a ball can be ‘printed’ inside another one. All the pieces were on display at exhibitions, when I visited Alissia. That’s why she had just 2 braclets at her studio.

The ‘diamond ring’ is probably the most significant piece by Alissia. She designed the first in 2003. You can buy an acrylic one but also one in gold or silver. Either way it’s a symbol of luxury. It depends how much budget you have to treat yourself.

This are pieces from the Peasant Collection, which Alissia launched also this year. The collection is made of wood and refined aesthetics. A busy year for the designer.

Alissia shares her studio with 2 other dutch designers: Martijn Deurloo and Jan Habraken, her husband. This is her ‘corner’ in the huge space in Manhattan.

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People around me start to get crazy about making cookies and cakes. Yesterday we went to a birthday party of my friend Nika Rams, who invited everyone to make cookies. She had a pot full with melted chocolate. I dipped a cookie in the ‘to die for’ cream and had to think about Dejana Kabiljo and her ‘Let them sit cake!’ couch, which was presented at Wien Museum in the ‘Design in Vienna’ exhibition last month. I think that’s the right time to publish the post about the Vienna-based artist, who has the right humour to put certain fetishes into products.

Dejana sits on ‘Let them sit cake!’, 2009 which was launched during Milan Design Week last year, during the drawn interview. Her product is a couch that consists of stacked bags full of wheat bran and polypol ‘chocolate icing’

PrettyPretty, a series of seating possibilities with hair, was choosen by Philippe Stark for a hotel in Beverly Hills. Another one who gets Dejana’s ideas.

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Dejana’s house

I still can’t believe that I actually made it to Paul Loebach‘s studio. When I arrived at the main entrance of the big warehouse building in Brooklyn, I realised that I forgot to write down his number and the number of his flat. Americans are not very keen on nameplates. I had no phone and couldn’t think about anything than going back home and sending him an email till I saw two guys at the end of the street. I asked if they might now someone in the building and lucky me found herself talking to the janitor. Alex took me to the janitor office. Together we looked up in which of the hundreds apartments he lives in. That’s how I finally made it to Paul, a Rhode Island School of Design Graduate who moved to New York about 8 years ago in order to set up his own practice.

‘Shelf space’, CNC’ed wood shelf and candelholder (bottom right)
The candelholder is availabe for pre-order at Areaware

Paul is this person who takes things nice and slowly. He he appreciates history, small details and good moments. When it comes to design, his heritage becomes unmistakenly clear: he comes from a long line of German woodworkers. He may not a speak a word in German but he is definitely obsessed with wood.

‘Wood Vase’, CNC’ed marple wood vase

Paul’s method of operation has not so much in common with the actual work of an woodworker. There is not just sawing and drilling. He goes beyond the actual craft and complements it with modern technologies. Thus he creates objects with his aesthetics. I am sure his ancestors would be proud.

‘Handy Mirror’, red painted maple

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Shortly before I went to visit Ben in his studio, I ran into him and Andre Klauser on the street. Andre introduced him as ‘Ben’ and not as Ben Wilson. So when, two days later, I arrived at his door, there was instantly some recognition. Ben recently got himself his first ‘real job’, his words, not mine. Since October both Ben and Andre have become tutors for Design Products, Platform 14, at the Royal College of Art.

I met Ben in September 2010, don’t believe the clock

Ben is a real London kid. He was brought up in the North and now lives in the East. His whole family works in a creative field, that’s why he and his two brothers work together from time to time under the title Wilson Brothers. Oscar is a graphic designer, Luke is a DJ and Ben has the industrial design background. Early on in life Ben (and his parents) discovered that he has a thing for bikes. At the tender age of 8 had already disassembled one in order to find out how they work.

This is Ben’s workshop; all component parts of bikes available!

Ben is probably best known for his own bikes and also enjoys a good reputation for various other projects, like the interior for the Foot Patrol store, 1948 Nike stadium and the Chairfix, an invention he made because after graduating he could not find a job. Instead of waiting for one, he decided to design something that is easy to make and is adjustable for various clients. It seems his impatience paid off.

This Chairfix is a leftover of the Solo show at Aram in 2003

The Wilson Brother’s advantage is that even if they don’t know everything, they get to know a lot of stuff while they are doing it. Ben holds that philosophy up, but he gets bored pretty quick, that’s why diversity is the key thing.

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