DE S IGN CENTRE
GUEST STARS
Partnerships between brands and creative collaborators have transformed the interiors landscape, bringing fresh ideas and new means of expression. These recent joint ventures show the power of collective thought
established names to create new products. There are plenty of star-powered licensed collections making a splash, but there is also evidence of exciting micro collaborations and one-offs too. Oficina Inglesa Furniture has paired up with interior designer Rita Konig to create furniture based on her own favourite pieces or ones that she has found hard to source for projects. Filling a gap, they sum up Konig’s inimitable style: “The rule of
T thumb for me was producing
pieces I could use all the time,” she says. They include ‘Draycott’, a faux-bamboo chest of drawers, and ‘Chelsea’, which might work equally well as a dining table or centre table. “I’m currently working on a hall in my own home and am so looking forward to using this table. I envisage it being a place to have meetings, to play cards and plonk my handbag!” commented Konig at the showroom launch in Design Centre East. Oficina Inglesa’s impeccable craftsmanship is the thread that holds everything together. Collaborations are as much about content as they
are about product. “MindTheGap is such a colourful treasure box – I was honoured when I was asked to collaborate with them,” said Minnie Kemp, Kit Kemp Design Studio’s design director. “It’s been so inspiring and thought-provoking, and I learned so much.” This was the first time that MindTheGap had teamed up with an external creative to realise a new collection of wallcoverings and Kemp worked closely with the design team based in Cluj. The results? Block print inspired florals, bold graphic patterns, rich ikats, painterly murals, flamboyant embroidery blooms, all inspired by MindTheGap’s homeland of Transylvania and its folklore, combined with an English eccentricity and playfulness. Other interior designer collaborations include the Gloriette trimming collection from Maddux
hey say 'great minds think alike', and the design world has
seen a flurry of
collaborations – from fashion houses to interior design stalwarts working alongside
Creative and Samuel & Sons, as well as Carlos Garcia’s first collection of
fabrics and wallpapers in
collaboration with Nicole Fabre Designs, available at Tissus d’Hélène. Ottoman and French prints, English chintzes, Spanish and Ottoman weaves are based on original documents in Garcia’s archives and have been sensitively updated. Across the pond, Perennials’ latest offering encompasses LA-based designer Rose Tarlow’s lived-in, elegant
style. Fabrics include performance
jacquards, while rug designs were inspired by Tarlow’s own watercolour paintings. For Volanges, the latest range of tiebacks, braids and fringes from Houlès, a collaboration with Paris-based designer Olivier Berni was an obvious choice as it embodies his love of classical accents and unexpected colour combinations. For some brands, regularly inviting external designers to work with them is part of their design
“THE RULE OF THUMB FOR ME WAS PRODUCING PIECES I COULD USE ALL THE TIME"
DNA. Established in the 1950s, Gallotti&Radice has promoted designers for years, and Studiopepe, the cool Milanese design duo, is just one of its current collaborators with ‘Selce’, a series of stone coffee tables in different finishes, now in its permanent collection. Part of Arteriors’ successful guest designer programme, its latest 19-piece collection marks US interior decorator Barry Dixon’s sixth with the brand, having worked together previously for more than 10 years. Inspired by the natural world infused with a contemporary twist, it features the delicate curve of a mosquito’s leg fashioned from blackened iron on four furniture pieces and mixed metal finishes on the ‘Storm Cloud’ mirror. The concept of two brands teaming up to become more than the sum of their parts has been a reliable marketing
play. The Duo collection encapsulates the excellence of two Italian titans with soft upholstery made by Poltrona Frau’s expert artisans and wooden cabinetry from Ceccotti Collezioni’s workshop. Creativity abounds when designers can experiment
with different materials and palettes. The West One Bathrooms showroom recently welcomed British designer Bethan Laura Wood to unveil a new capsule collection she has created for Kaldewei. Wood is known for an exuberant use of colour and pattern and Avocado Dreams makes a tongue-in-cheek reference to the classic colour of choice for a 1970s bathroom – although her approach is somewhat different. The entire inner surface of the ‘Meisterstuck Oyo Duo’ bath, for example, is covered in Wood’s almost psychedelic pattern, providing a contrast to the bath’s simple, minimal shape. Londonart Wallpaper has partnered with Italian luxury fashion house Marni interpreting its artistic heritage to create wallcoverings featuring macro flowers,
irreverent stripes and hand-painted kaleidoscopic patterns. “Walls are the skin of an
x Gallotti&Radice ‘Selce’ tables
Studiopepe
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