Beauty That Can Withstand The Continuous Drops of Time

By: Martina Freitagová

Photo: Knut Koivisto, Archive

#Around the world

Subject 1: Longevity

MC: We started to travel to Japan as students in the 90s when we got scholarships to study architecture and have kept coming back since. Japan is probably the highest developed society, very civilized and progressive. What is more, they treat architecture and design like knowledge rather than a trend. The idea of design is not only about beauty, but also functionality and longevity. One example is our design of K5 Hotel in Tokyo (awarded as the world’s best hotel conversion a year after its opening), the time perspective for that hotel and its architecture is 40 years as opposed to the short-sighted and trendy approach in the West where it is 10 years. It is very rewarding to work in such an environment. How they address nearly anything is inspiring!

OR: We found a beautiful original wooden parquet tile in one of the spaces. We did not only want to keep it but we also developed a ceramic tile inspired by the wooden parquet floor with the same proportions. This was our own interpretation with blue-gray and white colours from the famous Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto.

Questioning the materiality of glass with Kengo Kuma and his Yakisugi collection of lights, vases and glassware

A visit to Tereza Porybná's art apartment in Prague with bespoke elements creating by leading internatioal designers and artists.

Subject 2: Collecting

EK: We all collect art. Not that which matches the sofa, we rather get a sofa which matches the art. We have been collecting art even before we got to know each other and all three of us are interested in the abstract art movement of the 60s in the US, with figures like Donald Judd, Richard Serra, Elsworth Kelly etc.

Thousands of leather camera cases, a glass volcano, or porcelain shoes. A unique chance to peek into the Museum of Curiosities at Lasvit creative director Maxim Velčovský's studio in Prague.

Subject 3: Journey

EK: Back when we were at university, about 40 percent of architects in Sweden were unemployed. The only way to survive was to work in each other’s kitchens and we took anything we could. We did our first house when we graduated and then we did about a hundred interiors before we did another, because the economy was really bad. Then we designed a chair produced by David Carlson, who then showed it at the Stockholm Furniture Fair. As a result, almost 80 magazines wrote about the chair, which meant other people wanted us to create new chairs. Suddenly, we were furniture designers.

MC: The journey itself is creative or, in other words, it opens up creativity. Journeys are made to experience things and widen your perception. When you are in your daily routine, you’re blind to what is going on around you, which is practical, because you need to focus on your work. But when you get out you have to broaden your perception and you have to bring in everything you see, and experience just putting one foot in front of the other. That itself creates a bulk of inspiration. If you are perceptive, all the things are stored somewhere in your memory and it is inevitable that you find inspiration. The single most efficient source of inspiration is from traveling.

“The idea of design is not only about beauty but also functionality and lengevity.”

Mårten Claesson

EK: When I travel, sometimes there is a moment when I have a certain kind of flow, a feeling of a spiritual journey. Close to something transcendental, which you can experience only while traveling. A few weeks ago I went to Wales to visit a house which a friend of ours designed. Me and my wife went for walks in the Welsh landscape and this moment in the beautiful serene nature together with amazing architecture gave me a sense of extreme freedom.

Stories woven into the history of a strikingly modern homage to Marrakesh traditions - La Mamounia hotel and its shining anniversary gift.

Subject 4: Experience

EK: One summer in the early 2000s I was in Marfa, Texas and I was able to see by myself the 100 untitled works in mill aluminum by Donald Judd. I got the key and walked alone in the moonlight. That experience was so strong that I am still carrying it with me, and although it has been some 20 years ago I can still recollect it, how it felt, how it looked, even the smell. And those feelings resurface in your work quite naturally. There are also places like the Skogskyrkogården, a woodland cemetery by Erik Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz in Sweden, which is a UNESCO heritage site. It is extremely beautiful and it does not look like a cemetery at all. I suddenly had a strong sense of remembrance of a place, until I realized that the smell is exactly the same as in the Ise forests in Japan with two temples which they rebuild every 20 years. Exactly the same damp, watery smell in the forest. And even though I have not been there in the past 20 years, I could still recall it with such intensity! Wherever you go, whatever you see, it will naturally resurface in your work. It is a mystery.

“The object should be able to withstand the continuous drops of what we call time.”

Eero Koivisto

In conversation with the multidisciplinary artist about creating stage designs for Broadway musicals, Hollywood Oscars or children’s playgrounds and how it’s linked to his new lighting collection Constellation

Subject 5: Quality

MC: One thing that is not so often discussed is what quality can do for sustainability. If we learn how to work better with industries and focus on quality production that lasts, we could make a really big contribution to ecology. Much bigger than people think. Some say, what is the sense in designing another chair, vase or lighting? But I believe that it is built into the human DNA to explore and improve things – even chairs and vases. But do it in a way that will last for generations. And when you design an object, you’ve to look at it in an architectural context. It is like a quality test of the idea. Design is related to architecture, which has been a little lost in the last century.

EK: It is interesting to look at architecture and design classics. For example, all Italian design icons were designed by architects. If you are involved with architecture, the horizon for your work is long-term. You need to think about how to design in response to that time frame and keep longevity in your thinking. We share what is called the Scandinavian design approach: form follows function. When you look back at Swedish history, we did not have that much money before World War II and the design we made had to be good and long lasting. For example, what is called Modernism in Europe, in Sweden we would call Functionalism. It required a huge effort and development of good quality to create the classic pieces we know. That is crucial. The Wishbone Chair by Hans Wegner is one example. Thousands are made every year but they are very difficult to find on a second hand market. It means they are being inherited in families and not thrown away. If it is broken, just restring the seat. What an extremely ecological product!

Portrait of one of the most influential figures in the history of Postmodern design and a recent reissue of his Rombo vase.

Visit Milena Kling’s Berlin studio for an insight into the process behind her Circle collection designed for all the senses

Subject 6: Evolution

MC: Our dream for a long time was to work with a bent wood company and the Czech brand TON is one of the best in the world. However, all the technical development and aesthetic ideas have already been explored during the last 150 years, so it is very difficult to come up with a revolutionary new idea. The technology itself is limiting the language of design, so we were glad this project came later in our career. Now we have the experience to know when to evolve and not to revolutionize. You have to be evolving something that is already almost perfect, just making it a little bit more perfect.

“You need experience to know when to evolve and not to revolutionize.”

Mårten Claesson

Sir Winston Churchill, Lawrence of Arabia or Ian Fleming. The Old War Office is the place where British history was made. Newly opened after reconstruction with our red Poppies lighting installation and ready to start a new era of a legendary building.

As Heraclitus said “There is nothing permanent except change.” An essay on the transformation of energies and its influence on the glass industry in Bohemia.

Subject 7: Timelessness

EK: One famous Swedish furniture manufacturer always said that an object should be able to stay on the retina of your eye. You should be able to look at design and still like it after a long time. Beauty is a strong player. As French designer Andrée Putman said, the object should be able to withstand the continuous drops of what we call time.

London’s iconic Sketch restaurant was enriched by the installation Herbarium, a tribute to the plant kingdom. Get behind the scenes of this extraordinary project with designer Mária Čulenová Hostinová.

Prague radiant. An unusual guide to icons of lighting design and contemporary art works in the streets of the Czech capital.