Raw Edges in the V&A’s “Couples Counseling” Video Series

When it comes to the issues explored in the Victoria & Albert museum’s video series “Couples Counseling,” which probes the relationships behind five London design duos, Raw Edges’s Yael Maer sums things up handily: “Working and living together — it’s a very problematic issue,” she says with a loaded smile. Adds partner Shay Alkalay: “We have to find a way to separate personal life and professional life,” before making it clear over the course of the subsequent seven-minute interview that the couple have managed to do no such thing. But although all five of the partnerships profiled — including FredriksonStallard and Pinch Design — admit that mixing love and professional collaboration brings its fair share of challenges, in the end the viewer understands that what gives their work its strength is the depth of character that results when a person’s greatest admirer is also his or her toughest critic.

Directed by Joana Filipe, the films were produced by the V&A for its Two’s a Pair event during last fall’s London Design Week, for which DesignersBlock helped curate an evening of cooperative activities like a romantic-centerpiece-making lesson and a spoon-feeding station by Italian food designers Arabeschi di Latte. But they were only recently posted online for all to see, and so we decided to feature one here on Sight Unseen: the Raw Edges interview, which offers a glimpse not only into the designers’ personal backstory, but also into their working process. Watch the video above, and then follow these links to view the other four:

Pinch Design
FredriksonStallard
LBN Associates
Hemingway Design