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Bofred Cape Town design studio
03.04.20

Up and Coming

An Earthy New Furniture Collection, Inspired By the South African Coastline

There’s a lot that separates Muscat, Oman’s port capital, and Durban on the east coast of South Africa. But it’s their similarities that have inspired the new Bask Collection by up and coming South African design studio Bofred. Christa Botha and Carla Erasmus are the design duo behind Bofred, whose concept of home is an eclectic mix of the two coastal cities where they feel most relaxed and inspired.
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Chair 1OPENER
02.19.20

Up and Coming

Meet The RISD Grad Pushing Pastel Pulp To The Forefront of Sustainable Design

Twenty-two-year-old Mike Ruiz-Serra grew up in Westchester, a great vantage point from which to peer in on New York’s constantly evolving design scene. And for his first collection as an industrial design graduate from RISD, he cites barely-older-than-him contemporaries like Zach Martin and Thomas Barger as people whose work helped him to understand the full potential of his favored medium: paper pulp.
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Jade Paton 2
02.18.20

Up and Coming

Cape Town Ceramicist Jade Paton’s Quirky, Hand-Formed Vessels

Ceramic artist Jade Paton’s parents own a well-known florist in Cape Town where she’s spent many hours working, twisting bouquets, and building installations. It’s fitting then that she now uses her hands to make vessels that look particularly wonderful when filled with flowers. But don’t be mistaken — her ceramic pieces are equally inspired by her background in sculpture during her studies in fine art and would hold their own in a white cube. “I believe that the boundaries between art and design are more blurred than ever before,” she says. “I like that my pieces feel both functional and sculptural.”
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Matthias Selden
02.06.20

Up and Coming

Sorry, Hygge Hive — Mattias Sellden Just Took Nordic Design Out Of Its Comfort Zone

For Swede Mattias Sellden, the first step towards making a name for himself was, for better or worse, admitting that he wanted to. “For me, even showing what I do was a hurdle. I still don’t have a website and I started my Instagram only in August of last year — three months after my graduate exhibition.” Sellden chalks this reticence up to the Nordic code of conduct known as Janteloven, which he describes as “the very Swedish notion not be a show-off.”
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Greek_SavvasLaz12
01.07.20

Up and Coming

Meet Three (More) Rising Stars Defining the Greek Design Scene

To work in Athens in 2020 is to work in a city that is both global — and, as such, ripe with opportunities for cross-border collaborations — but also very particular. Whether focusing on local problems with global impact, like the Greek capital’s distinct lack of recycling facilities, or creating collective arts organizations, making of any kind here is always situated within a local context. To get a glimpse into the growing Greek design scene, we recently caught up with three of the country's most exciting young talents.
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QUARTER SIDE TABLE
11.25.19

Up and Coming

This Cape Town Designer Makes Velvet Couches and Stone Tables Inspired By the Moon

The first piece of furniture interior designer Mia Senekal ever designed was like something out of Game of Thrones. “I have to laugh,” she says. “It was in college.” The complicated chair made of strips of hooped iron now lives in her mom’s garden with ivy growing all around it. With its rounded curves and luxurious upholstery, her first furniture collection released under the brand name murrmurr is acres more elegant.
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alexbatista_estudiorain_1
11.15.19

Up and Coming

Get to Know Sao Paulo’s Newest Breakout Talents, From Their Youth in Brasilia to Their Latest Collection

With barely a woodgrain in sight, the work of São Paulo duo Ricardo Innecco and Mariana Ramos doesn't look all that Brazilian. And yet even in just the four years since they began working together as Estudio Rain, they've seen a surge in the Brazilian market's interest in their brand of conceptual minimalism, allowing them to push their practice in an even more experimental direction. We recently spoke with them about that shift, as well as about their formative years in Brasilia, and what inspired their latest collection.
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Ian Felton opener
09.26.19

Up and Coming

Ian Felton’s Kosa Collection — Inspired by Pre-Colombian Cultures — is This Season’s Must-See Debut

Ian Felton's debut collection was supposed to arrive in New York in June, just in time for a showcase at Michael Bargo's Chinatown gallery. But, as luck would have it, the pieces — in transit from an atelier just outside of Mexico City — got stuck in customs and the collection, called Kosa, debuted only last week. In some ways, however, the new launch date seems appropriate: Felton's collection — all thick bolsters, chunky forms, and autumnal hues — was inspired by Pre-Colombian cultures and ideas around creation and rebirth — a very fall-like theme — not to mention how cozy it might be to snuggle up in the rounded corner of his alpaca-covered lounge chair.
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