rising TALENTS
New voices, outside the box
S
ome already have a number of creations in their portfolio, while others have only recently appeared on the international stage. What they share, besides remarkable creativity that sets them apart from the field of young designers, is a personal pathway that is just beginning, and promises to yield brilliant results. Keep an eye on these
rising talents as they freely move through the discipline with a taste for experimentation and contamination, while keeping faith with fixed points like technology, sustainability and tradition, carefully blended. Though the usual showcases have been lacking over the last year, there are many alternative digital venues and prizes, to recognize their talent. Imagination knows no limits!
Photo © Amy Bartlam
USA
Stephen Kenn Last year he won the Edge Award organized by the LA Design Festival, but his career in furniture design began well before that. Stephen Kenn Studio opened its doors in 2011 (Beks Opperman is the co-founder, and also his wife) with a specific focus on home and travel: the fundamental background was Stephen’s previous experience designing travel bags. In the passage to interiors he continued with the same approach to single materials and the curiosity to create simply formulated objects that serve a purpose. This can be seen in the Inheritance Collection, where curiosity in design and research on materials form a winning combination. This seating line brings the usually inner structure of sofas to the outside, making it visible; the belting on the back and sides replicates a WWII Swiss Army ‘mule belt,’ utilized to strap provisions onto pack animals.
GERMANY
Dirk Vosding “The design is reminiscent of clamp-on lamps for bookcases, but with way more charm – a small, simple but subtle product that looks equally good as a table lamp or bookend on a sideboard or bedside table.” These are the words of Eva Marguerre, in the name of the whole jury of the Pure Talents Contest 2021 of imm Cologne, to accompany the second prize assigned to Dirk Vosding for Elina, an original transformable object that functions as a bookend when closed. If the glass disk inside is slowly removed, it creates a light source around the books and becomes a reading lamp. ITALY
Matteo Stucchi From the context of Milan, Matteo Stucchi stands out as a designer under 30 whose resumé already lists a series of collaborations Made in Italy – Sitap Carpet, Jannelli&Volpi, Meroni&Colzani, NOW Edizioni, among others – with new items slated to debut at the next Salone del Mobile. Balancing rigor and imagination, his design is guided by emotions; the products have a graphic approach that exploits different materials or decorative patterns. The Etna coffee table is a good example: games of geometry, full and empty zones, functions and interactions between materials, all in the simplicity of a small complement for the living room. IFDM 90 April 2021
