Tectona - Designers

Barber & Osgerby

The design of Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby is anything but pretentious and long-winded.

This English duo apply a pragmatic rigour to all their projects, whether household objects or interior architecture. Their quest for simplicity and new insights engenders highly usable objects that help to redefine existing notions. Barber and Osgerby favour evolution rather than revolution. For Tectona, they revisited the archetype of the garden bench to give a sober and elegant interpretation evoking traditional roof carpentry techniques.

2011 : Design of the Olympic torch for the London 2012 Olympics.

2010 : Collaboration with Venini, Established&Sons and Sony.

2007 : Named Royal Designer for Industry.

2004 : Awarded Jerwood Applied Art Prize for Furniture, a prestigious British award in the furniture sector.

1997 : Their table "Loop" (edited by Isokon) captivates Guilio Cappellini.

1996 : Founded the BarberOsgerby agency after completing post-graduate diplomas at the Royal College of Art, London.
Christophe
Delcourt

Through his contact with craftsmen, Christophe Delcourt has learnt about quality in details and respect for traditional techniques. His eyes are drawn to and find inspiration in their realisations.

The Shanghai line is the contemporary expression of a braiding tradition of Asia. To better meet the demands of modern uses, resin has replaced wicker. In his usual manner, Christophe Delcourt paid close attention to the depth of the seat and the harmony of proportions, and incorporated a distinctive sign, the armrests lower than usual. This exercise in style defines a new Tectona essential.

2008 : Label Via award for the Canopée collection, éditions Tujague.

2007 : Fit-out of the Eric Bompard flagship store, Champs-Elysées, Paris.

2000 : Fit-out of the Grand Hôtel Nord Pinus, Arles.

1999 : Designer of the Year, Maison & Objet trade fair, Paris.

1995 : Founding of éditions Christophe Delcourt / Objets Mobilier.
Inga Sempé

Inga Sempé is laconic. Her design is pragmatic. When talking about her Delta project for Tectona, she summarizes her approach in a few words: «to design a shower that can integrate into any type of landscape, and which is sufficiently light visually speaking so as not to break up the view».

She is wary of novelty, and the tics of fashion. Her need to get to the heart of matters is expressed most often by a singular and intuitive formal vocabulary that is receptive to techniques.

2009 : Realisations with Luce Plan, Ligne Roset, Moustache, Baccarat and David Design...

2003 : Grand Prix of Design of the City of Paris.

2000 : Resident of the Villa Médicis, Rome.

1997-99 : Apprenticeship under Andrée Putman.

1993 : Graduate of ENSCI, Paris.
Nendo

With Oki Sato, founder of Nendo studio in Tokyo, dreams become reality. This young designer is today one of the most visible personalities from Japan. His many experimental concepts are driven by the need to sublimate everyday life and to inspire awe.

Recent creations include Blown-Fabric lanterns made from thermoplastic polyester blown like glass to give a unique object every time. Just as original is the Fatback chair he designed for Tectona: the exaggerated proportions of its comfortable backrest conceal storage space for cushions.

2009 : Featured among best domestic designers of WallPaper magazine.

2005 : Creation of a satellite agency in Milan.

2002 : Tokyo agency opens.

2000 : Graduate in Architecture from Waseda University (Japan).
Normal
Studio

Jean-François Dingjian and Eloi Chafaï, also known as Normal Studio, are obsessed with everyday uses. They bring a fresh perspective to everyday forms via simple and precise lines that sublimate their use.

For Tectona, their scrutiny of the archetypical outdoor table resulted in an intelligent principle and a progressive system. The key items are the cornerpieces in moulded aluminium, to which are fitted the teak legs and the rails. The handsomely openworked aluminium tabletop then clips onto the frame. It goes to show that there is always room for improvement.

2010 : Exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris.

2009 : Label VIA award for the quality of their collaboration with Tolix.

2007 : "Greyscale" exhibition at Toolsgalerie, Paris.

2006 : Eloi Chafaï awarded the Grand Prix at the Design Parade, International Festival of Design, Hyères, and establishes Normal Studio agency with Jean-François Dingjian.

1999 : Jean-François Dingjian awarded the Design Prize by the City of Paris.
Pierre Charpin

With Pierre Charpin, simplifying does not mean seeking neutrality. His objects announce clearly what they are but at the same time they impose their singular presence. This designer, inspired by Minimal Art and Ettore Sottsass, is able to make ordinary objects extraordinary.

This is evident in the suite of tennis furniture he designed for Tectona in 2007 and also in the Grandiflora collection of planters, whose red-orange hues highlight to best effect the simple spontaneous contours. "An object is not constructed from a presumed rupture with the existing world, but on the contrary, in close relation to the reality that it will modify".

2009 : "8 ½" exhibition, Kréo gallery, Paris.

2008 : New porcelain forms for Manufacture de Sèvres.

2007 : Collaboration with the Italian firm Alessi.

2005 : Designer of the Year Award by the Salon du Meuble furniture trade fair in Paris.

1998 : Exhibition in the Post-Design gallery, Milan.

1984 : Graduate of School of Fine Arts, Bourges.
Ronan & Erwan
Bouroullec

The Bouroullec brothers are on a continual quest. Their conceptual poetry and their capacity to transcend existing rules make objects enchanting again.

Their tendency to emotional forms makes their objects easy to like - the Pebble range of comfortable seating with unusual and soft contours coaxes you into relaxation, seated or lying down, alone or in company… The quality of the weaving in such large dimensions is a technical feat.

2008 : « Le Best of the Best », Red Dot Design Award for their «Facett» collection (Ligne Roset).

2004 : Monographic exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Los Angeles.

2003 : Elected Designer of the Year at the Salon du Meuble furniture trade fair, Paris.

2002 : Start of intense collaboration with the Swiss firm Vitra.

1998 : Vases Combinatoires, first shown at Néotù gallery, Paris.
Studio
Wieki Somers

There is something different about Wieki Somers. The young designer from Rotterdam makes use of all registers - dreamy, disconcerting, paradoxical - to provoke our senses. Her pieces evoke indelible images in the beholder's mind; one case in point is High Tea Pot, which looks as if it had been moulded from a boar's skull of.

Every time, the starting material releases her creative energy. The Grasshopper chair (for Tectona) owes its elegance to the light presence of perforated metal. The sun plays with these perforations while the rain passes through without leaving a trace. Functionality is never at the expense of aesthetics.

2010 : Personal exhibition at Kréo gallery, Paris.

2009 : Winner of « Golden Eye » prize, part of the Dutch Design Awards.

2005 : Bathboat, her most emblematic piece.

2000 : Creation of Studio Wiecki Somers with Dylan van den Berg.

1995 : Start of her studies at the Design Academy of Eindhoven.