A multifaceted designer, Basketclub co-founder Adrianus Kundert works on products, materials and spatial design both independently and on commission. While being known as a crafts enthusiast and a convinced hands-on maker, Adrianus is aware of the limitations that come with production processes based on traditional crafts. His search for new modes of production between the traditional and the industrial led to the design of a hybrid basketry technique. This technique has been developed and refined over a variety of projects, including furniture pieces and a baseball cap.
Approaching any project as if it were a basket allows Bertjan Pot to maintain an uninhibited, spontaneous point of view throughout the design process. The basket here symbolizes a certain approach to design, which allows an object to grow organically. No matter if the result is a series of hand-stitched masks, a range of patterned fabrics or a pendant lamp for Moooi, Bertjan starts out from a particular material. By applying specialist craft techniques to it, the chosen material is bent into a narrative — it is provided with a new, often surprising personality while being fully functional. This unexpected, bold combination of construction, materiality and personality is what distinguishes Bertjan Pot’s designs and makes them into lovable companions.
Dutch Designer Carole Baijings is known for her hands-on design method and excellent sense of color. Having co-directed Studio Scholten & Baijings for twenty years, Carole created products and fabrics for renowned clients like Ikea, HAY and Maharam. Pursuing an intuitive, crafts-inspired approach to design, Studio Scholten & Baijings managed to turn artisanal explorations into industrially produced objects. Since 2019, Carole has been working independently. She enjoys cooperating with design brands; during a recent collaboration with Fatboy, Carole demonstrated her ability to reinforce a brand's “true DNA” by creating adaptations to signature products.
In his practice, Chris Kabel celebrates the intuitive, non linear design process. By turning a wicked problem upside down or just by looking at a situation without prejudice, he finds the ultimate fit between material, function and shape. Early on in his career, Chris became known for his “Sticky Lamp” for droog. More recently, he designed an aluminium façade and and a building brick called “Binder Klinker". He also embarked on a PACC crafts residency in Dongyang, China and worked with master craftsman He Hongbin. The collaboration resulted in “Bamboo Bulb”, a small pendant lamp. As a professor at ECAL, Chris passes on his refreshing view of design to his students.
Christopher Specce is a designer and teacher with a practice that includes designing commercially oriented products and creating experimental, one a kind of objects. He also serves as associate professor at Rhode Island School of Design. Fascinated by both traditional and digital crafts, his recent experimental work explores how two-dimensional graphics could simulate woven structures on simple paper constructions. Using a combination of CAD modeling, digital rendering, printing and photography, his work for Basketclub takes advantage of its image-oriented presentation format to create a trompe l'oeil scene.
From a beautiful studio in Stockholm, Clara von Zweigbergk creates playful and colorful designs. Drawing from her experience both as a graphic and product designer, Clara’s projects start with hands-on explorations involving various crafts and materials. As the work evolves, she brings in unique color palettes. In many cases, the design process culminates in an industrial product which can be recognized by its clean, simplistic look. A recent addition to Clara’s product range for HAY is a colorful paper bin which itself looks like folded paper.
Since 2016, Florian Dach and Dimitri Zephir have been collaborating as a design duo. They operate both from Paris and from the Caribbean island Guadeloupe. A socio-cultural take on design is what distinguishes their work. Both designers draw inspiration from contextual information a specific project comes with, such as as materials, objects, stories and rituals. This holistic approach results in thoughtful designs that are both practical and tell a story. For dach&zephir, getting into basketry means getting into the crafts’ history, its specific regional purpose and traditions.
After graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven, American-born Rachel Griffin founded Earnest Studio in Rotterdam. She has since worked on products for clients like Muuto, DWR and Schönbuch. In her work, Rachel searches for new relationships between industry and craft, as demonstrated in her 2010 project “Trade Union”. A series of woven vessels produced in collaboration with Meldon Plastics and Esme Hofman, the project combines expertise in industrial extrusion and traditional weaving, using the starch-based plastic Solanyl as a raw material.
A 2016 Graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven, Elvis Wesley is best described as a multidimensional creative. Navigating physical and digital dimensions in search of exciting shapes, images and narratives, Wesley designs both objects and immersive art pieces. Recent outcomes include a digital campaign for Camper and visual artworks for Envisions.
Being taught basketry at a renowned educational program in Germany, Esme Hofman is amongst a handful of Dutch professional, skilled basketry masters. Besides the common basket and upholstery weaving, Esme masters a broad variety of techniques. She specializes in fine skein willow work; an almost extinct basketry technique. As a “basketry counselor”, she dedicates her body of knowledge to advising designers and collectors on any issue involving basketry.
Esther van Schuylenbergh is an award-winning textile designer developing woven projects on the edge of crafts and industrial production. In her works, she challenges the boundaries of the weaving loom, an appliance she knows inside out. Esther enjoys experimenting with three-dimensional weavings, which exist on the border between textiles and objects — they can in fact be viewed as baskets. Esther is based in Gent, Belgium and is a guest teacher at KASK School of Arts.
Originally from Malaysia, Evey Kwong is a Berlin-based designer, researcher and crafts practitioner. In 2018, she founded futurprimitiv, a platform for craft-based technology and creative learning. Evey strongly values the historical perspective on designing and making things, which motivates the otherwise digitally oriented designer to actively practice crafts as a way of engaging with tradition. According to Evey, this added dimension deepens her creative work and enables her to translate ancient techniques to current times. Connecting with other practitioners and participating in local basketry workshops is seen as vital to keeping the modern crafts culture alive and preserving its roots.
Designer and creative director Garth Roberts has worked with many international brands including CC-Tapis, Kalmar Werkstätten and Mabeo Furniture. The founder of Berlindesignclub, an initiative that aims to elevate the status of Berlin’s creative culture and craftsmanship locally and abroad, actively engages to make the design community more culturally aware and inclusive. The designer’s experience with a broad palette of materials like glass, stoneware, metal and textiles manifests itself in the interiors, set designs and furniture pieces he creates.
Great Minor consists of Doi Jung and Jaena Jung. The Seoul-based duo takes inspiration from their respective professional backgrounds: traditional crafts and product design. Doi and Jaena enjoy reinterpreting common knowledge through material experiments. For instance, their project “Bricks” questions standardized building materials as it injects a familiar shape language with unexpected tactile experience. In the future, the young designers hope to engage in interesting collaborations and be part of an international community of creative crafts.
Jamie Wolfond is a Canadian designer of furniture, lighting and tools for everyday living.
Each of his designs begins with an observation about the material world — a car's differential mechanism, a bendy straw, a lichen that grows only on the shady side of a rock. Wolfond explores these phenomena through a series of hands-on experiments, each one building on the discoveries of the one before until one of these ideas asks to be developed into a useful object. Wolfond and his team collaborate with skilled tradespeople and factories to resolve each design. By allowing the strengths of an individual manufacturer to influence his designs, Wolfond creates objects that are inherently suited to production — things that want to be made.
The results of this process are at once exceptional and familiar, both reflecting and transforming common elements of material culture.
A trained architect and cabinetmaker, Keiji founded Keiji Ashizawa Design in 2005. Today, his company consists of around thirteen employees and operates in the fields of architecture, interior and product design. The studio’s designs are humble; they appear to be simple and calm while in fact they solve wicked problems in a smart way. Keiji also initiated Ishinomaki Laboratory, a public DIY Workshop, in order to support local communities recovering from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Ladies & Gentlemen Studio (L&G Studio) was founded in 2010 by Jean Lee and Dylan Davis. The Studio’s designs range from furniture to lighting, design objects, and jewelry. Partnerships include MUJI, Herman Miller, Design Within Reach, Dims, Furnishing Utopia, and more. Through thoughtful compositions of material, color, shape and surface, the designers look for a sense of wonderment in their work and in their everyday life.
A bar of soap, a candle, a daybed — designer Lex Pott finds ways to turn everyday objects into adventurous sculptures, all without forcing the material into a form that does not cohere with its natural properties. Working mainly with wood, stone and metal, Lex searches to convey the origin of each material. He works from the Rotterdam studio he founded in 2009 after graduating cum laude from Design Academy Eindhoven. Besides working on commissioned and self-initiated work, he regularly teaches classes and workshops throughout Europe.
A textile designer and crafts enthusiast, Mae Engelgeer founded the eponymous studio in 2013. Besides developing her own collections, Mae collaborates with international companies on a regular basis. Partnerships include CC-Tapis, Moooi and Auping. A 2019 residency at Hosoo Textiles provided a closer look at Japanese weaving techniques.
Maes dreamlike colour palette, graphical patterns and harmonious compositions do not limit themselves to textile designs — they also translate to furniture pieces, spatial installations, three-dimensional weavings and basketry.
“Maximize fun” is Michael Schoner’s design credo. Originally from Germany, Michael moved to Rotterdam in 2005 after finishing his architecture studies. Over the years, he gained interest in designing objects rather than buildings, as designing them can be more direct. The studio’s designs present themselves through a clear, geometrical and functional language, managing to nevertheless be full of surprise. Within the Basketclub community, Michael seeks for fun challenges as well as for ways architecture can be translated into baskets.
Nathalie Miebach has been translating science data related to weather, ecology and astronomy into woven sculpture for nearly 20 years. Her main method of data translation is the basket, which she uses as a simple 3D grid through which to translate numbers into 3D. Nathalies creations can be deciphered like encrypted maps or weather charts; every single bit of information is translated into color, shape or size. Nathalie enjoys discovering new applications for basketry as much as passing on existing knowledge and craftsmanship, which is why she founded the design label “Spiders and Birds” and teaches basketry at universities and art associations.
nmbello Studio is an eponymous design studio by Nifemi Marcus-Bello. A graduate of the University of Leeds, Nifemi unites influences from both western and African cultures in his approach to design. Winner of the Wallpaper* “Life-Enhancer of the Year” Award 2021, the Studio aims to free itself from pre-existing ideas of an ideal design process. Currently based in Nigeria, Nifemi claims African design requires humility and respect. In the Studio’s designs, those values are expressed through a choice of socially relevant themes as well as a commitment to local, circular and inclusive production processes.
Office for Design was founded in 2010 by American born industrial designer Shane Schneck in Sweden. The studio bridges the world of design and technology in a desire to challenge industry standards and discover new solutions to contemporary living. Be they a plywood chair or next generation mobile devices. Combining multiple experiences of living and working in Chicago, Shenzhen, Milano and currently Stockholm, Office for Design seeks to find a universality in objects that enliven the ordinary.
Rebecca Collins enjoys pairing traditional techniques and modern materials. Her rational, mathematical take on design is a good match for basketry techniques. Her explorations in this field lead to innovative solutions in her thesis project "Vault Stool": a woven reinforced carbon fibre stool.
Both a meticulous creative and a hands-on designer, Rebekka Evers graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2018. Her works exhibit an analytical take on patterns combined with a strong sense for color. The ambition to master rattan weavings led Rebekka to Cambodia in 2019. Besides getting to know the ins and outs of this craft, she designed rattan jewelry pieces with and for the artisans at MANAVA, a women’s craft organisation.
Rein Reitsma graduated from Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam in 2015 and has since been working on playful, straightforward products and artworks both autonomously and on demand. The former intern of Chris Kabel seems to have inherited their intuitive, contextual approach to design — his solutions often employ existing materials in surprising ways. It is for this reason that Rein particularly enjoys cooperations with furniture and surface design labels. A packaging design for Susan Bijl and several gastronomy interior design projects underline Reins multidisciplinary working field.
French designer Samy Rio has trained as a cabinetmaker before pursuing his studies in product design at ENSCI - Les Ateliers in Paris. In his designs, Samy consciously combines craftsmanship and industrial production. The young designer’s award-winning graduation project explores ways bamboo could infiltrate in industrial production processes. The results motivated Samy to focus on bio based materials in follow-up projects, as well. A 2016 bamboo residency in Caotun, Taiwan resulted in a modern bamboo lantern which exemplifies both new uses for specialist craft techniques and intercultural innovation. Besides running his design studio, Samy currently investigates possible uses for invasive plants in collaboration with Atelier Luma.
Creating useful, everyday objects based on manufacturing is what Morgane Pluchon and Sébastien Cluzel commit themselves to. The French design duo first met at St. Etienne when studying industrial design and has been operating as CLUZEL / PLUCHON since 2015. Projects include the award-winning lighting series “Dorval” for Lambert & Fils as well as the iconic “Galta” furniture collection for KANN Design.
Shigeki Fujishiro is a product designer based in Nagano, Japan. Since 2005, his studio has been working on autonomous projects as well as on commissions for Adidas, HAY and Kvadrat amongst others. In his work, Shigeki mostly uses raw industrial materials, either single or combined in bold pairs. Shigeki finds an unequaled sense of creative freedom in designing baskets. His masterpiece, “knot”, is an intuitive knot of huge ropes into a functional basket that is fun to look at.
The common ground of Simones works, besides a strong sense of color, is that it highlights the decorative qualities of construction, materials and techniques — resulting in visually attractive solutions. Focusing mainly on products and surfaces, the Dutch designer draws from her background in textile design. Her 2014 Design Academy Eindhoven graduation project, Vlisco Recycled Carpets are made out of the leftover textiles of a Dutch textile manufacturer. The Studio generally commits to “aesthetic upcycling” as a design manifesto. Other projects include revisited wooden chairs and a rug made of worn sneakers.
Norwegian designer Stine Aas holds a Master’s Degree from Bergen Academy of Arts and Design. She enjoys working on products and objects that radiate simplicity and functionality, mostly choosing durable, natural materials like solid oak and genuine leather. A natural explorer, Stine shifts between quick material experiments and complex industrial products. As a result, her designs are not afraid of bold gestures, contrasting these with refined details to result in objects that can easily be accessed without being predictable.
Having founded Studio Gorm in 2007, Wonhee and John Arndt create products, interiors and exhibition designs for a variety of international clients. The designers, both Professors of Product Design at the University of Oregon, take advantage from their backgrounds in sculpture and crafts when designing objects. Based on physical making, their design method values experimental construction and material try-outs which always seem to result in simple, thoughtful products. Taking inspiration as much from The Shaker’s Community (“Furnishing Utopia”) as from South Korean urban scenery, a rich understanding of the cultural structures and dynamics underlying product design enhances Studio Gorm’s visual language.
Founded by Laure Berthet and Axel Mert, Studio Satël operates in between graphic and product design. Embodying the best of both worlds, the French design studio does not limit itself to certain materials or production techniques. Building on a broad portfolio containing steel, glass and handtufted textile projects, both designers are well-equipped to come up with an unconventional, innovative and visually pleasing solution to any two- or three-dimensional challenge.