Ageing populations are a rising concern throughout swathes of the planet, so it stands to cause that we’re seeing an growing variety of initiatives by urbanists, builders, architects and designers aimed toward easing the grimmer realities of our twilight years. In any case, previous age is a reality of life not a medical analysis and, although we clearly have extra particular wants as we grow old, these wants will be met with magnificence and dignity. Enter a brand new model Remsen, based by New York-based architects Sam Zeif and Spencer Fried, who’re bringing to market a spread of objects, furnishings and family parts designed with compassion for aged folks to like.
Good-looking seize bars with tactile knurling
(Picture credit score: Remsen)
Rising up in multi-generational households gave Fried and Zeif a transparent concept of how inadequately designed on a regular basis important objects for elders might be. After assembly as college students at Yale, then working at Herzog & de Meuron, Tankhouse and Put up Firm, the duo have taken gray issues into their very own palms with Remsen, designing, manufacturing and retailing a portfolio of merchandise aimed to deal with how our each day wants evolve with age.
(Picture credit score: Remsen)
The primary two merchandise to launch are a tablet container and a seize bar with a cane, card holder, a bathe chair and a key activate the horizon. Every is a cautious steadiness of kind, perform and feeling. They’re designed to troubleshoot the inevitabilities of impaired human means, while including craft and appeal into the combination; these qualities usually are not mutually unique and, because the duo accurately level out, pleasure solely enhances a product’s perform. For too lengthy we’ve taken as customary that merchandise for older folks needs to be white plastic and wipe-clean. Nonsense. We took the chance of talking with Fried and Zeif to seek out out extra…
Sam Zeif and Spencer Fried
(Picture credit score: Remsen)
Wallpaper*: The place did the thought for Remsen come from?
Fried and Zeif: We have been each lucky sufficient to develop up surrounded by a number of generations of household, and we noticed simply how underwhelming the merchandise our elders wanted and used daily have been. The prevailing merchandise available on the market are pessimistic — no appreciation for the truth that our sense of fashion and appreciation of magnificence don’t go anyplace with age. This shared perception formed Remsen’s mission: to craft lovely, premium merchandise that deal with a market typically neglected by the design business. Persons are not sufferers, and we’re previous seeing age and incapacity as one thing to concern or resolve for.
(Picture credit score: Remsen)
W*: What earlier experiences, or references you had encountered, knowledgeable the primary steps of the undertaking?
F. and Z: We’re each architects by coaching and we noticed that the important objects our family members wanted as they aged routinely failed them — not as a result of they did not work, however as a result of they did not convey any pleasure, delight or magnificence. As a substitute of celebrating age, these objects tended to be sterile and low-cost — medical gadgets, not designed objects. Remsen intends to shift views on ageing by means of the design of those on a regular basis items. We imagine that as you age, it’s best to need the belongings you want.
Remsen’s chair for the toilet
(Picture credit score: Remsen)
W*: Are you able to inform us in regards to the objects which might be a part of the launch, and the way you selected them?
F. & Z: We’re introducing our Tablet Container and Seize Bar as our first merchandise. Each merchandise embody Remsen’s mission of mixing performance and wonder to create items you could be proud to show in your house.
The Tablet Container is a stunningly minimal forged aluminium object with a mirrored underside and a safe, sculptural association of compartments organised in response to the times of the week. Each aspect of this tablet container, from its ergonomic design to its practicality and aesthetic attract, has been thoughtfully thought-about to remodel a mere routine right into a significant ritual.
Likewise, in contrast to its cumbersome counterparts, Remsen’s Seize Bar is a chic and welcome addition to a tastefully conceived rest room. This fixture, with its polished nickel end, fluted profile, and hid chrome steel mounting {hardware}, caters as a lot in its performance because it does in its means to amplify an inside design imaginative and prescient.
Remsen’s key flip, for higher grip
(Picture credit score: Remsen)
W*: How did the perform inform the design selections?
F. & Z: The problem we noticed with present merchandise on this space of the market is that perform is prioritised on the expense of magnificence. We imagine you don’t must sacrifice one for the opposite; perform is essential, however so is gorgeous design. Remsen brings to life merchandise that function compelling visible statements whereas embodying a dedication to enhancing lives. Our design method blends experience, empathy and compassion, and every product stands as a testomony to inclusive design by transcending age and ableness obstacles.
Remsen’s Tablet Container is actually in contrast to others. It’s outfitted with extra beneficiant compartments radially arrayed and organised in response to the times of the week. We designed it with an easy-to-open magnetically secured lid, a rotating inside cowl, and a simple to deal with, but sculptural, geometry. We selected die-cast aluminium as our materials to supply a glossy look and built-in a mirrored underside to boost each performance and aesthetic attract. This object can sit superbly in your nightstand or espresso desk with out trying misplaced or like one thing that must be shoved inside a drawer when friends go to.
(Picture credit score: Remsen)
W*: What’s going to the broader assortment seem like?
F. & Z: Remsen is designing a set of wellness merchandise that all of us want as we transfer by means of life by taking items which were traditionally categorised as “geriatric merchandise” and re-envisioning them as luxurious residence items. Our forthcoming merchandise will embody the Cane, Bathe Chair, Key Flip and Enjoying Card Set and Card Holder.
W*: Which object(s) do you assume finest encapsulate the mission of Remsen, and why?
F. & Z: We wish to assume that Remsen is bigger than the sum of its components, and that actual affect on this market is about altering the broader narrative about what ageing seems like, not fixing for a single product.
That stated, if we needed to choose one piece that encapsulates what Remsen stands for, The Seize Bar is a superb instance of the facility of rethinking easy, on a regular basis objects. It is a piece that’s added to many houses as folks age and enormously enhances lives, however is normally an afterthought when it comes to design. Remsen’s Seize Bar is a sleek, streamlined product that may be simply integrated into a trendy bathtub or powder room. Whereas different choices compromise the areas they occupy, this piece enriches any floor and room it graces.
Remsen.co
Supply: Wallpaper
