An ‘intimacy of materiality’ is how Paula Gerbase describes her strategy to design, which has encompassed her personal labels – the London-based 1205 and the more moderen eponymous label Gerbase – in addition to a six-year-long stint at British shoemaker John Lobb. In every of those roles, Gerbase has focussed on the way in which that supplies really feel on the physique: whether or not her featherweight plissé skins for Gerbase, or the right leather-based mountaineering boot, designed to stretch to its wearer’s proportions as they stroll.
Now, she embraces a largely new medium, that of metalwork, lately instated because the inventive director of historic Danish silversmith Georg Jensen which was based over a century in the past in in 1904. The wide-ranging function will see Gerbase – who was born in Brazil however grew up in Switzerland – form the general imaginative and prescient for the home, not solely overseeing design throughout varied classes (from desk equipment and residential scents to jewelry), but in addition main collaborations and ‘digital and bodily model experiences.’
Paula Gerbase’s new imaginative and prescient for Georg Jensen
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Georg Jensen)
‘I used to be approached earlier this 12 months with the mission [but] was not very acquainted with the model,’ Gerbase tells Wallpaper*. ‘Once I started to look deeper into its historical past it turned clear that there was one thing actually very particular to dig deeper into; I used to be intrigued at discovering a home based by a sculptor, with artwork as a central power, and a home which has been constructed with a collaborative spirit at coronary heart. [There’s also] actual genuine synergy between artwork and craft, and a roster of design skills that reads like a who’s who of a number of the most prolific skills of Scandinavia and the Nordics.’
The objective, in the end, is to ‘reinstate Georg Jensen to its rightful place as a very distinctive Danish luxurious home,’ says Gerbase. ‘It’s a very distinctive proposition – artistry is on the very core of its values, as is high quality, a closeness to nature, [but there’s also] humour and a sure eccentricity which I’ve been shocked by and located so intriguing.’
The chance has afforded her a number of journeys to the home’s silversmith studios and archives in Copenhagen, the town wherein Georg Jensen was based as a jewelry maker within the Frederiksberg district. ‘[There is such] an in depth archive housed inside the headquarters, with not solely bodily objects, drawings, sketches, pictures but in addition working fashions, outdated retailer blueprints and a lot extra,’ she says, noting the ‘invaluable information’ of the in-house archivist and artisans, a few of that are third or fourth-generation Georg Jensen members of the family. ‘It’s actually a wealth of mixed information, ardour and shared expertise which is a privilege I don’t take with no consideration.’
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Georg Jensen)
Of jewelry – a medium she has beforehand labored on in a private capability at Gerbase – she says that she is intrigued by ‘the intimate house inside design… particularly in an age of over-communication and over-stimulation. To have the luxurious to concentrate on the element, on a gesture of a hand adorned with a slither of gold, the sharp satisfying snap of a field clasp on a bangle, the surprising textural high quality of a ravishing piece of rutilated quartz, the chances to punctuate, to adorn the physique, and to border small moments of the on a regular basis.’
Her first launch, although, is a collection of silver equipment that are a teaser of types for her tenure. Every coming with a C-shaped lock, they can be utilized as keychains, bag charms, or as adornment on a belt, they recreate a collection of ‘treasures’ from the Georg Jensen archive. ‘The gathering is a illustration of the wealthy historical past Georg Jensen has and the way the home has been central to inventive and inventive actions in Denmark by the ages, from Artwork Nouveau, by to Artwork Deco, Functionalism and lots of extra,’ says Gerbase, whose subsequent step is to open a London retailer this month and host an archive exhibition in January. ‘120 years of high quality, of artistry, of character.’
georgjensen.com
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Supply: Wallpaper
