Storybook 02 - Avenue Road

Avenue Road
Introduction
The pieces on our showroom floor – as beautiful as they are – are more
than aesthetically pleasing objects. Furniture design, at its best, is born
from the head and hands of human imagination. The designer’s ambition,
rationale and skill all deserve celebration, and that’s why we’ve created the
Storybook series.
In this edition, Belgian designer Michaël Verheyden takes us on a tour
of his studio and explains the virtues of working from home. And if the living
room doubles as a showroom? Even better. Furniture designer Dan Yeffet
ponders the relationship between inspiration and resourcefulness, and that
inspiration can be found anywhere in the world. It can even be found out of
this world: in the 1960s Austrian heritage glassmaker Lobmeyr brought the
Metropolitan Opera in New York into the space age with a glittering galaxy of
a chandelier. Its crystals, spokes and “sputnik” beams are a story of postwar
optimism, but if you don’t look twice, they’re just the sparkling lights above
your head.
And that’s just what we’ve done – looked twice, thrice, four times to
uncover the stories that surround our work, with the same relentless curiosity and unwavering passion that sum up just about all else we do.
We hope you enjoy the stories.
Contents
Influencers
The Edit
Bruno Moinard
4
The French designer on being
a product of his origins An Inside Look
40 Wandering through Stephan
Weishaupt’s home in sunny Miami
Dan Yeffet
10
Coffee, cacti and exploration
with the Israeli expat furniture
designer
Formstelle
14
Legacy
Carl Auböck
62
A German studio with many talents,
because why pick just one?
Five generations dedicated to craftsmanship and the name Carl
Lobmeyr
65 Fine crystals, cosmic lighting and
the birth of the modern wine glass
Extracts
Tricky Bunch
21
Out of the norm: celebrating
beauty in the peculiar Simple Life
27
Extracts
Rise and Shine
69 Glisten up: pieces that make the
most with metal
Understated elegance has us
over the moon
Host Modern
75
In the Studio
Michaël Verheyden
32
From fashion to furniture in the
Belgian countryside
Ingredients of the perfect
dinner party: an inventory Projects
From the Portfolio
80
Mountainside retreats, a midcentury
makeover and luxurious living in China
4
Influencers
5
The Beautiful Mind
of Bruno Moinard
After more than 35 years of designing lush interiors for Karl Lagerfeld,
Yves Saint Laurent and Paris’s most illustrious clients, the esteemed French
designer has graced us with a furniture collection of his own.
“When I create an interior, it’s to last – forever
if needed! So I design
furniture that’s both
contemporary and
impervious to trends.”
Varengeville-sur-Mer is a tiny village in northwestern France. Its steep cliffs
plunge down into sandy beaches, and medieval churches with grey stone walls
and slanted red roofs dot the landscape. If it sounds like a Monet landscape,
that’s likely because it is – he came here to paint, and so did Picasso, Miró
and Braque, the latter of whom is buried in a local cemetery that overlooks
the sea. If we are all products of our origins, as French interior and furniture
designer Bruno Moinard believes, then this village of famous painters is not
a bad place to start.
Before he went on to create interiors for countless hotels, stores and
more than 350 Cartier boutiques, this is where the young Moinard grew up.
His father and grandfather were both textile designers who made cushions,
drapes and upholstery. With art in the air and craftsmanship in his blood,
Moinard went off to find his place in the design world.
After graduating from L’ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués
et des Métiers d’Art, Moinard worked for the legendary designer Andrée
Putman at Ecart International in 1979. It was here that he developed a tendency to work with the most prestigious clients, designing the interior of the
Concorde aircraft and collaborating with couturiers such as Karl Lagerfeld,
Azzedine Alaïa and Yves Saint Laurent. He stayed for 15 years before founding his own interiors agency and, in 2014, his furniture collection Bruno
Moinard Editions.
“I launched this collection because I’ve always designed furniture as
part of the interiors I do,” he says. “When I create an interior, it’s to last –
forever if needed! So I design furniture that’s both contemporary and impervious to trends.” His chairs, lamps, sofas and benches are soft around the
edges, uncomplicated and, indeed, timeless. It’s a notably different experience from designing interiors, where there is usually a single client who has
commissioned the work. With furniture, the relationship is less clear. “You
draw for an imagined set of clients, but you don’t have any interaction with
them.” As a result, his furniture fits his own interior design aesthetic – comfortable, well proportioned and full of little surprises.
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Influencers
7
Bruno Moinard’s office in Paris
is unsurprisingly pristine. Pictured
here is a sculpture by Nancy
Vuylsteke de Laps and an iconic
floor lamp by Mariano Fortuny.
These rigorously organized
stacks are Moinard’s preferred
means of shelving his books.
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Influencers
Top left The Vitra bird
sculpture is a recreation of
one of the Eameses’ most
prized pieces of folk art. It sits
alongside Moinard’s trinkets
from around the world.
Top right A perch for
pondering: a 1920s armchair
by Eileen Gray.
Below The paintings here
are all originals by Moinard.
He keeps them close to serve
as souvenirs from his trips
and to inspire future work.
There’s a misconception about minimalism – one which Moinard is
keen to dispel with his work. “Minimalism has negative connotations because
it’s hard to navigate a kitchen where you can’t find the doors and drawers!”
He refers to his sensibility as “accessorized minimalism.” His aesthetic
is undoubtedly simple, where a door handle is considered and a dish will have,
as Moinard puts it, “nice rounded corners to make it soft and sensual.” It’s a
fine balance he’s achieved, having spent his formative years recoiling from the
textiles that cluttered his childhood. “I couldn’t bear all those colours and textures.” He worked exclusively in black and white for years, he says. “I needed
that breath of fresh air.”
His interior design possesses the same quiet splendour as his furniture, keeping a firm distance from the fine line that divides luxury and ostentation. Chandeliers hang with purpose. Plush materials and buttery leathers
are pleasant to the touch. These are interiors for sipping Champagne
cocktails and shopping for Cartier watches – a reimagination of classic Frenchness for a contemporary palate. It’s relentlessly chic and, like
Moinard himself, thoughtful.
Moinard is a well-spoken man; he is generous in his answers and constructs each sentence with care. In photographs his suits are crisp and his
collars starched; his hair tumbles artfully and curls at his temples and ears.
He named his company, 4BI, after his family (four children, his first initial and
that of his wife Isabelle), with whom he lives in the 13th arrondissement. His
house is “the complete opposite” of his commissioned work. “When you have
four kids, it’s active. It’s a circus.” Professionally, he takes his time – three,
four, seven years to create an interior. His home was done in four months. But
such is the gap when a designer of splendid residences must turn his attention
to his own. “That’s life,” Moinard says.
Picasso, Monet and Braque weren’t the only artists in his village –
Moinard drew avidly as a young child. “It’s no coincidence – they’ve all found
inspiration in the air, the light and the mixture of country and seaside.” At the
end of each school year, when it was time for the teachers to return the students’ art projects, “well, she’d never give mine back, because she wanted to
keep them as examples for the next year,” he says. “I was never able to keep
a single one!” Today, drawing is his passion and cathartic release; he carries
a leather satchel filled with pens in all colours, along with paint, brushes and
paper, with him wherever he travels. “Last night I was in Milan, and I stayed
up until two in the morning painting a dozen gouaches. My hotel faced Lake
Como, there were cypresses outside my window and the snow-capped
mountains in the distance, all basking in the glow of the moon… It was fantastic.” He keeps his work as little souvenirs of his trips – a snapshot of a time
and place observed from a hotel window – and inspiration for future work.
With the ever-expanding legacy of Bruno Moinard, it seems the little town
of Varengeville-sur-Mer has spawned yet another artist.
Find out more about Bruno Moinard and his pieces at avenue-road.com
9
“Minimalism has
negative connotations
because it’s hard to
navigate a kitchen where
you can’t find the doors
and drawers!”
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Influencers
11
Around the World
with Dan Yeffet
Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Paris; flight attendant, philosopher, designer. Dan
Yeffet’s journey to get where he is today spans two continents and several
career paths. Looking at his exquisite design portfolio, it’s clear he’s found
his calling – and it’s lucky for us he did.
His expansive body of
work, consisting of lighting, benches, bowls,
tables and shelves, exudes
a sense of unfussiness
and warmth – much like
Yeffet himself.
The story of one of Dan Yeffet’s earlier lamps began with his love of pastries.
He was working in a café and a waiter emerged carrying a tray of fresh muffins that caught his attention. “And that’s how it started,” he says. “I was dealing with a collection of glass and all the shapes unintentionally had this swollen
top.” And so came to be a series of lamps with glass that balloons from a cylindrical base the way a muffin rises from the tin.
The Jerusalem-born, Paris-based designer of furniture and home
accessories has a jovial ease to him. He frequently shouts up to his team when
he can’t find the right English word or can’t remember the name of a brand
he’s collaborated with, and they shout right back. He’s an avid coffee-drinker
and keeps a cluster of cacti in his showroom (“the secret to keeping them
alive is neglect”), and likes it when visiting journalists eat the chouquette pastries he offers as he knows it means they feel comfortable. His expansive body
of work, consisting of lighting, benches, bowls, tables, mirrors and shelves,
exudes a sense of unfussiness and warmth – much like Yeffet himself.
He’s also an intrinsic explorer. After finishing his mandatory Israeli
military service, he went on to become a flight attendant. In those seven
years on board the Israeli airline El Al, he took full advantage of the steeply
discounted plane tickets available to him. Hopping from continent to
continent became as casual as buying bus tickets. It was a time of utter freedom, and to this he attributes his desire to look outside his small country and
to subsequently leave.
At 28 he started studying, and even then it took a few years of exploration before he tapped into his talent as a designer. He started studying architecture and quickly noticed that he was involving himself in a profession where
the majority of creative output didn’t see the light of day. This was not for
him, and neither was the glacial pace at which it moved. Looking back at the
process, he says, “I couldn’t deal with the swallowing and throwing up and
swallowing and throwing up the same thing just to get somewhere.” So he
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Influencers
moved on to philosophy, a field that arguably moves even slower. An architect
friend observed that he thought like a product designer, prompting him to
pick it up. Soon after, Yeffet realized he had found what he wanted to do.
Today, he still travels as much as possible and extracts ideas from
the places he visits. “Japan, I can’t even explain what I go through when I’m
there,” he gushes, revealing that places least influenced by the West get to
him the most. “Some Indian designers can do stuff that if I asked someone to
do it here in Paris they would think I am from another planet.” The result of
his exploration manifests itself in his work. If it’s a lamp, such as the Muffin,
Lighthouse or Torch (all named after what they resemble), the glass likely
came from the Czech Republic. And the Peacock, a candleholder with a vertical brass disc to reflect the candlelight, is made with marble from Italy.
Knowing where to turn and what to pick up is something he attributes to the
resourcefulness of Jewish culture.
Still, Yeffet doesn’t consider himself an Israeli designer. He went to
Amsterdam on exchange as a student and ended up staying. After spending seven years there and the following 10 in Paris, he’s now spent more time
working abroad than at home. “It’s a very hard country. To succeed over
there is almost impossible and the last thing you think of is design.” He’s settled in Paris now, living in a trilingual household with his wife and their two
children. Their home is simple but cozy, and devoid of any of his furniture.
Instead, he prefers to trade pieces with other designers.
Yeffet’s humility is apparent in the way he describes his work – which
is reluctantly. He won’t go as far as aggrandizing the deeper meaning behind
the designs because they usually come from a much simpler place. His Torch
Lamp, for instance, came from the desire to test out a new marble supplier.
Sketches were made into a prototype – not for a particular client, but just for
himself. By chance, clients loved it and now it’s sold around the world.
“When people ask me, how did you do this – it’s a book I read, people I see
on the Metro, smoking a cigarette outside at night. There’s no higher or sacred
value.” He jokes that his pieces don’t carry the essence of his deceased grandmother. But when he does describe his work, he reveals his creativity exists
in the space where rational ends and emotional starts. “This is a very thin line
in which I like to stay because everything starts from here,” he says. “But if it
doesn’t hit here, in my point of view, there is no reason for its existence.”
Find out more about Dan Yeffet and his pieces at avenue-road.com
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“When people ask, how
did you do this – it’s a
book I read, people I see
on the Metro, smoking
outside at night.”
Top left Here we see the new
Torch Lamp, sitting atop the
geometric Tangram Table in Dan
Yeffet’s studio in Paris.
Top right Flora from the desert is
plentiful here. Yeffet is the in-house
caretaker of the cacti, mercifully
easy plants to keep alive.
Bottom left The communal punching bag was a gift from Yeffet’s
team. Colleagues tend to disappear
intermittently for a therapeutic
bout of boxing.
Bottom right As its name sug-
gests, the Muffin Lamp was inspired
by its namesake treat. Shown
here is a wooden mold of an early
prototype.
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Influencers
15
Function follows
Formstelle
Brilliant minds think alike: Jörg Kürschner and Claudia Kleine met at university after noticing they had the same idea for a group exhibition, and have
been collaborating ever since. Today, they run Formstelle, a Munich-based
multidisciplinary design studio.
“Wood is agile. Wood is
alive. You have to think
with it, work with it.
You must listen to what
it’s trying to tell you.”
Wood. That lively, natural substance. It’s an expressive material that can convey a sense of warmth, heritage or modernity, both influencing and enhanced
by how it’s finished, cut and coated. When considering the furniture design of
Munich-based design studio Formstelle, founded in 2001 by Claudia Kleine
and Jörg Kürschner, wood is an appropriate place to start.
The material characterizes every piece in their collection with
Bavarian manufacturer Zeitraum; it brings life to Formstelle’s side cabinets, sofas and lounge chairs and ensures every piece is unique. It’s also
a recurring element in many of the studio’s interiors and architectural projects, from ash wood floors in private homes to rich walnut counters in stylish salons. “Wood is agile. Wood is alive,” says Kleine, “whether it’s American
walnut or German oak. You have to think with it, work with it. You must listen
to what it’s trying to tell you.”
Kleine and Kürschner began collaborating in their 20s as students
at Munich’s Academy of Fine Arts, when, preparing for an exhibition, they
discovered they’d had exactly the same idea. After graduation they received
a joint commission to design the interior of a Munich-based salon. Another
hair salon came knocking soon after. And another. But after two years the
duo had branched out from hair salons into furniture, first with a side table
designed for and produced by Zeitraum. Today, Formstelle is a close-knit
multidisciplinary studio possessing an acute sensibility to zoom out on larger
environments and zoom back in on the details, as evidenced by its expansive
portfolio that spans furniture, product, commercial spaces, private residences and graphic identity.
But why has such a lean, five-person operation chosen to keep its scope
so broad? And how do the pair ensure precise consistency throughout?
“Why? Well, we both studied design and architecture,” says Kürschner,
and because “we began with two disciplines, it would have seemed limiting
to then narrow down to just one. We love detail, but also thinking big. We like
to delve deep inside while seeing the wider picture. And it was always our
plan to do it all.”
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Influencers
The concept in Kleine’s living room
is to create harmony between the
interiors and rural context. We also
see Formstelle’s Friday chair.
Here in Jörg Kürschner’s living
room, located above the studio,
is one of his own art pieces
hanging over a Formstelle Side
Long sideboard.
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Influencers
It may look simple, but
in fact it’s born of a
clever balance between
beauty and usability,
elegance and function.
As far as the how is concerned, Kleine and Kürschner explain that they have
learned to shift their mentality depending on the scale of the project, from focusing
on minute details such as stitching, to conjuring bold, vast visions with ceilings and
four walls. “Sometimes you have to consider the minutiae, other times you have
to let your imagination run wild,” says Kleine. “And the more you switch between
the different ways of thinking, the easier it becomes.”
But, ultimately, it is a process they describe as “cross-fertilization” that
allows them to remain so versatile while still achieving coherence across the
board. “For every project, we establish central themes or motifs that can be
applied to the next,” says Kleine. A theme might be a particular way of treating
leather strings, a motif on a bed that is then translated into a salon wardrobe or a
room divider in an office. “Architecture, interiors, furniture design, it’s inextricably
linked,” adds Kürschner. “We saw some metal railings at a construction site in Italy
once and they inspired us to make a table. Likewise, we have designed chairs that
have led us to envision entire rooms.”
Though Formstelle may meander from discipline to discipline, there’s always
relevance – be it shared themes, shapes, motifs or materials. Another element
that unites Formstelle’s work is the presence of the human hand. The pair draw,
they model, they prioritize analogue methods before they venture into digital
ones. Another is their commitment to seeing a project through from start to finish.
“When we’re working with Zeitraum, for example, we stay very close to each piece
throughout the production process, maintaining constant dialogue with the producer and its individual craftsmen over how a piece comes into being,” says Kleine.
Finally, there is intimacy and friendliness within Formstelle’s five-man band
and this is communicated through its design. The studio sits in a loft space above
Kürschner’s home and the team have impromptu meetings over barbecues in
the garden. “My friends and family will be sitting alongside us,” he says, “my kids
running around.” This ease, this familiarity, is something that is expressed in the
studio’s creations. The Zeitraum furniture collection, particularly, has an honest, informal quality to it: chairs to be not only admired but sat on; sofas to sprawl
back on; side cabinets to stack with crockery. “We want our design to work,” says
Kleine. “That’s why we always enlist friends and family to try out our prototypes.”
That’s why, even at home, Kleine sleeps in the Mellow bed, a slender wooden frame
they designed in 2010.
Above all, perhaps, it’s this human element to Formstelle’s design that
draws us to it and makes it memorable. It may look simple, but in fact it’s born of a
clever balance between beauty and usability, elegance and function. The low, minimal Doze bed may appear unembellished but invites us to linger. The distorted
biomorphous Twist table is designed to rest at the perfect dining height. The
angled base of the Morph Lounge chair beckons bums to sink into it. The cheery
Morph Kid chair is perfectly curved to accommodate a child’s back.
Warmth, honesty, versatility, agility and a clever responsiveness to human
lifestyle. Like wood, the studio’s favoured material, Formstelle is characterized
by all of these traits.
Find out more about Formstelle and their pieces at avenue-road.com
19
Top At Formstelle’s Munich studio
we see the Lounge Chair 808
for Thonet and the Turntable for
Zeitraum, both original designs,
and a moodboard pinned to the
back wall.
Bottom left When it comes to
prototyping, think small. Pictured
here are paper iterations of a dining
chair concept.
Bottom right This detail from
Claudia Kleine’s country home
shows the Morph Bar chair flanked
by a set of branches from the surrounding forest.
Tricky Bunch
This inventive collection eschews conventional form with characterful little
surprises. Take a closer look – from clever detailing to curious craftsmanship,
there’s more here than meets the eye.
DJE
Christophe Delcourt
France, 2014
This chair would not look out of place
in a living room in the not-so-distant
future. Plush, generous seating contrasts with the slender frame, adding
to the dynamism of this flying saucer
easy chair.
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Mother Board
David/Nicolas
France, 2015
This mirror comes from the Beirut
studio of David/Nicolas. The designers describe their work as “retrofuturistic,” plucking attributes from
different points in design history
and combining them just so.
Bleecker Street
Sebastian Herkner
Germany, 2015
Designer Sebastian Herkner was
taken with the collision of subcultures
in New York’s West Village. The same
coming together is echoed in the
Bleecker Street table, which fuses
a solid oak surface with a stone base.
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Pukka
Marlieke Van Rossum
Netherlands, 2016
In Hindi, “Pukka” means solid, genuine
and exquisite, a fitting name for this
piece by Dutch designer Marlieke Van
Rossum. The bronze and oak table is
a limited edition of 50; each is as charming and distinctive as its creator.
Simple Life
26
Less clutter equals more peace of mind. And the following pieces –
low-key, laid-back or light-hearted – prove the adage that less is more.
Herewith, five pared-down products to pore over.
Darling Point
Yabu Pushelberg
Canada, 2016
For the corner office executive
of a minimalist persuasion, look no
further than this desk. With solid
oak sitting atop a handcrafted brass
frame, it is available in the boomerang shape or as a straight console.
Friday
Formstelle
Germany, 2012
Even the staunchest armchair critics
will fall for (and into) this piece of solid
American walnut by German minimalist
master Formstelle. Its pillowy surface
and restrained form make for a handsome cornerstone in any living room.
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Pont des Arts
Christophe Delcourt
France, 2015
Christophe Delcourt’s perspective
is full of personality, sensuality and passion. His pieces are true companions
for life, imbued with a character that
only grows with time. What more could
you want in a bed?
Boule
Sebastian Herkner
Germany, 2016
This nifty table lamp from German
designer Sebastian Herkner is inspired
by the outdoor game of boule (or
“bocce,” depending on the locale). The
orb sits atop a matte porcelain base,
produced by the century-old porcelainmaker Rosenthal.
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Torch
Dan Yeffet
France, 2015
Dan Yeffet makes a point to push
his craftsmen the extra mile. These
bulbous glass lamps perched atop a
marble base are no easy task for the
glass blower, making the end result
all the more remarkable.
Mount Street
Deborah Moss
Canada, 2015
The low, understated shape is inspired
by the streets of London, hand cast in
hydrostone using the centuries-old
technique of scagliola. The series,
called W1, comprises simple, unembellished pieces with a story to tell.
In the Studio with
Michaël Verheyden
Michaël Verheyden’s home studio checks off all the hallmarks of real estate
envy: high ceilings, large windows, spacious living quarters, a concrete floor
and a gorgeous open foyer. The 1960s house, now stripped of its musty carpeting and original tapestries, is a convincing reason to move to the countryside. It’s also the perfect space to showcase the simple luxury of his
work: marble vessels, bronze-rimmed crystal vases and rectangular trays
coated in suede.
Verheyden designs his furniture and home accessories in one of the quieter patches in northeast Belgium. It’s a rarity for a place to feel truly remote
in the dense country, but Bokrijk, a small town in the region of Genk, comes
pretty close. The view from his living room window is overwhelmingly green;
neon-clad cyclists and dog walkers amble along a tree-lined path.
The region between Antwerp and the Dutch border has been home for
his whole life. The nearby city, also called Genk, was a major coalmining hub
in the 20th century, attracting workers from eastern Europe, Turkey, Italy
and Greece. It’s the best of both worlds – a small town with big-city diversity.
When the last coal mine closed in the late ’80s, the industrious people found
new things to build, furniture being one of them.
The solution to set up a home studio emerged a few years ago when
Verheyden and his wife-cum-business partner Saartje realized they weren’t
spending any time in the home they had put so much effort into creating.
Because the business consisted only of the two of them – with the exception of a recently hired part-time assistant – the logical solution was to bring
the studio home. The result was more time to enjoy the space, although this
meant their showroom now doubles as their living room.
Their bedroom, bathroom and guestroom are separated from the
rest of the house by a corridor, and it’s the only section of the house that isn’t
shared with staff and clients. The blend of private and public doesn’t bother
them in the least. “We take our work very personally and only work with
nice people, so it doesn’t feel strange to work and live under the same roof,”
Verheyden says over a cup of tea sitting at a table he built. “Living and working with our objects and furniture puts things in perspective. It really gives us
joy to see and use our stuff on a daily basis. The same pleasure I hope our clients experience too.”
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In the Studio
Top The interiors of Michaël
Verheyden’s spectacular
showroom and living room in
the Belgian countryside.
Bottom left Through
the winter, these new Kros
Bac planters were left outside to test harsh weather
conditions.
Bottom right One of
Verheyden’s KOMM bowls sits
in front of a studio window.
Different versions of the bowl
are hand-made in materials
such as oak and ash. This item
is made in marble.
The studio has an open office area where Saartje, who Verheyden met
at a museum, sits behind a large iMac screen while their cat Mocky snakes
between chair legs as they work. Adjacent to this is the showroom, where
sleek chairs sit below black and white photographs of the beach framed with
untreated wood. Marble vases are showcased in clusters throughout the
space. Around the corner is his workshop, where spare parts and excess
textiles are stacked on tidy shelves. Two black metal rectangles are freshly
painted on his desk, the sharp smell of lacquer still hanging in the air.
“I try to make pieces that are both subtle and extreme,” he says. Subtle
in that his pieces don’t claw for attention in their environment. He shies
away from the ostentatious end of the design spectrum, stating that crazy
shapes belong in a gallery space, but not in the home. “Nobody lives like that.
Functional objects should be humble.”
His work rejects much of the commercial context that drives 99 per
cent of furniture production, which is where he considers his work extreme.
“We don’t want to work like most commercial companies who start with the
price and then start developing the product.” Instead, he starts with an idea
and doesn’t think about the price point until the end, letting the design lead
the process.
Before he became the uncompromising furniture designer he is
now, Michaël Verheyden worked in fashion. When he was 18, he saw an
ad placed in the local newspaper by a young Belgian fashion designer. Raf
Simons, who later went on to become the creative director at Jil Sander and
Christian Dior, was looking for models to walk his menswear show in Paris.
Verheyden was an industrial design student at the time and spent more of
his time playing in bands than studying. After seeing the ad, he went up to
Antwerp to try his luck.
Simons must have responded well to Verheyden’s striking blue eyes and
strong jawline. He made the cut and was packed on a bus with his fellow young
models. They were driven to Paris, did their 10 minutes on the runway and
drove home. Any illusions of glamour in the industry were shattered right then,
but Verheyden describes the experience, however brief, as a turning point.
He told his professors he wanted to do fashion like Raf. “They said we
can’t help you because we don’t know anything about it but if he will guide
you throughout the year it’s fine.” The two clicked and with Raf’s mentorship,
Verheyden completed his industrial design degree with a menswear collection. “I felt inspired by Raf,” he says. “Maybe if I hadn’t met him I would’ve
become an average designer or maybe I would’ve given up on design and done
something else. He really showed me; I was really inspired by his passion.”
Following graduation, Verheyden tried his luck in fashion. He showed
a few collections in Paris and concentrated his efforts on handbags, but didn’t
make the splash needed to launch internationally. He has no qualms with it –
it’s not that it wasn’t good, it just wasn’t the right product at the right time. It
also wasn’t fulfilling him creatively – designing handbags is only one element
and Verheyden was itching to create a more all-encompassing picture. And
with so many expected functional elements, there were only so many ways to
design a handbag.
Meanwhile, he and Saartje had moved into a new house and realized
their ambition for décor exceeded their budget. In order to furnish the place
to their taste, they would have to make the pieces themselves. This was his
35
36
In the Studio
37
38
In the Studio
Top left The many big windows mean his designs, such
as the pictured Petite Vase,
are never short on sunshine.
Top right Verheyden’s wife
and business partner Saartje
is seen here hard at work.
Bottom left Handcrafted
details are important to
Verheyden’s work – even if
they are tough on the fingers.
Bottom right A smattering of Verheyden’s signature
marble vessels and vases.
Below Verheyden photographed in his studio, his
Fender Telecaster electric
guitar on his left.
impetus to put handbags aside and return to his roots in furniture design. The
first collection launched in 2010 and it’s been non-stop ever since.
The collections produced in this studio are not mass-produced. Each
material is carefully considered – and when he finds something he likes, he
sticks with it. Take the Dure Bowl for instance, a shallow cylindrical piece with
a leather base, marble top and a bronze ring between the two. The leather
comes from a Moroccan supplier he discovered while sourcing for his handbags. “It sounds a bit silly but sometimes you have to listen to the material,” he
says. “Sometimes people make things in stone that would have worked better
in wood. Every material has its own logic.”
Over the years he has amassed a network of local craftspeople and
suppliers, each with their own place in the process. Pointing to the round,
blond table he’s sitting at, he lists on his fingers a company which cuts and
dries the wood, a carpenter who makes the shape and someone else who
builds the metal base. At the end of the process is always Verheyden, who
meticulously assembles and finishes each piece by hand.
And he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. He points to a G55 lounge
chair in the corner of his living room. A smooth piece of leather is draped
along a slender steel base. Holding it together is a steady line of stitching,
a method that’s usually for saddle making. “There are not so many people
who do this anymore because it’s quite painful for your fingers,” he says, “but
it gives a beautiful result.” The slow, finicky process requires pulling thick
thread through tough leather by hand; after a day’s work Verheyden’s hands
are taped up. “I’m a very traditional designer,” he shrugs.
Verheyden and Saartje’s home is a testimony to the creative lives they
live. When not working on his collection, Verheyden still plays in a band. A
gleaming, cream-coloured Fender Telecaster, a reminder of his days in uni,
waits on a stand in his office. For his band’s latest release he made 100 special edition CD sleeves out of leftover leather. Saartje too, who is a trained
painter, has her large canvases of bold brushed colour hanging throughout
the house. “For a long time she didn’t have the need to make new work, but
now she really enjoys it.” He attributes her revived interest in painting back to
the house, and all the inspiration such a serene, light-filled space affords.
39
Miami
An Inside Look
On a lush street lined with palms, in the heart of Miami Beach, we find ourselves at the house of AVENUE ROAD president, Stephan Weishaupt. In front
of us, a set of open doors.
It’s a splendid space to roam; the original art deco spirit thrives
amid fine furniture from around the world. As the viewer, we slow down to
observe the unusual angles and unexpected perspectives that reveal themselves as we cast our gaze on this magnificent house.
Come on in.
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62
Legacy
Carl Auböck
The story of design has been blessed with not one but four talented Carl
Auböcks, one of whom in particular we remember as a free-thinking, fearlessly original master of Austrian modernism.
The Auböck family have always been a creative bunch, not to mention big fans
of the name Carl. Theirs is an artistic legacy that began with bronzesmith
Karl Auböck I, who in 1900 founded the original Auböck workshop in Vienna.
This legacy was consolidated by the luminous careers of his son and grandson, industrial designers Carl Auböck II and Carl Auböck III, and today it
continues with architect and designer Carl Auböck IV, who jokes, “The numbering comes from our lack of fantasy in first names.” He too has a son, who
just finished studying architecture and is indeed also named Carl.
But it’s the work of Carl number two that has perhaps stayed with us most
– creator of those brilliantly eccentric foot-shaped paperweights, fish-motif
bottle openers and skeleton-faced corkscrews, and one of the most imaginative
personalities of Austrian modernism. He was a peculiar talent, whose furnishings, accessories and tabletop pieces combine uncompromising craftsmanship
with a good dose of fun. As a teenager, he apprenticed in his father’s workshop,
bringing a rare energy to the job that later earned him the mentorship of artist and theorist Johannes Itten, who helped him secure a place in the Bauhaus
school. Here, Auböck’s avant-garde style began to take shape.
When his Bauhaus scholarship ran out 18 months in, he returned
to Vienna to work at the family workshop, and it was then that he began to
develop his own imaginative, modern-minded pieces. “The years following WWI were good for design but bad for production,” says Carl IV. “There
were few materials to work with, so my grandfather started working with
very small pieces.” The pieces that followed in the 1930s and 1940s achieved
huge commercial success, earning Carl II a reputation as one of the most
respected figures of Austrian modernism.
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Legacy
His designs breathed life into modernism by injecting a sense of humour.
One of his tabletop sculptures is called either The Pessimist or The Optimist,
depending on which way it is turned. Another, a corkscrew, is adorned with
a little hand, which when put back in the bottle looks like someone has fallen
in. “This is what I call humour in product design,” says Carl IV. “Maybe it’s the
story of someone who drinks too much? I think the story was there first. From
the story he made the design.”
Carl IV doesn’t remember much about his grandfather, who passed away
when he was very young. But what the public may not know is that he was an avid
painter. When the family exhibited his paintings for the first time, the response
was astonishing. The work, which took much of its influence from the Bauhaus
movement, had art critics scratching their heads, concluding they would need
to rewrite the history of 20th-century Austrian art to include Carl II.
Carl II and his son each developed their own style throughout a prolific
collaboration. “My grandfather had a very organic approach, while my father
relied on Japanese proportions and straight lines.” Carl III’s work was influenced by trinkets he brought back from India, South America and Indonesia;
he was impressed by their form and what they felt like in his hands. Carl II
never travelled. “He had it in his soul.”
Today the original workshop in Vienna continues under the helm of Carl
IV. In 1993, he and his sister, Maria, dove into their grandfather’s archive of
more than 4,500 pieces and shared a carefully curated selection in an exhibition. “My father never thought of reviving old models; he thought only new
things would be the future of the workshop,” says Carl IV. Murmurs of interest
followed the exhibition and then skyrocketed. “It was like sleeping beauty,” Carl
IV says. “The beauty woke up and people were interested in the work again.”
Each piece from the Auböck workshop has distinctive charm. Perhaps
what draws us to it most, however, is its gleeful practicality. If we need something for the home, why not make it fun? Why should what’s necessary not
make us happy, too? And herein lies the brilliance of the many Carls.
65
Lobmeyr
What began in 1823 as a humble glassmaker’s workshop has become one
of the world’s most iconic purveyors of fine glassware and crystal lighting.
The century-old Lobmeyr shop in the heart of Vienna remains a beacon of
two centuries of design heritage.
Over the decades, J.& L. Lobmeyr has not only endured, but flourished. Its
chandeliers have lit grand buildings around the world; its clients have ranged
from the Kremlin to the Vienna Imperial Court and the Metropolitan Opera.
Its drinking sets raised eyebrows in the mid-19th century with their unconventional simplicity, contributing to what some refer to as the birth of the
modern wineglass. The shop on Kärntner Strasse, and the heritage it represents, remains a chest-swelling point of pride for Austrian design.
To understand their impeccable craftsmanship, look no further than the
iconic Starburst Chandelier, commissioned by New York City’s Metropolitan
Opera in 1963. The story begins with then-owner and designer Hans Harald
Rath presenting a chandelier design that was adorned with elaborate crystal curtains – and, ultimately, was rejected. With just one night to refine the
concept, the building’s architect, Edward K. Harrisson, handed Rath a book
of photographs taken from space and suggested he seek inspiration in its
pages. In the middle of the night Rath found himself with a great idea, a chandelier inspired by the big bang, but nothing to build it with. He went to the
kitchen and asked for potatoes and toothpicks and built the first prototype of
his vision. The next morning, the potato contraption was presented and the
Starburst Chandelier was born.
The Met Opera’s 11 chandeliers are the product of 800 “sputnik”
spheres, 50,000 steel spokes, 51,500 individual crystals and 1,200 hours’
work by master metalworkers. The originals were restored in 2008, a pro-
66
cess that took the studio a year of preparation, and required the pieces to
be dismantled and shipped to Vienna in wooden crates. The wood and metal
“sputnik” spheres were replaced; today the originals can be bought at the
Met Opera’s gift shop. Replicas of the chandelier continue, half a century
later, to be one of Lobmeyr’s best sellers.
But the name Lobmeyr was synonymous with chandeliers long before
that. In the late 19th century, Austrian emperor Franz Joseph was concerned
the gas and candle-lit chandeliers would cause fire in his palaces. He commissioned Lobmeyr and Thomas Edison to create the first electric chandelier,
which was hung in 1883 to much acclaim, launching a new age for lighting and
presumably alleviating his fears around fire safety.
Alongside Lobmeyr’s brilliant chandeliers stand more minimalist,
pared-back pieces – turn-of-the-century Muslin glassware, or smooth fishbowl vases – that reveal Lobmeyr’s long history of artist and designer collaborations. There’s a candy dish by Oswald Haerdtl, iconic drinking glasses
by Adolf Loos, tumblers by Ted Muehling, cups and saucers made in collaboration with contemporary design duo Kim+Heep – pieces that span multiple
styles and a period of over 150 years. Today, Lobmeyr continues to work with
designers, preferring collaborators with passion and appreciation for the
Lobmeyr heritage, rather than boldface names on the design scene.
Lobmeyr has kept things in the family and today the sixth generation
– Andreas, Leonid and Johannes Rath – have made it their mission to evolve
the legacy. Their mark on the business was to bring it into the contemporary
design dialogue. Much like Lobmeyr forged its roots in the world fairs of the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, today the Rath family are showing their
work at design fairs around the world. In the past 15 years, their global footprint has extended from the shop on Kärntner Strasse to include a carefully
selected network of department stores and retailers such as AVENUE ROAD.
And so Lobmeyr has never been static – always moving, drawing on
fresh creativity and energy of new generations. All the while, publications and
gallery exhibitions continue to delve into the rich history of its predecessors,
and ensure that the future of Lobmeyr is as bright as its past.
67
Rise and Shine
All that glitters is not gold – we mustn’t forget brass, lacquer
and stainless steel. The following pages are a game of chasing shiny objects,
an eye-catching exploration of marvellous metals.
Pli
Victoria Wilmotte
France, 2016
The young designer Victoria Wilmotte
injects a dose of glamour with the
Pli side table. It’s a play of colour and
light – just watch what a spot of sunshine on its stainless steel base will
do for your living space.
69
70
71
The Naas
Bruno Moinard
France, 2014
Simplicity is bliss with this lamp
in shining armour by Bruno Moinard.
His refined take on the floor lamp
does away with tedious light switches
– to activate, simply give it a tap
of the hand.
Tube Table
Michaël Verheyden
Belgium, 2014
Creator of uncommon objects for
common rituals, Verheyden casts a
spell with this coffee table: its pairing of solid bronze base and marble
surface appears simplistic on first
glance, futuristic on second.
72
73
Venetian Way
Kelvin Goddard & Lisa Santana
Canada, 2015
Comprised of two simple mirrored
cone shapes, yet executed in an array
of rich chromatic metals, there is
both subtlety and splendour to these
hanging glories.
Cypris
Nina Mair
Austria, 2015
Mirror, mirror, on the wall: are you
the fairest of them all? Arguably, yes,
because when it comes to simplicity
of form, this brass and glass mirror is
nothing short of perfection.
Host Modern
74
From dinner parties to dates, casual cocktails to full-blown soirées,
nothing brings people together quite like entertaining. If furniture is the framework
of your perfect party, read on.
Park Place
Yabu Pushelberg
Canada, 2014
This barstool makes for a pleasant
perch while enjoying your tipple, with
its sculptural steel frame finished in
polished rose copper, black nickel or
soft-to-touch black, and its seat and
back upholstered in fine leather.
Tea Trolley
Jorge Zalszupin
Brazil, 1950
Circles, triangles and rectangles
combine in this deliciously geometric
trolley by Polish-Brazilian architect
Jorge Zalszupin. Though the name
refers specifically to tea, its slender
frame also serves as a fine vehicle for
the liquor cabinet.
75
76
77
Perry Street Boomerang
Yabu Pushelberg
Canada, 2007
Yabu Pushelberg’s iconic design for
AVENUE ROAD manages to be both
tailored and organic at the same time.
Its form bends like the curve of the
spine – a suitable shape for casual
conversation on the couch.
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79
Flen
Bruno Moinard
France, 2014
These iridescent occasional tables
take their shape from spun stainless
steel. The studio of Bruno Moinard
can produce only one per day due to
the pressure required to hand press
the ultra-thin leather to the tabletop.
Genoa
Bruno Moinard
France, 2015
A cabinet for all your curiosities (or
simply for barware), Genoa is clad with
a lacquered exterior and constructed
from an oiled assamela, a sumptuous variant of teak. Luminous brass and bespoke
leather details make up the inside.
80
From the Portfolio
81
Beaver Creek
Eagle County
Colorado Tori Golub,
2014
Tucked away in the Rocky Mountains lies the Beaver Creek residence,
a winter getaway cabin bought by a New York family who loved the location, but not the house itself. The interiors were too brown and the
wood too dark – a far cry from the bright airiness of the space today.
New York-based interior designer Tori Golub lightened the wood
and walls to make the space feel more akin to an Alpine chalet than a
western lodge. The design program that followed was determined by
the breathtaking views of the snowy mountains and the valley. Highlights
include Christophe Delcourt’s ABI dining chair, IAN sofa and the YBU
table, a piece Golub especially loved. The organic shape of its legs gives
the impression it’s growing up and out from the floors.
82
From the Portfolio
83
One Shenzhen Bay
Shenzhen
China
Yabu Pushelberg
2015
In just three decades, Shenzhen’s population has grown from 300,000
to over 10 million. In this city of breakneck change, the Parkland is its most
expensive and most luxurious residence, and it was up to Canadian duo
Yabu Pushelberg to design its two show flats.
The design ambition was to address the changing psyche of the city;
as the population became more cosmopolitan, so too did its tastes. George
Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg imagined local archetypes to inform the look
and feel of the flats: one older, more traditional, the other younger and
globally informed. AVENUE ROAD pieces by Christophe Delcourt, such as
the JEN coffee table and the Pont des Arts bed, and Yabu Pushelberg’s Park
Place Bar Stools are used throughout to convey a sense of warmth and
comfort. The result? All 12 flats were snapped up immediately.
84
From the Portfolio
85
Hoggs Hollow
Toronto
Canada
Mazen Studio
2015
When a client drove past this midcentury bungalow in Toronto’s leafy
Hoggs Hollow neighbourhood, it was love at first sight. Buyers have
a tendency of tearing down older houses, but this client worked with
architecture firm superkül to renovate sensitively, thereby retaining the
home’s spirit.
When Toronto-based interior designer Mazen El-Abdallah was
commissioned to reimagine the house’s living spaces, he was presented
with a huge amount of research. At AVENUE ROAD, his client saw Sebastian Herkner’s Bell Tables and was instantly drawn to them. They later
informed the jewel-toned palette in the living room, which was enhanced
by a rug that complemented the tables’ emerald-green surfaces. As in
this room, spaces throughout the house are compiled of unique pieces
that work in harmony, creating both warmth and elegance.
Postscript
Avenue Road president Stephan Weishaupt on the joy of a full house.
My parents are avid design lovers, art collectors and, not least of all, excellent
hosts. In this regard, I can’t say I strayed very far. As a child I’d watch them
host dinners almost every week, marvelling at the elegance and production.
They knew (and still do today) that the best way to bring people together
is to do it in the home. In this book, it’s my pleasure to share with you all my
new home in Miami, one that I’ve spent the past two years appointing as a place
where I can showcase my favourite pieces from Avenue Road, as well as vintage furniture, Brazilian art and objects I’ve picked up along the way.
The party I threw here during last year’s design fair marked my first
time hosting my parents among the AVENUE ROAD family. I wanted to impart
the same sense of marvel on them that they imparted on me with their entertaining when I was growing up. To my delight, by the early morning hours they
were some of the last standing.
I spend a lot of time on the road, in hotels and airports. Travel is one
of the best parts of my job, but there’s still nothing better than the feeling of
coming home. Even the most luxurious hotel in the most exotic locale doesn’t
compare. So what better place to meet new clients than over an espresso in
my living room? What better site for celebration than by the pool? It would be
foolish to host my friends, colleagues or clients anywhere else.
Conducting so much of our work out of the house in Miami is quite fitting, given how central the idea of home is to what we do. Even more fitting,
then, to forgo a staged studio shoot and show our pieces in a personal setting.
It’s that same human experience of welcoming someone into your home that
we extend every time someone walks through our showroom doors.
Stephan Weishaupt
Showrooms
Toronto
415 Eastern Avenue
Toronto, ON, M4M 1B7
Canada
+1 416 548 7788
New York
145 West 28th Street
Fifth Floor
New York, NY, 10001
USA
+1 212 453 9880
Vancouver (Winter 2016)
+1 778 588 6840
For more information on our
products and services, please
visit: avenue-road.com
Contact
+1 855 548 7788
sales@avenue-road.com
To browse our complete
stocked selection, visit:
avenue-road.com/stocked
Edited and produced
by Winkreative
winkreative.com
Midori House
1 Dorset Street
London W1U 4EG
United Kingdom
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Toronto, ON, M6G 1C6
Canada
+1 647 694 2618
Creative Director
Maurus Fraser
Editor
Elli Stuhler
Art Director
Carol Montpart
Photo Editor
Julien Beaupré Ste-Marie
Sub-editor
Marnie Clarke
Account Director
Rachel Steed
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Contributing Editor
Alex Moshakis