When it comes to design classics, we often look at coveted items from the past as opposed to paying attention to the designers crafting modern classics today. Enter Future Classics, a collaboration between A Vibe Called Tech and WePresent that aims to change that. Brought to life as a series of downloadable toolkits helmed by today’s design stars, Future Classics gives you the tools and instructions necessary to make your own pieces of design history, and in the process hopes to help make the design industry a more accessible and democratic space.
Guide Two: Julie Richoz’s T-Mirror
In our second guide, renowned Swiss-French designer, and graduate of ÉCAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, Julie Richoz talks us through creating her T-Mirror. A celebrated contemporary designer, Richoz runs her own studio in Paris, where she develops her own language through objects–ranging from one-off pieces of bespoke furniture to industrial scale work. To date, she has designed for companies including Alessi, Vitra, Tectona, Hay, La Manufacture Cogolin and Galerie kreo.
The T-Mirror that Richoz has designed is a graphic wall mirror that can be easily customized and constructed at home with basic tools and accessible materials, as explained in our accompanying guide. The mirror design features a minimal T-shaped frame with rope used to connect and unify the wooden elements with the reflective surface.
“There is often a charm to be found in handmade objects that I sometimes find difficult to compete with in a more industrial design setting,” Richoz says. “So I naturally liked the idea of designing an object that anyone can make, following a protocol rather than a plan. It’s an invitation to create your own version of the design I propose; with the rope and colors that please you, with the proportions you choose: your own composition, in an open source spirit.”
Guide One: Andu Masebo’s lamp
The first toolkit has been created by acclaimed London-based product designer Andu Masebo, whose work focuses on accessibility, storytelling and the elevation of everyday objects. The guide is available to download exclusively via WeTransfer and provides the blueprint and instructions for a lamp which can be made using interchangeable materials to create something that has the hallmarks of Masebo’s design but the ability for the individuality of the maker. “The idea for this lamp came from imagining new ways for people to create moments of joy in their own homes,” he says. “Using a series of basic shapes connected to form a structure using metal eyelets, the lamp can be constantly adapted and take endless forms. It's exciting to imagine the framework for something, to consider the ways people can access it and then see all of the different places they take it beyond your initial intention.”
Future Classics will continue later this year with the second design guide released in October.
