INTERVIEW WITH BURO BELÉN AT BRAND NEW WORLD MILANO 2015 @ DUŠAN

Buro BELÉN presents its latest work in Milan from April 14 – 19th, as one of the eight key international studios who epitomize the new concept of Designers – Makers – Entrepreneurs, rethinking the entire business and creative model of design. Buro BELÉN’s exhibition is a part of BRAND NEW WORLD MILANO 2015 @DUŠAN, curated and produced by Vesna and Jovan Jelovac. As a part of the Milan 2015 FouriSaloni program, Brand New World shows the DESIGN 2.0 philosophy, unthinkable of only a few years ago. The concept will be staged in arguably one of the most elegant design showrooms in the city – DUŠAN, Via Antonio Zarotto 1, powered by LAUFEN.

Buro BELÉN are “Materializers”

By broadening and expanding the material qualities of spaces, objects and products, Buro BELÉN’s design duo creates tangible design for the future. Central to their approach are the intuitive, emotional and physical aspects of design, resulting in products and visions that show unexpected applications of material and colors, as well as revaluations of conventional techniques. These two multitalented Design Academy Eindhoven graduates have demonstrated amazing creativity in the field of product design, textiles, fashion, photography, art direction, exhibition design, teaching.

A new way of thinking and a desire to experiment takes them further than most designers are willing to go, and the result are the products that are ahead of their time, both in terms of shapes and form, and in terms of technology needed to manufacture them.

Their work was featured in major publications such as Elle Wonen, Australian Vogue, Frame, Blend, Domus… They have been comissioned by Georg Jensen, Villa Noailles Hyères, Textiellab Tilburg, amongst others. Their work has been exhibited at Textile Museum Tilburg, Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam, Palazzo Clerici Milano.

On their interest in design:

“Designers are able to see interesting connections, think in different structures, create new theories in a time where all systems are stuck and have to renew”.

On their work process:

“We always start from the material. This is why we call ourselves a new profession name: Materialisers. Our signature might be described as detailed, tactile and emotional”.

Miriam Van der Lubbe of Van Eijk & Van der Luebe describing them for Frame magazine put it best: “They have a real thirst for knowledge and are eager to investigate the possibilities of a material. They dug deep into the material’s possibilities to develop concepts that sprung from their research. These women ask questions and want to understand how to get everything out of a material. Stretch the facts. They don’t think in solutions but in possibilities. By focusing on semi-finished products they come up with their own design possibilities through a very detailed, tactile and emotional process. It’s a new way of thinking. They are genuinely taking materials to the next level”.

Falling Rocks is a series of tables that suit the contemporary landscaped interior. These sculptural pieces of furniture are made out of soft, textile bases on which hard, stone slabs seem to have fallen from the sky. A slab of rose quartz is lodged a sphere of fabric in the Falling Rocks furniture collection. Within this collection stone and fabric, hard and soft, heavy and light need each other. On every stone, BELÉN reacts different with the pillow. This makes every table a unique object and literally a center piece in a home.

Material: stone, textile, microspheres

Credits: Concept and Design: buroBELÉN

Photo: May Heek

TuTu is a stool made out of hard wood and soft wood. The soft wood is Wooden Textiles. A textile made out of the paper mulberry tree, also developed by buroBELÉN.

Material: Wooden Textiles, abachi, foam

Photo: Erik and Petra Hesmerg

Photography Museum van Loon: buroBELÉN

Wooden Textiles

The cover of this couch expresses the unique character of the material, Wooden Textiles. For instance its inclination to hold a half standing, half falling posture which BELÉN uses to engulf the sofa in a wooden cloud.

Material: Paper Mulberry wood, silk stitches, silk rope

Concept and Design: buroBELÉN

Photo: Guus Schoth

Buro BELÉN for Brand New World