Elisa Ossino
Collaborator: De Padova
Sicily-born interior designer Elisa Ossino got into product design when she “suddenly felt the need to personalize the spaces I was decorating and make them truly mine, using furniture and accessories created by me,” she says. “I followed my instincts and my increasing needs as a creative designer.” Two recent collaborations with Italian manufacturer De Padova are quintessentially Ossino, with distinct lines that convey an effortless quality. The Erei sofa, inspired by the Sicilian mountain range of the same name, appears to be floating thanks to its ultra-slim legs. Similarly, the Elementi lamp is seemingly suspended mid-air, with a black metal rod holding the spheres together. “My style is defined by lightness and intensity, two apparently contradictory concepts,” Ossino explains, adding that she appreciates spaces “with few but very strong accents, where objects become symbols with hidden messages.”
Photography by Giorgio Possenti and courtesy of De Padova
Patricia Urquiola
Collaborator: Kettal
The prolific Patricia Urquiola’s reputation as a designer of both products and interiors who combines chic materials with charming silhouettes continues in her latest collections with longtime partner Kettal. Vimini, named for the Italian word for wicker, evolved out of a conversation she had about designer Nanna Ditzel’s famed Basket chair, which she updated with a rougher wooden frame that has a familiarity that recalls home. Urquiola also recently launched the colorful Roll side tables with the Spanish furniture company. Embracing a postmodernist design with chunky lacquered aluminum stems mounted on cylindrical blocks of concrete, “the tables have a very simple line, but they express the materiality typical of the brand,” she adds.
Photography by Karen Fuchs and courtesy of Kettal
Candice Olson
Collaborator: MDC
Perhaps best known for her shows on HGTV, Divine Design and Candice Tells All, Canadian designer and television personality Candice Olson’s ubiquity in the industry has translated to a handful of successful product partnerships. “For years, the only way to resolve my clients’ needs were through custom craftsmen,” she explains. “Now, those solutions are available for everyone.” For MDC’s Living Well collection of wallcoverings, she expressed a connection to nature through softly blurred florals and abstract motifs printed with water-based inks to evoke a sense of tranquility. Each design, seven in total, are large-scale murals for the room. “I’m a believer in the power of quiet contrasts,” Olson points out. “It is the natural elements that I find at once calming yet invigorating, and that have a profound effect on my overall peace of mind.”
Photography courtesy of Candice Olson and MDC
Kelly Hoppen
Collaborator: Restoration Hardware
Growing up in South Africa, the now London-based Kelly Hoppen started her own company at the ambitious age of 16. Her first project was a kitchen for a famous racecar driver, but it wasn’t long before she discovered product design. “I had come across some incredible pieces of furniture and lighting, and the inspiration archives within my head were just bursting with ideas,” she says. Her latest, a series of sophisticated pillow covers for Restoration Hardware, is a bold, graphic statement in contrasting tones with a contemporary style. One pairs petal-soft suede with smooth woven linen for a textural affect, while another is made of appliquéd and tailored heavyweight linen, but both create “softer cushions and furnishings,” she says, using her trademark geometric horizontal and vertical lines.
Photography courtesy of Restoration Hardware
Joni Vanderslice
Collaborator: New Ravenna
Combining rich colors and graphic patterns reminiscent of African tribal designs and a refined southern coastal style, Joni Vanderslice, founder and principal of J. Banks Design Group, created a series of mosaics for New Ravenna with motifs of waves, trellises, and palms, all infused with color, texture, and shape. Based in Hilton Head, South Carolina, Vanderslice was attracted to product design because she was frustrated with specifications she wasn’t able to make herself. “That recognition of what the market needs yet can be difficult to source propels me,” she says. “In my product work, I anticipate the needs of the interior designer and problem solve on their behalf based upon my experience.”
Photography courtesy of New Ravenna
