Gabriel Kakon and Scott Richler have known each other since their preteen years, long before they became brothers-in-law and embarked on their first furniture line in 2004. With backgrounds in jewelry-making, industrial design, and architecture between them, Richler and Kakon worked together on and off before officially launching Gabriel Scott in 2012 in their native Montreal.
It was during ICFF the same year that they introduced the Marx stool and the Dean series of tables, both of which employed blackened steel and satin brass for a modern look. “We each have our strengths: Mine is more at the beginning of the process, in a firestarter sort of way, and Gab has more of an analytical sense into how [things] fit and how [they] work,” Richler explains.
Before long, they expanded into lighting. “Little did we know it would become such an important part of our collection today,” Kakon says. For instance, the Myriad lighting series, the studio’s latest, is resplendent in thick glass with a floral, organic arrangement, Richler points out. It was updated this year for Salone del Mobile in Milan with a custom version that references the classic Italian cocktail the Negroni, thanks to bar owner Maurizio Stocchetto, who collaborated on the custom Campari-colored glass light fixture that now glows in the window of his Bar Basso.
The modular Myriad series, made up of the studio’s signature double-blown glass and satin metallic hardware, is inspired by bioluminescent organisms.
Gabriel Scott also recently partnered with Toronto and New York firm Yabu Pushelberg on several custom pieces for Four Seasons properties in Toronto and the Middle East. In addition, the studio’s work can be found in W Hotels in Los Angeles (from Seattle firm Dawson Design Associates) and Montreal (designed in-house), as well as in the refresh of Montreal’s Fairmont the Queen Elizabeth from local firm Sid Lee Architecture. “It’s been an interesting success for us to see our concept and our philosophy of design working for those varied types of projects,” Kakon says. “We’ve always designed with that flexibility in mind.”
