Konekt debuts chainmail lighting in dark-blue Manhattan showroom

Mom-and-daughter design studio Konekt has colored the partitions of its new showroom in New York Metropolis darkish blue to offer a daring backdrop to its sculptural lighting and furnishings designs.

Konekt is run by Helena Sultan, a former photographer and documentary filmmaker, who established the studio in Philadelphia in 2015. She has not too long ago introduced on her daughter Natasha to run the enterprise along with her.

The 2 have opened the showroom in New York’s Chinatown, designed to resemble an open-plan studio house. The area options deep blue partitions and weathered picket flooring that evoke a time-worn really feel regarding the handcrafted items on show.

Konekt redesigned the inside area, together with portray and putting in a golden wall glass mural by Natasha’s grandmother, who’s an artist. All of the artwork items within the area are by her as properly.

The Manhattan showroom additionally offers the backdrop for the launch of the duo’s first assortment collectively. Referred to as Amor, the sequence includes a lightweight and desk lined in chainmail, and was influenced by an vintage steel pot scrubber the 2 discovered whereas purchasing at a flea market.

The Amor pendant lamp options handblown glass lighting fixtures lined in metallic mesh, sourced from a 100-year-old producer in Massachusetts.

The studio, which creates a lot of its works with American craftspeople and producers, mentioned that draping the commercial materials over the fragile bulb posed challenges. “We had been having a very onerous time getting this particular form made,” Natasha advised Dezeen.

The Amor mild marks Konekt’s first foray into lighting and is accompanied by matching facet tables with related mesh sleeves at their bases.

One other piece on show is a bulbous eating desk, which pulls on the delicate curves of tumbled stones from the Atlantic Ocean. The desk includes a wooden prime and a convex bronze base, made in Pennsylvania. Each is detailed with totally different markings and contours.

“Numerous inspiration comes from nature,” mentioned Helena. “The form from shells and stones, and their sculptural varieties.”

“There isn’t any uniformity,” she continued.

Different items on show have extra animalistic traits. The wooden Bianca eating chairs, for instance, have dramatically curved wooden legs that stretch at angles away from the seat.  “The legs are impressed by the legs of camels, with sculptural hind legs,” Helena mentioned.

The eating chairs make use of mortise and tenon joints to attach the totally different moments.

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Within the showroom, the chairs are organized round a Gazelle eating desk, which options slender wooden legs that curve out far outwards. “The title Gazelle comes from the Persian phrase, Ghazal, which means elegant and fast,” mentioned the studio.

Lots of Konekt’s items necessitate meticulous craftsmanship, and nearly all are hand-crafted. Konekt credit score their appreciation of artwork, nature and vintage furnishings to Helena’s mum.

Designs make use of quite a lot of steel as properly, equivalent to oil rubbed bronze, polished brass and vintage nickel. Quite a lot of plush materials can be customised.

The Pause Chaise, which has a physique formed like a peapod form, is available in both velvet or wool to enhance its slender brass legs. A sequence of stools with horsehair fringe can be found in quite a lot of colors and steel finishes. Mirrors and candle holders spherical out Konekt’s designs.

Konekt’s showroom is in New York’s Chinatown, simply across the nook from Soho with its quite a few lighting and furnishings manufacturers.

Different designers which have not too long ago opened areas within the metropolis are Egg Collective in a nook Tribeca storefront, DePadova in Soho, a two-storey spot for Allied Maker lighting and Kettal’s outside pavilion in Midtown.