Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 31
Occupation: Designer
Instagram: @mariascarpulla
Hometown: Ghent, Belgium
Studio location: Ghent, Belgium
Describe what you make: I design furniture, tables, and lighting. The objects are made in different color combinations and have a minimalist feel with subtle geometric lines. I use steel in combination with wooden tabletops. I love experimenting with color and the contrasts they bring. I also love to paint and started incorporating it into my designs.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: The Piece table was one of my first objects and where it all started for me. It came from a long process of fine-turning form and function to achieve its essence. I wanted to make a table that was changeable, modifiable, and adaptable to the mood and tune of the day. Its surface has two colors and is flippable, so I invite the owner to enter a dialogue: a conversation in color and form. I’ve continued this approach/idea throughout all my work.
Describe the problem your work solves: When designing, I try to question the object’s obvious functionality beyond its trivial use. A table, for example, is multi-functional: a place of work, dinner, discussion, or passage. In my interpretation, it becomes as alterable as its many uses. I love the idea that things can change according to what you feel at a certain moment. For example, you can change the table’s top when sunlight shines on it or certain flowers match better with a different color, or just because you can and feel like it. It’s up to you if you want to mix it up—you can follow the seasons. You have the freedom to choose!
Describe the project you are working on now: The past few weeks, I’ve been preparing to launch a limited-edition series of 30 tables, each featuring a one-of-a-kind abstract painting. I’ve been working on this project for two years now. Thirty individual tables with frames in three colors: 10 blue, 10 pink, and 10 green, but 30 different paintings. The frames are combined with a rotating tabletop in two different colors, one side matching with the frame. Each tabletop has a red side, which is the common thread throughout the collection and with the addition of another level with a free intuitive artwork. You can choose to leave the painting in the table, but you can also remove it and put it on the wall. I see and use the table as a canvas. The contrast between the table’s minimalist shapes and the abstract elements of the paintings give a surprising result.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: I’m launching a limited-edition series of 30 small tables named “You Know The Way, Right?” It opened on June 6 at Studio Stories in Ghent, Belgium. The exhibition runs from June 7–10.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Coffee, some tunes to keep me going, plants, paint, and color charts.
What you do when you’re not working: Fortunately, my work doesn’t feel like a job. It’s something instinctive that is always around. In a way, it’s something you can’t really put aside. There are so many facets of designing. From having ideas, to making those ideas come to life. Each day is 100% different. Inspiration comes randomly, most of the time when least expected…
Sources of creative envy: Blinky Palermo, Jackson Pollock, Dries Van Noten, June Carter Cash, Luis Barragán, Joan Didion, and so many more.
The distraction you want to eliminate: I love distractions, they often give inspiration…
Concrete or marble? Concrete.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? It depends.
Aliens or ghosts? Ghosts.
Dark or light? Light.
