Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1137964
71 creating one-off pieces for gallery and museum shows out of aluminum, wood, and other industrial materials. They have become known for pushing the boundaries of technology and design with experimental products, including BOOM, a basement dehumidifi er that uses stored moisture to grow edible mushrooms. Kranen/Gille's work has a form-meets-fun aesthetic popularized by Dutch conceptual design company Droog, where their teachers at Eindhoven got their start in the 1990s. The Bottle chair, which Kranen/Gille made for Pode, is a side table, stool, bottle holder, and cheese plank rolled into one. The colorful chair remains a top seller. "We were trained in the values of Droog, so Bottle is straightforward, witty, affordable," Gille says. "We've taken our own path since then, but Droog is always at the foundation." The party continued at Kranen/ Gille with an irreverent collection of wall lamps, aptly called The Party. The amusing ceramic lamps, which resemble shocked faces, are illuminated with LEDs via wide eyes and mouths. The Party caught the attention of design subversive Marcel Wanders, co-founder and creative director of Dutch furniture and lighting company Moooi. In 2018, The Party kicked off Wanders' new ready-to-ship product strategy, More Moooi Moments. And, this past May, Kranen/Gille charmed visitors in Milan at Salone del Mobile with a wired-for-sound singing chandelier version of The Party, which they hope to include in the collection. Moooi gave the designers the technological and marketing support needed to make their one-off museum pieces available to consumers. "Marcel [Wanders] is a kind of wizard — nothing is impossible," Kranen says. "And if you think the end of the journey is in sight, Marcel always has an idea of how things can be better." Kranen/Gille's latest Moooi creation, the Plant chandelier, was originally developed 10 years ago for a show at the N o o rd b r a b a n t s Museum in The Netherlands — and it has been incubating ever since. Inspired by the linear p a t t e r n s of German a r t i s t K a r l Blossfeldt's botanical p h o t o g r a p h s , t h e chandelier's intertwined gilt branches terminate in sandblasted dome buds that emanate light. It's their most refi ned design yet, but not one they take too seriously. "It's just like when we were kids making and drawing stuff," Gille says. "It's still fun." Forest chair and table from Kranen/Gille's Von Trapp collection Kranen/Gille at work Plant chandelier designed by Kranen/Gille for Moooi, at Scott + Cooner Kranen/Gille's Hensen chair Kranen/Gille's Comber's Closet lamp includes found objects gilded and preserved in a lighted jar. Bottle table by Kranen/ Gille for Pode