Contemporary side table PIPAIO

beechwooden baseround

Konstantin Grcic: Three years ago, you designed a beautiful set of bowls for Mattiazzi called Portobello. You said that what interested you, was „the savior faire, the precision in the way in which materials are employed, and that things are done with passion.” This year you are launching the PIPAIO side tables. Is the design of these tables still characterized by an idea of craftsmanship? Julie Richoz: For the Portobello bowls my intention was to reveal the beauty of joinery (that I found very appealing on my first visit to the factory). Here, with the PIPAIO tables, each element is in balance with the others to form a vibrating ensemble – and in order to make this look effortless I rely on perfectly executed and therefore invisible joinery giving the impression of a very simple assembly while hidden inside are carefully engineered connections executed by numerical controlled machining. The expression of craftsmanship here lies in the careful execution, the choice of wood, the finish, the perfection. All this in service to the beauty of solid wood, to provide a canvas for the grains to express themselves and to give a flawless stage to the play of light and shadow. A cone, sticks, a bowl. KG: I like your description of PIPAIO looking „effortless“. Three wooden sticks holding up the top or bowl, like a waiter balancing a tray with the fingers of his hand spread open. The small base adds to this notion of lightness.