DISCIPLINES
Furniture,
products,
interiors
MISSION
Working Apart
Together
FOUNDED 2002
MEMBERS
Maarten Baptist, Jan
Habraken, and their
network of friends
top WAT added clever pixelated flat panels to ILSE Media’s conference table and mail desk.
above Randomactions collaborated on WAT’s chair/jacket hybrid.
COLLECTIVE HEROES
“We are always slightly
in favor of the work
of the Eameses and
Bouroullecs.”
While some collectives are tightly knit clans, the young Dutch team WAT Design, whose whimsical and diverse offerings range from minimalist silver cutlery to paper cutout chandeliers, functions more like an extended family. Its name stands for Working Apart Together, which reflects the endearing tale of its foundation: Maarten Baptist and Jan Habraken were two Eindhoven Design Academy grads who, after starting separate businesses in an attempt to assert their individuality, realized they missed one another’s company. “We stayed in touch and talked a lot,” says Habraken, 31. “We wanted to share ideas but not be attached to one another.”
That’s where the rest of the WAT ensemble players come in: For each new project, Baptist and Habraken team up with a designer whose expertise complements theirs. For example, techy designer Jos Karnen helped create ZEROO:00, a lightweight digital clock that is supported by its own battery, and fellow Eindhoven alumnus Jasper van Grootel was on board for a cartoon-inspired office interior for ILSE Media. “Since we were working with an internet company, which is such a transient business, we wanted to make something that looked like props,” says Habraken. Hence, 2-D cardboard structures like a life-size postal truck (for the mail desk) and camper (printer area) are propped up around the workspace.
WAT also enlisted the help of fashion designer and stylist Andrea Schrijen of Randomactions to create a chair with a jacket attached to the upholstery. But their latest project is an exercise in graphic design and national pride: “We’ve designed a concept for a new Dutch flag,” says Habraken. “It has a green bottom and blue sky with a rainbow. It’s much better than the old one.” www.watdesign.nl — JOHANNA LENANDER
above and right During last year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, WWIAFM spent three days hand-stitching a giant troll, then dismembered it and paraded its limbs through the streets of Soho.
References:
Archives