When the book ‘Eternally Yours: vision on product endurance’ launched in 1997, its writer Ed van Hinte posed questions about sustainability and how we increase the durability of products through innovation, beauty, quality and an entrepreneurial rigour focused on design with a sustainable spirit. While it also explored the ephemeral qualities that make some products so loveable. For this series, More Space meets designers and architects who reveal the pieces of design they love and the way furniture can define a moment, influence the way we live and make us happy.
On one hand the furniture and objects we gather around us can connect with us through their craftsmanship and innovation, materials and history, the designer and the maker, on the other, a chair, a lounge, a favourite stool, is often chosen for deeply personal reasons connected to beauty or a nostalgic memory frozen in time. What we collect and why, says everything about who we are. Our first design piece might represent growing up, being independent and finding a creative voice. A sofa designed 50 years ago may grab attention for its groundbreaking ideas that transformed how we relax at home. While objects can also weigh in intellectually on social or political change. But ultimately, the things we collect allow us to charge them with our own personal values, as they quietly, or boldly, weave their way into the daily rituals of life.
In the following interview we meet Kirsten Stanisich, co-founder of Sydney studio Richards Stanisich, whose 'quietly confident' interiors embed a timelessness, creating spaces that reflect a softly articulated rhythm between craft and materials, and exuding life, art and design.
The Mayfair Apartment by Richards Stanisich features the classic Strips sofa designed by the Italian architect Cini Boeri. Photo © Chris Warnes c/o @grangebuilding.
More Space: Hi Kirsten, what is a favourite piece of design and how did it capture your attention?
Kirsten Stanisich: That’s a tough one because through the rise of social media we are bombarded with so many images, and often something I love can get a bit too much airplay which can kill the excitement. I am now finding it’s the incredible beauty of nature that I continuously fall in love with, regardless of how often I see it. If I were to name a physical thing, I’d say the silver Bone Cuff designed by Elsa Peretti. I have them in a few different sizes and I almost feel a bit more empowered when I wear them. They are designed to be shaped to the body and have transcended fashion. They feel just as modern today as they did when Elsa designed them almost 50 years ago.
Furniture is such a strong form of personal expression, what is your selection process?
What is great about residential interiors is that I really get the opportunity to know and understand the people, and pets, who will be using the space. So that will lead a lot of the selection processes for the styling and furnishings. They also tend to be fairly long processes and it can be exciting to see how the knowledge of the client can grow, which can help us to push a few boundaries here and there. In simple terms, I work to get myself inside the head of the client and think about how they would respond to each of the pieces. At the same time, I think about the relationship of the furniture to the design concept for the space, where the light falls and the practicalities of each piece against how they might be used.
The Strips sofa designed by Cini Boeri is singled out by Kirsten Stanisich as a favourite piece, and Boeri an architect who Kirsten says "really understood the combination of aesthetics and comfort". Photo c/o Arflex.
“...I work to get myself inside the head of the client and think about how they would respond to each of the pieces. At the same time I think about the relationship of the furniture to the design concept for the space, where the light falls and the practicalities of each piece against how they might be used."
Kirsten Stanisich, Cofounder, Richards Stanisich
What pieces are on your go-to list?
Not on my go-to but it’s on my 'have to have’ list… The Arflex Strips sofa in a beautiful lilac blue velvet. Cini Boeri was an architect I admire so much. She really understood the combination of aesthetics and comfort. We have the piece in our studio. At some point I think Elsa Peretti would have sat on one of those sofas wearing her Bone Cuffs. I’m also a super fan of Glas Italia. We have a few great pieces in our studio and I also have a coffee table at home. I’m going to say pretty much everything from Glas Italia is on my list.
Mayfair Apartment, and following, designed by Richards Stanisich. Photos © Chris Warnes.
The Italian architect Cini Boeri who designed Strips sofa along with other key iconic designs of the 20th century. Photo c/o Arflex.
The 1968-designed Strips sofa is still produced by the Italian furniture brand Arflex. Photo c/o Arflex.
"Having trained as an architect, I was taught that justification must have a rational or quantifiable basis, yet so much of how we respond to a space is about our deep-seated intuition or instinct..."
Furniture has a way of defining the moment, influencing the way we live and making us happy. Can you describe a recent project that has had a transformative affect, and how?
I’m working on a very beautiful house which is under construction right now and the client, who is lovely, has a much more decorative style than I would usually design to. The pieces she is drawn to work so well with her personality and I am really enjoying opening up and loosening my thinking. Having trained as an architect, I was taught that justification must have a rational or quantifiable basis, yet so much of how we respond to a space is about our deep-seated intuition or instinct. So anything that helps me get better at that is great.
Thanks Kirsten, lovely to chat with you.
