This desk began with a commission for two people working opposite one another, around a working surface of two by one metres.

Before building the final piece, we made this smaller, single-person prototype. A way of exploring the construction through making. How a drawer could become part of the structure. How wood and brass could meet. How elements could cross, connect and continue.

As the desk developed, these crossings became more than connections. Lines started to form a structure and the structure started to form a pattern. Each element remained readable, while becoming part of a larger whole. This way of working opened up an idea that stayed with us. We continued to explore it, simplify it and take it further. The first threads of what would later become TARTAN.

The prototype is now part of our archive, but the idea is not finished. We would like to return to the desk, revisit it with what we know now, and see where it takes us next.

TARTAN series

TARTAN takes its name from the traditional Scottish pattern, where threads cross and repeat to form a larger whole. In the TARTAN series, we explore the possibility of ‘weaving’ with wood, simplified to its purest form. Where the wood meets, a knot occurs. From these knots, a structure emerges.

Every structure is made from high-density bamboo and solid brass. The bamboo fibres are compressed under high pressure, creating a dense and durable material. Nothing more than what is needed.

We consider TARTAN a way of building furniture differently. The structures can be taken apart, adapted, repaired and built again. Parts can change while the principle remains. At the end of an object’s life, its materials can be separated and given another life.

TARTAN is ongoing. Taking us further every time. Different objects, different proportions, new possibilities.

TARTAN