6:am Glassworks
Named for the time of day when Murano’s glassmakers fire up their furnaces, Milan-based 6:am Glassworks was founded by Edoardo Pandolfo and Francesco Palù to connect those artisans with the creatives who were struggling to find them. ‘It was a black hole,’ explains Pandolfo, who hails from Venice. ‘In Murano, there is an artisan who only does drinking glasses, another who makes chandelier arms... We know who makes what.’
In 2018, the pair had just finished collaborating on a lamp with Luca Guadagnino when, at a loose end, they found interior designer Hannes Peer’s phone number online. ‘We called him: “Hey Hannes, we are some random guys who do glass!” He was angry because his number was for clients not suppliers, but then he invited us to his home,’ says Pandolfo.
Their timing was perfect: Peer wanted a bespoke Murano-glass chandelier for his studio. The first sample came out perfectly, and 6:am Glassworks transformed it into a product named ‘Paysage’. Now, Dior buys the chandelier for its boutiques, and the collection includes a floor lamp.
What's everyone reading?
Pandolfo relishes the intellectual exchange that comes from working with a designer such as Peer, whom he describes as ‘straightforward, brave and decisive’. ‘The important thing is toread the person: what is it that they want, what gets them excited? You combine this with the best techniques, the best artisans and our own personal taste.’ ‘We’ve played sports all our lives,’ he adds.‘We believe in teamwork.’ 6am.studiovedet.com
Max McLintock
The furniture maker Max McLintock loves that wood isn’t lifeless, but is constantly expanding and contracting, even if, ‘it behaves in ways you don’t always want it to’. Whether he’s advising designers and architects on the best timbers to use or has full creative control of a project, ‘it’s always collaborative,’ he says.
During the first lockdown, McLintock had been made redundant and decided to pursue a lifelong dream, enrolling in the fine furniture design and making course at the Building Crafts College in Stratford. After posting a leather-top writing desk he made on Instagram, a client got in touch and, ‘it all went from there’.
His first commission was a large ash dining table. ‘I was given free rein and wanted to make the chunkiest table leg I could! It gave me a huge amount of confidence,’ he recalls.
‘People have been making wooden furniture for millennia, and an ancient mortise-and-tenon joint is pretty much unchanged,’ says McLintock, whose passion is combining traditional methods with a modern, playful aesthetic. His favourite moment of any project is oiling the finished piece: ‘The whole appearance transforms, showing the beauty, variation and character of the grain.’
Working with designers and architects pushes him to develop new techniques, and he relishes the responsibility of translating their plans into physical form. ‘You realise how much meaning a piece of furniture can hold, so it’s important to get it done correctly,’ he explains. ‘Taking a client’s idea from a sketch to a fully realised product is ultimately the big reward.’ maxmclintock.com
Uma Objects
For generations, Steph Galla’s family has been producing fibreglass parts for the automotive industry from their factory based in Izmir, Turkey. Lightweight and incredibly tough, fibreglass is made in moulds, meaning the same object can be endlessly replicated. ‘Our factory also makes giant slides for water parks, which have to be durable and UV-resistant,’ she adds. ‘From a sustainability point of view, we focus on making products that aren’t throwaway.’
With a background in architecture and furniture design, Galla wanted to introduce more interiors-focused projects. Her first clients were her friends from the Royal College of Art, Alex Holloway and Na Li. ‘I produced a long fibreglass bench for their pâtisserie-house project, and learnt a lot about how we can challenge the material,’ she says.
She has also collaborated with Holloway on his own flat and a sofa for Bermonds Locke hotel. ‘That was our first foray into seating,’ she says. ‘We thought, “How can we adapt this into a collection that reflects Alex as a designer and our product capabilities as well?”’
With its orange upholstery and curvy form, inspired by Tube seats and early-2000s reality TV, their modular ‘T4’ range made its debut at the London Design Festival in 2022.
‘We put a lot of time into research and development. I have things on my studio table that I don’t really know how we can apply to an object, then a designer will come along and say, “I’m looking for this kind of finish”, and I’ll know I’ve come up with a way of doing it,’ says Galla.
‘Traditionally in the design world, production is always in the background, and I quite enjoy that.’ She launched Uma Objects ‘to show other designers that it’s possible to have a truly collaborative journey with a production house’. Galla loves keeping an open dialogue between the two worlds. ‘There’s so much variety, and we’re constantly being surprised. It keeps things moving.’ umaobjects.com
RichCraft Furniture
Richard Evans calls steel ‘a hard, unforgiving material’ that takes brute force to manipulate, but also demands finesse. He’s fascinated by that dichotomy, which ‘helps bring a subtleness to an otherwise industrial material’.
While showing his furniture at the London Design Fair in 2018, he got his first commission. ‘The job was creating handrails,’ he recalls, ‘but that wasn’t important; what it taught me was!’ He was soon asked to make custom dining tables for a residential client.
A common misconception is that creating metal furniture is all about welding things together, but in reality, says Evans, ‘it involves a lot of planning and preparation’. He has worked with architecture firm New Wave to produce bespoke metal shelving for the Aesop store in Clapham, and recently has been making shelves for the Shangri-La Hotel at The Shard.
Top designer Philippe Malouin’s team approached him to create some pieces for an exhibition at American gallery Salon 94 Design. Evans was happy to be a small part of the process, saying, ‘It was a fantastic opportunity, and I gained exposure to the different material finishes he uses, which were completely new to me.’
His favourite project so far has been working with Shoreditch-based design studio Red Deer on a unique stacking stool for the bar at Dalston’s Kingsland Locke Hotel. ‘It’s not always possible to show your work to friends and family, but the location meant people could see my furniture for themselves.’
Evans gets a sense of pride from being a maker: ‘Looking up at the London skyline and knowing something you made is in one of those buildings is cool. With desk-based work, people lose touch with skills needed to make something from scratch. It’s good to know you are reviving a forgotten craft.’ richcraftfurniture.co.uk
Miller Brothers Stone
Noticing a gap in the Irish market, Ruairi andDaniel Miller started Miller Brothers Stone almost 20 years ago. Ruairi focused on the business, while Danny set up the workshop. ‘Being self-taught makes you learn quickly!’ he says, laughing.
The brothers are known for their incredible range of stone and the extraordinary things they do with it. ‘It gives designers a lot of freedom,’ says Danny. ‘Most have a clear vision and choose the exact slabs, but the beauty comes from how the veining continues on different planes. We add that expertise.’
As technology advances, they can offer novel design solutions, be they carving organic shapes perfectly, strengthening stone while reducing weight or safely cladding ceilings.
They prefer working with select designers: Dublin-based Minnie Peters was their first client, and others have included architect Jake Moulson and Bryan O’Sullivan Studio, with whom the pair worked on ‘an amazing Parisian townhouse’. ‘There was no room for error,’ recalls Danny. ‘It was like a mathematical equation.’
Perhaps the siblings’ most fruitful collaboration, though, has been with Róisín Lafferty of Kingston Lafferty Design. A project called Infinity House has been the most complex – and rewarding – so far. ‘We were tasked with sculpting a spiral staircase in a very difficult green stone. From an engineering and design perspective, it challenged me hugely,’ says Danny.
‘The team at KLD are true stone lovers, pushing unexpected material combinations and shapes. That’s where we find inspiration and professional fulfilment.’ millerbrothers.ie
