Designer Information

8/8/2019 Designer Information

1/4

9/10/10 11:05 AarberOsgerby / - Design/Designer Information

Page 1tp://designmuseum.org/design/barber-osgerby?print=1

Edward Barber of Barber Osgerby

Jay Osgerby of Barber Osgerby

Loop Table, 1997Design: Barber OsgerbyProduction: Cappellini + Isokon Plus

Hula Stool, 2000Design: Barber OsgerbyProduction: Cappellini

BarberOsgerbyFurniture + Interior Designers (1969- + 1969-)

Having met as design students at the Royal College of Art in London, Edward Barberand Jay Osgerby have since collaborated on designing products and furniture asBARBER OSGERBY and architectural projects for clients such as Stella McCartney asUniversal Design Studio.

When Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby were asked to design a new bench for St ThomassCathedral in Portsmouth, they were told that it had to be made from oak, the traditionalmaterial for English cathedral furniture, but must also be light and portable. Beautiful thoughit may be, oak is far too heavy to be easily moved. Barber Osgerbys solution was toengineer the wood into such slender, but robust forms, that the benches would be lightenough to be manoeuvrable.

The Portsmouth Bench emerged with many of the characteristics which are typical of BarberOsgerbys work. Quietly elegant in style, it is equally subtle in structure. The confidentsimplicity of the bench belies the complexity of creating such a pleasing and practical objectand one which fulfils Barber Osgerbys objective of designing things that people will findpleasing to use and own.

Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have worked together since meeting as students at theRoyal College of Art in 1992. Born in Shrewsbury in 1969, Barber studied at Leeds beforethe RCA, while Osgerby, born in Oxford in 1969, was a student at Ravensbourne. One oftheir first collaborative projects was the Loop Table, a deceptively simple coffee table with abirch ply top looping around the base, which was produced first by Isokon Plus in the UK,then by Cappellini in Italy.

They continue to design furniture for Cappellini and Isokon Plus, which makes thePortsmouth Bench, but also have developed products for Authentics, Levi-Strauss andMagis as well as working on conceptual projects for Dornbracht and Abet Laminati. In 2001,Barber Osgerby founded Universal Design Studio to execute architectural and interior designprojects, which have included Pharmacy, the west London restaurant, and fashion stores forStella McCartney.

See Barber Osgerby's work at barberosgerby.com

Design Museum

Q. How did you meet and start working together?

A. We both studied at the Royal College of Art and our collaboration came through friendshipbut lead very quickly to real projects. We realised very early on that we had a shared affinityand passion for design.

Q. Does each of you play a distinctive role in the design process?

A. One of us will put forward an idea, the other one will react to the idea, possibly changingthe direction completely. The idea goes back and forth, the process starts and this is how wework, a process of tacking, through which the design evolves. The definitive sketches thatresult from this become models and then prototypes. This dialogue continues even after aproduct has left the production line. A project is never mentally left alone.

Q. How did each of you first become interested in design?


2/4



Home Table, 2001Design: Barber OsgerbyProduction: Isokon Plus

Shell Table, 2001Design: Barber OsgerbyProduction: Cappellini

Stencil, 2002Design: Barber OsgerbyProduction: Cappellini

Tile for Stella McCartney store, 2002Design: Barber Osgerby/UniversalDesign StudioProduction: Team Work Italia

Jay: An interest in design grew from a love of drawing and making things as a child. Growingup in Oxford allowed regular visits to the University museums. I found the crafted artefactsthere deeply inspiring. I was interested in being a painter, sculptor or architect, I wasunaware of design as a profession then.

Edward: My first awareness of design came at an early age through sailing. I admired thestreamlined and complex curves of wooden boat hulls and was fascinated by thecraftsmanship they entailed. It was also my first introduction to plywood - using wood in

sheets was rather intriguing. I felt the urge to be able to design things of equal beauty andsimplicity.

Q. What was the influence of your design education?

Jay: Ravensbourne taught me how to make complex things, about processes and aboutmaterials. It made me aware of detail and gave me an appreciation of beautifullymanufactured objects. I studied at Les Ateliers in Paris with the Erasmus program in 1991and was confounded by the French approach to design. I was used to real pace in projectsand a huge emphasis on the process of design development. The French students were inlove with the big idea - the romance of the concept above all else. It was very useful for meto experience the pragmatic, professional approach in London and the romantic artisanapproach in Paris.

At the RCA I enjoyed the collaborative opportunities that a multidisciplinary environmentpresents. We involved several other students in our initial projects and today try to engenderthat atmosphere in our own studios.

Edward: I seem to remember spending a lot of my degree life-drawing and taking photos both of which have been invaluable tools ever since as both disciplines teach you to look atthings in depth, objects change the more you look at them.

Q. Which of your early projects were most important in establishing your reputation asdesigners?

A. The Loop Table was the first piece of furniture that we designed and put into production. Ithas proved to be the most important piece so far. Originally produced in the UK by Isokon, it

was spotted by Giulio Cappellini and included in Cappellinis collection at the Salone in April1998. That established a regular work relationship with Cappellini leading to many piecesbeing designed for him, indirectly leading to many of our current and recent projects for othermanufacturers. The Loop Table is now in the permanent collections of the V&A Museum inLondon and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Q. How has your approach to design evolved since then?

A. When we started the excitement was in creating new shapes and working with materialswe hadn't used before. Now the focus has moved towards designing objects that really havea purpose and some projects, like the Levis hanger, are extremely precise in theirrequirements. Inevitably projects grow in complexity as knowledge grows and thats whyearly projects have that naive simplicity and true spirit.

Q. What are your goals as designers?

A. We believe that every project has to have a spirit of innovation. When we arecommissioned to design a product we seek to re-evaluate the architype, to challengeprecedents.

We always look at different ways in which products can be manufactured, not necessarily byusing new materials or radical re-thinking, but maybe by using existing techniques in a moreoriginal or intelligent way.


3/4



Coat Hanger, 2003Design: Barber Osgerby

Hang Up, 2003Design: Barber OsgerbyPrototype

Portsmouth Bench, 2003Design: Barber Osgerby

Production: Isokon Plus

Pantone Stool, 2005Design: Barber OsgerbyProduction: Isokon Plus

Q. What inspires your work?

Jay: Inspiration comes when I have peace and quiet or when I am extremely busy. Travellingprovokes thought and reflection and sometimes inspiration. In the same way, and again atpolar opposites, I find that hand-crafted objects are often as inspiring to me as supertechnical things.

Edward: The rigorous design of strictly functional objects in nautical and aeronautical designis truly inspiring. Being in a quiet place, preferably near the sea, is where Im best at

formulating ideas. Jay and I regularly stay in a remote house on the Welsh Coast to work onnew projects. The isolation seems to focus the mind.

Q. When design historians look back at this era, will they consider it to be an exciting period?

Jay: We are in a period where more is being produced than ever. Historians will no doubt judge this era as the time when consumption finally acknowledged ecology and globalresponsibility. It is important for us all as designers to design objects that will have a long life,physically strong and emotionally desired.

Edward: Historically designers/architects went straight to work in the studio of an establishedname for years, now designers are experimenting and making straight from college whichgives a hugely diverse and interesting range of work. Also, large manufacturers areincreasingly prepared to take a gamble on students and graduates on the merit of their workrather than relying on proven track record of established designers, which gives furtheropportunities to young designers.

Q. Which of your design projects have you found most satisfying and why?

A. All of our projects have been satisfying in one-way or another but the Levi's project was areal challenge. Levis needed a hanger design that could maximise the expression of thethree dimensional nature of their new garments (the Engineered Jeans range launched in1999). They needed an inexpensive solution and a design that could be easily shipped totheir 9000 stores worldwide. All within a six-month project programme.

Jackets and shirts are displayed on a curved hanger, which mimics the broad shape of thehuman shoulder but only uses the same amount of material as a conventional coat hanger.

Their shape means that many hangers can be stacked together to minimise volume forstorage and delivery.

We discovered that if the jeans were hung front to back they also took on a three-dimensional look however this involved persuading Levis to sew loops into all their jeansfor the hanger to work. After some persuasion they did this, and still do to this day.

Being able to deliver on a project like this with a precise brief in such a short time is arewarding experience.

Q. How did the Portsmouth bench project come about? What would you identify as the mostinnovative or distinctive elements of the bench?

A. We were asked to design new furniture for St. Thomas Cathedral in Portsmouth, as partof an ongoing programme of renovation, which began in the early 1990s and includes workby Patrick Caulfield and Langland & Bell.


4/4



Birds on a wireDesign: Barber OsgerbyProduction: Magis

ShelvingDesign: Barber OsgerbyProduction: ClassicanPhotographed by Lee Furrell

The only definitive criterion for the pieces was that they be made of oak. Solid oak is heavyand one key requirement for the furniture was that it be light and easily manoeuvrable.These two apparently conflicting demands were resolved by the engineering of the design,resulting in the slender form of the bench, the delicacy of which belies its strength.

Q. Similarly how did the Home table come about? And what are its most distinctiveelements?

A. The Home table was an exercise in reduction. We wanted to design a dining table thatthrough its simple form would express the intrinsic quality of its material. We designed it to bemade in raw oak to emphasise its tactility. Its simple form belies the traditional woodworkingmethods used in its construction. The legs have the appearance of being made from a solidpiece of oak but are actually made from planks.

Design Museum

FURTHER READING

Visit Barber Osgerby's website at barberosgerby.com

For more information on British design and architecture go to Design in Britain, the online

archive run as a collaboration between the Design Museum and British Council, atdesignmuseum.org/designinbritain

Design Museum

Designer Information

Documents

Transcript of Designer Information