Ilse Crawford brings humanistic design to Edelman's leather offering

Esteemed American leather-maker Edelman has announced an ongoing collaboration with designer Ilse Crawford, bringing her vision to shape future projects. Starting with a reimagining of three brand staples – the leathers till now known as ‘Dream Cow’, ‘Luv-A-Bull’, and ‘Stella’ – Crawford has worked with Edelman’s newly appointed design studio to provide fresh directions and palettes for the established lines, along with new names: they are now ‘Helm’, ‘Oath’, and ‘Poem’. 

Each reworking of Edelman’s signature leathers is set to spark an evolution in the upholsterer’s catalogue, opening the studio to Crawford’s signature ‘human-led’ approach, her eye for natural materials, and a design ethos that draws on decades of experience.

Ilse Crawford and Edelman Leather

Crawford’s practice centres on pairing handmade and industrial materials to bring interiors a sense of warmth, atmosphere, and character; aiming to bridge the gap between our senses and the places we live in, to connect people more strongly to their surroundings. She is a pioneer in humanistic design, and her partnership with Edelman seeks to nurture spaces that are comfortable, and free to evolve with their inhabitants; it brings together her sensibility for materials and colour with Edelman’s commitment to producing leathers that improve with age. 

Drawing on Crawford’s belief in colour as a part of one’s identity, and how interior design can be used to make one’s own world, the Edelman collaboration centres on creating long-lasting furniture and environments by introducing new textures and palettes to a historic brand.

Starting with the ‘Helm’ line, Crawford selected 24 new hues, from calming greys to mellow greens and blues, each working to complement the material’s medium-pebble grain with even tones and intended to frame the elements of a space with a classic look. 'The bones of the building,' as Crawford puts it, ‘Helm’ is the most robust of the new products; it contains the most pigment and has been embossed, ensuring it retains the power to complement the design of a space over time.

Meanwhile, ‘Oath’ offers a range of neutral colours across 12 new tones, each boasting greater depth and luminosity, featuring a smooth grain with a supple hand, produced using a light wax coating. Using dye instead of a stronger pigment, the line has materiality and tactility in mind, allowing the leather to be seen through the colour more easily, and producing a more naturalistic finish.

Moving to the final leather, ‘Poem’, the colours have been chosen for their bold, eye-catching quality, making this ‘the most dynamic’ leather of the selection. Used in front of background colours, ‘Poem’s wide range of pigments adds dynamic details that pop within an interior, and spans 22 new options that range from vibrant reds and greens to more delicate greys and neutral tones.

Crawford likens each new Edelman line to parts of a composition, to be used in a holistic space to enhance and shape a beautiful whole. The leathers’ unique qualities and colours each play their part in bringing a space together.

edelmanleather.com
studioilse.com