Ecommerce portal Simple Shape launches today on the premise that ‘that working with good people, making good things, makes good sense’. Using the wise motto as a starting point for her business, founder Helen Osgerby has gathered a carefully selected roster of designers and makers, whose work is linked by a minimalist aesthetic and functional purpose.
‘One of the guiding principles behind Simple Shape is that the things in the collection have all been designed, made and crafted in the UK and Ireland,’ explains Osgerby, whose goal is to sell pieces that celebrate manufacturing skills and design savoir-faire.
The first collection (currently available on the site) includes ceramics by Dove Street Pottery and Elliott Ceramics, stationery from Tom Pigeon’s remote Scottish studio and London printers Esme Winter. Textiles from Irish linen experts 31 Chapel Lane and British Isles-woven blankets by Eleanor Pritchard sit alongside minimal but poetic wooden pieces by Sheffield-based Roanna Wells and Devon’s Rosie Brewer.
The objects in the selection are intended to stand the test of time, and the purpose is for them to ‘age gracefully, wear in, not wear out, and be passed to children and grandchildren.’ Osgerby’s goal is to support and maintain the craftsmanship heritage of the area while celebrating design and function.
Simple Shape's motto says ‘that working with good people, making good things, makes good sense’.
Textiles from Irish linen experts 31 Chapel Lane and British Isles-woven blankets by Eleanor Pritchard sit alongside minimal but poetic wooden pieces by Sheffield-based Roanna Wells and Devon’s Rosie Brewer
Made in her workshop in Devon, Rosie Brewer uses the history of the timber to inform her designs
Salad servers by Roanna Wells. Each spoon is individually hand carved from Sycamore trees felled in Norfolk
The Elliott Ceramics collection, made from porcelain, has a marbling effect produced by stain being working into the bod of the clay before being trown on the wheel
The exterior of these bowls are sanded smooth and licked with a clear glazeto the interior creating a contrast between inside and out
Dove Street Pottery is made from fine white stoneware clay
-
After the floods, Valencia’s design community unitesValencia's design community launches ‘Auction for Action’ and 'Interioristas en Acción' (IED), initiatives to raise money for those effected by the floods in Spain
-
In Helsinki, Pauline Curnier Jardin has created the grotesque amusement park of her dreamsFrench artist Pauline Curnier Jardin celebrates otherness at Kiasma, Helsinki’s Museum of Contemporary Art
-
A celestial New York exhibition showcases Roman and Williams’ mastery of lightingLauded design studio Roman and Williams is exhibiting 100 variations of its lighting ‘family tree’ inside a historic Tribeca space
-
One to Watch: Family Project’s ‘furniture friends’ are elegant and humorous with lasting emotional valueFamily Project, founded by Francesco Paini, is a London-based design practice drawn to human connection, creating portraiture through furniture and injecting artful expressions into interior spaces
-
‘There are hidden things out there, we just need to look’: Studiomama's stone animals have quirky charmStudiomama founder's Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama sieve the sands of Kent hunting down playful animal shaped stones for their latest collection
-
‘Natural gold’ straw weaving by Hanny Newton wins the inaugural QEST Sanderson rising star award'I have been passionate and driven to champion straw embroidery as an exquisite, sustainable “natural gold”’: rising star Hanny Newton on winning the inaugural award
-
First look: Western Mongolia meets Kew Gardens in John Pawson and Oyuna Tserendorj’s cashmere throwsArchitectural designer John Pawson and cashmere designer Oyuna Tserendor have collaborated on a cashmere throw collection inspired by Pawson’s 70m Lake Crossing in the Royal Botanical Gardens
-
British furniture brand Pinch celebrates 20 years of design excellenceUK-based furniture and lighting label Pinch marks two decades in the business with an impressive anniversary collection and a pop-up showroom in New York’s Tribeca
-
One to Watch: Somer – could furniture buy-back schemes be the future?Somer, William Floyd-Maclean’s new modular wooden furniture brand, has a buy-back scheme to promote circularity in furniture manufacturing, and care in consumer behaviour
-
One to Watch: Common Design reignites traditional furniture-makingGet to know Common Design, the London-based studio making characterful furniture with a playful spin on tradition, a worthy focus of Wallpaper’s One-to-Watch series
-
Inside London’s new M.II store: earthy interiors offering a glimpse of ‘the darker side of Mouki Mou’M.II is a new London addition to Maria Lemos’ portfolio of boutiques, with interiors by Williams Russel that feature luxurious detailing cast in a moody haze
