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These Hand-Painted Leather Vessels Revive Tradition Through a Contemporary Aesthetic
Never Too Much is the name Swiss designers Sarah Kueng and Lovis Caputo gave to a series of leather bowls they created last year—a name that immediately suggests the wide-brimmed, candy-colored vessels are nothing short of just right.
Crafted from hand-painted leather and completed in 2015, the collection resembles something closer to celestial frisbees than anything I’ve ever thought to serve food in, but the designers behind Zurich-based studio Kueng Caputo reassure me that that’s their intent.
The two designers met while studying industrial design at Zurich University of the Arts (2004 to 2008) and have been collaborating ever since. Never Too Much was inspired by a trip to Italy in 2013, where the duo learned about the Florentine tradition of working with leather. “We visited a workshop and were impressed,” Kueng says. “We saw all the different ways leather can be treated and the complexity of the process by which leather is worked.”
Two of the processes they were exposed to were vegetable and mineral (or chromium) tanning, the latter being a response to the complex, expensive and time-intensive process of vegetable tanning that first arose in 1858. While the basic principle is the same—removing water molecules from the collagen of animal skin to turn it into leather—chromium tanning is much quicker and works by displacing water with chrome ions, which bind to the collagen for a result that is both thinner and softer than its vegetable-tanned counterpart, and therefore an increasingly popular choice when it comes to leather tanning.
Never Too Much fits nicely into the Swiss designers’ explorative portfolio, which is focused on material experimentation and a craft-based approach. Their insatiable curiosity for new processes has previously resulted in an iron-chloride embellished oak table and a plywood yurt.
Kueng and Caputo begin many of their projects by reaching out to local factories and seeking out those willing to collaborate with them. “Starting a new material-craft-relationship takes time,” Kueng says. “We love this part; It’s very interesting and personal. We spend a lot of time in the factory to really understand how things are done. Then, the first ideas come up. We try to convince craftsmen and women to try something they have never done before.”
Kueng notes that there is typically a huge learning curve when it comes to approaching a lot of these projects, and when she and her partner begin asking about new techniques or processes, they understand pretty quickly that there is a reason why they haven’t been approached before. “Then we debate all the possibilities and we hope [the artisans] will share their knowledge with us.” With the right will and pioneering vibes, Kueng says anything is possible,“but not guaranteed.”
The duo experimented with both kinds of leather tanning, discovering that although chrome tanning has become the norm for manufacturing processes, vegetable tanning allows the pores of the material to remain open, taking in more pigment for a more vibrant result. “Color is a fascinating natural special effect,” Caputo says. “It changes all the time depending on the surroundings and the light, so we love playing with it.”
“Vegetable tanning takes longer and uses a vegetable tanning agent,” Kueng explains. “The difference between the two tanning methods is the process and end result. With the vegetable tanning, the leather’s pores remain open, while the chromium method closes the pores. We let the color dye into the leather, so we can achieve a layered color effect. This technique requires open pores.”
In the case of Never Too Much, leather is first painted layer by layer using leather stain until a soft, speckled image (reminiscent of a Pollock painting if it was done in watercolor) begins to emerge. “We paint until it is complete,” Caputo says. “Sometimes it’s only two layers over the course of one day, sometimes we paint for a week until it’s finished.” The painted skins are then sent to Florence, where Italian artisans work the leather by stretching and drying it over a form. Additional layers of leather are added until the bowl is roughly 2 to 3 layers thick, then they are trimmed and polished into their final shape. The final bowls range slightly in size, but are mostly 4" by 21.5" by 21.25".
“The biggest challenge [when working with highly-skilled artisans ] is always to trust each other,” Kueng says. “Once you reach this level of appreciation for each other’s profession, from both sides, work can start. There is no recipe to reach this confidence. It’s about having the will to understand each other’s language.”
Never Too Much debuted in New York at Salon 94 back in January of 2014, along with a collection of benches, stools and lamps, all made of hand-painted leather with enamel accents. Kueng and Caputo continued working on the series for the following year, experimenting with a range of finishes and techniques. Each piece retails for around $2200.
“We love collaborations,” Kueng says. “It’s great to work with specialized people, especially when they love what they do. We enjoy studying and understanding their specialities, their specific techniques, their history—then taking it a step further to express a contemporary idea rooted in that existing knowledge.”
Kueng Caputo just kicked off a new collaboration with a chemical company, experimenting with new materials and uses—but are keeping the specifics under wraps for the time being. In the meantime, the studio recommends anyone interested in seeing more of their work to swing by the Swiss Pavilion at the Design Biennial in London (open September 7 - 27, 2016) to see their latest project Le Son Est Disparu.
http://www.core77.com/posts/54971/These-Hand-Painted-Leather-Vessels-Revive-Tradition-Through-a-Contemporary-Aesthetic