We first met Connecticut-based “design incubator” Teroforma at the Makers Market a few weeks ago and were charmed by husband and wife team Andrew and Anna Hellman’s pairings of emerging young design talent with seasoned artisanal craft studios to produce modern and beautiful tableware. Here’s a glimpse at designer and makers at work in their studio spaces and a Q&A with Andrew about the company that launched just last year, and its design processes.

Croatian designer Tihomir Tomic sketching the Issi Wine Decanter

Tomic's drafting desk

Tomic (left) with artisans Rogaska Glassworks of Slovenia

Issi in progress at Rogaska Glassworks

Issi Wine Decanter

Prototyping of Loft Table Tools by Thea Mehl of Norway

Prototyping

Loft Table Tools hand-carved by artisan Bill Baumgartel's Blueberry Hill Treenware

Bill Baumgartel

Loft Table Tools

How do the collaborations between artisan and designer come about? Where do you find them?
That’s kinda the ‘secret sauce’ of what we do. Without giving too much away, my wife/partner Anna and I founded Teroforma with the idea of establishing a creative structure that could allow designers and highly-skilled artisans/makers/workshops around the world to interact around specific projects involving multiple materials, processes and functions within a single, cohesive aesthetic. We’re after a unique result — so it’s the alchemy of bringing complementary or, in some cases dissonant, personalities together to work that is at the heart of our mission. We will go anywhere to find the right people to work with — we feel it’s the least we can do if we are going to then produce something that, if cared for properly, should actually outlive its owner. I sometimes feel that finding collaborators to populate the Teroforma structure is kind of like adding a new album to your desert island disc’s collection — you do it very carefully and with a lot of forethought. We have a lot in mind for Teroforma and know it will be a long road, but we’re enjoying the process and believe in taking our time to get it right.

How does the design process work?
Anna and I set a central creative direction for the company and then work to find the right people to help us bring it to life. We have only one rule: each piece must in some way acknowledge it’s connection to the whole. The outcome to date has been the evolution of our aesthetic into one which highlights a comforting repetition of shape across materials, pattern which accents the beauty of a material (decorating not dominating) and a consistency of color throughout. The designers increasingly take many of their cues from the existing product range, working within a functional brief to make their own adaptation to the whole family of products. In that way, each project becomes personal to the designer and maker involved, it becomes theirs. And when we see that happening, we know we’ve done it right.

Is there collaboration and problem solving from the start?
There always is. The initial stages of a project are always about allowing the actors to agree their lines. The designer must work to understand nuances of the process in order to effectively channel the maker’s efforts. In turn, the maker must try to inhabit the designer’s idea so that the solutions or suggestions they offer in respect of their material contribute to the best overall result. Add in the fact that the collaborators are usually speaking across cultural, linguistic and generational divides and you can understand why we take our time selecting just the right people to work with. It takes patience, but the cool thing is that once they hit their stride on a project, it can actually be hard work to get them to stop. The perfectionist always wants ‘just one minute more.’

Who finds the materials that will be used?
There are no mathematics to it. Sometimes we see a material that sparks an idea and might very quickly bring to mind a designer/artisan combination that we think might be worth exploring. Other times, we end up doing a lot of materials research. Sometimes it’s obvious to all from the beginning. Other times the designer is given a purely functional brief and asked to identify the right material. In the end, the final word is always that of the maker or the craftsman who actually takes on the responsibility of creating the piece. We try to keep it fluid — encouraging the process to dictate the result. It always seems to work out best that way.

by Jean Lin