Wallpaper 8

ABOVE AND RIGHT,

THE PROCESS OF

MAKING EACH TUFT

INDIVIDUALLY AND

STITCHING THEM

ONTO THE ALUMINIUM

FRAME AT THE KENT

BRUSHES FACTORY IN

HERTFORDSHIRE, UK

LEFT, KENT BRUSHES’

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

BEN COSBY

to revert to a technique called pan-setting, a

method new to the Kent craftspeople, which

consists of handmaking each tuft separately

and then embedding them onto the frame.

‘The euphoric feeling of overcoming the

seemingly impossible really bound our team

together, and over the next few days all

involved went above and beyond to complete

the piece in time,’ he says. Double shifts and

triple shifts were the order of the day, with

the final push turning out to be a 26-hour

non-stop ‘tuftathon’ to complete the piece

and hand it over to the courier waiting to

take it straight to Salone in Milan.

The finished daybed might be far from

our initial, rather simplistic ‘sculptural

brush’ idea, but it fits this year’s Handmade

theme of wellness and wonder beautifully.

Lounging on it evokes the experience

of relaxing on grass, and the natural boar

bristles offer a massage that enhances

blood circulation and encourages full body

relaxation, turning the piece into a natural

cocoon. Says Lust, ‘Humour, culture and

technology merge here with the notions

of rest, meditation and recharging.’

It also brings to life each collaborator’s

aesthetic and savoir-faire: Lust’s unmistakable

design approach, Delhez’s metal expertise,

and Kent’s craftsmanship. ‘I transposed the

traditional wooden brush into my personal

formal language,’ says Lust, who calls this

daybed ‘La Belle et la Bête’.

‘This contrasting piece is composed of

mineral and organic materials, and the

combination of these materials inspired the

poetic concept of this daybed and its name:

beauty lives in perfect symbiosis with the

tender wild beast that protects her.’ ∂

xavierlust.com; kentbrushes.com; delhez.be

118 ∑

Making Of...