O
ur focus on colour started as a sort of
surprise,” says Carole Baijings, one half
of design duo Scholten & Baijings. The
Dutch practice is celebrated for an
oeuvre that spans concept cars for
BMW, porcelain for Japanese firm Arita and, most
recently, a line of modular furniture for Herman
Miller and a new textile range for US-based textiles
company Maharam. Baijings and her partner in
design and life, Stefan Scholten, launched their
practice in 2000; since then, the Amsterdam-based
couple has built a reputation for a highly individual
take on colour. It’s a signature that began with a
failed textile sample, which, after compliments from
friends, was developed into a blanket that today
remains a bestseller. “It taught us that something
that in our eyes was a total failure could, in another
context, be a great success,” says Baijings. The pair’s
flair for hands-on experimentation is captured in
their latest collaboration with Maharam, a heritage-
inspired range of three individual fabric designs and
the duo’s fourth collection for the company. Here,
Baijings describes her inspiration.
Our new textile collection is based on Dutch
darning samplers from the 17th century. Mary
Murphy, the vice president of design for Maharam,
knows Dutch culture very well. She suggested we
look at our own textile history and in particular,
darning samplers. It’s a Dutch tradition, used as
a teaching tool to help young girls learn how to sew.
Some are elaborate works showing the methods of
repair on various fabrics using different yarn types
and colours. They eventually became like works of
art and are now bought by collectors and museums
in Japan and America.
It’s important to us to create new forms that you
cannot possibly design on a computer. We mix
our own formulas, make our own materials and
even colours that are just right, and not just
chosen from Pantone. If we send a Pantone
colour to a manufacturer then
they don’t use their own
knowledge anymore — and
we need them to really
create the colour we’re
aiming for.Darn right
DESIGN
A love of experimentation and a unique
approach to colour informs the work of
Dutch design studio Scholten & Baijings.
Vogue Living speaks with studio cofounder
Carole Baijings on the duo’s latest project.By Verity Magdalino Photographed by Inga Powilleit
smallleavesindifferentcoloursandconnectedthem
so it feels like a fabric. It’s a sustainable material
— made from rice and corn — so, like leaves in
nature, it will eventually dissolve.
Our Dutch heritage has really influenced the
way we work... from artists such as Mondrian,
Van Gogh and Rembrandt to the way our country
is so flat with linear landscapes and horizons.
It mirrors the characteristics of Dutch design, which
is very minimal but also experimental, innovative,
unconventional with a sense of humour. That’s in our
DNA — although sometimes our work is described as
being quite un-Dutch. I think maybe in the layering
and detailing and the way we work, almost
like an artist, but still working with
industry. In our opinion it’s
extremely important to work
with industry — that’s where the
greatest restrictions lie but also
the greatest opportunities. VL
scholtenbaijings.com
@scholtenbaijings
livingedge.com.auFROM TOP
a
co
p
Baij
Ag
Sampler Large, one of the
duo’s newest textile designs
for Maharam, shown on
B&B Italia’s Andy ’13 sofa.82 vogueliving.com.au
VLife