The Dwell 24: Ohla
Ohla Studio crafts objects and spaces holistically. Projects like its Alcocer collection of furnishings draw inspiration from the architecture of Sin Nombre, a minimalist house that the practice designed and turned into a private home, gallery, hotel, and artist residency in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The collection includes chairs, tables, sconces, and more, which have simple but bold details that reference ancient forms. With both endeavors coming to fruition simultaneously, Ohla’s vision comes full circle—but it’s not complete.
Cofounders Mat Trumbull and Giulia Zink want other designers to bring their work to Sin Nombre to complement their own. The duo are taking this collaborative approach with various real estate and retail staging projects and plan to initiate similar interior and product design projects, starting with a second venture in Mérida, Mexico.
Read the full Q&A with Mat Trumbull and Giulia Zink below.
Hometown: San Miguel De Allende
Describe what you make in 140 characters... Ohla Studio offers design services and creative consultancy with a focus on art direction, interior, and landscape design.
What’s the last thing you designed? The Lazaro stool, a reinterpretation of a rustic stool we discovered in Mexico and developed in 3 materials: green onyx, cast bronze, and ceramic.
Do you have a daily creative ritual? Giulia: I lay down somewhere quiet and organize my thoughts, make lists, and sketch rough ideas. Usually it happens in the early morning. Mat: Honestly, our daily studio life is a business, has a discipline and structure—but at its core, it is a creative ritual. To be more specific, in the studio at all times we try to have at least one project that is purely a creative exercise.
How do you procrastinate? Giulia: Making various lists on my phone in place of checking things off my list. Mat: It's easy to prioritize the wrong things over the right things and convince yourself of that.
What everyday object would you like to redesign? Why? Giulia: The Parmesan grater. It’s the object I use most after my phone. Mat: The chair.
Who are your heroes (in design, in life, in both)? Ettore Sottsass, Scarpa, Gio Ponti, Palladio, Brancusi, Constantin Nivola, De Cotiis
What skill would you most like to learn? Skills with my hands: gardening, ceramics, jewelry.
What is your most treasured possession? It’s funny to say because neither of have been jewelry people—but there is jewelry in our life (not particularly fancy jewelry) that mark important checkpoints and simply feel irreplaceable.
What’s your earliest memory of an encounter with design? Giulia: Blown glass work from Murano. Mat: Gardening with my mother.
What contemporary design trend do you despise? None.
Finish this statement: All design should... Empower the makers.
What’s in your dream house? Working on it.
How can the design world be more inclusive? More education.
What do you wish non-designers understood about the design industry? The value of handmade goods.
You can learn more about Ohla Studio on Instagram.
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