We are constantly inspired by designers who have redefined their fields through innovative thinking and new outlooks on design. Ranging in discipline from fashion to furniture, these spirit guides inform our design decisions through a considered use of materials and construction, sympathetic to the human scale and responsive to the end user’s needs.
Dieter Rams
The definitive industrial designer, his work for BRAUN and Vitsœ helped define him as the master of minimalism, venerated by generations of designers. His Ten Principles for Good Design are an essential read for anyone seeking to understand what makes designs timeless.
Here at Kathryn the Younger, we fully subscribe to his concept of “less but better”.
Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe
The first female silversmith to have her own studio in Sweden, Torun created jewels which followed the contours of the body. Among her timeless creations are the many pieces she designed for Georg Jensen, including the iconic open-ended Vivianna watch. Primarily composed of sterling silver and semi-precious stones, her pieces are adored by collectors for their suppleness, asymmetry and craftsmanship.
Finn Juhl
A masterful Danish furniture designer of the mid-twentieth century, he measured and analyzed the human body to create furniture which graciously responded to its exact needs. Eschewing the streamlined profiles of his contemporaries, he favored more organic forms while pushing the boundaries of joinery. Parts seamlessly flowed into one another, creating forms of unrivaled suppleness married with utility. Sitting in one of Juhl’s chairs is a unique sensory experience.
Rick Owens
Our ultimate fashion hero, Rick Owens is an avant-garde designer like no other. Labeled the ‘Lord of Darkness’, a title which only scratches the surface of his oeuvre, his influences range from architecture, particularly Brutalism, to Larry LeGaspi, an American fashion designer known for his futuristic costumes for KISS, Labelle and George Clinton, among others.
Combining supple draping with architectural angularity, Owens has created some of the most iconic pieces in today’s fashion lexicon.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
A pioneer of modernist architecture who celebrated structure by outwardly expressing it, freeing it from the facade and cladding. The Barcelona Pavilion, perhaps his most famous building, is a masterpiece in all aspects from structure to spacial configuration to material choice. The last director of the Bauhaus and the head of architecture at the Armour Institute of Technology, later IIT, his contribution to architecture remains relevant more than five decades after his death.
Alvar Aalto
His experimental approach to design often included generating paintings and sculptures which he regarded as "branches of the tree whose trunk is architecture”. His humanist designs maximized the technical and aesthetic capabilities of native woods, juxtaposing them against brick, plaster and steel and creating warm, welcoming spaces. His view of design was holistic, as “a total work of art”, often designing not just the building but the furniture, lighting and even glassware.
