PROJECTS WE LOVE: FAMILY DYNAMICS

Det här är ett utdrag ur Projects We Love 2018. As the role of the nuclear family becomes less important to hyper-connected modern societies, what will happen to traditional family businesses? Fathers, sons and siblings talk to the Eklund sisters about the pleasures of working together.

Design History is full of family-run businesses – from Magis and Flos in Italy, to Swedese and Dux in Sweden. Indeed, some of the 20th and 21st centuries’ most memorable designs have been the product of family pairings, such as Charles and Ray Eames, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, and Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. But in an increasingly global and digital economy, the family is no longer the central node it once was in society. So what leads family members to start collaborating and what is it like to work so closely with those whom you love?

In order to better understand the workings of design businesses with family ties at their core, Bolon assembled three familial pairings from the design sector: Maurizio and Christian Mussati, the father and son team that founded the bespoke glass brand Wonderglass and who have worked with designers such as John Pawson, Marcel Wanders and the late Zaha Hadid; Annica and Marie Eklund, the sisters who together changed the direction of Bolon to become a design-led, global brand; and Paul and Mark Cocksedge, two brothers whose skills as a designer and photographer respectively have helped to create and document countless installations. The topic of conversation, understandably, is working with family.

It’s 3pm and time for afternoon tea at the Bolon Urban House in London. The table is set with beautiful crockery; champagne resting in a cooling bucket; a pot of Earl Grey tea; artfully displayed scones; and, rising up in the centre of everything, a luxurious cake decorated with figs and passion fruits. The apartment is bustling with people arriving and greeting one another, and they eventually settle down around the elaborately set table. Tea and champagne start to flow, the cake is cut, and scones are slathered with jam and clotted cream. The sound of chatter lowers a little and a conversation begins to emerge about the intersections of family and business.

Det här är en del av Projects We Love 2018.

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