With an unconditional care for detail and thoughtful collaborations, Ume Studio creates tactile objects questioning function through art and technique
AN ATTITUDE TOWARDS CRAFT UMÉ Studio is a design practice where traditional craft meets contemporary tastes in delicate yet purposeful objects for everyday living. Founded by Victor Lefebvre & Mei-Lan Tan, their studio is the final stop in their design process journey. They begin with months-long travels to artisan workshops in many corners of the globe to render century-old skills and techniques, collaborating with a network of artisans and designers dedicated to their craft. Keeping these traditions alive is essential to UMÉ—so is updating their forms, bringing these timeless techniques into the now to achieve authentic, distinct designs in each piece. BEAUTY, FUNCTION, TECHNIQUE UMÉ formed after years of working together in architectural firms and a shared design ethos where technique leads to design, rather than design informing technique, as is the norm. UMÉ believes an object’s shape and use is derived from its making and is deeply committed to allowing an object’s function and the process behind it to inspire its form, yielding elegant solutions for daily life. It is this dialogue among the hand, the shape it produces, and an object’s ensuing use that creates this subtle tension UMÉ understands as beauty. GLOBAL VS LOCAL The founders of UMÉ so far have forged cultural connections and learned techniques in the USA, France, Japan, and Switzerland, and continue to deepen their ties to these countries as well as other locales in the world. Rather than a singular brand, UMÉ is a group of individuals pursuing their identity through craft around the world. Their practice is at once global and local, with objects for the home that are for the everyday, meant to engage and incite curiosity, being less prescriptive and more personal, and connected to people, their cultures and their histories. The studio focuses on high-design pieces, developing its works thoughtfully and released periodically throughout the year.
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