Bureau de Change has been commissioned to design the first furniture range for UK furniture brand Efasma. The range establishes the brand's ethos in creating innovative design products, which are shaped by a desire for an ecological approach and the use of natural materials, traditional techniques and quality craftsmanship.
The essence of the collection is drawn from the brand's origins in Greece, inspired by a wish to utilise talented local craftsmen and draw their skills out of the shadows of industrial manufacture. The country's basket makers and weavers, the skills of whom will be used in the manufacture of the furniture, inspired tactile and three dimensional handwoven surfaces. Single lengths of 100% cotton rope bind chair frames together, giving them rigidity - a concept which exemplifies the use of traditional techniques as a platform for innovation. Craftsmanship is enhanced by nanotechnology, which repels dirt from the cotton textile, increasing its longevity.
An interrogation of the aesthetic and functional potential of natural materials has also shaped the first collection, which is made up of handwoven walnut framed seating, substantial marble and timber dining tables, a coffee table and room divider. Woven surfaces are echoed in the geometry of the solid wood dining table, which plays with the direction and natural grain of solid oak and walnut. The same technique is used in the coffee table, in which puzzle like marble panels are rotated and pieced together to emphasise the natural veins running through the material.
The dining tables have been shaped by a slotting system, in which Efasma's dining chairs appear pushed into the edge of the table, leaving a footprint of satisfying brass clad notches.
