A few years back, as Tatjana von Stein wandered through Noguchi, a retrospective exhibition at London’s Barbican Art Gallery, she delved deeper into Isamu Noguchi’s richly layered oeuvre. As founder and creative director of design studio Sella Concept, von Stein felt compelled to put pencil to paper and begin sketching the sleek range of furniture she had long dreamed of.
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During the exhibition, von Stein tells AD PRO, “I was rather taken by the relationship between Noguchi and the dancer Martha Graham and how it revolutionized set design. One of the things that’s always interested me is the connection point between different influences and art forms.”
Von Stein’s affinity for such unexpectedly riveting dialogues was the impetus behind Mise en Scène, the inaugural and eponymous product collection launching this week. It’s an organic extension of her colorful interior projects (fashion label Sister Jane’s West London town house headquarters and the Mallorca private social club Làlia, to name a few), which are often strewn with custom furniture made in collaboration with local artisans.
“I’ve very much been learning the craft, the materials and forms, for years,” she says. For Mise en Scène, von Stein tapped the ateliers of wood wizard Pierre Noire and the restoration group Aurige in France as a nod to her French-German heritage.
All eight pieces exude integrity, as she puts it, and are imbued with her vibrant modernist-meets-Deco style while expressing “the fluidity of the human body. There’s a gentle nod to the movement of dance.” A green silk moiré from Dedar swathes the screen comprising four rotating panels, for example, and brushed stainless steel accents pop against the subtly curving silk-velvet sofa and cocooning lounge chair emblazoned in a snazzy geometric print. The collection also includes coffee and side tables that juxtapose black and dark gray mirrors with sinuous bases, as well as a high-gloss moss green bar cabinet.
One of von Stein’s favorites in the assemblage, the cabinet melds lacquer and mirror with leather and walnut burr wood veneer. “There is a beautiful classic art element to the bar. When you open it, it’s a bit like an old Rolls Royce,” she says. “It was also incredibly difficult to put together engineering wise, which of course is always a wonderful challenge when something ends up looking quite seamless.”