Text: Stefan Ghenciulescu.
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This article was published in Zeppelin Magazine, number 103.
Combina, the brand lately built by designer Alexe Popescu, speaks about mixes and matches. The two items presented here are not the result of a stylistic mix though, but start from the use, the material and the obsessive exploitation of a constructive procedure.
Cookie Table is a 75/75/75 cm bistro table, made with no metallic joints from a single birch tree plywood sheet of 18 mm. Both the top surface, as well as the four stands, have 36 mm (two glued sheets). The stands are diagonally placed to render stability to the whole. Each of them joints the top surface via three 35 mm teeth. What may seem a decorative pattern at a first glance – a precious inlay – is actually the expression of a logical construction and of the material (the plywood – smooth and continuous as a plane and displaying the striae of the sheets overlapped on the edge). The top plate’s interior sheet is cut on the interior in order to reduce weigth; this also creates a perimetral border useful for deplacements. The rounded corners reduce the total volume and make the table friendlier.
P-1 Wallet
This is the result of cut stamping a 170 g/ sqm paper sheet, matt lamination and an origami-type assembling with no gluing or stitches. A fold in the interior, actually a type of rabbet, makes the ensemble firm at the central edge – but also flexible, allowing to consistentlz charging the wallet without tensioning it. The sizes (85/113 mm) and the divisions allow having standard European banknotes or the ID and credit cards. After 5 minutes in the water and subsequent drying, the wallet reamins functional, the lamination resisting up to 85%.The paper is for many of us a symbol of perishability. P-1 not only lasts in time, but also makes its usage a means of expression.
The logo of the product comes up only on the interior sheets. After using it for about a month (that is, a slow pressing in your pocket), this comes up embossed on the face and the back of the wallet.
Creedits & info: www.alexe.ro
Products available at: Intro, Carturesti.
