We sat down with Kirsty Whyte, the designer of our new Abacus bedroom range – a modern interpretation of Heal’s historic iron bedsteads – to discuss her inspiration.
Can you describe Abacus to us?
The Abacus bed was designed using a traditional early 20th Century iron bedstead as inspiration. Traditional detailing has been pared back and the lines of the bed have been modernised to form simple contours.
A contemporary satin black-powder-coated finish takes the place of an old-fashioned ‘Japanned’ finish, which involves numerous layers of black lacquer. Turned wooden detailing punctuates the headboard, and is reflected in the form of the range’s bedside table.
What’s the story behind this range?
Heal’s started out in 1810 as a specialist mattress maker. Later, the company began making beds as well, and its reputation as a furniture maker is rooted from there. From the early 20th century, Heal’s became synonymous with the four-poster bed – even its logo, which continued to be used until the early 1980s, featured one.
We are lucky enough to still have a few of the early Heal’s catalogues from that time, which were crammed with variations of metal bedstead designs. The four-poster bed itself was initially derived from the canopy bed, which featured curtains on all sides to provide privacy and warmth.
These designs came to be used as distinctive focal points in a bedroom. The intention with Abacus was to draw on Heal’s design heritage, infusing a modern aesthetic through finish and elegance of line.
What made you want to create a metal bedframe?
Heal’s is constantly renewing its collection for its customers. While reviewing the product collection we felt adding in a metal bed that could also be a four-poster was an opportunity not to miss. The bonus was that we have such a long heritage to draw inspiration from.
How do you go about creating a new range like this one?
Our Heal’s bedroom buyer created a brief, which detailed price points and a mini mood board with the design details and finishes she was looking for. Then I started hand sketching, which is the quickest way to get ideas to paper, detailing spindle shapes and headboard profiles.
We then sat down and filtered through our favourite ideas and then I condensed these down to a top two, which I then developed further through sketching and Computer Aided Design renders
What was your design process? Did you do a lot of research or was it quite organic?
As a designer, I try not to research similar designs too closely as I want to have an original piece, so the design was more organic, derived though sketching mostly.
So how do your designs go from sketches to reality?
There are various stages of development from sketching, to creating the technical drawings for production. Jemma and I also visited the manufacturer to view the samples and make minute tweaks, to their finish and assembly. Once all that was ironed out, we could go ahead with production and photography.
Why was the name ‘Abacus’ chosen for the range?
The name ‘Abacus’ was inspired by the look of the product; the solid oak diamonds on the headboard spindles are reminiscent of a traditional abacus calculating tool.
Browse the Abacus collection
[ INSPIRATION ]
Behind the design
We spoke to our latest Limited Edition contemporary cushion designer, Laura Slater, about her new collection at Heal's.
What is the inspiration behind the cushion designs?
The limited edition prints I have produced for Heal's are a development of my signature collection ‘Assemble/Configure’ The print collection explores found shape, texture and pattern observed from the environments around me, whether architectural, industrial or natural.
This print collection has been developed through taking a range of patterned, drawn and printed components and developing their configuration and colour directly onto cloth. I loved the idea of creating a random, really abstract design that really reflects my drawing style and processes.
Tell us about your design process, how do you get started?
My process always starts with observation, drawing, and mark making. I am constantly collecting surfaces, prints, pattern or inspiration that may influence my design concept. I tend to find a visual theme or concept emerges instinctively. I use this then to shape any further pattern or process development.
My designs often develop through photocopying, re-scaling, over drawing, and layering. Once some key designs start to work, I will start to translate onto silk-screen, and work directly onto cloth with colour and composition. During this process I start to consider how my designs could be applied, starting to engineer them towards product.
Everyone has a personal reaction to colour, are there any you instinctively avoid?
Researching and exploring colour is a big part of my process. I keep colour journals and explore colour ways directly onto cloth, considering colour proportion and balance. I do tend to have a natural hand, which is fairly autumnal.
It was something I identified once I started studying textiles. I aim to work hard to develop my approach to colour by trying not to levitate back to my natural hand, but to keep things considered, fresh and directional.
How did you get involved with the Limited Edition series at Heal’s?
Interestingly I was contacted by Heal's, from them seeing my work through social media, Instagram and Pinterest, which I found really interesting. As soon as they told me about the project I was so keen to be involved, not only for Heal's historical endorsement of great British design, but because as I printmaker I loved their approach to the limited and bespoke prints on textiles.
Tell us about the first textile you designed
The first textiles I designed were actually as a child, making hundreds and hundreds of pom poms. Coming from Yorkshire, knitting and visiting wool mills was a big part of my childhood and I remember the almost meditative process of winding the wool and picking colour and the unexpected and accidental patterns that came through from layering and striping. Not that different from my design process now actually!
Do you have a design hero that influences your work?
I tend to look at a range of sources for inspiration, the Bauhaus artists, Lazlo Moholy Nagy, architecture (I’m into concrete and Brutalism), the landscape, and the St Ives artists. I love Scandinavian Design and look at a lot of Illustrators, too.
Any designers keeping traditional printmaking part of their ethos inspire me. Artists that embraced textile design to develop their imagery also inspire me, Henry Moore textiles are incredible.
Do you have any studio superstitions / design quirks?
I’m not sure about superstitions or design quirks, but I suppose do have my studio ‘mascot’ who is my beautiful French Bulldog Sonny. He keeps me company and sane, when running around super busy. I’m sure people would laugh at how much I chat to him through the day!
What 3 words would you use to describe your Limited edition collection for Heal’s?
Directional, industrial, Graphic. Want to get your hands on one of Laura's luxury cushion designs? Head over to the Heal's site now.
With the winning Heal’s Discovers designers announced, and their products selected, the Heal’s product team can crack on with process of developing and sampling.
Each of this year’s designs are created using a different manufacturing process, so it was essential for the Heal’s team to choose the right supplier for each product.
It was important to us to source local suppliers where possible, those with the skills and attention to detail required to deliver the goods for our Heal’s Discovers designers.
We looked for specialists who employed skilled craftsmen, and who manufactured in small batches. Once we’d located the suppliers we believed to be the best fit, the individual designers and myself visited their chosen supplier to ensure that there was a strong mutual understanding of how the final product would look.
Each design had its own challenges. Here are some behind-the-scenes photos of the development processes. The challenge with Ester Comunello’s Turn collection was sourcing a manufacturer who could accurately make the components inspired by the ‘threading’ found on nuts and bolts.
Working closely with our supplier in Norwich, Ester tweaked the original design of this threading to give it a smoother movement.
The Maya Concrete Side table was originally designed by Tom Parfitt to be crafted from marble. We wanted to optimise the material usage, and felt the wastage of this premium material would be too great.
The solution? Cast concrete. It’s durable, tactile and available in many finishes. Our Cheltenham-based manufacturer had to hand-build a four-part mould in order to achieve the complex table base.
During our factory visit we chose the colours we wanted to use, and learnt more about the Eco Concrete that these modern side tables are made from. Composed from more than 90% recycled materials, it’s a very different proposal to the original marble concept, but every bit as striking.
The Step Stool by Phil Luscombe and Josh South was prototyped in Kent. We experimented with several different finishes before settling on the beautiful, contrasting solid natural oak and fumed oak option.
The fumed oak finish really accentuates the grain of the timber, while also highlighting the dowel ‘crown’ that can be seen on the top and footrest. Phil and Josh had done a lot of prototyping in the Northumbria University workshop, so after a few Skype calls the design was finalised quite quickly.
One of the most intensive development sessions was with Sam Lloyd’s Sand Cast stools, at a foundry in South East London. The design, with its sand-cast aluminium top and footrest is truly process-led. To reach the final product, we worked on a boxless system, which speeds up the process of mould-making for batch production.
Having worked closely with the foundry and the mould-makers, it was exciting to see the aluminium being poured and then, after cooling, seeing each piece of metalwork hand finished or ‘Fettled’ to reveal the final shape. We also experimented with the legs, to get the optimum stability, height and comfort, tweaking each element until the best combination was found.
With the designs finalized, and the designers happy, the next stop (which you’ll see soon) was the Heal’s photography studio….
Our last (but certainly not least) Heal’s Discovers 2014 finalist is Tom Parfitt. His future as a designer was clear from a young age – he’s come a long way from constructing toys from cardboard boxes…
After leaving school in 2005 Tom Parfitt started an apprenticeship in cabinet making at British furniture brand Benchmark, who manufacture the Heal's Cranborne range. Having worked there for five years, surrounded by the work of prominent designers such as Russell Pinch, Tomoko Azumi and Steuart Padwick, he decided to formally study furniture design.
During his degree in Furniture: Design & Make at Rycotewood in Oxford, which works in partnership with Bucks University as part of the National School of Furniture, Tom developed new design skills and explored methods of working. In his third year, Tom won a competition to design outdoor seating for one of the gardens of Queen’s College Oxford.
Going right in with a big question, how would you describe good design? What do you think it should achieve?
Good design is fit for purpose and at best enriches the environment around us. Good design almost takes on an energy and life of its own, with decisions feeling natural and justified. Pontification is the death nail of good design.
Good design exhibits clarity of thought and should be able to clearly communicate an idea, vision or ethos. To me, it should feel as if the design has landed from outer space, new from nowhere, timeless.
Which Heal's Designer – from any era - inspires you and why?
David Irwin. I am really inspired by the quality of his work, and by the refinement and level of detail he builds into each of his products. He manipulates different materials seemingly with ease and, above all, his work excites me. I believe he will go on to be one of Britain’s leading product designers.
Where in the world have you been inspired ?
Close to home I have been inspired by the city of Oxford, its architecture and heritage. Oxfordshire is a beautiful county and the city has a feel and energy that I tapped into when studying there.
I have been working very hard over the last eight years and would like to travel more in the coming years, Copenhagen, Milan and Tokyo would be on my list of destinations.
Finally, and this doesn’t have to be design related, what are your three favourite things, and why?
A good cup of tea. I am a man of simple pleasures and can’t imagine a world without tea; it comforts and brings people together in ritual. I can always rely on a cup of tea and it helps me to think.
Liverpool Football Club. Why would you support any other team?
Watching a good film. Films have the power to inspire, move and entertain, in a way perhaps no other medium can. In fact my dream job would be as a production designer
Next up on our roster of Heal’s Discovers 2014 finalists, we have a design duo: Phil Luscombe and Josh South. We’re glad they didn’t take up their initial intended careers in Gardening and the Military…
Phil Luscombe and Josh South met while studying for their degrees in Three Dimensional Design, Furniture and Product at Northumbria University. Having both grown up around builders and engineers, they found they had a fair amount of common ground and decided to collaborate and set up their own design studio.
Phil is currently undertaking a PhD – a study of good workmanship and the process of making – while Josh is part of Northumbria University’s Designer in Residence programme.
The duo’s Heal’s Discovers project is their first ‘proper’ project together, one they describe as being ‘a joy we can’t wait to start another.'
Going right in with a big question, how would you describe good design? What do you think it should achieve?
That is a big question! Stand back... We like to make a distinction between ideas and things. When you look at the best objects, like a Gothic cathedral or a Hans Wegner chair, it’s clear that they are not the result of ideas that jumped fully formed into a designer’s mind and were then simply realised in the material world.
They are things that have emerged from a rich engagement, or correspondence, with the world of materials. For example, Gothic cathedrals are not the realisation of a tightly specified architect’s plan, they are the consequence of thousands of skilled masons, working over centuries with just rough templates and shared principles, each one making their contribution to a cathedral’s thingliness.
Today, in the culture of ‘big ideas’, you just cannot come close to generating the life that naturally emerged through these traditional processes. We think contemporary design can only be ‘good’ by working step-by-step, testing things in real life, and without too much in the way of ideas clouding the process.
Which Heal’s designer – from any era - inspires you and why?
Lucian Ercolani, for his work in the Fifties. He knew what he was doing.
Where in the world have you been inspired?
We once went for fish, chips and mushy peas at the seaside (Tynemouth, near Newcastle) and ate them on a bench at night. Whilst we wouldn’t usually go on about it, a clear night’s sky, a big moon and the reflection in the sea is a pretty inspirational sight. Half a beer in, Josh was going on about how small he felt!
Finally, and this doesn’t have to be design related, what are your three favourite things?
Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas.
It’s time to introduce you to the second of our talented Heal’s Discovers finalists, Sam Lloyd. We caught up with him between his time working away in the studio and his other passion, scuba diving.
Sam Lloyd has, in his own words ‘always had an interest in making things.’ When he was younger he used to go to work with his dad, an architect and site manager, because he liked learning about the process of building construction.
After coming to the conclusion that he wanted to be a product designer, Sam completed an Art & Design BTEC at Reigate College before going on to read for a BA (Hons) in Product & Furniture Design at Kingston University.
During his studies he worked on live briefs, including one with New Balance for the 2012 Olympics. Since graduating he has been shortlisted for an award at New Designers 2013 and featured as one of Icon Magazine’s ‘Graduates 2013’ review.
Going right in with a big question, how would you describe good design?
Things that are simple, well made and long-lasting. Nothing should really be without meaning and there should be something original about the function or aesthetic of a product / piece of furniture.
Which Heal’s designer – from any era - inspires you and why?
I like the way that Tom Dixon works with materials and processes. His interest and understanding of materiality can be seen in his products, and I also think its great how his brand is trying to bring more manufacturing back into the UK.
Where in the world have you been inspired?
It’s not really design related, but I was lucky enough to go to the Maldives in February. The quality of the marine life was out of this world and it was really inspiring to know that there are still places in the world where people can experience places like it.
Finally, and this doesn’t have to be design related, what are your three favourite things, and why?
At the moment I would say… …my GoPro Hero 3 camera – I’ve taken so many pictures and videos with it, both travelling and with my work. …the sea, as most of my hobbies involve being either on or under it – I’m an avid scuba diver and exploring underwater is an amazing experience. …and the final one would have to be music, it is the best motivator and I can’t work without having some on in the background.
HEAL'S DISCOVERS
HEAL'S DISCOVERS
Ed Heritage
As part of this season’s Heal’s Discovers initiative, we’re delighted to introduce Ed Heritage, an award-winning UK-based designer whose signature style of clean geometry and playful details is reflected in the beautiful lamp he created.
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