Outdoors Dining Furniture
2018-2019
Product Design
Woodworking
Photography
Designers on Holidays (DOH) is more than an artistic residency in the heart of the Swedish island of Gotland. It is a summer camp where grown-ups come together to design and build in a bucolic landscape lit by the everlasting sun. A powerful source of collective wisdom and a blissful experience I have been part of for the last two years and hopefully, many more to come.
But DOH is also hard work and in 2018, I and two other driven individuals conceived and put together a set of furniture pieces for the outdoor pavilion. The place where people gather around food and most of the social activities take place. The collection, consisting of a long communal table and stackable benches, mirrors the same modest and clean aesthetics of the camp, resonating in harmony with the surrounding environment, both natural and built. Plus, they are weatherproof and easily disassembled, essential requirements for the camp.
These yearly summer gatherings are an opportunity for us to collaborate in the creation of sustainable, off-grid living solutions for the site using the local supply of materials, thus making the camp grow. At a personal level, each year is a golden opportunity to hone my woodworking skills, navigate a design process outside of my comfort zone and work at a different pace.
A special thank you to Dave North and Alan Clarke-Symonds for the combined effort and mutual inspiration, as well as Tom Gottelier and Bobby Petersen for making DOH a reality.