Hospitality Design - August 2015 - 73

ladies &
gentlemen studio
products

By Alissa Ponchione

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CREATIVE AFFAIR
Global sensibilities unite a design pair

You could say it was love at first sight for
Dylan Davis and Jean Lee. Both fell in love
with industrial design at the University of
Washington in Seattle, where they worked
closely together on class projects, and then
they fell in love with each other. Their initial
attraction: work ethic.
But it was also a mutual admiration of
style, sensibility, and a strong worldview.
Studying abroad in Italy for several
months revealed new ways of looking at
design-even life, Davis explains. But after
graduation, when they were working other
design jobs (Lee at a softgoods company
and Davis for a kitchen manufacturer),
they both found themselves professionally
unfulfilled, desiring a more creative outlet.
What seemed like a pipe dream-opening
a small independent design studio inspired
by Italian artisans-soon became a reality.
Ladies & Gentlemen Studio officially
launched its own collection in 2010.
Given that their childhoods were laced

profile

Photography courtesy of Ladies & Gentlemen Studio

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with creativity, it's unsurprising that they
both ended up as makers. Davis was a
master builder from a young age with a
penchant for Legos and deconstructing and
reconstructing his toys, while Lee "was a
wizard at the classic '90s cool kid crafts,"
says Davis, weaving friendship bracelets,
manipulating wires into sculptures, and
making her own jewelry, crochet bags, and
hats. "The combination of creativity and
practicality made product design an obvious
direction for each of us," he adds.
The duo translates that childlike wonder
into their work, "playing with materials
like kids playing with building blocks,"
Lee explains. Ideas come from anywhere-
from their travels and vintage books to the
materials themselves, which they often mix
together to get the right colors, texture, and
weight. "The looser and more serendipitous
this process, the better," she says.
Each piece is an amalgamation of
influences, calling upon the "understated
perfectionism in Japan, the simple
cleverness of Scandinavian style, and the
playful expressiveness of the Italians," Lee
says. In the Kazimir light, for example,
various types of architectural glass surfaces
with different shapes "create unexpected

1. Kazimir, a chandelier
made of various types
of architectural glass,
engages through its
changing composition.
2. With its geometric
shapes, the playful
symmetry of Shape Up
for Roll & Hill creates
a dynamic spatial
harmony.

3. Davis and Lee met
at the University of
Washington in Seattle,
officially launching
Ladies & Gentlemen
Studio in 2010.

visual effects where the surfaces overlap,"
Davis says, adding that the composition
changes when it's viewed from different
angles. And last year, the company designed
a collection of vintage-inspired chandeliers
for Seattle's Palladian hotel, working with
the owners and designer Nicole Hollis to
craft fixtures to complement the property's
contemporary-classic décor.
Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, born in the
Pacific Northwest, has recently taken on a
new adventure-trading in the Puget Sound
for the East River in Brooklyn, New York's
Red Hook neighborhood. The goal is simple:
to "experience a new environment and
culture," Davis explains. hd
lad i esand gent lemenst u di o.com

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