In the world of design there is always a new product coming on to the market that makes your heart flutter, one that’s so stunning it promises to temporarily steal your heart. I, for one, have fallen in love with more inanimate objects than seems appropriate. But one long term love that is always enduring is the output from small British design studio Custhom. I first featured their Columbia Rd pattern in a wallpaper edit back in 2013, the next year it was their Hayward cushion and tea towel, then at Decorex 2016 I was wowed by Igneus and last year I shared their Contour designs. So it only seems appropriate that as I trotted off to explore Clerkenwell Design Week last week that they were the once again showstoppers for me there too.

Custhom are brilliant at harnessing the power of collaboration and this year they have joined forces with Stoff Studios to bring you the Paper Round collection. Stoff Studio are new to me, a British design duo, Carys Briggs (textile designer) and Andrew Mason (furniture maker) focus on creating wares with gestural mark making, mono print, and furniture with a beautifully fluid simplicity. The Paper Round launch was amongst the most considered and beautiful spaces I visited last week, each piece, stunning in its own right. Pieces benefited from the juxtaposition of comparison, graphic and minimalism, muted neutrals set next to dark moody hues, pared back wooden forms complimented by luxuriously quilted fabric. The exhibition explored the design link between the two firms, their love of paper forms, colour blocking, mark making and graphic pattern, hand made processes and the exploration of material.

I was so struck by this collection and in particular the Icon (in Clerkenwell colour way) fabric design from Stoff Studios and the plate from Custhom, both of which have exactly the kind of natural lines and fluid simplicity I’ve been craving from design lately. To find out more about both collections, please visit Custhom & Stoff Studio’s websites.

All images kindly provided by Custhom & Stoff Studio.