In a contemporary design landscape frequently dominated by formal complexity and ornament, what interests me are the choices that move in precisely the opposite direction: objects that find their strength in reduction, in the coherence between material and constructive structure, in the transparency of the process that generates them. The collaboration between industrial manufacturing and architecture tends to produce predictable outcomes. When that pairing instead generates a piece in which the manner of its making remains visible in the object’s own body, the result belongs to a different — and far rarer — category of design.
Tambre is a bathtub developed through the collaboration between Agape and David Chipperfield Design: the first joint project between the Italian manufacturer and the British studio. Its name refers to the river Tambre in Galicia. Okumè plywood entirely defines its character: the material’s warm tone and fine grain give the object a restrained presence, while the construction based on flat, assembled elements remains legible in the external surface, making the constructive process an integral part of the visual language. All technical components are contained within the internal body, leaving the exterior free of interruptions. The collection extends to a family of washbasins developed with the same principles of clarity and rigour. What distinguishes the project within contemporary product design is not technological novelty, but the coherence between design intention and outcome: a domestic object whose constructive logic remains visibly inscribed in the piece itself. In this, the product stands as a study in the value of essentiality at the premium end of the market, where quality is perceived not through decoration but through the precision of the reasoning.
Menu
