For the past 25 years, design and architecture firm Workshop/APD has been a trusted name in commercial and residential spaces that herald subtle, livable luxury. Now, the firm is bringing their signature attention to detail to furnishings and fittings. Launched in 2023, Workshop Collection was born from decades of honing the team’s favorite custom designs for private clients.
Andrew Kline, Associate Principal at Workshop/APD, joins us this week to discuss the brand’s second-ever offering: Perpetual Motion.
Raymond Paul Schneider: When did you first start to develop this new collection?
Andrew Kline: When Workshop Collection debuted in 2023, we were already thinking about how subsequent collections would build upon it. This vision included a more comprehensive offering of living, dining, bedroom, and occasional furniture, as well as décor. Workshop/APD – we’re the multidisciplinary architecture and design studio behind Workshop Collection – is celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. It’s a huge milestone, and we’ve spent the past few ways thinking about what’s next.
Workshop/APD has designed and produced custom furniture for our residential and hospitality projects for decades, so a furniture line of our own was a really natural progression. You could almost say that the genesis of the collection goes back that far, to some degree. This new collection, Perpetual Motion expresses forms and techniques that we’ve been working to hone and perfect for years, like the Entwine chairs and tables. And many elements are perennial Workshop/APD favorites that we wanted to make available to a wider audience.
RPS: What was the overall timeline from conception to achieving the final design?
AK: The timeline from conception to final design is about a year, and we’re typically already hard at work on the next collection as the last collection is in the final stages of production. We’re hyper focused on craftsmanship and materiality, so it’s crucial that we allow enough time to make and review samples, test for comfort and construction, and hone the designs as needed with the right makers and craftspeople.
Exploring movement, Perpetual Motion includes a credenza, coffee table, console, side tables, and dining chair.
RPS: What was your initial inspiration, and where did the idea(s) come from?
AK: Our “Crafted Modern” ethos honors the myriad ways craft can bring warmth and humanity to modern design. In the past we’ve explored acts of making quite specifically- you can see this in our two Guest Designer collections for Arteriors, which quite literally explore a single technique or process in each offering. The second collaboration (which just launched!) highlights melting, casting, punching, glazing, etcetera, across a range of 25 pieces, and we’re so excited about the way it turned out.
In designing Perpetual Motion for Workshop Collection, we thought more broadly about movement- in terms of process, but also in the ways a user experiences a piece as they move around it and past it, the ways that more flexible designs can be rearranged and reconfigured, and the ways that materials can be manipulated to convey movement.
Workshop/APD for Arteriors’ new Cast cocktail table, Inset mirrors, and Melt sconces, a Fall 2024 debut.
RPS: Did you have a specific audience or theme in mind?
AK: Because we are also an architectural and design studio, we often start by thinking about what we want to create or buy for our own clients. What holes are there in the marketplace, what has our product team created that we go back to again and again, in one way or another, what forms or materials allow us to shape space in compelling ways? But sometimes we find a material we love and explore new ways to bring it to life or see a detail in our daily lives that sparks a design idea. It’s a very collaborative, iterative process, and we try to bring a wide range of perspectives to the process.
These perspectives also include existing Workshop Collection clients in the trade. We want to understand what works for them, which pieces they love, and even what other forms we can perhaps apply existing design elements from the collection to, to make it work harder for them and their clients.
The Twist tables hold gravity with seamless forms rendered in solid limestone or travertine.
RPS: Please describe the methods, tools, and materials you used to develop and prototype these designs.
AK: We use a mix of tools- ranging from hand sketching to Solidworks and Rhino for modeling, KeyShot and Blender for rendering, as well as Adobe creative suite for a host of other things. We use Prusa to develop 3D prints- it’s really exciting to review a model of the design as we go through the process, and the technology has come so far, so fast. We also have an incredible in-house visualization team that can take the process a step farther using Stable Diffusion. The output is incredible- pieces come to life in such a vivid way. And then there are the tools we provide our clients, including technical drawings and CAD files.
RPS: Did you utilize a new technique or technology to conceptualize or create this product? If yes, please share the details.
AK: For the Twist occasional tables, we used 3D modeling to figure out exactly how twisted they could or would be. This gives us a better idea of what the final product will look like, makes the fabrication process more seamless, and also allows us to have a clearer picture of pricing earlier on in the process, which is very important. Workshop Collection strives to provide really beautifully made pieces at a good value to designers and their clients.
The Entwine dining chair, shown in Natural/Chestnut and Ebonized/Charcoal finishes.
RPS: Please describe any challenges that affected the design and perhaps steered you to an entirely new final design?
AK: The Entwine chairs were especially challenging to execute at the level we wanted. Not only is the structure of the chair fairly complex, the weaving had to be just right, and in a material that we loved, was durable enough to withstand regular use, and was available in sufficient quantity to consistently roduce the pieces. We went through so many material samples for the leather straps, and ultimately found a maker who could cut and sew leather hydes to produce the perfect material. From there, we spent a lot of time tweaking the weave for aesthetics and comfort. The result is a beautiful, unique, tactile dining chair that feels good for the user.
The Sumina Coffee Table made its debut in Workshop/APD’s 2024 Kips Bay New York Designer Showhouse.
RPS: Describe your overall brand DNA and Ethos.
AK: As we discussed earlier, it all begins with craft, and its ability to transform a piece or a place. We’re modernists, but we’re committed to creating warm, livable environments and furnishings, balancing luxury and ease. Nothing should be too precious, too rigid, or inflexible. In creating for the design trade, we want our clients to be able to apply their own lens to our designs, incorporating them in unique and personal ways. It’s just one of the reasons that we focus on enduring style over design trends- these pieces are made to be used and loved, and to last.
Photography by Matt Kisiday.
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