{"id":235182,"date":"2024-07-23T17:56:21","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T21:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=id_news&p=235182"},"modified":"2024-07-23T17:56:25","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T21:56:25","slug":"creative-voices-carole-baijings","status":"publish","type":"id_news","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/designwire\/creative-voices-carole-baijings\/","title":{"rendered":"How Carole Baijings Explores Color Through Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"multicolored
Tom Chung\u2019s Fromme chair in front of Evening, a Shades of Time wallpaper panorama in a darker colorway, for Petite Friture. Photgraphy courtesy of Petite Friture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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July 23, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Peter Webster<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How Carole Baijings Explores Color Through Design<\/h1>\n\n\n
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Just ask Proust, our earliest memories are often our most profoundly formative ones. Carole Baijings<\/a> was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and though the designer only lived there a year before her family returned to Amsterdam, where she\u2019s resided ever since, the country\u2019s colorful culture\u2014\u201cespecially the vivid hues and patterns of the women\u2019s clothes,\u201d she notes\u2014left an indelible impression. Not that life was much less visually stimulating in the Netherlands, famed for its cut-flower industry, where Baijings\u2019s mother continued to wear bright clothing and her rug-dealer grandfather festooned his house with Persian carpets and Middle Eastern textiles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike many of her compatriots, Baijings\u2019s career did not begin at Design Academy Eindhoven or a similar school. Rather she started as an assistant director for Rene Eller at Czar Films, one of Europe\u2019s leading commercial production companies, where she worked on spots for Coca-Cola, Airbus, and other premium clients. \u201cI would do the whole look and feel of the film,\u201d she reports, \u201cincluding the color concept.\u201d But it was meeting and marrying an established designer, Stefan Scholten, that lead her into the profession proper. They began to collaborate, first on interiors before deciding they preferred creating products, launching Scholten & Baijings<\/a> in 2000 with a well-received collection of rugs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For nearly two decades the couple produced a range of objects, lighting, furniture, textiles, and conceptual works that combined minimalist forms and meticulously balanced color palettes with traditional craft techniques and industrial production methods. In 2020, the duo decided to explore the artistic challenge of working individually under their own names, though they continue to collaborate on some projects, such as a new portfolio of rugs for Maharam. We talked to Baijings recently about her current activities, which include being named creative director at Stylex, the New Jersey\u2013based furniture manufacturer, for which she\u2019s already shot a sophisticated advertising campaign and designed new showrooms in New York and at the Mart in Chicago, in time for the NeoCon trade show. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The founder of Carole Baijings Studio for Design wearing a vintage embroidered Dries van Noten jacket that reflects her passion for color, pattern, and texture. Photography by Myrthe Giesbers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Carole Baijings On Her Conceptual Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Anthony Land\u2019s Yoom modular seating, among the first product shoots art directed by Baijings since her appointment as creative director for Stylex. Photography by Charlie Schuck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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More product styling for Stylex, Land\u2019s new Anla chairs introduced at this year\u2019s NeoCon. Photography by Charlie Schuck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Interior Design: Tell us about your new relationship with Stylex.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Carole Baijings: The company has its own art director for the furniture as produced in the factory, but I\u2019m the creative director. Initially, I was asked to collaborate with design agency 2×4 on Stylex\u2019s rebranding, to bring it to a new level. One of its specialties is the enormous number of powder-coat shades it offers clients\u2014a big advantage\u2014so we focused on the color story. I developed a new color wheel, since, for me, helping brands evolve includes suggesting what the future palette could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ID: You\u2019ve also been refining the advertising and communications materials.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CB: For the product shoots, we saw the furniture as characters in the photos, so we didn\u2019t really need props. But the combination of colors\u2014not just those of the fabrics and finishes but also the wall and floor paints, which were mixed specifically for us\u2014was super important, as were the lights and shadows. We created compositions that are a bit like art photography. Once the rebranding is complete, I\u2019ll start designing pieces for them, as well as introduce other colleagues of mine to work with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Stylex product shoot, directed by Baijings, of the brand\u2019s Luna seating by Anthony Land, Dau ottomans by Yonoh Studio, and Adorn nesting tables by Aodh O Donnell. Photography by Charlie Schuck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ID: You often mention \u201cthe atelier way of working.\u201d What does that mean in practice?\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CB: It means for every project I mix my own colors; I make my own materials; I make my own models and maquettes. By doing so, I arrive at new forms\u2014things that I couldn\u2019t possibly develop on a computer, things that embody human skills. I think it\u2019s a method that can be used on anything, no matter how specialized the craft or product, and it will always work. It takes more time, so may be more expensive, but it always helps us achieve a better outcome in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ID: Did that apply to your new vases and bowls for the Italian marble company Luce di Carrara?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CB: Yes. As Scholten & Baijings, we\u2019d already designed tables for Luce di Carrara, but this year the company asked me to make tableware\u2014smaller pieces using scrap marble that would otherwise go to waste. All the objects came from making models. The form of the Muze vase, for example, comes from a plain sheet of paper folded to make one continuous piece; it\u2019s a rounded, quite feminine shape. Working in the \u201catelier way\u201d often gives us more outcomes than we can use for the launch of a collection, but my clients can use them later on. There\u2019s an oval mirror on a stand like that; it will be introduced later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Baijings\u2019s Amsterdam studio, prototypes and maquettes of perforated bowls, trays, and other marble tableware for Luce di Carrara. Photography by Nicola Gnesi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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At the company\u2019s Milan showroom, the designer arranging flowers in her Muze vase, which debuted during Salone del Mobile 2024. Photography courtesy Of Luce Di Carrara.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

ID: 2m2 Flowerfield<\/em>, your project for the late Thomas Eyck, is almost 2 square meters of flowers. What was the origin of that?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CB: Nature has always been an inspiration for me, especially flowers. In the same way that clouds or waves cannot have a \u201cwrong\u201d shape, even the brightest flowers are never vulgar. Because I\u2019m a colorist, I wanted to understand how this works, what\u2019s the recipe. Really zoom in and you see that among a bloom\u2019s mix of colors, say pink petals with yellow tips, there is always one hue that stands out, that\u2019s a bit \u201coff\u201d and gives the composition an edge. So we began making blossoms by hand, mixing materials\u2014paper, cardboard, textile, rubber, yarns\u2014using layering and transparency to give them the unique feel of a flower. But it\u2019s the color combinations that bring them into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flowerfield includes ready-mades such as a bottle brush turned into a spiky botanical along with blossoms crafted from silk, latex, paper, and other materials. Photography courtesy of Thomas Eyck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Flower No. 16 from 2m2 Flowerfield, a limited-edition portfolio of bloomlike objets created in 2022 for t.e., the design label of the late Thomas Eyck. Photography courtesy of Thomas Eyck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Flower No. 13 from the Flowerfield series in a 3D-printed, recycled-plastic vase from the Lucent\u00a0collection, made in collaboration with Phygital Studio. Photography courtesy of Thomas Eyck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Tom Chung\u2019s Fromme chair in front of Evening, a Shades of Time wallpaper panorama in a darker colorway, for Petite Friture. Photgraphy courtesy of Petite Friture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The pre-shoot palette for another Stylex product, LucidiPevere\u2019s 2023 Oko lounge chair. Photography courtesy of Stylex.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The creative director\u2019s material and color selections for the Luna banquette photo shoot, contrasting inky tones with soft pastels. Photography courtesy of Stylex.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Developed and produced in 2023 on traditional looms at the Weverijmuseum in Geldrop, Color Check, a yarn-dyed cotton tea towel incorporating 40 unique hues. Photography courtesy of Msmshp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Baijings\u2019s whimsical art direction for My Pouch, her cotton bag for sustainability-minded brand Up To Do Good. Photography by Myrthe Giesbers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Midday, a wide-stripe gradient wallpaper from Baijings\u2019s Shades of Time collection for Petite Friture, backdrops Constance Guisset\u2019s Vertigo pendant fixtures for the same company. Photography courtesy of Petite Friture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n