Kevin Seitz and Rob van Wyen launched Studio Seitz in 2019 with the mission to regenerate declining specialist artisanal businesses, in particular those they had first-hand knowledge of. ‘We had this desire to keep alive these very niche yet dying crafts, working with individual tradespeople,’ says Seitz, who is descended from generations of Swiss makers in Berneck, known for its ceramics.

Designed from necessity, built to last

‘Creating things out of necessity,’ they say, is the lynchpin to their line of furniture and lighting, which includes a wooden bench, a stool, a dresser, brass candle holders, a hand-blown frosted glass desk lamp and more. Their new ‘Wall Mirror’ references a traditional Alpine milking pail. The carving of the wooden frame is done by Reto Mösli — one of only around four experts in the world who still carve using this technique, according to Seitz.

Unfussy and pared back, Studio Seitz’s designs are shaped by purpose. ‘We find great value in cultural objects that may be ubiquitous or often overlooked,’ says Seitz. ‘The biggest reward for us is to find a way to redefine how we may look at a seemingly mundane and sometimes dying tradition – reinvigorating its purpose and appreciation.’

Nevertheless, the minimal aesthetic belies deep consideration. The pair’s teapot, for example, was an evolution of Seitz’s college thesis, which he wrote on third-culture kids: children who grow up outside of their parents’ culture. Seitz, who has a Swiss father and a Malaysian mother, was born in Spain and lived in Manchester before moving to the US when he was ten. ‘For me, being Swiss-German and Malaysian Chinese is like a very large part of my identity. I wanted to create a physical object that represented the conceptual space of the in-between, of dual cultures that are usually on opposite ends. So it was about marrying Chinese tea customs and my grandfather’s ceramics together.’