Calabaza? Where did this come from? Who asked for this? Good questions.
The origins of Calabaza are ideas that I think were floating around in the zeitgeist in 2020, when I found I had a rare opportunity to go in a new direction. All around us were beige and gray and pearl gray and light gray and white and gray and…. It started to look like interiors were all photographed in black and white. At the time, I also couldn’t find bath towels or sheets that had any interesting color; just more light blue, tan, gray, gray, gray.
“Are we collectively depressed?” was my question, and I didn’t want to believe that things had to stay that way. I had also been immersed in typeface design, which is not known to involve a lot of color (as opposed to typography, which can be as colorful as you like). So the road ahead had to be colorful.
What are the design cues or starting points? Is Calabaza answering a specific need? I wish I could just point to a sculpture, lamp or textile and say “That’s it!” – But it’s not so simple for someone obsessed with design. Yes, it’s What I’m Looking At, but it’s also What I Don’t See: color, organic form, calm, richness and sophistication. Homewares that satisfy and comfort us. And pieces that communicate beauty and craft.
Design is sort of the air I breathe, and everything I look at. For my lifetime so far, I’ve been studying design. Not just names, stars or icons, but the satisfying and fascinating elements of the designs themselves. I wanted to not only spend my time immersed in design, but also make things that embodied design in an exciting, satisfying, uplifting way. For everyone else who cares about design.
Each thing I make is a distillation, through my particular lens, of all those influences I’ve observed. It might be an Italian car I saw in a movie as a child, a chair in a library, patterned sheets or thrifted chotchkes. What comes out should be satisfying and stimulating, like a classic chair, car or textile.
All the shapes, relationships, patterns and surfaces go in thru my eyes and then simmer and stew with everything else until themes and patterns emerge. I’m not especially concerned with originality or newness; the design impulses come from so many places and so many decades, that it’s more about distilling ideas and re-presenting them in my own voice. There are endless fabric patterns in the world featuring stripes, circles, leaves, flowers and dots. Designers like Lucienne Day and Alexander Girard found a way to make these themes look fresh, thru their own points of view.
So each time I turn my attention to a theme, material, or pattern, there has already been a flood of impressions and inspirations to consider and appreciate. That’s what I’m looking at. Everything! And what Calabaza offers is that distilled sensibility; of the human hand, the organic world, and a modern quality of poise and composition. Design and color therapy for the home.
The name, though? If you speak Spanish, it’s familiar and comforting, I hope (squash, gourd, or pumpkin). If not, it’s just a fun way to announce the arrival of some festive, joyous, organic color. Hey, let’s go get some Calabaza!
