‘Paper’ is the inaugural furniture and lighting collection of London-based designer David Horan.
Informed by French craft traditions of decoupage and the Japanese Mingei movement, Horan innovates with layering handmade paper to create a new applied ‘vegan vellum’. ‘Paper’, designed exclusively with Béton Brut gallery, sees Horan as a modern decoupeur, applying his material to an original series of works: seating, a coffee table and a screen. Horan grounds the magic of ‘Paper’ in forms as precise as they are architectonic. Evoking Deco and Classical, the geometries contain harmony in ratio.
Horan’s design process begins with rigorous material research. ‘Paper’ as much an experiment in de-composition as re-composition. Of ‘rip it up – and start again.’ For the ‘Vellum’ coffee table and lounge chairs, he experiments with a combination of Kozuki-Mingeshi paper, lacquered to a mirror finish or sealed matte. The Dragon Skin armchairs and daybed, left raw, are made from vintage Sekishu, a Unesco-heritage kozo, reclaimed from the giant dragons of Kagura dance-theatre. Horan worked with Mineo Kato from Japan Fine Papers in Hackney to source the washi. From the discards of the dragon’s Orochi-gami skin, remnants are restored piece-by-piece by the workshop of Kajigase Takashi, before Horan takes it through a final metamorphosis.
The idea for Paper sprung from a goatskin parchment cabinet by Aldo Tura in Béton Brut’s collection. David Horan says: “I wanted to adapt the effect I witnessed. From afar, you admire the simple form of the piece. But up close, you level in on the exquisite detail of the surface. I found in my experiments with layering handmade paper, I was able to achieve a vellum effect without the use of animal products.”
