8/13/2019 Hass Brothers

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BACK TO OUR NATURE

Harpers BAZAARINTERIORS |65

question whether the other is right about

something. When the working relationship is so

smooth and the support system so sound, it is

possible to design and build from a place of

intuition and excitement without ever needing

to second guess.

Do you approach design like a fashion brand?

Its similar, because we pay attention to popular

culture and were always responding to our

immediate context. In the world of furniture

design, we are unusually fast when it comes to

executing our ideas. We think of something and it

will usually exist in its final form shortly after. This

allows us to react to and insert our works into our

environment at a pace similar to fashion houses.

Tell us about your journey into design.

The two of us grew up in a household where

doing small construction was an almost daily

reality so it was a really natural thing for us to

fall into. We started out doing art and furniture

fabrication and very quickly became frustrated

with the cult of concept that we found to be so

pervasive in the art world. It felt really

backwards to us that concept and execution

were so often completely separated and it

became clear to us that we would need to

change that. We took every single job that came

our way, whether it paid or not, whether it was

furniture for a house or props for a video,

because we wanted to experience as many

things as we could and so that we could fund

our own experiments . As clients saw that we

were making our own inventions, the requests

changed from can you fabricate this for me?

to can you design this for me? and we were

very happy to say, Yes!How does the landscape and culture of LA

inform your pieces?

David Hockney once mentioned his own

experience flying into Los Angeles; how he

marveled at the number of bright blue pools

that dotted the sprawling city and was drawn to

the intensity of the light. We have childhood

memories of driving from Texas to LA and

looking up to the sky through the windows as

soon as we began to see the tufts of the palm

trees flying by in perfect lines, our hearts would

race and we knew we were getting close. Los

Angeles has a feeling of newness and wildness

that doesnt exist anywhere else, and its so

strong and electrical that nobody can enter into

it without feeling some kind of awe. From one

side, a gateway of snow-tipped mountains

frame a burning desert full of gigantic fans, from

the other a mix of bohemian vagrants and

families with children dot the sprawling beaches

that surround carnival rides and border the

lushly landscaped mansions; and in between lies

a vast landscape of exotically planted hills full of

hidden staircases and reminders of the vibrant

film industry that has so shaped this city. We are

endlessly inspired by it because it is endlessly

beautiful and mysterious, and our friends here

are endlessly creative and excited. LA is

Americas sleeping giant.

Youve worked with some luminaries from

Peter Marino and Mario Testino to Lady Gaga.

Whats been the highlight for you?

Our highlight has definitely been getting to

work with Donatella. She has more excitement

and energy than most artists who are just

getting into it, and her intuition is unfalteringly

sharp. It is rare to work with someone, let alone

someone as important as Donatella, who makesthe collaborative process so genuinely fun. We

fell in love!

We are intent on pulling design out of the slick andsquare place it has been living in for half a century and

making it more human and definitely more Californian! HAAS BROTHERS

And your weirdest commission?

Our weirdest commission was a very small

project with our friend Sascha Cogez. She was

working on a documentary in Bhutan where she

picked up a hand-carved totem that,

surprisingly enough, was used as a religious

object in the ritual bonking on the head of

people who wish to be blessed with fertility. Our

part in her art piece was small, but we helped

create a stand for the small sculpture which she

dubbed the blessing machine.

What are you experimenting with right now?

We are doing tests with ceramics, natural resins

and wax to mimic some natural geological

processes that fascinate us. We are also

designing patterns and illustrations for rugs,

knits and tapestries which is a whole new and

exciting territory for us.

Nikolai andSimon Haas with

Donatella Versace