SILVERWHITE ON HAAS BROTHERS

The Haas Brothers have a design ethos steeped in what is sensual, natural, even crass. Each piece seems to be its own creature and, altogether, their designs make a kind of theatre of tangible imaginings.

Waking up dreaming. Objects in drag. Subverting the usual function, theirs is a playful, life-affirming approach. Here objects are endowed with narrative privilege that is typically given only to people.

With today’s tendency toward the bland and predicatable—clean lines, dull tones, finished surfaces [the mundane disguised as the fresh]—the Haas Brothers leap up: craftsmen of tables that allow glasses to fall, surfaces which collect imprints and stains, benches bound up in ties. Through all of this playfulness, this belief in the empathic object, they shine an ingenious esthetic against the studied, unnatural, too controlled world.

That’s the whole point of art, really. It’s conveying human emotion. Yes, there’s an intellectual aspect to it, but to me it’s totally secondary.

Simon Haas

All of our forms, all of our shapes come from a place of not bowing down to the material, but where the material bows down to our fantasy.

Nikolai Haas

It takes guts to suggest something as radical as the Haas Brothers’ creations.

Donatella Versace

There’s not enough impulse in art.

Joakim Silvandersson

Twins Nikolai and Simon Haas are using their combined talents—a wild eye for artistry, traditional carpentry skills and a deep Hollywood Rolodex—to become some of the most innovative furniture makers around... Despite their often-flamboyant style, the Haas brothers' work is steeped in solid craftsmanship.

Stinson Carter, Wall Street Journal

The Haas Brothers redefine the coordinates of what counts as design and what is fetishized as art.

Jamie White

Collective Provocations: The Haas Brothers in conversation with Jamie White from vector four on Vimeo.

Jamie White and Joakim Silvandersson are designers based in San Francisco and Stockholm. They founded Silverwhite Collective in 2012 with the vision to eliminate the lines between designing houses, interiors, consumer products, landscapes, furniture and objets d'art.

Silverwhite's design manifesto is based on creating a sense of place that reflects their clients' lives. Knowing that furnishings break, decor fades and houses come and go, they believe it's the experience of living and the memories created that matter. Understanding that space shapes thoughts and feelings—Silverwhite relies neither on nostalgia nor impressions of the future, but begins with the inspiration of the clients themselves to convey emotions and envelop the senses.

To realize their vision, Silverwhite collaborates with a wide array of artists, woodmakers, sculptors, restoration experts, silversmiths, architects, builders and other craftsmen. Projects run the gamut from remodeling the historic Strand Hotel in Stockholm and designing two Eco-Resorts in Northern California; from renovating historic homes in San Francisco, Turkey and Miami Beach to designing residences in Seattle and Los Angeles and a villa in the Swedish archipelago. Other endeavors include the design of a collection of restaurants based on Asian street food and an irreverent take on outdoor furnishings.

Collective Provocations

Dual Singularities, Jamie White's discussion with the Haas Brothers, is the first of in a series of quarterly events titled 'Collective Provocations' that bring together people whose ideas and art are at the forefront of social changes. Each thought- or action-provoking evening will feature cocktails & conversations with international roster of technologists, artists, musicians, philanthropists and underground cultural icons.

www.thehaasbrothers.com