As admirers of your work, we were thrilled to invite you to be part of Dancer Editions. What appealed to you about the collaboration, and what aspects of the project resonated with you?
We were really drawn to the scale, to work at object scale rather than building. We were also excited to draw from the ideas and forms of Belinda Wiltshire and her interpretation of the Triadisches Ballet. The scale and materials are not something we have designed with before and having Coco Flip there for support and to develop the designs was very rewarding.
We loved seeing your interpretation take shape. How did you approach tackling this brief and reimagining the Dancer collection, balancing its existing visual language with your own creative voice? Did you have a clear direction from the beginning, or did the idea evolve along the way?
We started working with paper models, printing digital versions of the painted stripe patterns and working these into preliminary shapes to test proportions and combinations. As with everything in the studio, all three of our voices were involved and that led to two distinct outcomes that pulled in existing shapes of the Dancer collection and others from the Oskar Schlemmer costumes. Migrating from the paper models to digital led to some adjustments for functionality and again small tweaks when resolving the designs with Coco Flip.
This collaboration invited a shift in material thinking. How did you find the experience of designing in a different medium, specifically ceramics, compared to your usual practice?
The shift to ceramic was interesting as there are very specific limitations to consider, especially because the pieces were being produced on the wheel. We also tried to limit the material palette, in keeping with the existing Dancer range. Though the scale and materials are different from our usual architectural work, working within constraints to find new outcomes was a familiar space.
We see this collection as a celebration of creative voices. What does your design represent for you and your practice? Was there a particular story, feeling or idea you set out to explore?
We approached the design decisions in the same way that we like to think about our buildings, as a collection of parts where the junctions/elements can be read individually as well as together. We think this works particularly well in our Vessel design where the different components can also be adjusted/moved to allow for different uses. Beyond design, we also saw the collaboration as an amazing opportunity for us as an emerging practice to share our work and meet other designers, makers, and artists. Hopefully, it’s just a starting point!
Thank you again for working with us on Dancer Editions. At Coco Flip, we're fascinated by the different ways designers approach process and creativity. Could you tell us a bit about how your studio practice informed your response to the brief?
SSdH is a very small studio, it’s just the three of us and we work collectively across all projects. We find having multiple voices helps us to push our work and ideas and we like that the result isn’t clearly by a single author. While we didn’t work directly with CocoFlip/Belinda Wiltshire while designing, we have the Dancer collection, and all other Coco Flip pieces, in mind in the same way that we bring our ideas together in the early stages of our design process.
You're such a valued part of the local design community. What’s been inspiring you lately, any people, places or ideas influencing your practice? And looking ahead, are there any upcoming projects or directions you're excited to explore?
We are constantly inspired by the many local designers and makers who continue to push at the boundaries of what design is and can do. We feel lucky to be a part of an emerging group of small architectural practices that are testing new ideas that sit outside typical practice.
Most of our work to date has been residential – of varying scales. We are excited at the possibility of shifting some of our practice into the public and commercial realm! We believe that our design language is applicable to all typologies and are looking forward to doing more.
Recently, we were very pleased to have our most recently completed project, Dunstan featured, in Houses magazine and in the running for awards etc. It was a very long running project that started early in our practice and something we’re very proud of and excited to share as it holds a lot of our design ideas.
Learn more about Dancer Editions
View the Dancer Editions Auction
View the Dancer Collection
Learn more about SSdH
Product Images by Matthew McQuiggan
