Couple Up
Behind every great design, there’s a great… couple? The maxim proves true when talking about Seattle-based designers Ladies & Gentlemen Studio. Just like Charles and Ray Eames before them, or even the CIAM-era Brutalist architects Allison and Peter Smithson, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio’s designs thrive on a shared aesthetic and philosophy. Such partnerships are curious in the design industry. More often than not in design, egos clash and tempers flare. But what if collaborations were founded on compassion and intimacy? Ladies & Gentlemen Studio are as unpretentious as they come and it shows in their approach to design. You find this humility in their blog. Here, readers follow along Dylan Davis as he quits his day job to dedicate himself to Ladies & Gentlemen Studio full time. You also witness how he and his wife Jean Lee redecorate their bedroom, seeing firsthand how these designers live. It’s all very old fashioned. But then again, so are their home designs, which evoke nostalgia and warmth of flea market finds. An ethic of sharing shines through in their accessible and overall winsome concepts, which invite users to interact and question everyday, domestic objects… much like the Eameses before them. In this way, living with home design is not unlike your living with your other half.
