INTERVIEW BY TRACEY INGRAM
What brought you both to design?
johannes gille: Because my father was an
artist, I was surrounded by culture. Even
though I knew quite quickly that I didn’t
want to follow in his footsteps, I was
constantly drawing and making stuff.
When I encountered Design Academy
Eindhoven [DAE], I thought that the
institution’s applied-arts approach would
suit me well. I ended up studying Man &
Living. Gijs Bakker was head of the
master’s programme back then. It was a
very motivating environment.
jos kranen: I started the same degree two
years after Johannes. My career path
wasn’t immediately obvious. I come from
a family of house painters and was
always interested in design – particularly
interiors. I initially decided to join the
family profession, but didn’t find it
fulfilling enough. Stumbling upon DAE
opened up a whole new world of interior
products, which make a space’s whole
greater that the sum of its parts.
When did you decide to join forces?
jk: While studying we were encouraged to
give feedback to our peers. Johannes and
I understood each other’s work. We
graduated in 2004 and both left the
Netherlands to travel abroad. After
meeting up at a party a few years later,
we decided to design something together
for Salone del Mobile 2007.
jg: I’d spent some time in Tyrol in
connection with my DAE graduation
project. I had an old Tyrolean chair at
home, and Jos was equally fascinated by
it. We decided to update this archetypal
folk art piece for the modern age. The
Right page: Cabinet fi lled with
inspiration and prototypes in
Kranen/Gille's design studio.
D E S I G N D R E A M S
Over the years we
came to love the
idea of making
products that are
more accessible to
a larger audience.
Kranen/Gille
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