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Jan 31, 2024

London Designer Tatjana von Stein's Debut Furniture Label Has All the Right Moves

By Alia Akkam A few years back, as Tatjana von Stein wandered through Noguchi, a

By Alia Akkam

A few years back, as Tatjana von Stein wandered through Noguchi, a retrospective exhibition at London's Barbican Art Gallery, she delved deeper into Isamu Noguchi's richly layered oeuvre. As founder and creative director of design studio Sella Concept, von Stein felt compelled to put pencil to paper and begin sketching the sleek range of furniture she had long dreamed of.

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During the exhibition, von Stein tells AD PRO, "I was rather taken by the relationship between Noguchi and the dancer Martha Graham and how it revolutionized set design. One of the things that's always interested me is the connection point between different influences and art forms."

Von Stein's affinity for such unexpectedly riveting dialogues was the impetus behind Mise en Scène, the inaugural and eponymous product collection launching this week. It's an organic extension of her colorful interior projects (fashion label Sister Jane's West London town house headquarters and the Mallorca private social club Làlia, to name a few), which are often strewn with custom furniture made in collaboration with local artisans.

The Mise en Scène sectional sofa, glass coffee table, Pointe side table, and silk screen

"I’ve very much been learning the craft, the materials and forms, for years," she says. For Mise en Scène, von Stein tapped the ateliers of wood wizard Pierre Noire and the restoration group Aurige in France as a nod to her French-German heritage.

The lacquer-doored Bar cabinet, which features Walnut Burr wood interiors

All eight pieces exude integrity, as she puts it, and are imbued with her vibrant modernist-meets-Deco style while expressing "the fluidity of the human body. There's a gentle nod to the movement of dance." A green silk moiré from Dedar swathes the screen comprising four rotating panels, for example, and brushed stainless steel accents pop against the subtly curving silk-velvet sofa and cocooning lounge chair emblazoned in a snazzy geometric print. The collection also includes coffee and side tables that juxtapose black and dark gray mirrors with sinuous bases, as well as a high-gloss moss green bar cabinet.

One of von Stein's favorites in the assemblage, the cabinet melds lacquer and mirror with leather and walnut burr wood veneer. "There is a beautiful classic art element to the bar. When you open it, it's a bit like an old Rolls Royce," she says. "It was also incredibly difficult to put together engineering wise, which of course is always a wonderful challenge when something ends up looking quite seamless."

Another highlight is the rectangular oak dining table that von Stein relishes for its soft edges and angled legs that evoke "a dancer's pose, an interpretation of the vertebra that holds it strong," she says. "But then you have this sexy, tinted glass on the top. That will probably be the theme of the collections going forward: strong but sexy, led by narratives that manifest in various ways."

The Mise en Scène silk screen, made of rotating panels upholstered in Dedar's moiré silk

Mise en Scène, and von Stein's future creations, will get the spotlight in her new showroom (also home to a dedicated studio and sample library) opening in a former Islington schoolhouse on June 8. Located on the top floor, the space, naturally brought to life by von Stein, stars a pitched roof and tortoiseshell-painted beams and will showcase the furniture in imaginative permutations that explore its scope of possibilities.

Although the pieces mesh well with minimal environments, "I love the idea of creating a more theatrical setting, because that's where some of the inspiration came from initially," she says. "I’m going for indulgence."