PLATE cabinets reframe the home as a studio, showroom, playground
Collection: PLATE / Plan de travail: Acier inoxydable
Multihyphenate Ana Kraš’ practice integrates art, creative direction, design and photography into the fabric of life. Just recently, Ana launched Teget, a brand of objects ranging from homeware to fashion, and her most personal project to this day. We visited her in Paris, where she lives in an apartment that is much more than a home—a studio, a showroom, a playground.
Having lived in LA and New York for over a decade, she recently relocated to Paris during the pandemic. It is a vastly different experience that also manifests itself in the way the Parisians build and live. Her life has changed radically, spending more at home day-by-day with less travel too. There’s a routine to be nurtured and everyday cooking to be done. "It’s like I’ve retired, yet I’ve never worked more in my life. I’m more focused on my work. Paris feels easier, healthier", she reveals. "Moving into a traditional Haussmannian apartment in Paris has been new and interesting. It's a perfect backdrop and contrast to my work, which is minimal and sharp."
She is about to launch her namesake brand Teget, a moniker she is equally known for. It is her most personal project to date, with Kraš behind everything from design and sourcing to creative direction and photography. "It's hard to think of it as a brand, as I approached as if making it all for myself. Teget is a brand of objects for the home and to be worn. I’ve always worked in both design and fashion, so it felt most natural."
Teget’s first edition features lamps, home textiles, furniture, and a few special collaborations in the realm of apparel and accessories. The designer has worked with a wide range of materials – paper, metal, laminates and hand selected fabric sourced in Thailand, France, Italy, and Serbia. Growing up in Belgrade, her family’s large round table was a kind of main square, a place to meet. Life happened around the table; eating, talking, homework, laughing, crying. To this day, Ana and her partner spend most of our time around a small table in the kitchen. Her XL desk is a table of her own making. She has designed many over the years, some simple of solid wood, others sculptural or graphic. To her, it is inevitably the most important object in the home, a scene for writing, drawing, building prototypes, and gathering friends and collaborators.
After light, storage is the most important thing in a home. Kraš requires lots of it, completely stowing away all which feels unnecessary. She takes a minimalist approach to what she keeps around, allowing the nature of a few objects to tread into focus. Her PLATE sideboard in brushed aluminum serves just that purpose – of paring back – while tapping into her current obsession, metallic surfaces. Home to art supplies, fabric samples and tools, the fronts complement the decorative Parisian moldings with their raw simplicity. It brings a tension to the space.
The home studio is as multidisciplinary and versatile as she is herself. For her, a love of physical media and ideas defines life and work. When designing an object, she begins by writing down an idea on a piece of paper. "There is convenience and spontaneity in having a home studio. I like the idea of being surrounded with all my tools, so I can make things whenever I'm in the mood to work." Paper is significant. It started out as Kraš’ plaything as a kid, spending time at her parents’ photocopy shop surrounded by stacks and rolls of paper. Her prototypes are made of paper and cardboard for precise measurements. Sketches are preferred to renders, ‘not realistic enough to be trusted yet too realistic to leave room for imagination’. Words to live by.
Her home continues to evolve according to the ebbs and flows of her process, never constant.
"I've always lived surrounded by my own designs and in a way, I'm always designing for myself. Living with your own work allows for a real perspective on it. That perspective changes in time, which is very interesting".
"I don’t like small things and decorations. I hide the clutter allowing art, furniture, lighting and textiles to define the space."
Découvrir PLATE
