In exploration of the creative result of combining culture and craftsmanship, Swedish design duo Glimpt headed to Vietnam.
Here, with the support of Vietamese furniture company UMA, Mattias Rask and Tor Palm visited artisans in this country. It was after observing the craft techniques these artisans use to create small bowls by fixing paper thread around rolls of seagrass that Glimpt saw the potential of the this process.
Rask and Tor up-scaled the dimensions of this craft technique to turn it into furniture pieces. They collaborated with seagrass and plastic weavers in Ho Chi Minh city in southern Vietnam. Together they produced a series of stools called “Superheroes”.
The Superheroes stools comprise an internal metal frame around which rolls of dried seagrass are wrapped to create the structural form of the stool. Glimpt worked with graphic designer Malin Koort to design patterns for the colourful threads traditionally used to decorate Vietnamese hammocks. These threads were wrapped around the seagrass to create bold and vibrant designs for the stools, resulting in the ideal combination between Vietnamese craft and Scandinavian design.
In 2010 Glimpt also worked with the Potter's Workshop in South Africa.
