Local Design Brand Studio AN’s First Collection For The Dialogue Room

Recently opened on Woodstock’s Sir Lowry Road, The Dialogue Room focuses on natural and engineered stone and porcelain products. Imagined by Cannata’s Claudia King and Italo Cannata Jnr., together with Aimee Wolfaardt of Haardt Design Studio, The Dialogue Room is an exploratory space in which designers, architects, creatives and their clients can cross-pollinate and create.

Cannata and Haardt also aim to showcase local talent. The Dialogue Room’s inaugural furniture and accessory collection, entitled MORPH, was created by Cape Town-based architectural and interior design brand, Studio AN.

Here, Studio AN’s Jan de Wet and Jeanne Scholtz chat to VISI about the collection.

What was the attraction to collaborating with The Dialogue Room on this collection?

As designers, we have always been drawn to marble and terrazzo and secretly dreamed of cladding entire rooms with it. Globally, we’ve seen a re-emergence in the use of these materials, and with advancements in technology, some very innovative designs. So, when Cannata approached us with its latest concept, entitled The Dialogue Room, and the idea of a furniture range, we jumped at the opportunity.

Studio AN’s Jan de Wet and Jeanne Scholtz

Which natural materials have you used for MORPH?

Working together with the Cannata team, we selected a palette of terrazzo and marble that we believe enhances the overall aesthetic and design concept of the collection. The collection also includes some steel and brass elements, but these are really secondary, as we wanted the focus to be on marble and terrazzo and to show how these materials can be used and shaped.

How many pieces in total will be released and what are they exactly?

The collection is made up of five furniture pieces and a servingware collection. Studio AN wanted to include pieces of different scales. The MORPH collection is made up of a lamp, mirror, stool, bench, and shelf/cabinet. To ensure the waste factor was kept to a minimum, we decided to use the rest of the material for multi-functional servingware.

Morph Stool from above

What have you learned about working with marble and stone?

That these materials are actually quite fragile. Marble and terrazzo are typically very strong when used in traditional applications. However, working on a smaller scale with more intricate detailing becomes quite challenging. In South Africa we do not have the technology to 3D cut these materials, restricting the making of three-dimensional forms. All the pieces in this collection are assembled through the layering of planes.

To see more of Studio AN’s work, visit studio-an.co.za. For more information about The Dialogue Room, go to cannatagranite.co.za/the-dialogue-room.