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Everyday Beauty: Kalon Studios
Timeless design that deepens in beauty with age is at the heart of Los Angeles-based Kalon Studio’s approach, which also has holistic sustainability at its core.
For Los Angeles studio Kalon, the beauty of a design is inextricable from its moral worth and usefulness. Since 2007, the studio – which was founded by husband-and-wife team Johannes Pauwen and Michaele Simmering – has taken a material-driven, multifaceted approach to timeless design, all the while layering in sustainability considerations, including how their pieces age and prioritising the wellbeing of its skilled craftspeople. The studio offers an antidote to fast furniture, embracing the slow and considered to craft pieces that will continue to make an impact in 10, 20 or 100 years.
Every element of Kalon’s design process feeds into the others; in Simmering and Pauwen’s view, timeless design and materiality can’t be achieved without a sustainable approach. And by eschewing trends and embracing American furniture traditions and modernist design, the duo are able to craft long-lasting pieces that will hold up for decades both functionally and aesthetically, reflecting a core value of the brand: integrity.
Each piece – whether its the Isometric hardwood chair, Bough stool in ash, walnut or white oak, or Rugosa bookcase – grows more gracious with age. Materials are intentionally selected for the beauty they will develop over the years, and Kalon acknowledges that sustainability isn’t static – the longer we use an item, the more sustainable it becomes.
This ethos is also built into the entire production process. Timber is sourced from sustainably managed forests and the studio’s materials meet – and often exceed – the world’s most rigorous sustainability standards. Kalon uses only non-toxic materials that don’t emit VOCs or dangerous odours, and sources its timber (mainly US hardwoods) from forests local to where their pieces are made. Its production process is as efficient when creating one piece as it is 1,000, equalling less waste and more cost efficiency.
While these are legacy pieces, in the here and now every design makes an emotional impact and remains versatile over many years. This intentionality is also built into Kalon’s choice of collaborators: each maker is a highly skilled craftsperson. This connection not only helps keep traditional practices alive but also supports local economies.
Kalon’s collections develop are deeply varied, springing from Simmering and Pauwen’s own lives. That means cots for nurseries that will slot seamlessly into the rest of a home’s design, as in the Caravan range; the modernist-inspired No. 6 Series of armchairs and lounges which stand alone or can be brought together in an array of configurations; and the Material Studies collection, which can be used both indoors and outdoors, and doubles as a meditation on the influence material has on form.
Ultimately, the duo behind Kalon are designing for the future: the future lives of their furniture, the future of the planet and the future of the crafts that make their pieces possible.
