Singing Without Trills – Please Please Please
Underscored by a belief in the functional and enduring qualities of design, Melbourne-based industrial designer Please Please Please specialises in the design and manufacture of bespoke lighting, furniture and objects. Led by Paul Grummisch, the company has recently launched two bathware collections – a foundation for a larger portfolio of crafted objects designed to last a lifetime.
Please Please Please is driven by a series of design dichotomies: “well designed to just designed, unembellished to exaggerated, spirited to spineless,” each reflecting Paul’s design ethos. These principles have guided bespoke commissions with a hospitality focus and are perhaps most explicitly expressed in Please Please Please’s new bathware collections – which Paul says “are designed to be kept, to have an heirloom quality.”
Paul’s interest in design and manufacturing was sparked from an early age. Growing up on his parents’ potato farm near Thorpdale in South Gippsland, Paul says he “developed a keen interest in how things worked, how one thing drove another to perform a sequence of operations to achieve the required outcome.” From here, he pursued an apprenticeship in ‘fitting and machining’, a metal trade now close to extinction, where he gained a strong appreciation for design and making. “We’d work with blocks and sheets of metal and other materials, follow drawings and create usable, precise objects to fit specific purposes,” says Paul. This vocation eventually led him to study furniture and industrial design, where he could combine his knowledge of materials and making with a greater sense of creative spirit.
Establishing Please Please Please in 2011, Paul began collaborating with his wife, Wendy Bergman, Director of interior design practice Bergman & Co., and other design companies seeking bespoke lighting, furniture, objects and building elements. Predominantly designing and coordinating the fabrication of custom elements for the hospitality industry, Paul believes “the ever changing, creative nature of the sector created the stimulus to start producing eclectic collections for the retail market – available to anyone, anywhere.”
In doing so, Paul began designing with what he describes as “subliminal or unconscious collaborators,” combining influences from his everyday experiences and the wealth of information and visual stimuli we have at our fingertips. “My inspiration is found everywhere,” Paul concedes. “The brutalist Langson Library by architect William Pereira and a series of road bridges that cut through the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne both have design triggers that can be found in my Melt cast-bathroom collection,” he reflects.
Melt draws on sand-cast gunmetal bronze and aluminium to deliver a cohesive suite of luxury bathroom fittings, designed enhance a bathroom’s aesthetic beyond its basic function. The historic technique of melting metal and pouring it into sand cast moulds is celebrated in the products’ finish: “Each piece is lightly buffed smooth but not polished, revealing the gritty sand marks, imperfections and variations obtained during the casting process, giving each item uniquity,” Paul remarks.
The sculpted, metal objects are designed with anti-obsolescence in mind. “I prefer the core forms to sing without trills,” muses Paul. “It adds strength to their character and longevity to the aesthetic, all with the intention to extend their existence.” Heated and finished with a penetrating wax treatment, the collection is designed to darken and patina with time. Please Please Please’s Rolled range is comparatively restrained, yet still underpinned by Paul’s guiding principles. “Rolled was originally designed to fill a gap in the market for a multifunctional, multiple toilet roll holder that was robust, attractive and could be customised with colour to suit the interior,” he explains.
Each Rolled item is manufactured using a single piece of laser-cut stainless steel, folded and powder coated to provide a roll holder and shelf in a single gesture. Playfully named ‘Rolled Once,’ ‘Rolled Twice,’ and ‘Rolled Three Times,’ reflecting the number of toilet rolls accommodated, the collection delivers a pared-back and flexible product solution for residential and commercial settings.
Working with a locally based foundry, team of fabricators, timber workers and artisans, Please Please Please is proudly Melbourne designed and manufactured.
Working with a locally based foundry, team of fabricators, timber workers and artisans, Please Please Please is proudly Melbourne designed and manufactured. Being part of a thriving local design scene, Paul believes “sound boarding off talented people and industries helps refine product decisions, while transforming ideas into objects that people choose to own is a wonderful confirmation.” This inspired and cooperative spirit is the backbone of Please Please Please’s characterful, quality driven and desirable objects, making it a design practice well worth keeping your eyes on.
