ILSE CRAWFORD ON HUMAN EMOTION

louisedalrymple7
Oct 4, 2020
2 min read

Updated: Dec 14, 2020

Ilse discusses her views on the connection of human emotion and design in the below video. She also talks through various projects, such as the Grand Hotel Stockholm, her work for the Soho House group and the Notting Hill housing association.

"The more virtual our world becomes the more physical we want to be" Ilse Crawford

Ilse discusses:

How to tie in basic emotions with design
How to make environments that feel good
The fact that all humans have primal needs
We must respect and value nature
The Bauhaus legacy has left a lot of glass, metal and stone but could these be seen as inhumane materials when combined?

On life at Elle Decoration:

"The houses that felt good and looked good wear few and far between"

"One Eye sees, the other feels" Paul Klee

Grand Hotel Stockholm

Studio Ilse designed a 'fast' and a 'slow' restaurant for the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. Below is an excerpt from Dezeen.com

"Studioilse's design is intended to express this new concept and the food, physically and emotionally, sensorially and subliminally". (Dezeen.com, 2020)

"In the Matbaren it is a brisk atmosphere, with the solid feel of a station, made in robust and resonant materials, such as wood panelling, encaustic tile and zinc. The furniture here reflects the menu. There are tables in natural wood, and raw Swedish primitive pieces from the 1700s. There is a mix of Swedish, Scandinavian and global pieces, such as Pyra chairs by Marten Cyren, lights by Jorn Utzen, and chairs by Vico Magistretti. Also some tables in cast iron – a reference to the fact that this was once the showroom of the cast iron kings the Bolinder brothers. Here the food bar and kitchen are a part of the room."

"Meanwhile in the Matsalen the atmosphere is more tantalising, intimate and rarified, a place to spend time. The door is a discreet entrance off the bar. This is private space and the materials and furniture reflect this. There is parquet floor in Hungarian Point, Chesterfield sofas in velvet, and golden metals glint softly.

The lighting is a mix of beautiful pieces with Swedish classics; a chandelier by Carlo Scarpa and the classic Swedish kitchen lamp, in brass. This is comfortable, sensual, about a more extended relationship with food. In a nod to the history of the Grand Hotel many of the chairs have been rescued from around the hotel and revitalised in soft naturally dyed yellow leather and partnered with chairs by Josef Frank from Svenskt Tenn while the tables have burlesque curvaceous bases designed by Studioilse.

In the bar, the walls have been painted a dark indigo to show off its historic floor and the gilded screen from Studio Job. This is a narrative of kitchen implements, Swedish rustic tools and Viking long boats and was specially commissioned for the Mathias Dahlgren restaurant."