Amsterdam – Netherlands
Dutch designer Pepe Heykoop (1984) founded his studio straight after his graduation from department ‘Living’ at the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2008.
Pepe’s work deals mainly with handwriting and the handmade. He discovers new low-tech techniques in his studio in Amsterdam. This is where the manufacturing of his unique pieces is realized.
Products made by Studio Pepe Heykoop are hardly perpendicular: growth is essential. He is interested in the link between design and art. This comes with his natural tendency to recycle objects. A good example is his project called ‘Skin Collection’: leftover leather scraps cover second-hand modified pieces.
Pepe participates in multiple designshows including: Salone del mobile Milan, TENT London, DMY Berlin, IMM Cologne
His unique works are for sale at a.o. auction house Pierre Berge in Brussels. Retail products from his Indian workshop in collaboration with the Tiny Miracles Foundation are for sale at upmarket stores globally.
Awards
Interior Innovation Award d3 Contest IMM Cologne 2009
Interior Innovation Special mention d3 Contest IMM Cologne 2010
DMY Berlin Nomination 2011
BIO 23 Award Lubljana 2012
Interior Innovation Award IMM Cologne 2013
Skin Collection
The Skin Collection is a reaction to the 25-30 percent waste produced by the furniture industry. The furniture is found on the street or secondhand and modified and then covered in pieces of leather leftovers. What creates this amount of waste are things like the organic shape of the animal, its scratches, damages, scars and unmatching colors after dying. This project is fed by the nature of this leather scrap, turning it into random patterns, referring to cell structures and growth in nature. The cover grows slowly around the object where colors blend together. The entire process is done by hand. It merges discarded objects with a skin made out of waste and gives it a new life.
Material(s): leather remnants, discarded objects
Year: 2011-ongoing
Photography © Annemarijne Bax
