Sisters Guillane and Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer have a special feel for aesthetic sophistication in their genes: They grew up surrounded by design and art – their mother was a designer. What connects the pair is their shared interest in elegant designs that are destined to outlast short-lived trends. They did not make a conscious choice to set up their own studio, Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer explains. As it is, the sisters have been designing and marketing luminaires under the Areti Leuchten moniker since 2008. The reason: Luminaires offer far greater design freedom than does furniture – and they regard their output as being closer to art than product design. Which hasn’t stopped them launching a furniture collection in time for this year’s London Design Festival, however.
Atelier Areti
Whowhatwherewhenhow?
Where would you like to live?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I have lived in London for the past 11 years and for the moment, I can’t really imagine living anywhere else. I am also still very fond of Paris (I used to live there before moving to London) but I see London as my home now.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: In Europe. I don’t really have a strong preference for a country or city. When I was younger, I was drawn to experience living in certain cities like New York or Rotterdam – the Netherlands at the time were very influential for architecture and planning. When you are young, you are still looking for a lot of stimulation from the outside and so it makes sense to seek out cities with a vibrant artistic, intellectual etc. atmosphere. Now I feel less of this urge and I am content living in calmer places. Qualities like openness, pleasantness, nature, etc. become more important. Our family is spread out all over Europe. So we do get to visit quite a few places regularly and being in one particular place doesn’t feel so important.
Your favorite character in the history of design?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I do not have a favorite character in design, I admire different works by different people ranging from well known designers to my own mother and of course my sister Gwendolyn.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: I do not have an overall favorite character among the famous ones – although there are specific things about many that I admire of course. Among the less famous (yet!) and also less historic characters, I of course also count Guillane!
Which qualities do you admire in a designer?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I find it refreshing when I see a good design that does not need to shout and that is not overly influenced by passing trends.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: Intelligence, talent, thoroughness.
What do you enjoy doing most?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I love my work so that is probably what I enjoy doing most.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: My work and spending time with family.
Areti fortunately partly combines both. Working with someone you trust on every level, both professional and personal makes it more enjoyable and rich.
Your main personality trait?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: Affable, dependable, optimistic.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: Optimistic, persistent, analytical, sometimes excessive.
Your biggest mistake?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I have made plenty of mistakes unfortunately, but you live and learn.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: No single mistake sticks out …
Your idea of happiness?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: It may sound like a cliché but I find simple things most enjoyable. Going for a walk in Battersea Park with my husband, meeting friends for a round of board games or to be with my whole family in our house in Grasse drinking afternoon tea and discussing ideas around improving the house (which, even though we have had it for many years, still remains a “work in progress”).
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: Overall - being at peace with yourself.
On a less philosophical level – pursuing your interests and talents and having a fulfilling family life. I am lucky that I have had the freedom to work in an area that I feel passionate about and I am very conscious of this privilege. On a global level, most people today are still concerned with bigger problems (economic, social, political…) and will thus unfortunately never have the opportunity to pursue and develop their interests and talents.
What do you find really annoying?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: Having to deal with administrative paperwork, unfortunately this makes up a large part of day to day work when you run your own studio.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: When people do not think for themselves and simply repeat and adopt thoughts, information without really understanding them on a deeper level. Often we have opinions on things without having really made the effort to understand them and thus we have opinions and take decisions, based on a flawed and superficial understanding of things. This negatively affects all aspects of our lives significantly, architecture and design included.
Your favorite material?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I don’t have a favorite material but I like working with materials which are long lasting and age well such as metal, wood, stone, ceramic and glass.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: I love many materials, but primarily natural ones and those that age well such as wood, stone, glass, ceramic and metals.
Your favorite flower?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I like flowers but I don’t have a favorite – there are so many beautiful plants. I love roses though.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: Not any single one, generally though I am more drawn to delicate ones.
What kind of music do you listen to when you work?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I am a big fan of audiobooks. If I am not listening to them, I usually listen to classical music.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: Usually none, I find it distracting.
Which design achievement do you most detest?
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: In general consumerism: short lived hype, the fact that most things get produced so cheaply in low wage countries which contributes to people buying many poorly designed useless things, rather than few more expensive and well designed items. This increases pollution, leads to uninspired man made environments, produces no satisfaction in those designing or manufacturing the goods. There are really no advantages to consumerism in architecture and design. Just to be clear: I am absolutely in favor of using technology to make our life easier, to getting things produced with less human effort and making them available to a larger part of the population. The criticism is about the marketing and production of items that are of poor quality and get sold and bought mainly because of marketing rather than their actual quality.
Which talent would you like to have?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I would like to be able to dance and sing gracefully and play an instrument effortlessly.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: To be honest, I think with dedication one could probably get quite far in any area. But talent would speed up that process. One area that I would like to have a deeper understanding of is physics, so I guess an extraordinary talent in analytical thinking. My husband is a theoretical physicist and the little glimpses I get from what he works on, I find fascinating. I would like to understand more about what fundamentally the universe - space, time, matter etc. is, and as this is very complex, I suppose an extraordinary talent in math and analytical thinking would make it more pleasurable.
Can you describe your present state of mind?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: At the moment I am overwhelmed because we are doing building work to our house and have decided to live in it whilst the work is being done.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: Happy but also feeling that there are by far! There are not enough hours in the day. We have three children and finding enough time to get everything done is impossible! As a woman, one has to make a choice, whether you want a family or not. Guillane and I both chose to have children and have to accept that professionally the pace has to slow down for a certain time. But it makes designing even more exciting – as the time we get to spend on it is limited and precious.
Your motto?
Guillane Kerschbaumer: I don’t have one.
Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer: Not any single one. Depends on what situation one is in.
