YOUNG TALENTS
Shining future

Through her father, a master pewter caster with his own workshop, Elena Kayser came into contact with design and production at an early age. "My dad had a major influence on my development as a designer," says the 25-year-old. "I was already there as a baby in the Maxi-Cosi when he worked in the foundry." Stefan Kayser's workshop is located in picturesque St. Ingbert in Saarland. It is a large, L-shaped building, under whose roof there are various production rooms in addition to a spacious warehouse, an office and a sales room. In the so-called lathe shop, Elena Kayser can be found at an old workbench almost every day when she is working on new pieces of jewellery for her label Studio Èna. In addition to ultra-modern laser and milling machines, there are also old tools here, some of which date back to Kayser's tin days. Elena Kayser and her father are direct descendants of Jean Kayser, who was responsible for the production of the world-famous Kayserzinn objects in the mid-19th century. Since pewter casting is hardly in demand today, the workshop mainly does engravings for industry and advertising. But antique Kayser pewter vases and bowls are also restored and polished here.

In 2019, as part of her bachelor's degree at the University of Fine Arts in Saarbrücken, Elena Kayser intensively explored her own family history, its products and design ideas for the first time. The result was a modern LED table lamp made of pewter that can be recharged via USB and is reminiscent of a Kayser pewter oil lamp in form and function. "With 'Blik' I have reinterpreted the material and placed it in the context of light," says Elena Kayser. "I am currently looking for partner companies to produce and distribute the lamp."

At the end of 2019, Elena Kayser was given the task at the HBK as part of the "Design Bazaar" project to design a marketable product within six weeks that could be sold as part of a pre-Christmas pop-up. In the process, she came across interesting production remnants in the foundry: organic shapes that inspired her to create earrings. "These characteristic shapes are created when pewter drips out of the moulds and comes into contact with water," Elena Kayser explains. "Comparable to pouring lead on New Year's Eve." The earrings, small polished plates of pewter aptly named Toeval (Dutch for coincidence), were so well received by customers at the time that Kayser decided to offer them gold-plated as well. Studio Èna was born. To date, Elena Kayser has added numerous new models to the portfolio of her jewellery label.

After graduating with a Bachelor's degree, Elena Kayser completed several months of internships at renowned design studios: at Formafantasma in Rotterdam in 2021, she got to know essential processes and techniques in practice that she had previously only known from her studies. "The time in Rotterdam was incredibly enriching for me as a person, but especially as a designer," she says. In 2022, Kayser spent nine months with Sarah Illenberger in Berlin – first as an intern, then as a freelancer. "Sarah is the most creative person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting," she enthuses. "She showed me that design doesn't just have to aspire to 'make the world a better place', but that fun and humour are also allowed." Elena Kayser recently proved that she has internalised this at the "Mono Residency". The starting signal for the young talent promotion project in cooperation with German Design Graduates was given at the beginning of 2023 in the Mono Manufaktur in Mettmann. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the iconic teapot by Tassilo von Grolmann, ten talented young designers from the last four graduating years were invited to design unique objects that take up the form and materiality of the Mono teapot and at the same time speak for themselves through their independence and strong aesthetics. "There were no limits to what we could do," says Elena Kayser. "We were able to approach it completely freely and – what I found particularly exciting – also artistically."

Said, done. The teapot that Elena Kayser designed for Mono resembles the model in its basic shape and radii, but the filigree frame looks as if it has been blown up. "Chubby Tea" is reminiscent of balloon animals familiar from children's birthday parties or fairs. The teapot was last seen at the Vienna Design Week. The idea might sound simple," says the young designer. "But the implementation was a real challenge." The prototype is a 3D print that was sanded with a lot of perseverance and then painted with chrome. "Originally I had the idea to cast the jug out of pewter, but the manufacturing process would have been too complex for the short time we had." The fact that pewter continues to inspire the product designer to new creations is also shown by her collaboration with the Berlin fashion label Avenir, for which she recently designed a brooch in the shape of an oversized hairpin. "Pewter has a long tradition in my family," she says. "The fact that I am the first woman to work with this material as a designer makes me proud. I definitely want to continue that." One can be curious to see how Elena Kayser will succeed in giving this old material a new context in the future.