Crafting Curiosities

London-based design studio Raw-Edges has collaborated with Louis Vuitton once again to create the new Cosmic Table. The husband-and-wife duo tell Annabel Tan the inspiration behind their fun creations.

- Annabel Tan

They may be award-winning designers with a long list of accolades such as the Wallpaper* Design Award, the British Council Talented Award and the Design Miami/Basel Designers of the Future, but Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay do not take themselves too seriously. At their London-based design studio Raw-Edges, the Israeli couple prefers to approach design with a playful, childlike wonder.

“You can call it playing, experimenting or simply being curious,” says Alkalay. “We believe that play is a human instinct that allows us to discover unexpected ideas; something we didn’t know before or something we’ve never thought about. This is how kids learn about the world, and many important scientists too if you think about it.”

To him and his wife, the opposite of a playful approach is the unexciting alternative of being restricted by plans and rules with no room for going off on tangents and discovering new surprises. “We both grew up in Israel where inventiveness is a strong character of the local mindset, as well as improvisation and some mischievous characteristics,” he explains. Striving for humour and surprise in their designs is the best way for their products to express and communicate themselves, believes Mer, adding that it also spreads positivity.