Culture Shock

Designers Stine Gam and Enrice Fratesi, a Dane and an Italian, were
in a relationship for a year before they founded their fledgling design firm. On combining work and play, Gam says, “For us it’s no problem. It’s like a gift, actually. We can share everything.” That togetherness came in handy recently, when the duo were conjuring up an entry for last year’s Talent05 competition in Denmark. When visiting Fratesi’s traditional Italian mother, Gam couldn’t get over that she had covered all the furniture in plastic. For Fratesi, that was such a fact of life that he didn’t notice it. The culture shock produced the Luisi stool/table (named after Fratesi’s grandmother), a simple curved form with flowery felt sandwiched between the acrylic layers. GAMplusFRATESI won the competition, and the Danish company Soft Line now produces the combo furniture, with a retail price of approximately $290. They will be available soon at DWR.