Lazy Oaf is excited to announce a 14 piece capsule collection with Studio Arhoj, a small independent ceramics & design studio run by founder Anders Arhoj in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Founded in 2013, Studio Arhoj is obsessed with clay, glaze and the magic that one set of human hands can produce, playing with the visual relationship between scandi simplicity and traditional Japanese ceramic crafts, inspired by Anders’s time studying in Tokyo. Sharing Lazy Oaf’s DIY creative ethic and love for the weird, one-off and unexpected (and us being long-time fans and collectors of Studio Arhoj’s work), a collaboration felt like a natural fit.
We took a tour round the colourful, creative Copenhagen design store & studio space, and spoke to founder Anders Arhoj about collaborating with us on this new collection...
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I feel both our studios have a lot in common - the love of 1990's cartoons, bright colours, nerdy humour and a love for character design. I was already a big fan of Lazy Oaf for many years before being approached by you guys, so it was exciting finally to get to do something fun together! I admire Gemma for building a world-famous brand just by doing what she thinks is cool. I have the same ambitions - just trying to carve your own little odd corner of the world instead of rushing towards trends and mass market commercialism. Getting to do something weird every day and still being able to pay your rent, ha
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Our studio is bright, fun, too much, visually intense, messy, cozy and a place where people like to spend time, hang out and look at our products as well as observe us make them.
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As a tall guy I can't really fit into any of the women's' styles in this collection, but that's also fine because I actually love the rug the most. I think it's super fun, affordable and different. You can use it to snuggle up on a cold day on the couch - or decorate your wall with a vibrant, textured textile instead of a boring poster.
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The Ghosts were inspired by the idea of the Japanese Shinto religion where any item has a soul; a rock, a tree etc. The shape was thrown on a wheel during a weekend back in 2010. Once we applied eyes to it we realised it was actually a super cute little creature. - I've worked for almost 20 years designing characters for children's books, online worlds, print media etc and so I wanted to push my work in directions and new materials - and I found clay as the best medium to further my experiments.
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I used to live in Japan and study Japanese - and have always been a super fan of the country's traditions and culture since the rise of Shibuya pop in the 1990's. My designs are still inspired by how ceramics are made in Japan, but lately I've also gone back to my own roots. A lot of brands these days are influenced by Japanese culture so I'm also trying to find new directions and influences in order to stay fresh and have fun.
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I know people say brands need to have a "philosophy" but really I'm just trying to run a studio and keep manufacturing in close proximity to my design department, it's not more exotic than that. Totally old school, l like how we used to have potteries around Europe in the old days. Local, independent, sustainable and unique for its location. And it's really just one long journey trying to dig into what I find fun, beautiful, inspiring and new. And to push the barriers between design, arts and crafts. I'm very grateful people have embraced our products and studio.
Thank you!
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