Having launched his eponymous studio in 2009, Milan-based artist artisan Henry Timi set out with a pure vision and ideology, designing and producing handcrafted objects that span both furniture and art in a refusal of the unnecessary.

 

Our Founder and Design Director, Phillip Mathieson recently spoke with the Italian designer about his career, design philosophy, and the importance of local production and craftsmanship. Their discussion delves into the artistic composition of some of our favourite HENRYTIMI pieces, as well as their shared appreciation for timeless, authentic design. This is their conversation.

PM -

 

What aspects of nature inspire you? How does this translate into your designs and materials?

 

HT -

 

Epicentre muse essence
Source body.
Each creation is sculpted from the purest natural material which softly whispers each of its founding connotations to re-emerge in the lines of minimal and ethereal works.

 

PM -

 

How important is it that your products are designed and produced in Italy? Can you share the distinction this brings in terms of quality and authenticity?

 

HT -

 

Immersed in the green hills of the Marche region in central Italy we have given strength to a place of creation and knowledge cathedral of know-how where highly sensitive craftsmen become energy and a forge for the new with commitment and perseverance we have believed in the value of production and in the depth of beauty in every detail that is cared for and handcrafted from the careful choice of material to the nuances of line and body that each new project studies and deepens in an always unique ant unedited dawn and intimate personal story.

 

PM -

 

I’m interested to hear more about how design feeds into all the aspects of your life and, similarly, how life feeds back into your designs.

 

HT -

 

A constant motion pushes me to narrate and reflect, not a purpose but values that I express and enclose in my work and in every project space I create. HENRYTIMI is to be harmony in space, complementary to the moment and its turn through every detail that characterizes our life. Furnishing elements not only to be filled and not only to have a function, but facilities in the voids to breathe with us together to be an authentic and unique part of it. Each HENRYTIMI creation is the expression of a single sensibility. Personal, intimate. Perfectly traces through lights and shadows. Choices, values and memory. From the natural material to its final presence, unrepeatable shapes and details.

 

They are artistic compositions. ‘artefatto’ in its most ancient meaning as ‘hand-made’. The respect for every wood grain, every fracture in the stone, metallic reflection and textile touch, is handed down in HENRYTIMI in his daily work.

 

According to a real culture of the know-how, precious craft techniques that we keep with subdued sensitivity and education of the mind towards history and so on among the works that from the very beginning have translated a concept out of the ordinary unusual but strenuously defended.

PM -

 

When did you decide on minimalism for your objects? How is this reflected in your products and philosophy?

 

HT -

 

HENRYTIMI is a universe of truth that is based on our relationship between forms and nature the artworks are tied to the history of the raw material to which they pay silent homage. Evoking timeless art and history.

 

PM -

 

What have been your favourite series to craft? did this lead to an influential moment in your career and future pieces?

 

HT -

 

A poetics of living
of space as a gesture of conscience
where each work sculpts the geometries of authentic stasis
the works emerge from the monochromatic and minimalist lines
where beauty as knowledge and union is the signifier and trace of nature and art such as THERMOPOLIUM
listen from ancient Latin culture
rooted in and translated in the contemporary avant-garde
concealing the more technological functions and the value of the stone

 

PM -

 

I’m curious about the HT313 table and HT112 chair? what inspired you? And how did you come to the final composition of each piece?

 

HT -

 

The essence of wood
in its majestic essence
clear details of pure ethereal and eternal balance
the material communicates and leaves one breathless to emulate and pay silent homage it has always been my drive to create
as an expression of truth and of our origins
in the simplest and most poetic form leaving the soul raw