The creators received awards for their work for the Polstrin brand, which gave them great freedom. This was preceded by a good experience, or rather a successful collaboration in the form of the Infinite modular seating collection, which received a respected award in the international design competition BigSEE.
Some time ago, the Lexová & Smetana duo won the Designblok festival awards for the Mirror Stage mirrors in the space and the Swell coffee tables. And they also scored in the Edida 2023 competition (Elle Decoration Award). The jury also appreciated the windows for the Hermés boutique or the Silk Ferries cosmetic studio or the Czech Landscape exhibition, where they were the curators and authors of the architectural design.
How did the idea to create the Hide and Seek collection come about?
Terezia Lexová: As children, we built hiding places out of sofas and duvets in the middle of the living room, creating our own little world. We also found ourselves in our own playful world when designing a new collection for Polstrin, when we folded individual pillows and freely shaped them together, resulting in an award-winning collection.
What collections do you already have?
Terezia Lexová: In addition to the latest addition, we also designed the Infinite modular upholstered benches for the same company. Separately for our studio, we previously created a collection of multi-level side tables Swell or free-standing mirrors Mirror Stage.
Will you continue to work with the same brand?
Štěpán Smetana: We believe so, and at this moment we are already planning joint projects for the coming year 2023.
Photo: Czech Grand Design Archive, Anna Pleslová
The collection is very colorful.
What other furniture would you like to design?
Štěpán Smetana: In general, we like challenges, exploring new products and materials, so we are not against any type of furniture. At the moment, we are looking forward to designing upholstered seating furniture, which we are very much looking forward to, because we think that there is still space in this sector in the Czech Republic.
Which interior style have you been enjoying and inspiring lately?
Terezia Lexová: It’s not so much a specific style, but we enjoy it and we like to watch the work of, for example, Lenka Míková, architects from Kilo/Honč or studio Malý Chmel. In general, we appreciate it when a designer or architect knows how to estimate a client or a brand and manages to capture it in the project.
Photo: Czech Grand Design Archive, Anna Pleslová
The furniture is dominated by elegant rounded shapes.
The furniture with which you scored this year has its own organic lines, do you draw inspiration from nature?
Terezia Lexová: We tend to go to nature to relax from everything, but then we draw inspiration from everything around us. From everyday life.
How long have you been creating together and what are your plans for the future?
Štěpán Smetana: We met while studying Product Design at the University of Applied Arts in Prague and have been creating under a common brand since 2018. In addition to applied design, we are also involved in the design of shop windows and smaller architectural solutions. We are open to all other collaborations, whether with a company or an individual, because diversity is what we enjoy most about our work.
In addition to applied design, we are dedicated to the design of sales windows and smaller architectural solutions.
Photo: Archive of the Designblok festival, Tomáš Hercog
Last year, the designers at Designblok won an award in the category of Best New Designer for the Swell coffee table collection.
For which large companies have you already designed storefronts?
Terezia Lexová: We have companies like the French Hermès and Potten&Pannen in our portfolio, but we also like to work for smaller progressive brands like Silk Ferries, which are just as valuable to us and we always want to do a good job.
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