Lex Pott
Emanuele Rivadossi

Lex Pott is a designer who loves wood, so when he arrives at the workshop of Giuseppe Rivadossi he is in his element. In the showroom he sees tables, chairs, dressers and cabinets that enhance the wood’s organic nature. His eyes light on a special technique developed by Rivadossi in which the artisan hand carves an entire surface in shapes that rise out of or sink into the wood. “I found a dot pattern that inspired me to use this craft in a different way,” says Pott. His idea is to apply this special technique to the underside of the material, not just its external surface. He proposes this to Emanuele Rivadossi, Giuseppe Rivadossi’s son who joined his father in the business in 2001. Rivadossi is intrigued: “We think that the effect of maximum lightness he wants to reach is very interesting.” Still, it is not without its challenges, and it takes two days of working together to determine that it is indeed technically possible. “After a few holes and some attempts, we are convinced that a beautiful work will be born,” says Rivadossi.

For Pott, it is time well spent.“The true value in working with an artisan is the hand feeling and material knowledge,” he says. “I’m always open to learning, and seeing these artisans at work is a real privilege and inspiration.” “Lex brings a way of looking at things that is radically different from ours, and we put all of our know-how about the organic aspect of wood at his disposal,” says Rivadossi. “This collaboration was a true dialogue,” says Pott, echoing the artisan’s words.

Lex Pott

lexpott.nl

Lex Pott is a Rotterdam-based designer who often returns to the origin of the materials he uses most: wood, stone and metal. In his Belgian bluestone table, the contours of natural rock formation meet industrial geometry. In a wooden table he designed, the legs retain their rough bark, but morph into a smooth top. For La Cornue’s iconic range, he transformed its brass face with an oxidized texture of electric blue, a product that was presented at the 2016 Salone del Mobile. Pott has won several awards, including No.1 Designtalent the Netherlands by Volkskrant in 2015. He graduated cum laude in 2009 from the Design Academy Eindhoven.

Emanuele Rivadossi

habito-gr.it

Emanuele Rivadossi is the son of the great master Giuseppe Rivadossi, who has created wood objects and furniture since 1978 in Nave, Italy. Today Emanuele runs an artisanal company called Habito, with his father and his brother Clemente, where they develop projects and produce pieces for interiors and public spaces. Rivadossi’s roots in sculpture can be seen in his technique of crafting pieces from a block of wood whose parts were assembled along the grain. The Rivadossis also use a snap-fit method with joints and pins, which allows them to build strong yet light pieces of furniture and bring out the beauty and organic characteristics of the wood.