Pearson Lloyd is a London-based design studio and was founded by Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd. For more than 20 years, they have designed products, systems and environments for the home, workplace, transportation and healthcare sectors. Their work is driven by a desire to understand and interpret a world that is experiencing rapid and often unexpected change. Pearson Lloyd works with Walter Knoll, Lufthansa, Virgin, Steelcase, Kvadrat and many others.
You have designed the Cross Chair for TAKT but you are also working in many different fields of design, from airplanes to healthcare. Why did you accept the task for a side chair for TAKT?
We were immediately drawn to the ambition to combine the true spirit of Scandinavian design principles — craft, simplicity, elegance — within a contemporary brand that embraces e-commerce and self-assembly. Flat packing, mass production and high-quality craft at a great price for modern consumers? Super interesting.
How did you approach the task and was there anything in particular that made it difficult? The fact that it is shipped in a flat-pack for example, was that as important design driver?
The demand for the product to be assembled by the customer was a great challenge within such a simple and archetypal form like a timber chair. We wanted to find a structural idea that would be understandable to the user, so that they could assemble the chair almost without instructions, and that would help create a unique visual character, but without overwhelming the identity of the design once it is assembled and in use. We are very happy with the result.
Designing for industrial production often leaves little economic space to work with the quality of the product. Often it’s about how to cut down on expenses. In what way did you work with the quality in Cross Chair?
TAKT’s e-commerce and self-assembly business model take costs out of production and distribution and has allowed us to maintain a level of quality and craft in the design of the chair without sacrificing on the sale price. In the design, we have tried to combine mass-production techniques and materials, such as plywood for the seat and back, with sophisticated machining and finishing of the solid oak parts.
We were immediately drawn to the ambition to combine the true spirit of Scandinavian design principles — craft, simplicity, elegance
Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd at Pearson Lloyd
Pearson Lloyd
Founded by Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd, the duo manages their global business from their London offices. Characterised by a strong straightforwardness and simple aesthetic to their designs, Pearson Lloyd designs for the dynamic reality of society today.
You describe what you do as “the craft of industry” – what do you mean by that?
Craft is most commonly defined as “an activity involving skill in making things by hand.” We are passionate about the potential of mass production to deliver design for more people and believe that it takes just as long to develop the skills to create a beautiful, mass-produced object that makes the most of the manufacturing processes, cost structures and functional requirements as it does to become a master craftsperson in any other field of making.