Simple, striped bedding – a collaboration between OLDER PARIS and Georg Jensen Damask [AD]

This is a paid partnership with Georg Jensen Damask

In praise of designing with meaning and intention. Georg Jensen Damask – a well-respected Danish company with a long history dating back more than 500 years – have collaborated with young design duo OLDER PARIS to create a new bedding collection where old meets new. Both, though seemingly worlds apart – one weaves textiles with a respect for history and Danish design traditions, the other creates sustainable uniforms with smart fabric – share a common language. Both have an affinity for the handcrafted, and an appreciation for simplicity and honesty in design.

Last week I travelled to Paris to meet OLDER PARIS in their small, intimate, fifth floor atelier looking over the city and hear more about how the collaboration came together.

So, who are OLDER PARIS?
Founded in 2013, OLDER PARIS is comprised of Morten Thuesen (Danish) and Letizia Caramia (Italian). Together with a small, international team, they design functional, utilitarian uniforms from their Paris studio using a stain resistant bio-cotton that is breathable and doesn’t need ironing. Past clients include the likes of the NOMA Group and Hotel Sanders in Copenhagen, as well as Palais de Tokyo and Le Mary Celeste in Paris, among others.

Having worked in the fast-paced world of the fashion industry – for Isabel Marant and Alexander McQueen – Thuesen and Caramia wanted to create something slower and more meaningful. They say:

‘We take pride in all the details. The name Older is a reference to the ageing process, which means that we make products that age well, that go through a lot of usage and washing. Our primary focus is to make sure everything is beautiful when it’s received but also when it has been used, just like a bottle of wine that gets better with age or a piece of marble that gets more beautiful the more you use it.’ 

‘When we were working in the fashion industry we couldn’t see ourselves ten years ahead because we didn’t follow the value system, we didn’t see ourselves fitting in. At the beginning the initial idea was how can you combine gastronomy, design and clothing. And literally through eating and having these conversations we started to figure out how to make very simple pieces. We started with restaurants and then it became a uniform. The people we see wearing these clothes are people who see it as design.’ 

‘The question was how can we make something that lasts a long time and doesn’t just destroy itself. We don’t want to be ostentatious in our approach, we don’t want it to be a gimmick or to be seen as vulgar. We want our work to be subtle, beautiful and most of all, functional. And actually making something so simple takes a lot of time.’

The collaboration
The collection with Georg Jensen Damask takes inspiration from classic striped night shirts. The duvets and pillows come in three colour combinations; simple blue and white stripes, classic white-on-white stripes and a bold pattern of burgundy, white and blue.

Says Thuesen: ‘The collaboration made perfect sense because we are very focused on the artisanal crafts. When we started talking about this project we took it with a great deal of honour because some of the architects and designers who have worked within Georg Jensen Damask are some of my personal heroes, such as Arne Jacobsen and Nanna Ditzel.’

‘With this collaboration we were very interested in the idea of uniforming the bedroom; we wanted to take the starting point of the pyjama stripe and try to extend it and play around with it until we had a proportion that had a see throughness and a warmth to it.’

‘Instead of just taking a random artwork of stripes that we liked, we really tried to articulate it into a narrative that felt like pyjamas.’

The striped pattern
The fabric for the OLDER collection uses different weaves to create texture and pattern. Working with the constraints of the loom weave – unlike a digital print where you can create anything – they combined delicate thin stripes with satin weaves and a subtle chambray pattern. The pillows are fastened with delicate cotton buttons in a similar style to those on a men’s shirt.

Says OLDER PARIS: ‘When you put the stripes in a certain array, it has this feeling of armour and protection, you want to wrap yourself in it. Whereas if you have a thinner pin stripe it almost disappears, you don’t notice it in the same way, so this was also an investigation into widths and what works without the design becoming a caricature of the inspiration. When you have 30 different sample sheets in front of you and you say OK, which one does my eye not necessarily get provoked by but drawn to, and that’s down to a sense of intuition.

‘We like ideas that remind us a bit of camouflage, so colours that feel rich with one another. We look for something that merges together and has a neutrality.’

I think you’ll agree there’s a fascinating story behind the collection. The design has a timeless quality to it – the pillows and duvets are elegant, and can be combined together or mix and matched to suit your own style. If you’re a long-time reader of this blog (and my Instagram) you’ll know that my own daily uniform consists of jeans and Breton striped tops. I like the idea of taking this aesthetic into the home and dressing my bed as I would myself.

Images of Older Paris studio: Cate St Hill, all other images courtesy of Georg Jensen Damask

Discover the OLDER collection here. OLDER duvet, 161 euros, OLDER pillowcase, 40 euros