The idea behind the Pleat Box is that of a sophisticated combination between a digitally-designed crease in a piece of cloth, the silhouette of which is applied to a ceramic base. The outer part of the lamp is offered in white ceramic, underglazed red clay, black, brown and grey –the result of recycling different enamels. The brilliant white enamel interior creates a glitter effect, which enhances the light from the lamp. It can also be supplied in 10 carat gold on the inside, which generates an extremely warm light. Available in 4 sizes –diameter 47, 36, 24 & 13 cm-. Pleat Box has come about through the first-ever collaboration between Xavier Mañosa, a master ceramicist from Barcelona, and the Mashallah design studio in Berlin with Marset.
The story behind the Pleat Box “We first came into contact with Marset, as a company, a year ago in New York, where we were showing, together with Alex Trochut, our ceramic collection in the Noho neighbourhood. Javier Marset attended the opening, where he showed considerable interest in our stuff. We chatted for a while and, in an unselfish moment, I mentioned to him that I was working on a collection of lamps with Mashallah. Back in Barcelona, we agreed to meet at my workshop one Friday morning. I clearly remember that he arrived about half an hour early and, as luck would have it, we came across each other in the small corner bar where I go for coffee every day. Javier gets straight to the point and, five minutes later, with his hands on a prototype, he told me that it was sure to sell. Both we and Mashallah were very happy about the proposition of Marset handling our lamp. With their help, we made a few design changes and decided on the new finishes – the interior of the lamp would be white or gold to suggest warmth and, for the outside surface, we would use the base material, showing the unglazed potter’s clay itself, in terracotta or white and in a coarse grey, the result of a recycled glaze made up from other used glazes. We have already started to manufacture the lamps, and it has its own special place in the workshop. As it is being constructed, each individual Pleat Box proves very capricious – its simple organic shape requires us to work the curves and the edges with great precision. Each one needs special pampering.”
