CIRCLE LINES
LARA BOHINC’S CURVACEOUS JEWELLERY DESIGNS ARE EXPANDING INTO THE HOME, WRITES JULIA HOBBS.
Renowned jewellery designer Lara Bohinc branches out into spherically inspired furniture and homewares
LARA BOHINC does not dress like a typical modernist. The Slovenian multi-disciplinary designer, whose jewellery collections sit alongside a handmade rug line and now a series of beautiful one-off marble tables, prefers fashion designer Roksanda Illincic’s playful silhouettes and piquant colours to the predictable London design industry’s uniform black tailoring. The mood extends to her home, where deep shades of aubergine and flashes of scarlet provide a backdrop to her own designs. Her bold, often Art Deco-inspired pieces are rich in sinuous details. The designer has recently opened a studio-cum-shop in the shadow of Ernő Goldfinger’s Brutalist Trellick Tower, in west London. “Jewellery was the starting point,” she explains. “In the beginning, all I needed was a couple of tools, a burner and a pot of acid. I still use the same materials — metal and stone — just on a much larger scale.” The designer’s graphic rugs (a collaboration with London rug-maker Christopher Farr) and curvy sliding side tables cut from considerable chunks of Lapicida’s sought-after Brazilian and Italian stone reimagine her familiar circular visuals. Each piece is unique, selected for its rare and contrasting colours. The debut of her furniture collection at Milan’s 2014 Salone del Mobile was a sell-out success. Bohinc is a regular on the international design-fair circuit, which has recently grown from an industry-only affair to a luxury shopping experience. “If you’ve got a great wardrobe, you need the furniture to match — especially if you’re entertaining at home,” she says. In London, Bohinc is no stranger to the glamorous house-party scene in her Marylebone neighbourhood, which sets the stage for her next project — chic mood lighting. “I’d love to create something incredibly flattering for evening using spheres.” It pays to move in the right circles. VL Visit larabohinc.com.