Studio Visit: VAUST – Narrative Design

Based in a warehouse in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, VAUST is a design studio composed of two friends, Joern Scheipers and David Kosock. Together, they produce furniture and objects reminiscent of Modernist sculptures Barbara Hepworth and Constantin Brâncusi, and the post-modern Italian Memphis design movement – minus the bright palette. Indeed, while their objects superficially seem angular and blank, their textures tell stories, indicating origins, sources, provenances and histories. One afternoon in the late winter, they showed us around their studio.

SLEEK: Where did you guys meet?

Joern Scheipers: My ex-girlfriend used to be David’s flatmate. Through her, we met on New Year’s Eve 12 years ago.

David Kosock: No, it’s actually been 16 years.

S: Did you also study together?

JS: We both studied in Berlin. I studied architecture.

DK: I was never a passionate student. I ended up dropping out after only four semesters of studying fashion design and went to a tailor to do an apprenticeship. 

S: I really like that. I always think that experimenting with different ways leads to creativity. As I see it, it develops a great way of thinking and handling.

JS: That’s right. At first, we found a friend in each other. Back then, our lives were a lot wilder than now. We used to sit at the kitchen table in the mornings, searching for something we could do together in the future. We were on very different pathways back then. I was a student and had no idea where that would lead me one day. Our ways weren’t that synchronised. 

DK: After we lived together in Berlin, I left the city. I opened a nightclub with friends, then I built a creative agency in Düsseldorf. What remained constant was our friendship. We had a mutual interest in architecture, design and objects. When we spent time together, we looked at beautiful houses, we upcycled furniture or we went to see exhibitions. In 2017, we decided to build our own business on this basis.

S: What did that look like?

DK: We designed a coffee table for ourselves. It was inspired by our own aesthetics. At the beginning, we just designed normal furniture. It slowly became clear that we wanted to get more artistic and creative. What we do today is less strategic and more emotional.

JS: Classical product design is very straightforward: you find a solution for a problem. Our outlook is more of a feeling or enthusiasm for a specific material – a story – from which something can develop. With objects we designed before, we never knew the outcome when we started. The only clear thing was the feeling and the story. And that is the difference to classical product design. 

DK: We call ourselves designers and not architects or artists. You often hear that a designer solves a problem, but we don’t do that. Just like Joern said, we begin with a feeling, a texture, a material and start the project from there. Our last project where we used concrete. We just let the process happen.

S: This is a type of freedom that many strive to achieve. It seems so free from expectations, but full of trust.

JS: Since we work together, the question of freedom is ever present. We don’t give explanations through our work and through our process. We want to distance ourselves from this clarity and bring objects into the world with an aesthetic value. We put a lot of research into the stories we tell. 

S:  It seems to follow as well from what you say that, in your practice, errors are challenges rather than obstacles.

JS: Error is a central element, and yes, should indeed be understood as some sort of challenge. In this respect, language is atin the forefront of everything we do, our studio is well equipped with many facets to deal with these challenges. Beyond our own creations, we also consult clients. With our own projects, we are 100-percent Vaust. In this cosmos, we have the opportunity to provoke. I personally don’t like the word ‘error’. I prefer ‘provocation’. 

DK: We don’t do anything calculated and we don’t want to be offensive or anything. We also don’t practise loud criticism. Many decisions that we make are based on freedom. We try to create a room where we can do what we want, just like little children. We deal with things that trigger a positive response. The moment the spark is created, we stare at each other and communicate without words. We try to create as many moments, independent from our design solutions, which trigger an emotional reaction. When that happens, it stays with the customer. We are  interested in the story of emotional patina and how we can turn this into an object.

S: The relationship between the two of you is also a type of love, I would say. Love is something born out of an emotional dynamic, happening on an emotional level based on trust.

JS: Our relationship with each other is our basis for what we do. As mentioned, we didn’t start our business for financial reasons. Our friendship and our love for the material is the basis of everything. It has been like this since the early beginnings. When we went to exhibitions, we always touched everything, even when you weren’t allowed to touch them, because we were so in love with the materials. Yes, in that regard, I think the word love is very fitting for the existence of VAUST.

As featured in SLEEK 72 – LOVE. Available in Print and Digital.