Today I’m sharing some exciting news from Menu, which has teamed up with renowned New York stylist Colin King to launch a brand-new collection of decorative pieces. It follows on from the success of the bold and highly sculptural ‘Interconnect’ candleholder that he designed for the Danish brand last year, and I have to say the whole thing looks absolutely stunning.
Based in Tribeca and originally trained as a dancer, King fuses an awareness of space and stillness with a natural flair for arranging objects. He now combines styling for major brands and publications with product and interior design, taking inspiration from life’s rituals, nuances and imperfections to create vignettes that add beauty and meaning to everyday surroundings.
Expressive in both form and scale, the eight pieces in the new collection are intended to add the perfect finishing touches to a wide variety of spaces – either on their own, grouped together, or mixed in with existing items.
My personal favourite is the ‘Stance’ vase, a tall and slender vessel designed to display single stems and branches. Cast in bronzed brass, it comes in two sizes and has a simple yet striking aesthetic that ensures the focus remains on whatever flower or foliage it’s used to display.
The other vase in the collection is called ‘Surround’ and exemplifies King’s timeless take on design. It’s shaped from a single piece of wood and has a dramatic, voluminous form, ensuring it works just as well as a standalone sculpture as it does when filled with blooms.
Also featuring voluptuous curves is the ‘Rond’ bowl, conceived as ‘a singular object to ground and anchor a large surface.’ Dramatic in scale, the wood-resembling, cast-concrete design makes a wonderful centrepiece on a big dining or coffee table, and its exaggerated lip creates an intriguing depth.
More architectural in expression are the acacia-wood ‘Relevé’ platter and the lava-stone ‘Converge’ bookends. The former combines crisp angles with a concave surface and sits on a plinth that raises the contents, enabling you to add height to styled arrangements. The latter offsets a textured, porous surface with strong geometric forms, and the two halves can be interlocked to produce a bold sculptural object or separated to support books and magazines.
The other three pieces in the collection are crafted from brass, adding layers of patina and contrasting with the darker pieces beautifully.
Reminiscent of ancient vessels and apothecary bowls, the ‘Taper’ bowl explores archetypal forms through a modern lens. The conical shape and narrow base give the illusion that it’s balancing on whatever surface it sits, as well as creating a wonderful sense of delicacy despite its exaggerated proportions.
The ‘Divot’ tray, meanwhile, upgrades an indispensable everyday design to a striking statement piece. The simple, graphic square and circular centre create a refined design with a timeless expression, and it works brilliantly on desks, tables, sideboards and kitchen counters as a holder for keys, incense, candles and more.
Finally, the ‘Sentiment’ paperweight transforms the humble pear into a hand-shaped sculpture that captures the essence of the fruit’s rich and ripe beauty. It’s perhaps the most surprising piece in the collection, but the pear is a symbol of abundance and femininity that has long featured in still-life artworks, and it adds a beguiling organic touch to styled surfaces and stacks of books.
The pieces in the Colin King collection are available to buy now via Menu’s webshop (EU only) and selected retailers worldwide, with prices starting at €100. And if you like the look of King’s work, you can find details of his upcoming book – together with other interesting new home and interior design titles – here.
All photography courtesy of Menu
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