Simon Hasan: crafts and mass-production

Contemporary Craft, 10 Downing Street
Curated by Janice Blackburn, this group show presents the best of contemporary craft and design to visitors of 10 Downing Street. Hasan has installed a vase in boiled leather which is juxtaposed by a neck of mirrorpolished brass sheet.

Mannequins, Fendi, 181 Sloane Street, SW1
Hasan's relationship with Italian luxury brand Fendi has deepened through 2011. Building upon Fatto a Mano For the Future events in stores in London and Rome earlier this year, Hasan has also tutored a project between Fendi and 1st year students of the Royal College of Art's M.A. Design Products course. At the invitation of Silvia Fendi, Hasan has now developed a set of mannequins currently on display in Fendi's new Sloane Street store (alongside some of the work from the RCA project). Inspired by the cubist art of Georges Braque, the mannequins are deeply faceted figures of tightly formed leather, finished with refined panels of gold and palladium gilding.

Designers in Residence, Design Museum, 28 Shad Thames
Hasan has been selected as one of four Designers in Residence for this year's Design Museum scheme, intended to further the careers of emerging young designers. Hasan has used the opportunity to develop his interest in crafts and mass-production by prototyping a leather stool designed for volume production. To achieve this, Hasan has developed his leather-hardening process to create a deeply drawn seat which is suitable for everyday use. The formed leather seat is suspended on a cast-aluminium frame, which sits upon extruded aluminium legs electroplated in brass or black nickel. The stool is to become the first piece in a range of self-produced furniture for retail, and will be launched in the coming months.

British designer Simon Hasan (1973) is interested in the convergence of ancient crafts and industrial production processes. His work is imbued with a richness and texture borne from historical research, and a fascination for obscure crafts techniques. Graduating from the Royal College of Art (M.A. Design Products 2008), where he learnt under Jurgen Bey, Ron Arad, Michael Marriott and Luke Pearson, Hasan's boiled leather (Cuir Bouilli) vases and stools immediately caught the attention of curators, gallerists, and collectors. Hasan is currently developing his own brand of production pieces for retail, and continues to work on gallery and bespoke commissions, most notably with Italian luxury brand, Fendi. He is part of the London Design Museum 2011 Designers in Residence programme, and in 2010 collaborated with Poltrona Frau for the Wallpaper* magazine Hand Made issue.