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Sister and brother Pia and Moritz Wüstenberg utilise Pia’s innovative and creative designs for furniture and products, and Moritz adding in some business nous.

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Words by Emily Martin

Who
Brother and sister Moritz and Pia Wüstenberg set up the Hackney and Bistensee (in Germany) based company after Pia graduated from her furniture and product design course at the RCA in 2011.

Stacking Vessels is Utopia & Utility's first product range and is a series of 'functional sculptures' made of glass, wood and ceramic. Each is made of three individual and independent containers that stack to form the overall shape.

'I had the opportunity to sell my own designs so I tried to meet this and grow into a company,' Pia explains. 'My brother joined as MD in 2012 as he has an amazing business brain and saw I needed help.'

Why
Prior to the RCA Pia did a degree at Bucks New University (2008) in furniture design and craftsmanship. Her design work has a craft-like elegance; her products using hand processes that follow her design principle of 'combining art and design, function and fantasy'.

Processed paper Cabinets feature Pia Wüstenberg's innovative paperturning technique, with the legs made from rolled and turned paper. Discarded paper sheets are glued as a roll and after drying turned on the lathe or cut on the saw.

'I enjoy finding ways to discover new aesthetics in something traditional and familiar,' says Pia, whose products include Glass Lights, which uses a turned-paper technique. It was shortlisted for this year's Homes and Gardens Designer Awards.

Glass Lights is inspired by the Stacking Vessels Series and features a detail of paper turning - a process developed by Pia following research into manmade materials. The range includes a number of coloured glass options, sizes and shapes.

Last year Utopia & Utility exhibited at Maison et Object, Design Junction and LDF.

Where
utopiaandutility.eu