The careless attitude of the customer regarding the product he buys is one of the effects of excessive consumerism and globalization. Thanks to the abundance of items and a wide variety of products on the market, we are tempted to replace frequently the old with newer, more fashionable objects despite it not being completely worn out or outdated. Facing with a vast number of products on the market, we start to lose track of their origin, and disregard to product’s composition or provenance.We lose contact with the manufacturing process and therefore the emotional value attributed to these objects disappears.

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Inspired by traditional craftsmanship heritage, we set out to research and revalue the old production techniques pursuing to create a unique collection of furniture responsive to contemporary requisites. "Quintessence" explores the artisanship methodologies and natural materials from a specific region to produce sustainable, meaningful and symbolic artefacts.

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Our investigation territory comprises the Romanian and Moldavian traditional patrimony of household objects. In this context, we focused on textiles and explored materials such as linen, hemp yarn, manually woven hemp textiles, reed and feathers that could be combined with wooden structures. In the past, these materials were very common in the countrymen houses, collected and produced by the peasants themselves. The artisan’s knowledge has been passed down and practiced through generations. The way of creating these beautiful materials is a craft handed down – it has an old history and represents traditional values.

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This project has also a social aspect: what should we do with all this craftsmanship techniques and expertise? We still have artisans, yet their work has been set on path for disappearance. More than that, how can their activity still inspire us to create necessary everyday life products and yet respond to contemporary rhythms?