The architecture world may have lost Zaha Hadid this year, but we’re fortunate to still encounter the essence of her unique aesthetic in new designs of every scale. Prior to her sudden passing, the visionary architect began development on a number of projects and products that are now being realized by her eponymous firm. Among them is a 70-piece homeware collection, under the Zaha Hadid label, currently on view at Maison & Objet Paris’s September edition.
Simply named Collection 2016, the series comprises a wide assortment of accessories and dinnerware, from scented candles and vases to teacups and placemats, all of which capture Zaha’s works and style in some way, shape or form.
Solis candles and diffuser
Her exploration of fluid lines and undulations, for instance, reveals itself in graphic patterns on Solis scented candles and reed diffusers (for which the architect selected the fragrances, too) and Contour placemats and coasters, but also in the actual forms of some collection pieces such as the delicately rippled, stainless steel Serenity bowls.
Contour placemats and coasters
Serenity bowls
Meanwhile, some of the drinking vessels more obviously reference specific iconic projects: fine bone china teacups and coordinating saucers, as well as mugs, present minimalist illustrations of the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku and London Aquatics Centre and Serpentine Sackler Gallery, both in London. And clear highball and lowball glasses are emblazoned with original sketches from the archives of Zaha Hadid of Kurfuerstendamm in Berlin and Hafenstrasse in Hamburg.
Icon cups and saucers
From left: Sketch glasses; Rim vessels
Her fascination with complex geometries in buildings informs the Braid series of vases and candleholders, while an interest in the intersection of nature and the built environment manifests as lotus-evoking contours on the Rim vessels. The largest offering in Collection 2016 is actually furniture. Z-Play II is a pair of modular seating pieces constructed of polyethylene in black or white. The modules can be configured in a number of ways to create a sort of seating topography with undulating surfaces, or flipped on their sides to fit the undulating faces together, forming a square.
In true Zaha fashion, it’s a play of geometry.
From left:Braid vases; Braid candle holders; Shimmer tea light holders
Z-Play II modular seating
From left: Beam dinner service; Icon mugs
From left: Illusion dinner service; Prime candles