Entering a space by the Sella Concept interior design studio is an immersive experience. Rich velvets, reflective metallics, and bold, sophisticated color palettes transport you to another realm. The studio’s founder and creative director, Tatjana von Stein, describes it as her “little corner of the world” and attributes her escapist sensibility to childhood: “My mother is an artist, so from day one I was immersed in creative world, which gave my work theatrical flair. It’s about generating an experience and transporting people to another dimension.”
Based in the UK, the Franco-German designer she has instilled her theatrical aesthetic into residences dotted with color, fashion venues, member clubs and restaurants using individual pieces, one-of-a-kind objects and vintage finds. In 2019, Saddle concept has launched its first range of furniture: a series of stools characterized by sinuous shapes inspired by the bathers of the Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath. This month, however, she’s launching an independent range of furniture, a collection called Mise en Scène named after him.
Burr Walnut Coffee Table, £5,865, and Sofa, from £19,320 © Arnau Bach
Translated from the French for ‘staging’, each piece draws inspiration from the performing arts and the shapes of the dancers’ bodies as they move across the stage. “Dance evokes a lot of emotions within me,” she says of the pieces, which also drew on 2021 Isamu Noguchi exhibition at the Barbican in London (showcasing Noguchi’s collaborations with the dancer Martha Graham) and his love of TS Eliot’s poem ‘Burnt Norton’. “I was really excited to see how I could connect with a static object to the point where it becomes something from a different world.”
While von Stein remains at the helm of Sella Concept, this new creative path takes her in a direction where she can totally indulge her point of view. “I try not to look left or right because I don’t want to set my work within the parameters of any particular style,” she says. “I want this to be solely my creative expression. The collection was meant to be the result of my personal perspective, while honoring past influences.”
Mise en Scène’s flagship pieces include an elegant wet bar (£40,530), sofas in simple and modular design (from £19,230), a burl and glass coffee table (£11,320) and a silk paneled screen ( £28,295). “The bar is a mix of many worlds: it conveys the aesthetics of a classic car combined with a typical French piece of furniture, completed by elegant stainless steel legs that recall the silhouette of the dancer,” says von Stein. “The most important point is that it transcends any era, and that’s how I want my pieces to sit, in both classic and contemporary settings.” She likes the idea that each piece offers different contradictions. “It’s a balance of masculine and feminine, of simple form but complex engineering, and of fluidity and stability,” she says. “It’s a world of juxtapositions, which is exactly the approach to all my projects.”
In producing the collection, von Stein wished to reconnect with her French roots and collaborated with her Aurigo, a collective of heritage conservators and expert craftsmen such as stonemasons, fresco painters and sculptors whose projects have included the restoration of Notre-Dame. The designer also worked closely with Pierre Noire, a woodworking virtuoso, who she, she says, brought a significant dynamic to the collaboration. “They’ve added integrity, not only helping to preserve those valuable skills, but also ensuring that the quality is second to none,” she adds.
The Mise en Scène screen, £28,295 © Arnau Bach
Pieces from von Stein’s Mise en Scène range include a burr walnut and glass coffee table, £11,320 © Arnau Bach
The pieces were photographed among the giant sculptures awaiting restoration at Chevilly-Larue’s workshop Tolli, specialist in art restoration and interior decoration, who has contributed to the development of conversations about the collection’s finishing options. It is a fine display of French craftsmanship where intricate marquetry techniques and handcrafted details and features are blended with modern innovation and technology.
Collaboration with small ateliers fueled von Stein’s environmental ethics; the wood was also locally sourced. “We have to design with purpose,” says von Stein. “I am very aware that nobody needs another table, yet here I was designing one, so in doing so it was important to understand the mission: it is about recovering project, what it really means and continue to create design classics of the future. Everything in this collection is in opposition to mass production and the vast array of copies that are produced every year.”
Made as potential memorabilia, the numbered pieces are highly individual. The mirrored surfaces, the glossy lacquered finishes and the brushed steel spinal inserts add to the inimitable atmosphere that is created when the light moves or when you interact with it. In the home, their energy creates drama – a distillation of the designer’s theatrical imagination.
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