Atelier Pendhapa is pleased to launch their new furniture collection AKAR in collaboration with Métaphores, an innovator in weaving and fabrics for interior design, and a sister company of Hermès, belonging to its textile division.

Atelier Pendhapa, the London and Singapore-based architecture and furniture design studio created nine different pieces of collectible furniture, each showcasing a different horsehair Le Crin fabric, the specialty centenarian technique of hand-woven horsehair developed today by Métaphores. Atelier Pendhapa worked closely together with Métaphores to select a range of fabric showcasing the wide variety of techniques used in horsehair. Their teams came together to produce exclusively hand- made pieces of furniture. The weaving of the horse-hair was made in Challes in France’s Sarthe region, heir to the Le Crin patent filed in 1787 and vested with the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label. Meanwhile, the carving of solid mahogany and teak woods were created at Atelier Pendhapa’s studio in Indonesia. Only one workshop in the world continues to weave horsehair by hand with rare know-how. It takes infinite patience, as well as precise and sure gestures acquired over long months of apprenticeship, to create singular weaves strand by strand. The technique demands such attention to detail that only a few meters are woven each day.

The essence of the collaboration was for Atelier Pendhapa to best showcase the fabric’s unique characteristics. Horse-hair fabric is particularly unique for its sustainable quality: no animals are harmed in the process. By nature, it also holds its coarse, strong, and lustrous qualities. Although the fabric has been extensively used for centuries in France, Metaphores reinvents the patterns and weavings of horsehair with a contemporary design. Combined with linen, wool, sisal or metallic threads, horsehair allows for the creation of motifs, light effects and sometimes audacious nuances.

With the collection AKAR, which refers to the word “roots” in Indonesian, Atelier Pendhapa pushed the boundaries of what can be made from solid wood today in using the material in its most organic form. The design of the solid wood elements challenges gravity, as it undulates around the fabric. The wood frames are reminiscent of pieces of intricate jewelry, while the horsehair fabric cushions appear like mounted gemstones.

The Akar chair can be made in a variety of finishes from black Javanese teak to European oak or lacquered wood.