STONE YARD BLOG
Read our exclusive Q&A session with acclaimed interior designer, Amy Meier, and Stone Yard founder and principal designer, Mitch Brean. Find out what inspired their collaborative collection, Amy Meier for Stone Yard—a line of sculptural concepts de forme made to add artful dimension to modern design landscapes.
What made you want to collaborate with each other for this collection?
MB: Well, I admire Amy greatly for one thing. And it's definitely a great learning experience for me, working with her. I love what she does and I was excited when she showed me a photo of the plaster molds that inspired these designs. I was on board and excited right away.
AM: Mitch is extremely creative and we share a passion for creating real, tangible pieces. And right from the start we both had that burn to create these pieces and bring them to the marketplace. I also love that Stone Yard is a local San Diego company.
What excites you about this collaboration?
MB: I'm excited to work with a top-notch designer that I admire, like Amy. And she's got such a fantastic personality on top of that—as soon as she walks in, you start getting excited about the work. Part of it is seeing how excited she is about these new designs. And she's got a great vision for what she wants.
AM: I get excited seeing this product used by other interior designers, and all the possibilities that exist for them.
Amy, what was it like working with Mitch and the Stone Yard design team?
AM: I loved the energy and dedication that the whole team brought to the project, and especially Mitch. He is the driving force, and when we brought him our ideas he was like a kid on Christmas morning - his enthusiasm was hard to contain and truly infectious!
What was the inspiration behind your collection, Amy Meier for Stone Yard?
AM: Last spring I was walking through the Parisian flea market, Village Saint Paul Marché, and found the most interesting plaster models that art students use to sketch and study shapes. They were so simple, and had this beautiful patina - a hallmark of real age - but the geometric shapes felt so contemporary. I loved that contrast.
What inspired the beautiful gesso finish on these geometric sculptures?
AM: The beautiful patina I saw on the plaster art models in the Paris flea market. I wanted these pieces to feel real and organic.
Mitch, how did you approach the design process for these geometric sculptures?
MB: I like to start with a model made of cardboard, wood, or paper—anything I can use to play around with the shape before it goes to production. To get the finish Amy wanted for these shapes, we worked together and came up with a few incarnations before landing on that beautiful gesso finish. She wanted it to look like plaster that's been around for a while.
Amy, how would you describe this line?
AM: I would say that it's sculptural and playful.
Why do you feel it's important to have artful pieces incorporated into a space?
AM: Art is critical in that it makes a space truly unique. For every person, there is his or her own interpretation, and therefore, art can color and create a different feeling - and thus a different experience - for each individual.
MB: To me, these pieces are what sets the whole mood of the room. Like in my house, I just have white walls and it's really the artwork that brings the color and the feeling to the room. It's what adds the personality.
Amy, how can you see yourself styling these pieces in one of your designs?
AM: I am excited to use them differently in various spaces. Each space and each designer has a story to tell and way to tell it; if you gave us all the same materials, we would produce vastly different work. But what I love about these objects is that they are simple and classic, yet modern. The imagination is the only limitation.
Is there anything else that you want people to know about these pieces?
AM: I just think there is so much you can do with them, and so I am asking my colleagues to show us what they do with them. I really want to challenge them to think out of the box here: what pieces do they feature, and what rooms and surfaces do they feature them in and on? Do they stack them, layer them, focus on one specific shape or vary them, make them formal or casual, colorful, contemporary, classical? I am really excited to see what people do!
Add Artful Dimension to Your Space
Learn more about the sculptural concepts de forme in the Amy Meier for Stone Yard collection, and how to use them singularly or collectively to add art and dimensional interest to your next modern design project.
