Double Vision: Ben and Aja Blanc
October 6, 2017
With their line of sleek, sculptural mirrors, lighting, and furniture, Ben and Aja Blanc prove two creative heads are better than one.
Text by Lisa H. Speidel
If you live and work together in a creative industry, inspiration can come when you least expect it. Maybe youâre on the back deck coloring with your two daughters when you realize youâve just sketched an idea worth pursuing, or perhaps youâre grabbing drinks at a dimly lit bar on the West Side of Providence when you suddenly pull out pen and paper.
So it goes for husband and wife Ben and Aja Blanc, who merged talents officially in early 2015 to form their eponymous Providence-based boutique design studio, producing furniture, lighting, and objects. The couple met in grad school at the Rhode Island School of Design, but pursued separate tracks after school while dating long-distance. She, a museum studies major, headed to the Yale University Art Gallery to work with their collection and teach. He, a furniture design major, stayed behind to start a design studio, freelancing on the side.
âWhen we started living together,â says Aja, âthatâs when the design conversations began happening.â But it wasnât until 2014, now married with a toddler and working at RISD, that âAja came home one day and said, âIâm going to quit,â â remembers Ben. âThatâs the moment there was a rigor brought to this studio. We knew that creatively weâd be better together.â
Joining forces meant a fresh start and a collaborative approach. When it comes to the design process, Aja explains, usually one of them will have the seed of an idea, the other runs with it, and then they engage in a lot of back and forth to revise and refine. They use their individual expertise to their collective advantage. âBenâs background as a maker has him very involved with production. He knows how to make anything, itâs amazing!â she says. âMy background in art history often comes into play during the conceptual research phase of designingâwhere I am placing our work within a context that helps us evolve the design.â
Perhaps itâs no coincidence that much of the coupleâs portfolio plays with âjuxtaposition and partnering.â They tend to work with minimalist, monolithic forms and then add a level of warmth. Their Eos mirror, for example, not only contrasts the harder edges of a geometric form with the warmth of fiber, but also explores the relationship between the functional (mirror) and the nonfunctional (silk/mohair). With the rectangular Ida mirror, the Blancs probe partnering and light and reflection in a different way, by removing the mirroring on the bottom half. âItâs a subtle gesture that adds warmth and a horizon line, so now youâre aware of your environmental space,â says Aja.
Similar principles are at work with the large-scale Ellipse table. âItâs monolithic, itâs formalistic, itâs steel, but at the same time, itâs an ellipse, and itâs blackened steel, which adds warmth,â says Ben. âJuxtaposition is happening in that design conversation.â
Thereâs also a modern, sculptural quality to many of their designs. With the statement-making Moon light, the image of the moon is lit from within and enclosed in glass. Hung from the ceiling or wall-mounted, it at once acts as light, sculpture, and image.
For materials, the Blancs skew classic: bronze, steel, marble, wood, and glass, and steer clear of applied color. âThe color,â notes Ben âcomes from the material.â
Sourcing plays an important role in the process, too. The fiber they incorporate in their designs (a silk/wool/mohair blend) is hand-spun and hand-painted in Japan. The designers pride themselves on working with various manufacturers to achieve the best results; in fact, not one piece is solely made in house. The components and materials are shipped to their studio, where they construct the final pieces.
This attention to detail coupled with a crystal-clear visionââthe objects we tend to gravitate toward have function, but not overriding function,â says Aja, âwe donât do dining tables or sofas, for exampleââhas brought the duo much success. Theyâre repped by galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Manhattan. And their work has landed in various venues, from a pizza place in Austin, Texas, to a facial spa in Beverly Hills to a Victorian home in San Francisco. âWe donât like to be pigeon-holed,â says Ben. âItâs exciting for us to see how interior designers put our work in different spaces and are able to transform our pieces. Our work is like the jewelry in the room.â
And as for that piece Aja started sketching on the back deck with her little girls? Itâs currently in the design phase, part of a new collection of fiber mirrors that will be released by the end of the year.
Ben & Aja Blanc Providence, (323) 510-7121 benandajablanc.com
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