Leave it to the French to turn a tape dispenser into a sleek, sexy object of desire. In January, Puiforcat, the Parisian silversmith, released a set of nine silver- and gold-plated brass desk accessories with architect Joseph Dirand. The designer of Miami’s much-anticipated Surf Club hotel, Dirand notes the challenges of building on a much smaller scale. “When you design an object,” he says, “it has to be extremely precise, minimal, and straight to the point.” The Puiforcat collection, titled Bureau d’Architecte, features a tape dispenser with a broad, sturdy silver base and an elegant gold curve that conceals the spiraling strip of adhesive beneath. The product, resembling a miniature sculpture, dignifies a cheap, prosaic material. The letter opener, pencil holder, paper tray, and other pieces similarly elevate the minutiae of desk work. “We probably see those objects more than a knife or fork,” says Dirand. Making them luxurious and precious is about creating positive associations with tools of white-collar toil. One of the objects, a mysterious box with a raised gold shape suggestively protruding from an oval base, leaves much to the imagination. “A box is about hiding things,” Dirand says. Now that he has a set, he plans to use the box to hide his markers. “I just don’t want to look at them. They are not nice to look at.” Next up for Dirand: aesthetically pleasant drawing implements?
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