67

“I think people wanted to regain a sense of control, and for some that meant looking at their immediate surroundings,” says Martino Gamper, an Italian designer based in London and a master of materials, including wood and lino. “They wanted change.” Several of Gamper’s commissions have been for large tables – up to 4.5 meters long. “We love going out, we love restaurants,” he says. “So people started recreating that experience at home instead.” Another commission came via the interior designer Pamela Shamshiri for a house in the Los Angeles hills designed in the mid-20th century by Modernist architect A Quincy Jones. (Interior designers have been kept extremely busy, too.) With just a basic brief to make a five-meter-long hanging console, Gamper looked to burr elm and his favorite finish of colored lino to pay homage to the 20th-century Californian craft sensibility. The console was then made in the Italian Alps by one of Gamper’s preferred master cabinet makers, initially through remote communication. “But I was there for the final details at the end of July,” says Gamper. “It’s possible to work by Zoom, but we make physical, tactile pieces, and it’s important to have a direct relationship with the maker and the object.”