Craig Cohen

UMÉ

AN ATTITUDE TOWARDS CRAFT Learning from our experience working in major architectural firms around the world - where product design relies on shape before technique – we believe that an object's shape, its use, demands an understanding of its making. Our goal is not to design craft centered items – but rather objects that exist by and for the hand that made them. GLOBAL VS. LOCAL Where design is now said global – and local has become a marketing keyword – our approach is neither one nor the other. Our cultural background as well as experiences are plural – US, France, Japan, Switzerland- which does not only inform our work, but our network. Rather than a brand, we prefer seeing UMÉ as a group of individuals pursuing their identity through their craft around the world. With designers in the US, France, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden and Japan, we not only exchange remotely but collaborate locally by traveling back and forth - over large periods of time - in order to fully implement local themes into our products. It is our goal to make individuals collide into designs that feed from our local approach – into becoming multi-cultural / cross-disciplinary products.