Dutch Designers Master Color and Texture

For noted color enthusiasts, the Amsterdam-based designers Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings have taken a slightly different tack in 2014. One of the most unusual—and lauded—commissions they presented during Milan Design Week was made of clear, etched glass. They relished the chance to break down their usual motif of colors applied in geometric grids or gradients. "It’s very layered and very new," Scholten says of their Elements tumbler collection for J. Hill’s Standard, an Irish crystal manufacturer. "We’re using matte and polished finishes to adjust the compositions because texture is a huge influence on the experience of color." Scholten & Baijings applied a similar technique to their new Dot chair for Hay, translating the idea of transparency and pattern not through color, but rather via 1,300 holes punched in its plastic seat.