Zaha Hadid’s new collection: ‘Her working methods inspire us every day’

Illusion crockery set. Courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

It’s a mark of the late Zaha ­Hadid’s ­industriousness in life that a new collection of products designed by the famed architect has been unveiled six months after her untimely death.

Collection 2016 was launched this week in Paris, during the annual Maison&Objet trade show. It’s the latest offering from the Zaha Hadid label, launched by Hadid in 2014 so that she could create a signature range of gift items and accessories.

“My product designs and architecture have always been connected; some of our earliest projects were designs for products and interiors. These design pieces are very important to me and my team. They inspire our creativity by providing an opportunity to express our ideas through different scales and through different media; an essential part of our ongoing design investigation,” she said in 2006, during a retrospective of her work at the ­Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Hadid was heavily involved in designing Collection 2016 before her death, Woody Yao, associate director at Zaha Hadid ­Architects, tells me. “The Collection was designed before Zaha’s passing. And as with all projects of our office, Zaha was very much involved in the design of all pieces.”

The collection offers the opportunity to own a little piece of design history, envisaged by one of the leading creatives of our time. Crafted by artisans in Europe, and featuring tableware, candleholders, room fragrances and a chess set, the collection is trademark Hadid: the shapes and forms are fluid and free, and the materials are diverse, ranging from traditional bone china to highly contemporary resins.

“The fluid forms of Hadid’s designs are captivating and inviting,” Yao says. “Unexpected forms engage the senses and mind, creating a personal relationship with the user that is inscribed within each design. During the past 40 years, Dame Zaha Hadid and her team at Zaha Hadid Design have established the world’s most consistently inventive design studio. This unparalleled design lineage, innovation and craftsmanship are inherent within each piece of the collection.”

Despite the difference in scale, the pieces are inspired and informed by some of Hadid’s most iconic architectural projects. “The beautiful, twisting curves and structure of the Braid candleholders are an evolution of Zaha Hadid Architects’ innovative designs for skyscrapers in ­Miami and Beijing, while the gradients and angles within the Beam dinner service designs derive from Hadid’s renowned paintings for her early projects,” says Yao.

In the UAE, the objects will be available from Tanagra, with prices ranging from about Dh250 for the Shimmer tea lights, to about Dh1,500 for the Braid vases, and about Dh29,350 for the Field of ­Towers chess set. The team at Zaha Hadid ­Architects will continue to roll out designs under the Zaha Hadid label, drawing from the extensive archive of ­sketches, ­paintings and drawings by Hadid compiled during the course of her career. Work also continues in earnest on larger architectural projects, with 53 projects in 26 countries currently under construction or in detailed design development.

“Zaha Hadid Architects continues as one of the most innovative architecture and design studios worldwide,” Yao says. “Our principal, Patrik Schumacher, worked with Zaha for nearly 30 years, and our board of directors includes some of the most experienced architects in the industry, each of whom collaborated with Zaha for decades to deliver some of the world’s most popular projects. Zaha will always be embedded within the DNA of Zaha ­Hadid Architects. Her working methods and principles continue to drive and inspire us every day, and we work on as she taught us – with curiosity, integrity, passion and determination.”