Pottery Heads
Milanese brand Weed’d launches today with three design-led bongs (image: Mattia Greghi).
Today is 420, a day for festivities in stoner culture, but not a date traditionally one observed by the design industry. But this could be all about to change, if the state of Disegno’s inbox in the lead up to “weed day” can be counted as a bellweather.
Designers who choose to focus on the technical elements of cannabis consumption are starting to make headway outside of head shops – pop into a design store and you might find a Pax vaporizer pen tucked discretely by the counter. But in terms of more traditional modes of consumption (your grinders, your papers, your bongs), aesthetics haven’t moved beyond repeating leaf patterns and the novelty glass monstrosities you might find in the window of an old school gothic tattoo parlour.
Legalisation in several US states and Canada, however, has seen design-minded brands move into the market. Canadian brand Superette, for example, has its chain of shops styled to look like a candyland version of a traditional Italian deli. Yet in Italy itself, the aesthetic evolution of cannabis culture is still hemmed in by various legal and social attitudes to the hemp plant.
Freshly launched Milanese design company Weed’d wants to change that. If Italy has a proud tradition of making beautiful design objects, reasoned founders Stefano Aschieri and Simone Bonanni, why couldn’t that ethos be applied to the tools for cannabis consumption? Their first drop – that terribly à la mode form of marketing where a collection arrives suddenly enough to make fans scramble to get ahold of one – consists of just three small ceramic objects. Bonanni created one, and invited designers Valerio Sommella and Maddalena Casadei to produce two complementary ones.
These are bongs, but not the kind you’d stuff under your bed if your mother was coming to call. “These items blend into the into your house, into your furniture,” says Bonanni. “It becomes a decorative object. For a moment, we just imagined that these items are completely accepted and have evolved, already, towards brand new shapes that people have never seen before.” When not in use, Weed’d objects are meant to be displayed as a decorative piece in the home. Bonanni suggests they could double as flower vases, or even makeshift humidifiers.
Each bong is available in three colours: a zesty lemon yellow; a calming indigo; and a perennially trendy millennial pink. Bonanni says people have made comparisons between Weed’d products and Ettore Sottsass pieces, and there is more than a whiff of the Italian designer’s Shiva vase – all winking naughtiness that pokes fun at social taboos by elevating the base into something designed. But while humour is important to Weed’d’s founders (the whole thing started as a pun on their existing brand Wood’d) they are also serious about being taken seriously by the design world.
Weed’d’s head of design Bonanni spoke with Disegno ahead of the auspicious drop date of 20 April (written as it is, in the American style, as 4/20) to discuss the making of Weed’d.
Disegno What started off the concept of Weed'd?
Simone Bonanni The beginning was a little joke between me and Stefano Aschieri, the founder of the brand. We are very close friends, we share ideas and projects. Stefano already has a company, Wood'd, producing wooden accessories. One day, we were just having fun talking about how we could launch a new brand called Weed'd with smoking objects and products centred around the consumption of weed. Well, then the thing became reality after a few weeks. Initially the idea was that there were to be several smoking objects, but something didn't feel right. At the beginning, it was just me designing five different items and they all looked the same, in a way. At that point, we decided to involve two other designers, Valerio Sommella and Maddalena Casadei. We are all friends, we all respect the way we work together. It just came naturally. All of a sudden, we had a new brand that was slowly growing. Another very important factor is that we already had the the ceramic producer, I've known him for years because he manufactured the coffee table that I designed for Moooi a couple of years ago. We were friends through that projects, and now he is the one producing the bongs for Weed'd. It was all perfect, in a way. Every little brick was in the right place at the right time.
Disegno Why launch now?
Simone We thought it was a great opportunity, because we know that Europe is not as evolved as, for instance, America and other places [in terms of marijuana]. So in Europe there is still opportunity to do something cool and design-centred. Not to mention the fact that we are in Italy, which is an even greater opportunity: in other countries in Europe – in the Netherlands, in Spain – people have a closer relation with the consumption of weed or CBD. Also, we like the idea of these [pieces as] design objects. We respect the function and we guarantee the correct function, but we wanted to design something that can go beyond the idea of bongs. We wanted objects that don't even look like bongs – how could smoking objects look 10 years from now? We wanted something that maybe doesn't relate to the function anymore, but goes beyond that. This is why the shapes are a little bit psychedelic, but distilled, in a way. Yesterday, I talked to someone and they said they look postmodern, and that the shapes are like Ettore Sottsass’s. I think it's mor the colours that make the project look postmodern, but the idea was to grow beyond functional objects and envision a new value for these items. The main focus for Weed'd as a brand is to redefine the value of a smoking object.
Disegno So the idea is that they can also be displayed as part of your interior environment. It's not something that you'd hide away in a cupboard – you'd put it out on a table?
Simone Yeah, exactly. Because nowadays, if you own a bong and it's sitting in your house, and maybe you have guests, it's something very personal that you don't really want to show all the time. But these items blend into the house, into your furniture. They become like a decorative object. For a moment we just imagined that these items are completely accepted and have evolved, already, towards brand new shapes that people have never seen before.
Disegno Have you encountered any barriers to producing or marketing Weed'd with the legal status of cannabis? Does the design have to be deliberately ambiguous?
Simone We want to focus on fighting stigmas. You are free to use this object any way you want. Use it as a vase! Although you can, of course, smoke from them. Regarding the design, there weren't many limitations. With ceramics, you can do almost whatever you can come up with. You really have few restrictions in terms of feasibility, but we tred to stay within certain maximum dimensions so as to be able to use the same packaging for all three artists. That's also quite smart in terms of outlay and shipping. I gave the designers certain limitations, in terms of aesthetics, because I wanted these three items – even though they are different and they have different tastes and flavour – to look like a family. For instance, I suggested they use the same diameter for the main chimney, in order to make all the three items closer to each other in terms of aesthetics. Then we have three very strong colours, which we selected together. So with a few little restrictions, we came up with this first drop. We're quite happy with the result, with the design and the way they look. We're very excited.
Disegno I quite like the one that looks a little like a submarine. Was it a challenge to combine those two functions – both a decorative object that can rest on a table but also something that can be used with the human body?
Simone We focused more on them as objects. You have different phases with certain objects – when you use it, when you don't use it. Designers usually focus only on function and how it works with the user. Our focus was also about how it works when you don't use it and what it represents. The relationship with the human and the functionality of them as objects is completely guaranteed and they function very well. But it's not something that is meant to be purely technical smoking equiptment, it's more of creative object rather than a deep study in ergonomics. Technical smoking objects are something completely different. We wanted Weed'd to be about relating to the objects on a human scale. They're very small – I wish you could see them in real life. They're tiny.
Disegno Oh, I was imagining them as being large, like a big table centrepiece!
Simone They're only 20cm high. They are very, very cute. With product design, I think the smaller an object becomes, the cuter it is. The bigger it becomes, the more aggressive it feels. This works for furniture, for lamps, for many kinds of products. Having a small object makes it more friendly, cute, fresh. Maybe in the future when we came up with something new we will make bigger ones.
Disegno I like that they're cute. They're very friendly and approachable, whereas weed subcultures can be quite intimidating or alienating.
Simone Weed'd is not only about doing something provocative to make people laugh. "Oh, colourful bongs, hahaha, very nice." It's also a smart idea in terms of business, because people are becoming more aware about the topic. We are getting away from the idea of it being a taboo, you know, and people [increasingly] admit to consuming it. You can buy weed in many countries. It's a great opportunity to investigate new directions for designers, to be able to work on something different. In Italy we have this big tradition of [designing] furniture, so a new field [opening up] is special.
Disegno Was it important that the pieces are made in Italy, too?
Simone There is a place in Veneto called Nove, which is a very tiny village but very well known for ceramics. We call it the ceramic district of Italy. It's very cool, because there are a lot of producers in one place, so the competition is very high and techniques are always growing because they have to compete with each other. The quality and the way they work is fantastic. I met one producer for another project I had designed and we became friends. Then I proposed this project, which, let's be honest, some other producers might have been a little bit uncomfortable with. But he said, "Yes, let's do it." It's a Made in Italy item.
Disegno There isn't a well defined design language yet for weed consumption. In America they're beginning to innovate with it, but there's nothing much in Europe yet. Was having that blank slate tricky or liberating?
Simone You have references that are global, they're not European anymore. You look to other brands, other products, which are on the other side of the world. Those become your reference. We can see that in other parts of the world it is happening already, and it’s a great success. On many design blogs, this topic is now something hot, something cool to talk about. To discover that this is not the same in Europe or in Italy, especially, was a great opportunity. So it was not a limitation. If anything, it was a tank in our machines to make us work more and believe in our products even more.
Disegno It's interesting that you said drop, earlier, when talking about marketing the collection. That's quite a fashion-based strategy you don't see as much in design – yet.
Simone I feel like it's more of a draw, it's something that people will talk about. Especially in Milan, there is nothing like this. We are very curious about people's reaction. As designers, we understand that if you design an object like this, you might become known as one of those designers that made a bong. We think it's fucking great – we are ready to accept the fact that we might be a seen as a little bit different.
Disegno Have you have you had any particularly positive or negative reactions to Weed'd so far? When you tell people what you're doing, what do they tend to say?
Simone Usually, the reaction is very positive. I was talking to Stefano, the other day, and we were discussing how people are even more excited than we are, it's cool. It activates the adrenaline to see that they're happy and it's something that brings good vibes. We also want to see what's gonna happen in terms of sales, because it is important to be able to to have a brand which can support itself. But for now, it's going great.
Disegno Do you have ideas for what you'd like to do for the next drop? How you'd like to expand the brand?
Simone We want to keep the values that we set out as a brand. Always focusing on the fact that these items should be fresh and cool and friendly. Giving a new value to these working objects is always our starting point. We're thinking about new drops and projects for next year. The idea would be to keep a rhythm. There is also a lot of interest from people who want to design these objects for Weed'd.
Disegno Designers have got in touch and said they'd like to be a part of the project?
Simone Yes! "Let me design a bong! Let me participate." It's great.
Words India Block
Images Mattia Greghi