Ladies & Gentlemen Studio
for roll & Hill
Ladies & Gentlemen Studio began in a Seattle garage, where founders Jean Lee and Dylan Davis started making objects by hand. Favoring a materials-led approach to product design, the pair start with a wood block or metal tubing, for example, and explore what it can become. They draw upon a vocabulary of spheres, cylinders, and planes, which they assemble in unexpected ways.
Jean and Dylan also consider how a piece will feel to live with. Take their lighting. More often than not the pieces are modular, allowing for flexible configurations that can bring a sense of structure and personalization to a space. This pairing of opposites—function and experimentation, playfulness and austerity—creates work that quietly surprises.
“We want our work to express our sense of curiosity and wonderment.”
Unique works
Shape Up began as a self-produced piece; Dylan Davis and Jean Lee thought its mobile-like mix of shades and weights was too unconventional for a commercial manufacturer. But Roll & Hill’s Jason Miller saw that distinctiveness as a strength.
shape up
Challenging traditional symmetry, these networked pendant lights interact dynamically with a space. The collection includes five forms in four materials—aluminum, brass, spun steel, and mouth-blown glass—with each fixture balanced by a system of pullies and weights.
Papasan chair
Times and design tastes change, as Jean Lee knows. When in junior high, the Ladies &
Gentlemen cofounder thought Americans owned papasan chairs—those of oversized cushions and circular rattan bases—to signify success.
