Grey Matter

By Marina Correa

Photography: Courtesy interior architects i29

Interior architects Jaspar Jansen and Jeroen Dellensen of i29 based in Netherlands have broken new ground by introducing a trendy range of brand new second hand furniture aptly titled AsGoodAsNew.

It all started about four years ago, when Gummo, an ad agency, asked i29 to design a new office in a rented space. Convincing the agency to embrace the idea of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’, which would also prove budget-friendly, they locally sourced furniture from Marktplaats (the Dutch eBay), charity shops and vintage markets and spray painted it with grey matter.   

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The grey layer is a solvent-free polyurea coating that is used for covering swimming pools, load trucks, etc. They chose this material as it coats almost everything and is highly durable.

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Encouraged by bouquets, rave reviews and a couple of awards,   Jansen and Dellensen decided to launch their own eco-friendly furniture line as they observed a maturity in the public’s perception of recycled furniture.

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“We find old stuff we like, we fix it and cover it with our special blend of solvent-free grey matter and then it’s as good as new,” say the duo whose design style reflects minimalism, single point focus design and mostly a monotone palette.

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Recently, a deal between Gummo, i29 and Krimpex (solvent coating company) resulted in the online AsGoodAsNew shop www.thisisasgoodasnew.com  and an installation at pop-up store in SPRMRKT (a hip fashion and vintage boutique). To add an edgy feel, i29 collected vintage sofas, antique lamps, antiquated typewriters, among other eclectic stuff and covered them in a charcoal grey nuance as if unifying them into a colour code.

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The underlying message spotlights re-used and recycled furniture by giving them a new lease of life. Old furniture in a new cast: Could this be a new trend in 2013?