Six of Christine Marcelino’s Favorite (No-Nonsense!) Things
The Materials + Process leading lady designs with functionality in mind and expects others to do the same.
Christine Marcelino, the product-design brain behind the leather-goods line Materials + Process, is a no-frills kind of gal. She likes things that work hard—and do so quietly. Here, she shows off a half dozen products that speak to her and her function-focused POV. —carlye wisel
Olivier Mourgue’s Montreal Chair and Table: “I really like the form of it more than anything, especially the way the leather wraps around the couch. It feels voluminous, but it’s still clean and modern.”
Textiles and accessories from Scholten & Baijings: “You know, I love color, but I don’t like when it’s overpowering. I love the way they use graphics and prints—it’s modern, but it’s kind of comforting at the same time.”
Muji flashlight: “It’s just a simple, clean form. You can use it as a flashlight, but you can also set it on another mode where the entire thing glows—so it becomes a lamp you could put on your desk or your table. It’s still a flashlight, but it has multiple uses.”
Alite utensils: “I designed this product for Alite Designs. What I wanted to do was merge the design aesthetic that silverware usually has—where it has the feeling of longevity—with the high-functionality of camping utensils. I looked at how people use utensils and how they pack all their camping stuff and then created a sufficiently compact system where the functionality is embedded in the form of the material.”
Triangle brush ruler: “When I design stuff, I actually draw it out first. I still use a ruler, a pencil, and an eraser. This is the ruler I wish I had because it feels so clean and modern…and über-functional and natural at the same time.”
Casio film watch: “This is a Japanese film watch that they’ve discontinued since the nineties, when it used to be really popular. It’s really thin, and you can change out the bands. But what I love about it is that it’s analog and digital at the same time. I can’t live without this watch—I’ve had it for ten years now.”
