A series of creative and bold designs created with an artistic sensibility.
Born in Australia, husband-and-wife design team Joel Booy and Kate Booy settled in the Netherlands. There, they established their own design studio, Truly Truly. Operating in a wide range of creative fields, the Dordrech-based firm completes projects as varied as product, lighting and furniture design to installations, spacial design, and art direction. The duo’s mantra, “make things properly, honestly and artfully”, guides the studio’s entire approach to design. Furthermore, the way users experience the designs plays a crucial role in their work. A background in graphic design and a love of art also influences the designers’ creative output.
Truly Truly has designed products, lighting, and furniture for brands and institutions like Leolux, Ikea, Rakumba, and Tacchini as well as the TextielMuseum and the National Glass Museum Netherlands. In 2019, the studio designed the prestigious Das Haus pavilion at IMM Cologne. The same year, Truly Truly received the AD Architectural Digest Cleverest Awards for their Press Sofa.
A clever use of materials, techniques, and textures.
The studio’s designs are both thoughtful and artistic, combining function with sensuous textures and forms. Bold and distinctive, the objects also explore different typologies and aim to challenge users’ perception regarding everyday products. Materials and innovative crafting techniques also play an important role in the studio’s work. For example, the Fuse Cabinet captivates with a blend of black marble, basalt, and synthetic resin that create wavy lines on the surface of cedar wood. “Fused” into the wood with a decorative wood-crafting technique, the black marble waves mirror the sinuous lines and circular patterns of the natural cedar.
For the Bole Vase, the studio collaborated with Dutch ceramics manufacturer Cor Unum to develop porcelain with a bark-like texture. Likewise, the Touched Table Lights came to life through another collaboration, this time with the Netherlands National Glass Museum. Using an experimental glass blowing technique, the studio created a series of unique table lights with dimple-like patterns. The Abide Vessels, another one-off series, explore concepts of time and imagined ceremonies. Made with a synthetic material that features an aged finish, the vessels seem antique and modern at the same time. Frames and angular handles invite the user to lift the objects in a specific way, thus giving a nod to ancient rituals.
Other designs, like the Ikea PS Sofa, bring a playful accent into living spaces with a creative build. Designed with a minimal metal frame, the sofa features many cushions attached to the structure in a cloud-like formation. Finally, other furniture and lighting explore architectural forms with simple geometric shapes placed in elegant and carefully balanced compositions. You can admire more of Studio Truly Truly’s stunning work here. Photography© Studio Truly Truly.
