When one of our partners District Eight Design launched in Saigon, Vietnam in 2010, their aim was to ‘preserve and develop historically significant buildings, warehouses, and objects in Ho Chi Minh City’. The company soon saw the opportunity to evolve their business and began to design and create a range of modern furniture. We are very glad they did, and we are excited to be launching a wonderful new range of their industrial furniture to add to our existing District Eight collection.
Through cleverly combining their office and workshop - which are situated in a refurbished colonial townhouse facing the Saigon River - District Eight Design are able to efficiently prototype their designs and produce their collections on site. In fact, they were one of the first such companies in Vietnam to oversee both the design process and the product manufacture, and we are proud to have been the first retailer to bring their brand to the UK.
The unique and expert design speaks for itself and the ten year guarantee we offer on this collection is a testament to the fact that the carefully handmade furniture is of excellent quality. However, the interesting provenance of these pieces goes even further than the story of their designers and makers, because many of the materials used in construction are upcycled and recycled. All of the cast iron used in the making of their products comes from imported vintage machine parts, mainly from Japanese weaving looms.
When District Eight receive these old metal parts, the team sorts them into salvageable components. There will be pieces that cannot be utilised as they are (considered by some to have reached the very end of their useful lives) but even these elements will be used – they are melted down and given a new life, for example as table legs, through the process of hand laid sand-casting. The use of vintage components and recycled metal gives the finished pieces a unique, textured and industrial feel that could not be achieved through making them with virgin metal.
This new upcycled furniture range includes the Hardy Entertainment Unit, £399 (above) which is made from fumed oak and steel legs - a truly versatile piece whose clean, contemporary lines and echo of mid-century modern design means it fits perfectly into just about any living space. The District Eight Breakfast Bar Stool £249 (below) with solid pressed oak backrest and padded leather seat, is hand-crafted using galvinised steel and gold braised weldings. The stool is engineered to be adjustable which means you can vary your seating height easily.
A beautiful addition to our dining furniture is the District Eight Mason Dining Chair, £129 (second image from the top) which has a leather seat, solid steel pressed backrest as well as a padded and upholstered leather seat which is both comfortable and durable. The industrial effect of the black steel is offset by the fluid, curved lines of the backrest and the warm tone of the padded leather seat, which make it a perfect partner for so many dining areas.
We will be adding further pieces from this collection to the webiste over the coming weeks so stayed tuned!