Founded in the same year, 6a and izé have always collaborated closely on products and ideas. The architects’ concern for the language of found objects, combined with an approach that can make the seemingly generic beautiful, has led to a number of designs in which the familiar is transformed by subtle means into something else. Elements embody memories and a history of use whilst appearing new and surprising. 6a’s work includes Raven Row and the South London Gallery, both projects which display the practice’s intriguing approach to existing conditions and complex histories of building, culture and use. The ironmongery for Raven Row was developed to respond to a number of material conditions and quirks in the existing architecture. The raw bronze castings were left unfinished in order to strip back the material in sympathy with the architectural and material approach. At the South London Gallery, the architects used the generic Budapest apartment handle to impart the scale and feel of domesticity to the institution. The ‘a’ light has also become an instantly identifiable staple of izé’s range, a cult object of austere simplicity.
