Stardust Architects
All About scale
Bucharest, RO

Stardust architects was founded in 2011 by architects and teacher assistants Anca Cioarec and Brîndușa Tudor. They are constantly searching for poetic experiences in the process of design. We get into how their practice began and its evolution to a studio space reflective of their philosophy today.

 

From the macro to the micro

We studied in the same studio at the University of Architecture in Bucharest for six years but we started working together after graduating, in 2010. We discovered we had common interests towards art and micro-architecture, details, and small scale design and we decided to apply to some design competitions together. We stepped a bit out of the architectural frame, almost trying to forget everything we had been taught in the university and reorient our focus towards extra small objects (such as washbasins, lucky-charms, coffee tables) or atmospheres and experiences that made us more aware of the essential things of life. We were looking for the macro into the micro in a way.

 

A flower table

The process of producing our first object, a small table that had to embody spring flowers was one of the most beautiful journeys we have ever experienced. After having imagined the object we had to find the right people to help us transform it into reality. During those months, we met up with furniture producers, chemists, flowers sellers and we made almost 30 tests of combinations of resin and flowers in order to find the right magical formula. We couldn't sleep at night before checking the tests and we were wandering all day between flower markets, the art university, old research institutes and a production workshop.

 

Time management

We are really close friends so at the beginning it was hard to say what was working and what was not working in our long discussions. When things became a little bit more serious and we had to manage different projects, client meetings and deadlines, we didn't pay much attention to our daily program and we often worked for long hours. In time, we learned to organise ourselves better and to keep our evenings and weekends free.

 

Space and philosophy

The space is indeed a good reflection of our beliefs. We are sharing the space with very good friends who are working with ceramics and textiles and sometimes we collaborate for certain projects. We learn a lot from each other, we believe in the power of community and shared knowledge. We enjoy being surrounded by their beautiful objects each day. We also have a garden and we are very close to the botanical garden of the city.

 

Curiosity instead of expectations

We didn't start with any clear expectations but rather with curiosity in different connected fields. And in time we tried to flow from one field to another: we stayed with object design for a while, with interior design, installations, research and workshops, cultural projects and material experiments. We still move from one to the other, adapting ourselves to what comes towards us, so we didn't really feel a gap as we've never been tied to any expectations.

 

Following the contexts

Every year in winter time we somehow end up evaluating what we had done and also imagining what we think will be most suitable to follow. The incredible and slightly scary thing is that everytime the context gave us the precise thing we asked for. Now we are slowly migrating towards organising workshops and architecture events and that’s what's next until the end of 2020.

Stardust Architects anca cioarec v2

photo Sorin Nainer Stardust Architects anca cioarec v2

photo Sorin Nainer shared dining room 2 anca cioarec v2

photo Sorin Nainer shared dining room anca cioarec

photo Sorin Nainer ceramics Studio Mud anca cioarec

Photography Sorin Nainer

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