Inside the Ideas (and Studio) of Amsterdam-Based Designer Khodi Feiz

As a designer, Khodi Feiz is not stylistically dogmatic, but is instead “guided by totally different impulses,” he says. The cofounder of Feiz Design Studio elaborates, “A curve of a lamppost can inspire the shape of a fork in your hand, or the rigorous grid of a building can inspire the structure for a keyboard.”

For Feiz, design is a holistic creative process, a way of seeing the world that can be applied to a variety of tasks, scenarios, and project briefs. Over the course of his three-decade-long career, Feiz has used this approach to design everything from personal electronics to furniture.

This year, his eight-person firm, known for its intuitive-use furniture and products, introduces two collections created with Artifort and Studio TK, a contract brand that stands out for its exclusive focus on social workspaces. The two product families use organic shapes, curved lines, and matte finishes, which have become Feiz Design Studio hallmarks.

Each collection responds to the changing needs of the contemporary workplace, but in distinct ways. Beso, the result of a collaboration between Studio TK and Artifort, draws on residential inspiration for multiple work modes. The line of chairs and stools—with their smooth, upholstered seats and minimalist wood or metal legs—would suit an apartment as much as an office, and reflects the increasingly casual and collaborative nature of work.

Cesto, designed for Studio TK, addresses versatility within the social context of work. Conceived as a family of basketlike objects with several different tops, the collection’s pieces can be configured as an ottoman, a bench or chair, or a small table. In essence, Cesto reacts to the changing workplace by adapting to a variety of settings and needs on the fly.

Both of Feiz Design Studio’s collections address the demands of tech-based work to support what Feiz refers to as “social productivity.” More offices are becoming sites of collaboration, requiring flexible meeting spaces in addition to areas for individual, focused work. Where office space is at a premium, collections like Cesto and Beso provide a solution.

“As technology becomes more supportive of our personal and professional needs, the spaces tend to be liberated [from] the old dogmas of the office and the cubicle. Both the temporal and spatial domains have morphed exponentially,” Feiz explains. “We no longer can only rely on personal productivity, but rather on social productivity.”

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