IN MYTHOLOGIES AROUND the world, twins, whether they are viewed as ominous or benevolent, are understood as two parts that, together, form a whole. The Haas Brothers (Nikolai and Simon), darlings of the design world, share some of the classic traits of twins in mythology. They are the first to say their strengths complement each other and enhance the quality of their work. Fittingly, their work — a variety of furniture, sculptural objects and other types of design pieces — also seems to spring from a mythical place, a fantastical kingdom of flora and fauna produced by wild and imaginative alchemists.In anticipation of The Haas Brothers’ first solo museum exhibit, “Ferngully” at The Bass Museum of Art in Miami (December 5-April 21, 2019), we talked about a taxonomy of their work, the importance of craftsmanship, and their artistic vision of using fantasy and craft for social impact.When I first saw your work, I thought to myself this is like something out of “Where the Wild Things Are.” Then I clicked through more and thought, now this is something out of Dr. Seuss. These beings are composed of wildly different elements, from furs to metals to stone. If you had to do a taxonomy of your work, how would you classify the different kingdoms and their characteristics? Nikolai: We actually think of our studio as a Galapagos. In terms of animal and plant things, there are so many different versions of what we could be talking about that it would take forever. But in the front [of “Ferngully”] we have what we call “Beasts,” which are furry animals; in the middle we have “Afreaks” that are beaded animals; in the back we have “Velveteens” that are velvet animals. And then we have flora and fauna all throughout as well. Simon created this process called hextiles, so in the front there’s these hextile succulent things, and in the middle there’s these big beaded mushrooms, and then in the back there’s these woven, beaded, copper, and velvet plants.Simon: If you want to talk in terms of taxonomy, the beasts are always made of fur [and] bronze. We try to limit facial features and create attitude with as few features as possible. The beaded ones are where we moved into lots of color and allowed ourselves to put actual faces on them. In terms of plants, it moves from more naive shapes into an approximation of plant life and then further down the road it moves into a mathematical interpretation of plants.The plants and animals are always evolving side by side. I’m more of a plant guy and Niki’s more of an animal guy and they’ve evolved together. And you can definitely see toward the back of the room that they’ve become more sophisticated.When you’re thinking of these creatures do you feel like you draw more on the realm of fantasy or from the natural world?Nikolai: Both, really. Simon is more of an analyzer of nature. His relationship to the work we make is more plant-based. The animal aspect is more coming from me. I try to think how to utilize the form rather than create a cultural reaction — like, “Oh that’s cute,” or, “Ooh that’s scary.”Simon: Yeah you’re more fantasy and gesture, and I’m more process.Nikolai: So it’s both but we’re split between the two of us. We have different roles in the studio. And yes, Simon nailed it.So you guys are not necessarily working on the same pieces together, or are you?Simon: We are. They both have both elements. We have some palm trees that are more analytical, but they have a lot Niki’s influence in them and vice versa. I might make a treatment for velvet that gets put onto an animal, for example.Nikolai: If you look at a little baby leopard, it can be super cute, or funny, but up close its fur has beautiful patterns that seem endlessly interesting. On the flip side of that, you can look at a plant and see how vastly mathematical it feels. So every piece in our studio has both of us in it. We created the language in our studio together that allows us to give birth to these things. And honestly it’s not even just the two of us; it’s everyone who works with us. There’s like ten of us in the studio and we’re like one big family, or one big brain, making this work.Would you say you share an artistic vision? Or is your work more a product of deliberating together and sometimes compromising on things? Nikolai: I think we do. From my perspective, when we set up a collection it doesn’t start with one piece necessarily, it’s more like what do we want to achieve with this. And that’s 100 percent a discussion. Simon and I most definitely have very different tastes from one another, like the music we listen to and our personal lifestyles. But when we’re conceiving of something, we’re fully united on that front. Wouldn’t you say, Simon?Simon: The vision is the same, and our approaches are radically different. Which is really what makes our pieces what they are, I think. Each piece has a more fully considered reality to it because it has both sides. But we’re not battling each other on those decisions. I’ll definitely acquiesce to Niki if we’re talking about a gesture of something because I just know he’s better at that. We respect each other’s artistic boundaries.If you had to articulate that artistic vision, what might you say? Simon: To foster curiosity and impulses and, really, it’s to create a world of its own.Nikolai: I know it’s a cheesy cliche, but I want to use the platform we have to try to make people think and hopefully change the world for the better, even if it’s in a small way. If someone looks at something we made and laughs, that’s enough for me. Or hopefully it can even convey the more subtle and complex messages we put in, something about sexual rights or trying to level economic playing fields. Our larger artistic vision is about social impact and utilizing this fantasy world we’ve created to have a longer lasting, broader, more human messages.Simon: I don’t know if you’ve read “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” [by] Joseph Campbell, but we love archetypes and universal qualities. Like being cute or funny.Earlier, you mentioned the later stage in the arc of your work reflects stuff that’s more culturally aware, is that housed within this tribute to archetypes or is that something different?Nikolai: I think that’s different. That comes from us having more financial freedom. Extending our work from being two artists in a bubble to having a studio and getting to travel. It bleeds a little into being a businessperson and trying to set an example for other businesses. You can bring resources into places where it has more impact. In the back room a lot of the work is made in Lost Hills, California, where there’s a work vacuum for women and they’re all generally pretty good at craft. So instead of doing our beadwork in the studio we’re going to bring it to Lost Hills, and it’s going to cost the same amount.Simon: The work ends up being a lot nicer. Embedded in the object is an overall positive feeling that a community winds up being formed. Kind of like a quilting circle, where everyone is chatting and having a good time. I even think quilts have a lot of that in them, they’re important pieces because they’re a community object. It’s a more socially conscious way of doing business. We’re not the only ones making our work. If you want to count everyone in the world, it’s over 75 people.A lot of your work leans on traditional folk art practices, but elsewhere I read you used a 3D scanner. How do you balance those different approaches, between traditional methods and newer technologies?Simon: I hold craft in really high regard. I think it has a lot to do with our evolution. If we didn’t make baskets or pottery we probably wouldn’t be where we are right now. [Craft has] been thrown a little bit to the wayside because of technological advances. I get excited when I get to revisit basket weaving, for example, because I feel like people don’t look at it anymore and maybe if I look at it in 2018 I’ll have a different take on it. We do scan things, but whenever we do 3D scans it’s to enlarge something that was handmade. We’re really not a technology-heavy studio.Nikolai: You can take a handcrafted piece like an “Afreak” and something that utilizes 3D scanning like a large-scale bronze. It comes down to the motivation. When it comes to the “Afreaks” the goal of creating the art in the artwork, to me, is the social impact. We have this community of beaders that really need money and have an insane ability to express themselves that’s totally underutilized. The product isn’t the art piece so much as the community-building aspect.Simon: Craft still ties it all together.Nikolai: Of course. Craft allows us to nail that social and artistic need.“Ferngully” is on view at The Bass Museum of Art in Miami, Florida, from December 5, 2018 through April 21, 2019.This interview appears in the December editions of the BlouinShop magazine and Blouin Artinfo Fair newspaper.https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin  Read more