YOU and ME Collection

Authors’ Comment

*Collection "You and Me - Tu si Eu"*

The concept is called #stailangamine / #standbyme. It's an invitation, not a command. It's that whisper: "stay by my side". "You and Me" is not just a name, it's a condition of being. The set is complete only when there are two people. When there is only one, the other chair waits.
*THE IDEA*
It all started from a simple question: how can a "we" look like using pieces of furniture? I didn't want to make a big sofa in which you get lost. Not two separate chairs looking in different directions. But two chairs that cannot exist one without the other, held together by a table. An X, a meeting.
*INVITATION TO DIALOGUE*
I designed two chairs facing each other, 80 cm apart. Just enough to hear each other's breathing, to see each other's eyes, to be able to touch the table with both hands. In this world where we all stand next to each other, often without looking at each other, I wanted to create an object that invites you to sit FACE TO FACE.
Without complicated armrests that enclose you, without a backrest too high and wide to hide you. Just a natural tanned leather stretched over a supple metal frame that welcomes you, a support made of warm wood where you can rest your hand. And a person in front of you.
The table between them is not for a laptop... It's for two coffees, for two hands meeting in the middle. For a backgammon game, for cards. Or for a "stay a little longer".
*ONLY THREE MATERIALS*
I chose to work with only three materials, the same for the entire collection. Nothing more.
*METAL - The flexible, friendly skeleton.*
Steel tube, bent and welded manually. Handmade cutting, handmade welding, sanding until the joint disappears. Electrostatic painting in mint green - the color is air, is quiet, is the background that lets the leather speak. Metal is the drawing in space, is the continuous line that holds everything together.
*TOVAL LEATHER - The Body and Time.*
Thick natural leather of 4.5-5mm, bovine toval, vegetable tanned. I didn't upholster it, I suspended it. It is stretched and fastened by stitching with waxed thread, like a canvas that breathes, comfortable and alive. Over time it will develop a patina, it will mold to your body, it will get scratches and memories. Each chair will age differently, according to the person who sits in it.
*BEECH WOOD - The Touch and Warmth.*
A cylinder made of solid beech wood, manually rounded, finished with stain and colorless lacquer. It's the only place where wood meets leather. It's the place where you instinctively rest your hand. The coldness of metal and the smooth leather needed this warmth for the ensemble to become "home".
And the detail that ties everything together: the leather cord with copper wire and the engraved leather keychain.
*TECHNIQUE - HOW A "WE" IS MADE*
Just inspiration, with hands and the passion to make beautiful and useful things.

Metal structure: Measuring, template, angle cutting, tacking, level checking, full welding, grinding, sandblasting, priming, electrostatic painting. One chair has 8 main welds. If one is crooked, the chair wobbles. I designed and made it to be flexible, yet stable.
Toval leather 4.5-5mm: Pattern, cutting, laser cutting and perforating, fastening by manual stitching. Leather does not forgive you - a hole made wrong, remains. I cut it stretched, so it doesn't wrinkle. I left the edge raw, unfinished, to show that it is natural, thick and resistant.
Beech wood: Cutting, sanding in 3 grits, rounding the edge with the router, 3 layers of stain and colorless lacquer. To become silky smooth.
*THE THREE ACTORS*
The collection has three protagonists:
Chair 1 - YOU
Chair 2 - ME
Identical, but never the same after the first sitting. They look at each other. They cannot stand back-to-back.
Table X - WE
The metal base in the shape of a stylized X represents the signature of the collection. It is stable on any floor, light visually and physically. Its top, made of toval leather, is the place of intersection, symbolizing the meeting place.
And the witness: The keychain "You and Me / Tu si Eu / stailangamine / standbyme". The birth certificate of the set, the same 3 materials, on a small scale, so you can carry the story with you.
You and Me is not a furniture set.
It is a place apart, reserved for two people.
stailangamine - standbyme.

October 2026