Just as they did when we were kids, our toys continue to play an important role in our adult lives, only now our toys disguise themselves as cars, televisions, mobile phones and so on. We take pride in our new stuff, but we wouldn't dare call them toys any longer. Stehmann's designs however, can be called toys and may be enjoyed as such. You are never too old to play!

Over the past years I've started more designs, ideas and objects than I could finish. The past months I've finally taken the time to finish most of these designs, and I will show them at the Dutch Design Week 2018 together with other brainfarts and designs I made but never showed before!

The new projects/products were just finished on time, so we will start making official photography starting november 1st. For press kits, please email info@erikstehmann.nl

If you scroll down you will see my "kwastkop" project, a result of some (1500!) leftover disposable brushes. I'm still looking for ways to get rid of the remaining brushes, so I made brooms out of brushes. 

We live in a multiple-choice society, and all these choices you make everyday (how little they may be) unknowingly add-up to your stresslevel. Sssssst and Studio Erik Stehmann  teamed up to create the Random Machine to prevent choice-anxiety. Computers have a great deal of influence on our lives, algorithms often determine - without us even knowing - what we see on our screens, so why do we not consciously choose to let a computer choose for us?

Random Machine is designed to look as bait for choice-stress-sensitive individuals. The large, pulsing illuminated red button - around which the whole machine is designed - invites you to press it and is the only physical interface element so that the choice for operating the machine is reduced to a minimum.

Political elections, the choice of a snack in a snack bar, a beer in the pub, a mineral water brand from the overrepresented shelf in the supermarket, or where you go to on holiday. Random Machine is ready to take away the stress and choose totally random!

I’m very happy with the outcome of this wall siding project for Platowood. “We want something very Erik” and “what can you do within this budget” are my two favorite starting point phrases. This wall has a special effect to it when you change your point of view due to the light reflections, an idea that came to me when looking at my Perspexives Collection. 

For the In4nite project, initiated by Low&Bonar, I was asked to experiment with their Colback® material.

Colback is a nonwoven lightweight material with strong dimensional stability. For me, the best way to turn this into a 3D product was by experimenting with folding. By creasing the Colback, its fibres can be weakened locally, controlling where the material folds. By developing a computer controlled creasing technique, it became possible to make rounded creases. 

Eventually I designed a pattern that effectively creates a very strong and lightweight tube of Colback. Because Colback is a lightweight material, I was able to play with the centre of gravity. 

Cats like to scratch stuff. It’s what cats do. Sometimes it’s your sofa, other times it’s your face. You just never know with cats. But if it’s expensive or important, chances are that your cat will want to scratch it. I've come up with the Copycat Art Scratcher for luxury pet label Lord Lou. 

Since we stopped with the production of our BRUSH coat hangers, I was left with 1500 disposable paintbrushes. I tried selling them online, but there was little to no interest for 1500 paintbrushes. I tried selling them as beer openers, still no interest. I even offered a one-hour workshop "How to sell 1500 disposable paintbrushes", including a starting-kit of 1500 paintbrushes, but no luck.

So in a moment of boredom I made a big smiley on my floor using the brushes, which eventually led to making this huge mask.

As Bob Ross once said: "I like to beat the brush."

Please email me for any inquiries. 

Perspexives is the outcome of my participation to the Mtic design project

I explored the theme 'seduction' as being something that misleads the mind. By milling patterns into Perspex rods and sheets I created so called moire effects resulting in the collection Perspexives. It is a set of lamps and a mirror that are both visually attractive as well as misleading, as they change when looking from different perspectives.

The 'PUP Scratchpost for cats' is the smaller version of our 'DOG Scratchpost for Cats'. Due to the success of the DOG we decided to design a smaller version, perfect for smaller rooms, with the same attractiveness. 

Opposites attract!

For the 25th anniversary of Schipper Bosch, I was asked together with Studio Joris de Groot and architect Arno Geesink to come up with something surprising to do during their party. So we decided to introduce shooting arrows with high pressure. As targets we used the three bosses, so the staff (and their kids) could shoot at their bosses, success guaranteed!

The default beach chair is a great concept: few materials, mobile, collapsible, and comfortable too. "But it does not rock," I thought, and so the Beach Rocker arose. Powerful in its simplicity, and actually quite logical. The Beach Rocker is fully collapsible and stacks nestable. A stack of 20 seats is slightly higher than 1 meter

The fabric is designed by designer duo Raw Color and inspired on the horizon.

This design has been adopted by designlabel Weltevree

For the 2014 edition of Roof Garden Arnhem I joined the design team to make it an even better edition. I've designed this Canopy together with Arno Geesink and Casper Tolhuisen, easy to build, move and stock, low-budget and storm-resistant! 

My workshop is my playground. For this shirt collection I've assembled a series of 8 faces from objects found in my workshop. 

The most common office/canteen chair in the world, is not as boring as it looks like. These stackable chairs have already proven themselves in quality and durability, but with a small adjustment (and another colour) it makes the world a little more fun. 

Designer Floris Schoonderbeek asked me and Timon de Klein to design and build a home out of this empty gym, using mostly plywood. It was a 'design while building', starting out with a floor plan and working upwards, integrating new features during the build. The assignment included the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom, and has mostly been a two-man job. 

Pocketbuddy is a accessory to fill up your shirtpocket, just like the forgotten pocket-square or as a corsage.

"Who uses their shirtpocket anyway?"

I am often inspired by toys, and at a certain point in my life, I found a fluorescent expanding sphere toy made by the principle of Hoberman. 
All I could think was: "Wouldn't it be nice to make a lamp that could be a desklamp and also a floorlamp at the same time. Just pick it up, and expand it." Necessary? No! Fun to work out? Yes!
This lamp contains hundreds of connections and hinges made of oakwood, and is capable to collapse and transform into a desk-lamp, but can also expand into a floorlamp.

The 'DOG Scratchpost for cats' is a scratchpost for cats, with a good dose of humor. Not only does DOG protect your furniture from cat scratching, but it is also THE way for cats to release their frustrations on their "natural enemy"!

Opposites attract!

The Blocks Collection is fully build with oakwood blocks and glue. For this collection I was inspired by the typical carpenter sentence: "Glue is stronger than wood", I experimented with glue and wood to test this phrase, untill I found a glue that succeeded. By cutting a beam up in blocks, and gluing it together as a beam again, it became even stronger than the original beam.

Blocks Table: 1196 blocks
Blocks Chair: 187 blocks
Blocks Desklamp: 17 blocks

I was asked to create a 'center of attention piece' for the ABHB2012 Groomer trade day. Working on a small budget I created this 'big ass dog' out of tunnelfoil. After this event I have used the dog on several other events as eye-catcher.

Normally , a lamp is nothing else than a shade that lights up. But the Inflating Lights actually react when switched on. Thanks to a silent fan, which inflates the Nylon , they eventually reach their final shape.

Also available with a timer, making the Inflating Lights a true spectacle of light. (for lobby / waiting room / event)

These small Paper Pups are the result of a research for ways to eternalise the otherwise temporary shape of balloons. For 100 days, I started the day by making one pup made of that days newspaper, and marked it with the date and signature.

A range of interior products created by approaching furniture as stuffed animals. The collection consists of cotton shapes filled with pourable soft foam that reach their final form by the expansion of the foam. Each piece is unique, because this process is uncontrollable, and it creates its own wrinkles and dents.

The balloon ring was created as part of a research for ways to perpetuate the temporary tension and plasticity of balloons. 
The knob and the ring are both made of balloons, and then moulded, to cast in bronze. It's finished with 24 carat gold.