Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Monica and, alongside Simon, am one of the founding partners at par-avion co: a Norwich-based furniture and design company. I am trained as an architect and still consult in lighting design.
Our product designs evoke a mix of mid-century modern styling, Japanese minimalism and Danish ingenuity; all while utilising traditional craft processes developed from British industries, such as furniture-making, seat weaving and basketry. Our focus on sustainability is rooted in our ethos of sourcing local and natural materials; making products that are built to last; and operating under a zero-waste or circular economy.
Simon is our primary “woodworker” and can be mostly found tinkering away in the workshop or at one of our local timber yards. I’m the business face of the company, dealing with sales and logistics primarily, but also the head instigator of all things sustainable – including our pledge to become Carbon Net Zero by 2030. I’m also a weaver of many of your stools and trays, having learned from other great weavers, including our master weaver Ken Trayler based in Suffolk. Ken has over 40 years’ experience weaving seats of all styles, including caning a chair for Princess Anne, and even has some work displayed at the V&A in London. (Fun fact: Ken was a former roadie for Iron Maiden.) Melissa is the head of our marketing department and our newest apprentice for all things weaving.
How and why did you settle on nozza to place roots for your business?
While none of us are “from” Norwich, it is definitely our permanent home (by choice) now. Simon’s family moved here in the 1960s as his father was stationed at a nearby RAF base and he has remained here ever since. Simon has worked for nearly every joiner, furniture maker and antiques dealer in Norfolk; making him a bit of a specialist in the field! He first created the ‘pi stool’ in 2001 as a small-batch set of stools inspired by the bridges of Robert Maillart in Switzerland.
When I moved to the UK in 2009 and met Simon for the first time, the stools were the first thing I noticed. I could not believe he had given up on these beautiful pieces and vowed to help him reignite this project one day. Fast forward to 2013 when we officially started par-avion co. and manufactured the first pi stool in over a decade. It was a learning process, having only a garden shed to work from but through some trial and error (and the backing from the bank) we eventually fine-tuned the process into what it is today: a small-batch production workshop with multiple machines and tools. I will confidently say that we would not have been able to take that first step without the unwavering support of the local Norfolk community. In the beginning we held photoshoots and kept test stock in the storefronts of Balfour & Moffatt (formerly on Wensum St.), The Book Hive, Carol Lake Studio, Three Magdalen Street, Flint Hair, Fairhurst Gallery and Kobo A-B. Without the ability to get feedback and reach our customers face-to-face, we wouldn’t have been able to grow into the company we are today.
What has been some of your favourite projects to work on?
At the moment, we are included in a showcase at Liberty London in conjunction with the Crafts Council where several of our stools and homewares are for sale to introduce traditional British craft back into the high street shopping mentality. We have been involved in talks for London Craft Week and we will also be running a seat weaving workshop later in the month for some of the store’s customers.
However, a personal favourite project is definitely our London Craft Week collaboration with Claire Potter in 2019 at the Battersea Power Station construction site. Our project there, Woven Waste, had us working with the primary contractors Mace Group to take non-recyclable or landfill-headed waste material from the colossal Phase II renovation project (converting the Battersea Power Station into a commercial and residential space) and turn it into elegant outdoor furniture. Claire is a champion of the circular economy rhetoric, having written actual policy into law, and was great to partner with on this project. Together we created two plywood benches with seats delicately woven in scaffolding wrap, shrink wrap, plastic pallet straps and lifting straps; 3 concrete-topped stools using waste aggregate and steel rebar for the legs; and a coffee table using plywood from concrete formers stacked together and then ornately shaped into a flowing form.
The above project was the start of a long-term par-avion goal to close the loop on our own cycle of consumption and waste. We have many other projects in the pipeline, including a children’s chair which uses discarded baler twine from a local dairy farm and a long term collaboration with volunteer divers who clear abandoned “ghost gear” fishing nets from the sea floor surrounding the British coast. However, we are especially proud to finally launch one of our “zero waste” initiatives this year in a series of hanging mobiles, which we commissioned artist-duo Studio Logan Howes (@studio_logan_howes). Their inaugural “Horizon” line of mobiles was introduced in February this year and features the negative offcuts from our pi stool top rails reimagined as thinning landscapes, pierced by a circular hoop of bronze and impacted subtly by tiny hand-carved figures gazing off into the distance.
Where's your favourite place to visit in Norfolk and why?
Not really a secret, but our favourite place in Norfolk has to be Waxham Beach. Adjacent to the more popular Sea Palling, but without the donut shops or formal parking so generally much quieter. It’s a great place to walk the dog, see the seals without the crowds, have a picnic in the sand or to go for a cool dip. It’s also a quick 25 minute drive from the workshop, which can’t be beat when you want to catch the sunset after a long day’s work!
How can people find you?
We are actually in the process of moving workshops to a larger premises this month which will hopefully have a small showroom/office for people to visit and will feature many new collaborations in the upcoming months. In the meantime, you can find our products online at par-avion.co or find out what we’re working on at our Instagram and Twitter feeds: @par_avion_co .
We also sell some physical stock at Skandium, Liberty London at the 4th floor gallery until the 5 August, Vanil in Woodbridge and we have a few smaller items for sale at Flint Hair in Norwich on Lower Goat Lane.
We would love to stock more items in local shops of all types too, so if any Norwich or Norfolk companies would like a stool for their reception area, a hanging mobile for their storefront window, a table for displaying their offerings or to borrow products for a photo shoot; please get in touch! We love supporting small, local businesses just like others supported us, so no upfront purchase necessary and we give a very fair cut on any merchandise sold directly through you or when your shop is mentioned to us.