Great Ones is a celebration of humans we admire — and an exploration of why they cook, not just how. Zander Schlacter is the Brooklyn–based designer and interdisciplinary artist behind our new limited-edition Dutch oven collection. We joined Zander and his friends for a summer picnic near Zander’s Dumbo studio to celebrate the collaboration.
I’ve always been an artist. Once I learned about textile design, it felt like such a natural fit, given my interest in fashion and personal style, as well as my preference for bold colors, patterns, and funky mixing and matching.
I’m inspired by many things: optical art, dazzle patterns, tessellations.
I’m inspired by many things: optical art, dazzle patterns, tessellations, and complex repeat-pattern geometry. I also find inspiration in decorative arts history and Bauhaus weavers, queer culture and aesthetics, and art made by children!
Cooking is a stress-relieving activity for me, as long as I can go off book and make something up with any ingredients I have on hand.
Food is about joy and connection! There’s nothing like gathering over a shared meal and breaking bread together with friends.
Food is about joy and connection!
Three of my best friends — Patrick, Jonah, and G, as well as my dog, Alfie — joined for the picnic. We had an assortment of food. I love a "high-low" menu concept, for lack of a better term. We had Dan Pelosi’s summer-corn salad, but we also had sheet cake and cheese puffs.
I love a "high-low" menu concept.
I had an "It's fun to have fun!" cake made for a party last year. It's a phrase my partner Buzz and I jokingly say a lot, and it sort of means everything and nothing at the same time. You just can't argue with it ... it is fun to have fun. We decided it would be a good sentiment to bring into this picnic.
It is fun to have fun.
A lot of the projects I design within my practice involve textiles or soft goods, so it was fun to switch it up and design for a hard home product. New types of products and production methods always present exciting challenges for me, and I often leave the design process with a new perspective to bring with me into future work.
I hope our collaboration can spark some everyday joy.
Looking ahead, I'm working on a new collection of home textiles, which will launch later this year! It will be my first collection since my Zander rebrand; I changed my name and came out as trans last year. I'm also working on more of my own artwork, as well as some other top-secret things I can't tell you about yet.
