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© Roland Paschhoff
© All rights reserved
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© All rights reserved
© All rights reserved

Susan Zelouf & Michael Bell

Susan Zelouf & Michael Bell Furniture maker
© Roland Paschhoff

When opposites attract

  • • Zelouf & Bell was created in 1992
  • • They believe ‘a thing well made is a thing worth making’
  • • They live in a small cottage in rural Ireland

So opposite were their backgrounds, New Yorker Susan Zelouf and Belfast-born Michael Bell could have easily never met. She was a theatre arts graduate who became a singer and a writer for the film industry, he had a science background and worked for a tobacco company. But when they met by chance in Italy, it was the start of something new for both of them. Together, they set up a furniture making company, an endeavour that combines the talents of these opposites – Michael’s long-held passion for working with his hands, Susan’s flare for design – to create unique, surprising pieces that combine materials and techniques.

Read the full interview

Works

  • © Roland Paschhoff
  • © Roland Paschhoff
  • © Roland Paschhoff
  • © Roland Paschhoff
  • © Roland Paschhoff
Photo: © Roland Paschhoff
Blue butterfly bedside cabinets

Pressure-dyed timbers were used to create the marquetry inspired by monarch butterfly wings that features on the top of these bedside cabinets designed by Zelouf & Bell. They were fitted with leather-lined drawers opening from below and finished with ribbed satin lacquer.

Height 62 cm
Length 64 cm
Width 44 cm

Photo: © Roland Paschhoff
Castle games table

Zelouf & Bell’s octagonal table bears a chessboard with detailed marquetry and, on the reverse, a backgammon board. Game pieces and accessories are stored in lambskin-lined drawers on either side of the table, while concealed pull-out drinks holders feature gold-embossed leather coasters.

Height 78.5 cm
Length 80 cm

Photo: © Roland Paschhoff
Kiku nesting tables

These cheerful nesting tables take their cue from vintage kimono fabric and the chrysanthemum design that inspired pop artists Takashi Murakami and Andy Warhol. The table tops are coated with a hand-rubbed high-gloss lacquer finish and are fitted to solid brass bases.

Photo: © Roland Paschhoff
Kimono cabinet

This eye-catching cabinet was designed for a client’s contemporary kitchen, in response to her request for artistic storage for her baking tins, pans and biscuit trays. The exterior has been decorated with a hand-rubbed high-gloss lacquer finish in Rothko red, orange and fuchsia. The orange birch interior features marquetry in Kyoto Shrine, a David Hicks pattern.

Height 158 cm
Length 110 cm
Width 45 cm

Photo: © Roland Paschhoff
Torii bar

A client commissioned a cocktail cabinet to a specific brief: Japonism meets Modernism meets Arts and Crafts, expressing a fascination with torii, the gate at the entrance to a Shinto shrine marking the transition from the mundane to the sacred. Zelouf & Bell suggested including cranes, Japan’s most sacred bird, the literal meaning of torii being “bird abode”. The torii is elevated on cast bronze bamboo stretchers, with the cabinet resting on an aged brass base.

Height 158 cm
Length 100 cm
Width 50 cm

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