Nata Janberidze,
Keti Toloraia

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nata Janberidze and Keti Toloraia’s collaboration starts at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, where they studied Interior Design together, between 1997 – 2003. In 2007, soon after graduating, Janberidze and Toloraia established the first female-run studio in Tbilisi, Georgia working primarily on collectible objects and designing various architectural spaces.

Following the turbulences of the newly found independence, Georgia became flooded with precarious architecture, DIY extensions on social blocks and vernacular solutions to the street décor. The transformation era has been reflected in Janberidze and Toloraia’s creative thinking and gradually in their practice. Drawing inspiration from mostly Western European design principles, the duo started to work based on the international design tendencies of the times. However, in later series, such as 2016’s Wild Minimalism, the duo started to question their cultural past, going back in history as far, as the ancient and Medieval Georgian décor, or late Soviet times. Translating these old motifs into a contemporary design language, while reclaiming and re-creating a new design identity has been the studio’s one of the main fields of interest since. Ethnography, mythology, traditional and modernist elements hand-crafted using natural materials, such as: wood, stone and metal create Rooms Studio’s authentic language. This approach is vivid in their on-going Street Series, as well as, in older collections, such as, DNA Archives, Life on Earth and others. Nonetheless, re-thinking past stands as a point of departure for creating new forms and developing new ideas, which can be seen in Alchemy, or some of the ongoing series, such as the Golden Fleece.

There is a vast sculptural aspect to the Rooms Studio practice. Well represented in duo’s latest interior project, such as Gheama Restaurant, or the Sacral Geometry collection, functional objects are distinguishable in their monumentality and autonomous nature. Spatial thinking in disposition of objects in relation to architecture, puts Rooms Studio’s practice somewhere in-between modernist and symbolist styles, where the line between art, design and architecture is blurred.

Intuitive in its nature Rooms Studio’s working methodology is indirect and fluid. Working primarily on a collection-to-collection basis, with often recurring elements, creates a continuous ever-evolving body of work. As if, like in the architecture in their motherland, the historical layers are being added to one another, without abandoning and closing the previous chapters. Repetition, as one of the characteristics to the duo, reminds the viewer of their feminist approach, as well, as some of Georgia’s Oriental share of a culture. In this way, Rooms Studio creates a perfect blend of design, where East and West meet.

Written by Elene Abashidze

Keti Toloraia and Nata Janberidze (Rooms Studio) Timeline

BIO

1981 – Both born in Tbilisi, Georgia

2003– Completed BA and MA in Design at Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in Tbilisi,GE

2007 – Rooms Studio is founded

2012–Interior Design’s Best of the Year Honoree

2019 – Wallpaper Design Award Winner

2019 – Dezeen Design Awards Judges

PAST PROJECTS

2023 - Rooms Hotel Batumi, Georgia

2023 – Medeu Resort Almaty, Kazakhstan

2022 – Gheama Restaurant, Milan, Italy

2019 - Rooms Hotel Kokhta, Bakuriani, Georgia

2019 – Hotel Meridien Batumi, Georgia

2017 – Kharcho Restaurant, Tbilisi, Georgia

2017–Brasserie Buvette Restaurant,Tbilisi,Georgia

2016 – Strada Restaurant, Tbilisi, Georgia

2015 – Wong Restaurant, Tbilisi, Georgia

2015 – Atrio Boutique, Tbilisi, Georgia

2015 – Strada Restaurant, Tbilisi, Georgia

2014 – Umami Restaurant, Tbilisi, Georgia

2014 – Yawn Cool Concept Store, Brussels, Belgium

2014 – Dining Room Restaurant, Tbilisi, Georgia

2014 – Rooms Hotel Tbilisi, Georgia

2012 – Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, Georgia

2010 – Holiday Inn Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia

2004 – Privee Boutique, Tbilisi, Georgia
 

EXHIBITIONS

2024 - Blue Steel at GSL Gallery, Paris, France

2023 - Nightscape with Emma Scully Gallery at Design Miami, USA

2023 – A joint exhibition with Elene Chantladze at M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, Belgium

2023 – The North American Pavilion at Frieze, London, UK

2023 – Galerie Chenel at TEFAF New York, USA

2023 – Galerie Chenel at PAD Paris, France

2023 – Apalazzo Gallery, Art Paris, France

2023 – Inaugural Show at Maniera, Brussels, Belgium

2022 – Reflecting Women with Emma Scully Gallery at Design Miami, USA

2022 – Route_In Installation with Design Forum Athens at SIAM Courtyard, Milan, Italy

2022 – Waxed Mother Vessel with Shotiko Aptsiauri at Industrialism by Sized, New York, USA

2022 – Future Fair, New York, USA

2022 – ‘The Wet Material’ with Ketuta Alexi Meskhishvili at Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, France

2022 – Eye Chair at Masa Inc. CDMX, Mexico

2022 – Waxed Mother Vessel with Shotiko Aptsiauri at Vessels by Sized, Los Angeles, USA

2021 – “Distant Symphony” at Emma Scully Gallery, New York, USA

2021 - Sculptural Chairs at Exhibition No 43, Atelier LK, London, UK

2021 – Goat and the Staircase, Vessel on the Road, “When I Wrote a Poem” at Gallery ArtBeat, Tbilisi, Georgia

2021 – Someplace Else group show, Bazaleti Village, Georgia

2021 – DNA Archives at Cosmos Fair, Tirage Gallery, Moscow, Russia

2021 – The Eye Chair at “Last Tennant”, Masa Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico

2020 – Volcanic collection at Recover/Uncover, MasaGallery, Mexico City, Mexico

2019 – Sculptural Chairs at The Art of Sitting, Tools galerie, Paris, France

2019 – Blind Alley Exhibition, Tbilisi, Georgia

2019 – In Circulation at Design Miami, USA

2018 – Night of a Hunter, collaboration with cc-tapis launch

2018 – Terracotta Objects at Designing Women II Masters, Mavericks, Mavens by Egg Collective,  NYCxDesign Week, USA

2018 – Rooms 10 year Anniversary, Alcova District ,Milan Design Week, Italy

2018 – Miart Fair Atelier Jespers Gallery, Milan, Italy

2018 – Life on Earth at Boon, Paris Design Week, France

2017 – A Flawlessly Appointed Interior at The Future Perfect, New York, USA

 2017 – Geometric Tables at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Milan, Italy

2016 – Mint Gallery, London Design Festival, London, UK

2016 – Wild Minimalism at Rossana Orlandi, Milan, Italy

2016 – Magic Stone Terrazzo Table at The Future Perfect, New York, USA

2015 – Twisting Tradition at Mint Gallery, London Design Festival, UK

2015 – Invisible to the Eye at Rossana Orlandi, Milan, Italy

2014 – Moooi Floor lamp at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2014 – Untold at Museo Bagati Valcecchi curated by Rossana Orlandi ,Milan, Italy

2014 – Mint Gallery, London Design Festival, London, UK

2014 – Fuorisalone, Rossana Orlandi, Salon Del Mobile, Milan, Italy

2013 – Collaboration with Christian Westphal, Copenhagen Fashion Week, Copenhagen, Denmark

2013 – Ventura Lambrate, Salon Del Mobile, Milan, Italy

2012 – Salone Satellite, Salon Del Mobile, Milan, Italy

2011 – London Design Festival, London, UK

2011 – Salone Satellite, Salon Del Mobile, Milan, Italy

2011 – Wooden Lamps for Moooi, Moooi Showroom, Milan, Italy

2010 – Salone Satellite, Salon Del Mobile, Milan, Italy

2009 – 100% Futures London Design, London, UK

2007 – Dressed Chairs & Ghost Wallpaper, ICFF New York, New York, USA