Pure joy is the best way to describe the distinctive homeware from Transylvania-based design studio MindTheGap
FEATURE FIONA McCARTHY
FOUNDED by old school friends Stefan Ormenisan and Victor Serban in 2016, joined four years later by another former art school alumni Ioana Roman in marketing, MindTheGap was born from a former business providing framed wall art for the likes of Next in the UK. When Brexit struck, Stefan and Victor decided to create their own ‘maverick, maximalist’ brand, drawing not only on ‘the folkloric motifs of our roots,’ says Ioana, ‘but stories of cultures around the world, as seen through our eyes.’ Nestled among the Carpathian and Apuseni Mountains in central Romania, Transylvania’s own ancient history is rich in influences still felt today, from its brightly hued Saxon villages (where even King Charles III has bought and restored an 18th century cottage in the hillside village of Viscri) to the symbolism and traditions of the Ottomans and Austro-Hungarians found in the decoration of buildings such as the Palace of Culture in Târgu Mureș, the trio’s hometown. Listen carefully and you will hear a mix of Italian, French and Slavik reflected in their language, as well as the continuing courageous voice of a people who survived more than 40 years of oppressive Communist rule, from 1947 to 1989. ‘Anything considered out of the ordinary, especially creativity in writing, drawing and decoration, was forbidden,’ Stefan says of the functional aesthetic imposed during that time. It’s no surprise then, having experienced this as teens, that ‘there is now a constant thread of freedom and discovery – aspirited playground of joy, bohemianism and wanderlust – running through our collections,’ he says. Today, every pattern is dreamt up by MindTheGap’s talented team of young textile design graduates based in the brand’s Cluj-Napoca design studio located in a 19th-century building in the city centre. It resonates with the brand’s eclectic spirit, its walls lined with the wild graffiti-style of Festival Memories (from the 1960s rock ’n’ roll-inspired Woodstock collection) to Sundance Villa’s Azure, a blue and white mural mimicking an ancient Mediterranean seaside scene laid out in handmade tiles. The team start first with painting and sketching out hundreds of possible designs, drawing inspiration from flora, fauna and foliage; historical and pop cultural icons; and art, architecture and fashion around the world. ‘We might start with something organic like flowers, then play around with overlapping geometric shapes – we just let the designs flow and see where the alchemy takes us,’ says Stefan. He then works with the team to choose and refine the best designs according to the theme of the brand’s next collection of wallpaper and fabrics. As MindTheGap prints all its own wallpaper designs at a state-of-the-art factory in Târgu Mureș, no pat
