What happens when an award-winning interior designer and contemporary design studio join forces? Well, they create a suite made from fossilized shark teeth.
Sasha Bikoff partnered with Scott Baxter, founder, and CEO of SA Baxter Design Studio and Foundry in New York, to design "The Shark Suite" that will debut at London Design Week 2021 on Monday, May 17. And what you'll find inside is decor detailing as architectural pocket pulls, cabinet pulls, cabinet knobs, doorknobs, and a door knocker cast from fossilized, prehistoric megalodon shark teeth.
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The inspiration for the collection was actual megalodon shark teeth that Bikoff was gifted. They sat on her fireplace mantel for years, and when the "fearless mix-and-match" designer was thinking about hardware for her new house, she noticed how the shark teeth comfortably fit in the palm of her hand. So, Bikoff contacted a longtime friend and entrepreneur, Baxter, to make the teeth' hardware collection.
"In most cases, we hand mold our hardware, but in this case, we took an organic shark tooth and digitized it, turning it into door hardware," Baxter told Departures. "We were able to get a digitized 3D Shark Tooth. The color is Verde (a natural process that occurs to copper, and the color depends on where you are, salt air makes the copper go green). It is blue-green and stands out."
Beyond the initial design, the hardware will be offered in various finishes, from matte black bronze to polished chrome, so that other homeowners can enjoy the unique fossilized decor.
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"I think it's hard to find pieces that walk that fine line between fun and chic, whimsical and classy, fearless and iconic," Bikoff told us. "I like to think that I walk on that line. This collection is a perfect example of that. It has an edge. I think the days of boring door hardware are over. Time to start thinking about these elements as sculptural art that anchors the architecture and design of your home. That's what I did."
She added, "I am mostly inspired by nature, and when I look at the natural world, I always turn the things I see into some sort of design piece in my mind. For instance, a tree I can imagine as a floor lamp. In this case, the shark tooth transformed into door hardware."
