Gail’s Bread Bakery

Pleat Box is a piece combining design and craftsmanship, an interplay of contrasting textures whose overall silhouette mimics cascading fabric yet has all the glowing warmth of the ceramic it’s outer skin is made of. Marset unveiled the prototype of this lamp – designed by Xavier Mañosa of Barcelona-based studio Apparatu in collaboration with the Berlin studio Mashallah – at the Milan Furniture Fair this year. Now, a few months later, it hangs in London’s small chain, the bakery-cum-café Gail’s Bread.

Gail’s Bread bakeries respect the tradition of old-fashioned venues without sacrificing functionality and sophistication. Their premises eschew the homogeneous, anonymous aesthetic of high-street chains in favour of inviting, modern, impeccably well-designed interiors. They also take as a given that their bread is hand-made and great care is taken over how it’s presented. Like the bread it casts its light on, the warm-looking Pleat Box is hand-crafted, the perfect climax for a cosy environment.

Manufactured by Marset, the design is available in four sizes – from 13 to 47cm in diameter – and in white, grey or tecarrotta with the inner part in white enamel or gold.

Xavier Mañosa is one of the most interesting ceramicists working today. Although he trained as an industrial designer, he is originally from a family of ceramicists. Until 2009, he worked in Berlin; he later returned to the family’s studio in Barcelona and set up his own workshop called Apparatu. To date, what stands out about his work is its daring mixing of materials and exploration of new forms.

Interior Design: Louise Davies, from Box 9 Design Ltd.