For most people, the morning is often a rush. But for Sophie Lou Jacobsen, it's the opposite: a suspended, almost choreographed moment. With "The Continental Collection," the French-American designer based in New York moves away from pure functionalism to explore what she calls a "sensitive materiality," where objects become vehicles for emotion and memory.
Trained in the school of feeling as much as form, Sophie Lou Jacobsen infuses her creations with a soul that is often lacking in contemporary design. For this collection, her largest to date, she drew from a fascinating imaginary library: the ancient curves of Egyptian ewers, the chromatic rigor of Italian glassware from the early to mid-20th century, and the understated elegance of classic hotel breakfast services.
Conceived as an ode to the gestures of a continental European breakfast, "The Continental Collection" is rooted in both collective and personal memory. Each piece celebrates these discreet rituals—setting the table, picking up a still-warm cup, arranging a few pieces of fruit—that transform the everyday into a space of presence and attentiveness. Spray-painted glass and silver plating converse here with a deliberate nostalgia, nourished by cinematic references dear to Sophie Lou Jacobsen—Marguerite Duras's India Song and Agnieszka Holland's The Secret Garden—and lend the series a melancholic sweetness, as if patinated by time.
The collection comprises nine iconic breakfast objects, reinterpreted through a sculptural and subtly contemporary lens: a silver toast holder, a jam jar, bowls, and glass cups with delicately designed handles. Each piece seems to tell a story, oscillating between domestic use and an almost ceremonial object.
At the heart of this display sits The Apple Jar, a glass sugar bowl shaped like an apple, a true totem of the collection. Inspired by the designer's childhood, it embodies her philosophy: transforming an intimate memory into an object capable of generating new rituals and memories within us.
Available in three shades – transparent, cobalt blue, green, and black – as well as in a limited edition in green and pink, this series invites you to slow down. Grasping the handle of a mug or opening a jar of jam gently invites you to leave the autopilot of daily life and enter into a kind of domestic celebration imbued with aesthetics, where days begin and memories are made.
