DESIGN PROCESS
We believe good design comes from intuitive feeling. Throughout our design process, we let our intuition guide us. We think about our designs in relation to the aesthetic and function of space, and how people feel within the space. We listen to what people are looking for, but cannot find, or what types of designs resonate with them. We follow ideas that spark our curiosity to see what new design ideas emerge.
INSPIRATION
We explore ideas from art and design history, natural forms, and simple ideas of shape, color, space, and texture. We collect objects and images that create a sense of fascination. We allow our memories to influence the feeling of connection with what we collect for inspiration. Once we have explored and soaked our senses in new ideas, we begin to imagine what we will design.
INSPIRATION
We explore ideas from art and design history, natural forms, and simple ideas of shape, color, space, and texture. We collect objects and images that create a sense of fascination. We allow our memories to influence the feeling of connection with what we collect for inspiration. Once we have explored and soaked our senses in new ideas, we begin to imagine what we will design.
Pen to Paper to Product
From preliminary concepts, we explore ideas to see what resonates. Within each concept we exhaust all the possibilities that we can think of, often leading to hundreds of sketches. Collaboratively, we edit down to the most meaningful iterations. Creating samples and considering fabrication techniques and materials is very much a collaborative process with our in-house team, our expert suppliers, and technical advisors. As simple as our designs are, they are the product of a long process from concept to tangible object, and they embody the consideration we put into them from beginning to end.
Pen to Paper to Product
From preliminary concepts, we explore ideas to see what resonates. Within each concept we exhaust all the possibilities that we can think of, often leading to hundreds of sketches. Collaboratively, we edit down to the most meaningful iterations. Creating samples and considering fabrication techniques and materials is very much a collaborative process with our in-house team, our expert suppliers, and technical advisors. As simple as our designs are, they are the product of a long process from concept to tangible object, and they embody the consideration we put into them from beginning to end.
Made with integrity
At Circle & Line, we live in relationship to each other, our collaborators, our communities, and in consideration of the environment. We believe creating meaningful connections leads to more fulfilling lives, so it’s important for us to deeply consider people and the planet throughout the cycle of a product from design inception through the making process to living in someone’s home.
Small, slow, handcrafted production is the core of what we do. We have personal relationships with all the people who create our products and have immense respect for the skill and the care that they give each item in the making process. The majority of our products are created in our Austin-based design and fabrication studio, and we source natural materials from local suppliers. This reduces our carbon emissions and ensures dignified wages and a healthy workplace for our employees.
We believe that home objects should be designed with creativity and originality, produced with high-quality materials by skilled craftspeople, and made to last and be loved in homes for a lifetime.
We have a commitment to minimize our use of plastic, and all of our packaging materials are 95% post-consumer recycled materials.
CORIE HUMBLE
Corie has a background in painting and leather goods design, which influence her work at Circle & Line. She combines formal elements of composition and color from painting with patternmaking and production from leather goods design.
For every creative project at Circle & Line, Corie instills her pared down approach to the most essential elements of function with visual concepts that spark joy and curiosity. Her favorite part of the design process is knowing she has a personal connection with the objects she has thought about, obsessed over, researched, and envisioned—a connection that continues with everyone who takes these objects home.
Corie is inspired by artists like Max Bill, Lygia Clark, Bruno Munari, and Isamu Noguchi, not only by their design and craft, but also the ideas behind their work. Lygia Clark’s Bichos—which means“critter” in Portuguese—can be altered to create new compositions by whoever interacts with them, creating a relationship between viewer and sculpture. Or Noguchi’s fascination with technology, defining it not as a linear modern invention, but as tools that span human history from prehistoric times to now.
Corie is also inspired by haiku, a deceptively simple poetic form that can have profound meaning and humor, speaking to the human condition in a way that resonates timelessly.