Meet the maker: Sam Lander
We sat down with rising product designer Sam Lander to find out more about his striking concrete basin collection.
Part artist, part mad scientist, Sam Lander isn’t your typical bathroom product designer! With a background in 3D design, Sam spent many months experimenting in his Derbyshire-based workshop before eventually developing a technique so bold, he had to hand-build a specialist machine to bring his visions to life.
Sam hand-crafts his basins for Ripples by pouring coloured concrete into a mould which sits inside the purpose-built machine. The machine then spins rapidly, creating enough centrifugal force to mix the concrete together and push the mould up and out, forming the desired basin shape. Once sanded back and sealed, the aptly-named ‘Whirligig’ basins emerge with unique patterns and can be installed alongside any standard waste pipe and mixer for an entirely bespoke basin.
Sam, tell us a bit about yourself…
I’m an award-winning British designer and I simply love to design! I pretty much make the products that are in my head and always carry a sketchbook around with me to draw new designs as and when they come to me.
Where did your interest in design come from?
When I was very small, I was always building spaceships and trucks with Lego and this definitely started my love of designing and making. I don’t care what anyone else has to say, when playing with Lego you are designing things - just in spaceship form!
When did you decide that basins were the right product for you?
Quite late on to be honest. Originally, I used the process of spinning materials using centrifugal force to create shape and pattern for light pendants. I did this with a plaster-type material, however, after much experimenting with concrete, the concept eventually developed into the ‘Whirligig’ basin.
Why did you choose concrete?
Concrete has great potential as a material for a designer/ maker, as it changes state from a liquid to a solid.
How did you develop the method to achieve the finished look?
Many, many, many hours of experimenting and refining... fuelled by plenty of tea and biscuits!
Colour is clearly an important element to the basins, what’s your favourite colour combination and why?
Black and white with a splash of vibrant colour, in a marbled pattern choice. I love the monochrome marbled pattern as it reminds me of bold motifs from the sixties and the work of Marcello Morandini (a sixties artist that I love).
What do you want someone to feel when they see your basins?
Hopefully just WOW!
The Sam Lander collection is available from all Ripples showrooms.
See one of Sam Lander’s basins in a striking bathroom featured in our gallery.
