The ethos of FEHLO, an artisan goods design company, can be summed up in a single query, or perhaps a many-layered question. Founder Zac Lopez-Ibanez’s journey to energize a community of makers and connect them with consumers began with a personal quest.
“What can I do with my skill set that inspires me on a daily basis?” he pondered. “It’s the ongoing question that we all have: what is it that I can do that really makes me happy?”
Rather than produce each high-end home good himself, Lopez-Ibanez uses FEHLO as a platform to showcase talented artisans who specialize in making lighting, furnishings, and kitchen goods.
The boutique company is especially known for its innovative kitchen products.
FEHLO creates a link between makers and buyers by prototyping and facilitating limited-run productions of everything from sleek pizza peels to high-end pendant lights.
“My idea was to start to frame handmade in a completely different way,” he explains. “To show people that things can be made in a low-volume production way by hand, but still have the highest quality.”
The crux of this concept is a streamlined production process that makes the pieces affordable and accessible to many different demographics.
FEHLO’s concept gained national attention when the company won “Best in Show” at the Dwell on Design conference, hosted by the esteemed modern-design magazine Dwell.
“It was humbling. It was shocking,” he remembers. “You go to a show like that and there are maybe 1,000-plus exhibitors. We’re such a small fish in this massive sea.”
Lopez-Ibanez says his company’s focus on American-made goods stood out to jurors, especially in a field where many home furnishings are produced in China.
FEHLO’s commitment to collaboration between U.S.-based makers and the goods they create can be seen in Lopez-Ibanez’s contribution to The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design’s “Made in WNC” exhibit, on display through January 9.
Its contribution is a deconstructed chair that appears to be blown apart, presented as a schematic. Every element of the chair floats in mid-air, with architectural lines explaining how each maker is involved in the production of the piece.
It’s an understated yet complex work that reveals the handmade details that set FEHLO’s work apart from mass-produced products, and honors the creative process on a large scale.
“In this day and age, we no longer need to be the one-off studio artist trying to sweat through it to make one object,” he reflects. “We want to take that veil away.”
FEHLO is located at 333 Merrimon Ave. in Asheville. 828-774-5777, www.fehlo.com. The “Made in WNC” exhibit at the Benchspace Gallery & Workshop at the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (67 Broadway, Asheville) runs through January 9. www.craftcreativitydesign.org.