Polymathic designer Samuel Ross – who founded London-based label A-Cold-Wall* in 2015 – has built his career on collaboration, creating a vast output which spans fashion, furniture, fragrance, industrial design and technology through partnerships with Hublot, Nike, Beats by Dre, Acqua di Parma and more. Each is rooted in craft and experimentation – something Ross has previously credited to his upbringing, with parents who were both artists and dabbled across mediums. ‘I’m the product of a highly educated household that values art and material,’ he told Wallpaper* on the launch of a furniture collection at Design Miami in 2021. ‘There [has always been] this narrative of making and craft.’
His latest A-Cold-Wall* collaboration, with American footwear label Timberland on a version of its signature lug-soled boots, is no different. ‘I think it's good to start with what Timberland means from a cultural and historic standpoint, [and] craft is one of the key focal points which comes to mind,’ Ross says of the project, which coincides with the style’s 50th anniversary. ‘I think this notion of tension and durability and sustenance – these were all underpinning topics that were quite key to ensuring when we started this design process.’
