"If Design Were..." with Ty Best

CASTE is a unique Montana studio that creates unusual, severe and obscurely chic furniture and objects. Co-founder and designer, Ty Best, draws his inspiration from the area's vast, intoxicating landscape. The futuristic, primitive sensibility of the pieces plays on a humble Montana aesthetic, juxtaposed with a fervent luxe twist. Much of Ty's work is inspired by architecture and nature, and the Montana landscape is often referenced by the vertical and horizontal planes in his pieces and how they interact with one another.

I was introduced to the wonderful world of CASTE by designer Kara Mann, who carries the line at her namesake, multi-line showroom in Chicago. “My clients want interiors that look timeless but that have unexpected, gutsy elements, too,” she says. Last month, Kara's office put me in touch with Ty, and we had a little chat about his inspirations. I thought he'd make a perfect contender for my ongoing series, "If Design Were...," so without further ado, let's play "If Design Were..." with Ty Best of CASTE:

SY: If design were an object?

TB: "A brilliant, undiscovered Mangiarotti vessel, covered in dust and remaining that way!"

SY: ...a food?

TB: "Fresh honeycomb...from a friend."

SY: ...a moment?

TB: "Sharing a cupcake with Carol Christian Poell."

SY: ...a memory?

TB: "The smell while painting ceramics with my mother."

SY: ...a place?

TB: "The place in which I design pieces where people do not understand them [...] The tension is beautifully psychotic, and clearly shows."

SY: ...a song

TB: "Thom Yorke singing "Spinning Plates" backwards!"

SY: ...an era?

TB: "The "future primitive" era that will soon happen...that is what I am designing for."

SY: ...a person?

TB: "Any lucky person who sat next to Martin Margiela for they learned something very valuable."

SY: ...a city?

TB: "NYC...makes me feel like less of an outsider...Very freeing."