For our first Pogo Meets article we thought we’d take some time to learn a little more about Lex Pott, the Dutch designer behind the Twist candles that have found their way into homes across the world in recent years. Pogo meets will act as a brief narrative about a particular designer featured on our site, interjected with their selections of their favourite releases across the arts.

Lex Pott’s interest in design is strongly linked to his parents, who instilled him with an interest in art and all things creative from a young age. This led to him studying at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, where graduated cum laude in 2009.

Following his graduation Lex founded and slowly began to build his own design studio, Studio Lex Pott which he has continued to run whilst juggling freelance and commissioned work for clients including Decoratori Bassanesi, Fonderica Artistica Battaglia, La Cornue, Nomess Copenhagen and Hay.

Although he may currently be best recognised for his sculptural candles, Lex’s design practice is far more varied than this and includes furniture, home appliances, ceramic tiles, stationary and decorative vases. 

In fact, Pott’s popular Twist candles are a relatively new addition to his portfolio and were born out of an unfortunate studio mishap following the production of another of his candle designs. A heatwave during the Dutch summer of 2020 caused stock of the Pillar candle he designed for Hay to melt and bend in his Rotterdam studio. After the initial panic and hysteria this created, Lex grew to appreciate wax’s malleable nature and recognised it as a feature that could be utilised in the design process. This led to a period of experimentation in combining the fluidity of wax with the solid state of the candle, which ultimately resulted in the Twist.

The launch of the Twist also coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately for Pott and us the candles are made in-house in his Rotterdam studio, which meant the candles could continue to be made and distributed despite the downturn in production experienced worldwide.

The closure of workplaces bought on by the pandemic has forced many of us to work from home and re-evaluate how we view, live in and interact with our private spaces. Pott’s candles provide a fun and functional accessory that compliments our new perspective of the world. 

Cancellations or postponements of commissioned projects also allowed Lex and his team to turn their attention to personal projects such as a series of checkered furniture.

As the world began to slowly open up earlier this year and Pott released what is arguably the most niche project of his career, a collection of 3 wax blocks and stickers in collaboration with Dutch skateboard and clothing label Pop Trading Company. The wax blocks, which are used by skateboarders to reduce friction between their boards and the curbs, benches and ledges they slide and grind on were launched with an event in which a series or skate able objects, also designed by Pott were placed in a public square in Amsterdam for free use by all. Pott, who grew up skateboarding himself, describes the project as an ideal combination between his childhood and current career as a designer. The best of both worlds. 

Thinking about this comment made us think about Lex’s work from a different perspective and appreciate the underlying themes of playfulness, colour and imagination in his work. There’s always something extra in the work he creates. There’s always a little… twist! 

Shop Lex Pott here