Have you ever thought about what it takes to name a product? What the process behind it is?

We are here to address this subject. As you may have noticed, each and every one of our products has a special and unique name. 

Allow us to give you a sneak peek behind the curtains of Gabriela Seres studio and present to you the process of naming the creations.

What influences the naming of our products?

First of all, we must tell you that the creation process of a product can take even up to one year. The process is continuous and laborious. Throughout the entire creative process, the product is given new forms and details until it develops into its final shape. 

The leg of the Shino candelabra is characteristic for the entire collection. The arms of the candelabra start from the stem and grow upwards organically, natural, similar to the branches of a bamboo. 

The product gets its name only after it’s been finished. The best suitable name is selected from a shortlist of three to five names written in separate languages. Sometimes the name comes naturally, as it happened with the Estrelas collection. Estrelas comes from the tiny glowing dots on the vault of a kettle or a vase, as seen by human eye in the bas-relief of the product.

Behind the name: origin and meaning

Looking at the provenance of a product’s name, what we can say for sure is that it comes from different places, cultures or languages. The decision of naming a product may be influenced by:

• what inspires us when we observe the creation;
• what the creation has to tell & its own and personal story;
• what the products inspire (as also source of inspiration in the design) where we discuss what decisions have been made while drawing the designs of the products.

For example, Artemis Candelabra gets its name from the illustrious and admired Ancient
Greek deity. Paul resembles Petru (in English: Peter), two names that are complementary and elegant for the candelabra and candle holders collection. The simple and elegant structure of the creations inspired the Romanian names that resemble the design.

Another example is Carmen, a distinguished and elegant name that is representative for the whole collection. It has one simple, supple leg and it denotes gentility and refinement just as the name. The leg, the shape of the diamond and the form of the cup can be found in all the pieces that form the collection.

 We humanize the products

For us, here at Gabriela Seres studio, the process of naming a product is more of an emotional process. Even if the name is discussed and selected from an array of other proposed names, if the name doesn’t express the feeling that the product gives, it won’t be chosen.

The designs are a symbiosis between the aesthetic taste and the emotion of the artist and hence the name must express a deep and clear feeling. We are not just selling products, but trying to transmit an emotion, a feeling.

The names we give are not selected at random, but inspired by the inner self from each and every one of us here at Gabriela Seres studio. What we are trying to do is to assign life properties to products, transforming them from inanimate objects to animate. This way we create a strong personal relationship with the object.

The symbiosis between the name and the design gives, in the end, the final product. We can’t imagine a product that has no name, for example just a number. The completeness of it is given in the end, when a name has been chosen. The emotion of the name transfers into the design and vice-versa.

For example, Lys comes from the name of a flower that in French means water lily or lily flower. This is the motif that inspired us to create its organic design.

Elsewhere, Eleanor is a very old French name. It belonged to many distinguished women, wives of kings from France and England, but also the wife of Theodore Roosevelt. 

The Eleanor collection of decanters and glasses steers our imagination to the wines and the specialities that can be tasted in these special glasses. Having in mind that the French are the biggest and the best wine producers in the world, the name has been selected in order to honour their tradition.

In the end…

Our products are more about emotion, feeling, may it be inspired by nature, music or art but the name is important and creates an interdependent relationship with the design. It helps to establish a product from its first shape to the moment it develops into its final form.

Combining the inspiration that lead to the product’s design, the influences, the feeling and in the end, the name, creates a unity that we aim for in order to express a sensation along with the utility of the creation.