The contemporary brand executes a mono-form design concept to perfection, with a wide range of lifestyle products inspired by the Bakelite ball.

We first came across innovative Belgian brand Tamawa at Baselworld 2017. The relatively young company was founded by Hubert Verstraeten, who also plays an active role in design for the company. The unique name is Japanese for “ball on steel ring”, but all Tamawa products are 100 % made in Belgium.

What really makes this lifestyle brand stand out was the unique mono-form design concept across the entire product range. You might have recognized that the brand’s identity is firmly tied to Bakelite, an early plastic that was invented by a Belgian-American inventor over a century ago.

Bakelite is the same material that snooker and billiard balls are made from. The idea came about when Hubert Verstraeten met with a Belgian snooker ball manufacturer, which would then go on to supply a special resin to the designer to make his watches and eventually jewellery pieces.

This mono-form design also makes is relatively easy to have a red thread running throughout the entire product range. The company employs the talents of up and coming designers, artists and silversmiths to create a very colourful and contemporary product line.

On offer we have everything from jewellery, to salt and pepper mills, coat stands, wall hooks, and even lighting systems. All pieces have a unique shine and are quite durable. They also come in a wide range of bold colours - in fact all official colours that snooker balls are available in: white, blue, yellow, purple, black, orange, red and pink

But what I’m really interested in is their watches. The two emblematic pieces comprising the collection are the TW27 and TW35 watches, designed by Hubert Verstraeten himself. Again, a Bakelite ball is at the core of the design, complemented by a spherical dial and usually a double bracelet.

I also enjoy the simplicity in the naming of the different models. There is the “Small Watch” option which comes in a 27 mm Bakelite casing, and the “Big Watch” which is larger at 35 mm. It’s hard to make a mistake about choosing the wrong size in this case.

Watch prices range from € 255 to € 286 depending on the size. Each can be customized online, with plenty of case colours to choose from, as well as two different options for the watch hands.

For those who can’t decide one way or another, there is also the option to purchase a whole set, allowing the different components to be interchanged. The set comes packaged nicely in a case which looks more like a snooker set than a watch collection, which certainly makes these Tamawa pieces conversation starters.