What has been one of your biggest learnings since establishing Buster + Punch nine years ago?

Massimo Buster Minale: Being a creative person, who loves making stuff, has led to Buster + Punch’s extensive product range. We are trying to tell a horizontal story, so you can shop between categories. Historically, the interior space has been characterised by vertical brands that just do one thing. 

This leads to the biggest lesson; if you want to have a successful business, at some point, you need to turn off the machines and concentrate on the infrastructure side of the business which I did learn late. Part of our charm is that we do make lots of products, but part of our fault – the reason I’m not on a Lilo in the Bahamas – is that we are not as business savvy [laughs].

Metal is synonymous with Buster + Punch. Why do you love working with metal?

Massimo Buster Minale: When making custom motorbike parts, you have to use solid metal. The cross-knurl pattern that you see on a lot of our products is a hangover from making motorbike parts. In the early days, we just used the same machines; the same processes; the same solid metals. 

This was all at a time when interior products were very lightweight – you could only find solid metal products in America. We wanted to be true to ourselves and saw a gap in the market for a more permanent product in the interior fitting space that also felt better underhand. It’s a lot harder to build with solid metals and it’s more expensive, so we try to make it good value for the consumer. 

Part of our aesthetic is all around the making process. We were the first to bring cross-knurl into interiors twelve years ago. Craftsmanship is now a look and a texture; rather than how you put something together. 

Buster + Punch currently encompasses cabinet and door hardware, electricity, lighting, furniture, lifestyle and now kitchens. How do you ensure the brand’s defining qualities are not lost as your range grows?

Massimo Buster Minale: When it comes to what products we will tackle, we have two main checkboxes. The first is, ‘has it been done before?’ We love to unearth forgotten things around the home and consider what hasn’t been tackled properly. We change the way it looks, and also try to change the way people emotionally connect with these traditionally boring things. 

Secondly, we ask ourselves if someone else has done a nice version of a product, ‘is it the best value for the customer?’ That’s how we tackle products.

My main bugbear being in this space is designing for design’s sake – making waste, wasting energy and wasting people’s energy. If it’s been done well before, don’t do it. 

It’s really important that we are original and bring something new to the market every time we make a product.

How you are changing people’s perception of certain interior products at Buster + Punch?

Massimo Buster Minale: Architects and designers have always loved the little details such as light switches and door handles. But for the general public, this stuff is an afterthought. People often don’t see the value in what are actually the most important parts of your home; you touch them all the time, and you only put them on the walls once.

To get people excited, you have to change the way they emotionally feel about something. Fashion brands have been doing it for years, through a beautiful retail experience, a beautiful box, and lifestyle content. We’ve tried to bring that to the light switch. That’s why we align ourselves with exciting talent and put them next to our product.

You’re an avid collaborator. Why is this important to Buster + Punch?

Massimo Buster Minale: From day one, we’ve had a great little community of fashion designers, street artists, tattooists, bike builders, friends and family that we have always worked with to make things. 

We always tried to collaborate with people and brands outside of interiors, mainly from the fashion and music industry, to get all of those eyeballs and energy into interiors. Recently we collaborated with Travis Barker, which was odd to some people. We were featured in both Elle Decor and Vogue Living – and at the same time, glossy magazines like People and US Weekly. We want to ruffle feathers and get people talking – whether they love or hate us. We do a lot of things outside of interiors because it rubs people up the wrong way, which we like.

Would you attribute Buster + Punch’s success to your appreciation of the intersection between fashion, music and architecture?

Massimo Buster Minale: Yes. Traditionally interior brands have been set up to offend the least amount of people and sell as many products as possible. We try to split a room and create debate and emotion. 

We’ve applied a fashion brand mindset; from the product to the unboxing, to the content, to the relationships. That’s the magic. We call ourselves a ‘home fashion’ brand because we do see ourselves at this intersection.

We want to bring new people into interiors and be as close as possible to popular culture. To do that, you need to have something exciting to talk about. 

We were fortunate to feature your home last year which is essentially a “test bed” for Buster + Punch samples. What is the importance of crafting by hand and prototyping the Buster + Punch range in this way?

Massimo Buster Minale: You used the word testbed – I would probably use the word graveyard [laughs]. My house is full of products that never saw the light of day which is quite fun – we’ve made everything from staircases to baby gates. But we aren’t just ‘greasy guys’ in a garage. We are constantly innovating, particularly around LED technology. We want to be at the forefront of crafting through originality and innovation.

My house also includes lots of products and art from brands and friends I really admire. I try to surround myself with stuff that other people make because it’s inspiring. 

You live in Stockholm with your family. How does this city, the connection to nature and Swedish culture, influence the way you design?

Massimo Buster Minale: I’ve lived in London for most of my life. It’s an amazing city – it has lots of energy and opportunity – but it can be quite hard to live in. The moment you leave, you soften up a little bit, which makes it hard to go back. But we deliberately put London in our logo – because it’s a constant inspiration for us. 

The main things we take from Scandinavian design are; affordability and how well something can be made and cost so little. We try to tap into the fact that everyone in Scandinavia loves design. Scandinavia is a great testbed – if products work in Scandinavia, they’re going to work in the world. But we’re still unashamedly London and UK.