Brothers and studio partners Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec value the openness their relationship brings to their design work—a process they liken to art because, for them, it’s about using one’s talents to make something people enjoy. They credit design greats from the past with giving them a solid foundation, including mid-century Americans like the Eameses, whose work made modernism humane, and Italians from the 1970s and ’80s, who translated its aspirations for contemporary living.