"...The case had its beginning
when I entered into the Art Exhibition.
To buy furniture that was my goal
In the newest, newest style.
There were chairs made out of human bodies
And even out of naked women,
there were books that were tables,
In the place of music stands there were octopuses,
Instead of lamps there were fire tongs,
Instead of footstools there were boa-constrictors,
Over the bookcases scrambled young scamps
And the glasses perched on iron poles.
And that was just exactly what I wanted.
It cost, of course, an ingot of gold,
But then as a reward,
My entire apartment glittered in the newest style..."
Kory Towska
"We inhabit the space between art and design, function and sculpture - the area where one thing floats into another."From the book Furnish, describing the work shown here
Furniture ensemble exhibited in the Greenwich Village Design Art Gallery, London. Pieces are made from tropical hardwood decorated with inlays depicting animal skeletons. It recalls Art Deco as well as Flemish Art and is proposed as a precious collector's set. The inlays were cut using high-tech lasers and assembled by expert craftsmen.
"We wanted to create a collection that is exclusive for the quality of the materials and techniques; haute couture products that will last at least a hundred years," says Studio Job.
Studio Job are clearly great designers, and this piece and others by the team of Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel are beautifully constructed heirlooms, but I disagree with the contention that 'high-tech' lasers constitutes haute couture.
I'm for the democratization of Art and the process of making it. The advent of digital technology in general, and CNC technology in this particular case, has given every one of us the possibility to create pieces such as these. Short run and prototype technology is within all our reach.
The Perished Collection is beautiful, and serves as motivation for all artists to think outside the confines of his or her chosen discipline. There are many companies out there that will take your vector drawing and convert it into custom inlay. Pretty much every woodwork or sign shop has a CNC machine, so let's get to work!
Here's a great interview with Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel of Studio Job. I love the freedom with which they approach design. There's a complete lack of creative constraint which is extremely refreshing, and very inspirational. (Thanks Arthur for pointing me towards that).
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Thank you for having the guts to put these ideas on your blog for our edification. It's refreshing.
ReplyDeleteSeth Godin, my marketing mentor, coined the term 'edge craft'. In his book Purple Cow he says "Nope, what's missing isn't the ideas. It's the will to execute them" and "My goal in Purple Cow is to make it clear that it's safer to be risky - to fortify your desire to do truly amazing things. Once you see that the old ways have nowhere to go but down, it becomes even more imperative to create things worth talking about".
So Bravo to Studio Job for having the will to create things worth talking about, and to you for talking about them!
Exactly! Thank you for posting.
ReplyDeletePerished Collection is pure Purple Cow. As Godin said; "try being outrageous, just for the sake of being annoying. It's good practice."
Great example of the continuing desire even in the machine age (or digital age, or some combination thereof) to decorate our objects with decorative and meaningful motifs. I love this piece!
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