The British designer’s art pieces give glass table tops the impression of water flowing over bases made of rock, steel, wood or concrete
The London Carpenters Workshop Gallery has sent us the following press release:
Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London presents a new body of work by Paul Cocksedge until December 18, 2020. The acclaimed London-based designer uses industrial sheets of glass to create a collection of limited edition and unique design through complex processes, giving the rigid, flat material an unexpected softness and fluidity.
For the 8 tables, the glass is stretched under high temperatures and ‘slumped’ over industrial and natural materials including concrete, steel, wood and rock. The glass reacts in different ways each time, creating one-of-a-kind pieces.
The tables‘ bases appear to be under a water surface, e.g. in The Rock whichs gives the same allusion as a river running over a bolder, or in the The Bubble which is made of metal tubing and creates a soft drop-like surface.
Each piece is the result of collaboration with dozens of skilled craftspeople in the UK, utilising specialised techniques and machines. Cocksedge comments: “Across the course of my career I’ve visited hundreds of factories, full of flat, rigid sheets of various materials – I’ve always felt that this flatness has a visual tension, and I wanted to explore how to relax and soften that, giving the material space to breathe out.“
And more: “The pieces themselves are a simple visual gesture, but the process behind them was complex. The challenge was how to transform something that has been made flat and rework it, while avoiding putting ‘stress’ back into the glass.”
Paul Cocksedge is an internationally acclaimed British designer, who has spent nearly two decades building a reputation for innovative design infused with the sense of simplicity, joy and wonder that has come to characterise his work. Together with Joana Pinho, he co-founded Paul Cocksedge Studio in London in 2004. With a strong and dedicated team of collaborators, the Studio has won national and international acclaim for its original and innovative design, underpinned by research into the limits of technology, materials and manufacturing processes. The key feature of the Studio’s work, in everything from product design to architectural projects, is a focus on simplicity and imagination in order to create unique people-centred designs. At the core of this focus lies an unrelenting attention to detail, a willingness to question previous assumptions about design, and an eagerness to take on a wide-ranging array of projects.
In 2013, Cocksedge presented his first solo show at the Friedman Benda Gallery in New York and in 2017 partnered with the gallery and Beatrice Trussardi to show an exhibition of pieces during Milan Design Week, made from materials excavated from the foundations of his own studio. In 2019 he designed Swire Properties’ VIP Lounge at Art Basel Hong Kong and in the same year was selected as the Landmark Designer at London Design Festival. Cocksedge’s interactive installation, ‘Please Be Seated’ at LDF transformed Broadgate and received global recognition in the press and with the worldwide design community. Cocksedge has collaborated with major brands including British Land, Swire Properties, Swarovski, Fendi, NHS, BMW, as well as private clients, and his work is included in collections at the V&A, MoMA and Vitra Design Museum. His work has received accolades from Wallpaper*, the Design Museum, Homes & Gardens and the German Design Council.
Carpenters Workshop Gallery: From Functional Art to Collectible Design, today Carpenters Workshop Gallery produces and exhibits functional sculptures by international rising and established artists or designers going outside their traditional territories of expression. Actively involved in the research and production of limited edition works, the gallery’s choices are guided by seeking an emotional, artistic and historical relevance and breaking boundaries between art and design. The gallery relies on the partnership of childhood friends, Julien Lombrail and Loïc le Gaillard. They first opened a space in London’s Chelsea in 2006 in a former carpenter’s workshop; they now operate four galleries globally in London, Paris, New York, and more recently in San Francisco. In 2015, the gallery opened The Workshop in Roissy, a unique 8,000 square meters space dedicated to artistic research bringing together the elite of artisans. Today, Carpenters Workshop Gallery is recognized as a leading gallery for contemporary collectible design.
Photos: Carpenters Workshop Gallery
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(01.20.2020, USA: 10.01.2020)
