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Murano Glass and Modern Forms Meet in the New Blue Green Works Collection
For his new Garden collection, Peter Staples of Blue Green Works has worked with Murano glass artists for the first time. Photos: Paola Pansini
When Peter Staples released Palm, his first lighting collection under the studio name Blue Green Works, in the spring of 2021, it was an immediate smash. Made from sheets of fused glass and inspired by beachy modernism – sea glass, palm trees, Fire Island Pines cedar plank texture – the lamps easily found a home in all kinds of spaces, including my own living room. Although Staples’ new Garden series also plays with floral visuals — its fern-like leaves are a softer version of Palm’s slabs — the new collection feels different from that first outing in every way but one: It, too, feels destined to be a classic.
For the Garden, Staples worked for the first time in Italy with Murano glassblowers, using the bold feather and leaf motif often seen on decorated chanels like this one. In more than seven pieces, Staples pairs these Baroque petals with modern elements in mirror-polished brass and steel, creating a delicious contrast. But perhaps Garden’s great mobility is what inspired it: While earlier works called for a rubric of visual references, Staples here turned inward, using what he calls “the emotional words of another language” after his mother’s death. And while the pieces are steeped in heartbreak, they come across to the casual viewer as curious, even joyful. In a single glowing channel, bright petals burst from the center course, like the fountains of Miss Piggy’s legend. In others, the petals bend and nod along a central axis, like workers eating lunch atop a skyscraper. (Film references may not be accidental; Staples studied cinematography as an undergrad.) But perhaps none of this is surprising, because the real talent of Staples as a designer is his ability to channel a multitude of personal references – from tattoos to beach communities to his private grief – into a film that is evocative, unusual and unpleasant but not unpleasant. to despise anyone.
Brussels Birdhouse Exhibition Asks “What Makes a Home?”
Selections from the birdhouse exhibition at MAD Brussels include Linde Freya Tangelder and Audrey Large (above) and James Shaw and Studio Hanna Whitehead (below). Photos: Sam Gilbert
In recent years, there have been many object-specific exhibits devoted to items such as ashtrays, paperweights, hooks, and candle holders — even one, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, of site-specific birdhouses. However, none of this prevents us from enjoying Home Sweet Home to the extreme, anewbirdhouse exhibition at MAD Brussels, curated by Swiss designer Connie Hüsser. In addition to showing what these types of exhibitions usually do – namely the diverse talents and identities of its participating designers – Home Sweet Home explores the very concept of living space, using the perches of our smallest creatures to express meaning. What does ‘home’ mean today, and who is it really for?” the show asks. “In uncertain times… home is more than just a physical place; it is a refuge, a place of safety, self-awareness, and care.”
It is also extremely beautiful. Hüsser asked 75 designers to participate, and the birdhouses on view include a beehive-shaped plastic cone by James Shaw; a series of ledges made of milled and lacquered tulipwood by Linde Freya Tangelder; and an Addams Family-style goth house with black moiré fabric by Jenna Kaës. Some designers were literally house-like in their offerings; Philippe Malouin created a roofed vessel that highlights the beauty of the endgrain, while Julien Renault and Levi Dethier offer a corrugated aluminum structure reminiscent of a temporary shelter. Some were more reasonable. In Rein Reitsma’s trio of boomerang-shaped structures made of climbing rope, the circular central gap is the only nod to its intended use. The Shishi San birdhouse is actually a tea cloth. And Adrianus Kundert weaves a house with gift ribbons, wrapped in rings on top – just something to attract little worms. And speaking carefully, although the Swedish designer Simon Klenell made his aviary out of glass, the pattern of ground “bricks” would prevent the creatures from being able to smash its walls, confused. It will be on view until April 25.
Kalon’s New Pieces are a Subtly Chic Take on a Classic
Kalon’s Material Studies II series reimagines the popular collection with mirror aluminum and richly colored stones.
In many designers’ practices, there is the excitement of a collection release and then a time of dismantling, where the designer can explore new themes, new directions, and new forms. But LA-based studio Kalon works differently. Their new works often visit existing ones; they will preserve the essential DNA of the piece while exploring how different elements can shape the vision. “There is constant pressure on our delivery industry [novelty],” says Michaele Simmering, founder of Kalon. “We’re very interested in whether a form can endure — whether it can travel through different places, different contexts, and cultural times and still retain its integrity.”
Kalon’s latest example of this approach comes with their Material Studies II collection, which launched last week and includes a coffee table, bench, and chairs. The new collection is based on the types of their solid wood Cube + Void series, but here the pieces are found in mirrored aluminum and colorful quartzite and marble. But rather than simply adding new elements, Simmering and his colleague Johann Pauwen rearranged the pieces in response to them. In the new material palette, the pieces may be smaller and more delicate; more Bauhausian and less Arts & Crafts-y; they are more aware of how they play each other, with a glimmer of awareness from their past. In this way, Kalon’s methods remind me of the kind of spiral lessons popular in today’s progressive schools (and programs like Duolingo!). But they also remind me of what’s happening at a company like Chanel right now, with Matthieu Blazy remaking a classic Coco suit using things like ribbed wool, chains, and iridescence. Proving that the best brands know that the way forward is to always look to the past.
French Designer Furniture Pieces Were Once Incredibly Rare. A New Series of Programs Wants to Change That.
A new series of shows, by Magen H Gallery in collaboration with the estate of Hervé Baley, will be on view in New York.
I had never heard of French architect and designer Hervé Baley before I sat down to write this story, but it turns out there’s a good reason for that. Although Bailey – who rejected the ideas of his compatriot Le Corbusier in favor of the natural principles of Frank Lloyd Wright – realized about 20 houses and buildings in France during the height of his career, most of his furniture was often specific to the designs that were built. As a result, the 120 or so works he designed in the mid-20th century suffer from a remarkable lack of marketability.
A new series of shows, presented by Magen H Gallery in New York in collaboration with the late artist’s estate, seeks to change that. On view this month at the Greenwich Village gallery is a selection of 14 pieces, all faithfully reconstructed in plywood from Baley’s original drawings, models, and archives; no new stylistic flourishes are introduced. And why should they be? The new programs are not only beautiful as they are – a favorite is the sofa with arms that extend like wings – but if you look at these pictures and it is clear that Baley’s designs have been inspiring today’s generation of French interior designers for many years. Baley was concerned about how his works would fit into the space they were in, but it turned out that they could also have universal appeal. A richly textured scene by Alban Roger – in which individual panels form a chair suspended from ropes like marionettes within a diorama – concludes the exhibition. It will be on view until April 24.
Editor’s List
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT:
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Today’s Editor’s List is sort of a Good Corpse of a few different themes that I’ve either long loved or just discovered I love – square side tables, voids, appliances, small feet, and silverware among them. It started, surprisingly, with one of my favorite designers, EJR Barnes, who recently released not only this beautiful glass table on red balletic feet but also a pearwood club chair placed on silver croissant legs.
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The Klaebe table by Australian design studio Saturday Yard Work is made from raw wood sourced from local farmers paired with cast aluminium. In other pieces aluminum has a strong, solid quality, but I prefer this table with an organic base paired with a geometric top.
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This chair with an empty square behind it was released in Collectible last month by Unveiled Collective, a group of interior design graduates from LUCA School of Arts Ghent and Brussels. Designed by Louisa Moerman, it is made of four interlocking aluminum plates, no joining or welding required.
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Last but not least is this beautiful aqua stoneware table with flaming feet by Lápiz Objects, the art practice of Izaid Barr, a psychologist and artist of Mexican origin, who now lives and works in Los Angeles. The shine of his Monolito ceramic table, which I originally reviewed on the Hammer & Spear site, is a chef’s kiss.
News
Starring Kimy Grignoire and Emily Thurman in St. Vincents in Antwerp. Photos: Eline Willaert
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On April 18 at St Vincents in Antwerp Meet Me in the Middle, an exhibition of seven female designers focusing on the intersection of jewelry and furniture; it is not “an exhibition of self-adornment, but one of transference: how permanent jewelry can change when it is unchained from the body and lifted into space.” This means things like Madeline Coven’s pewter inlay tables; Emily Thurman’s wooden rocking chair, which is hung with dangling, earring-like metal pendants; incandescent metal lamps by Hannah Kuhlmann; and Kimy Grignoire’s curved, heart-shaped lamps look nothing like a part of a Best Friends necklace.
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It’s a decent afternoon if you’re in New York’s Greenwich Village this month at that Magen H show (above). Stop by Demisch Denant, too, where there’s a gorgeous postwar metal exhibit through April 25. (I especially like this leatherette chair on the coiled springs.)
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Everything about America’s airports has gotten worse this year, but one bright spot is the installation of Sean Gerstley at Terminal A in Philadelphia. Curated by Helen Cahng and presented by Superhouse, Immediate Earth showcases Gerstley’s compact, colorful work with ceramic vessels – milled, tiled credenzas, and totemic lamps among them. It will be screened on April 8.