MATERIAL CULTURE

Pia Maria Raeder, Stardust mirror, 2019. Photo: Galerie BSL

Designers are getting more experimental with the materials they are using, driven by a focus on sustainability and a desire to break free from established rules, finds Melissa Feldman

Jie Wu, An Unexpected Journey, 2021.

Courtesy: Thomas Joseph Wright - Penguins egg for Gallery FUMI.

“There’s a lot going on with this new generation and what’s fascinating is how they’re plugged into historical ways of making things while generating materials that re-factor into new narratives,” says Marc Benda, owner of Friedman Benda, an art gallery in New York. “The materials you chose along with the mode of fabrication determine the outcome of the piece,” he adds. There is a shift to a more experimental approach, as makers fuse industrial with natural materials while leaning into craft. “It’s rare to find an architect-led practice. There’s a shift back to the studio, to direct authorship,” Benda says.

Since 2007, Friedman Benda has exhibited art and design by a range of talent including Italian design maestros Ettore Sottsass, Gaetano Pesce and Andrea Branzi, as well as international, next-gen creators such as Misha Khan, Nendo, Ini Archibong and Chris Schanck.

Schanck, who lives and works in Detroit, creates one-of-kind and limited-edition pieces from everyday and found materials including aluminum foil. “I collect the ordinary and ubiquitous,” says the 46-year old about his stockpile of objects such as fallen branches, broken chair legs and a cracked tail light incorporated into his furniture. “The process of transforming the objects into form is driven by intuition and practical constraints,” he says about his method illustrated with his Stuffed Shell Chair, an amalgamation of steel, polystyrene, polyurea, aluminum foil, resin, and mohair velvet.

(Left)(Above) Tuomas Markunpoika, Contra Naturam Floor Light, 2020.

Courtesy: Gallery FUMI.

“Designers will always be inspired by what surrounds them,” says Nina Yashar who shows a highly curated selection of contemporary and vintage design at her galleries Nilufar and Nilufar Depot in Milan, including works by Italians Gio Ponti and Lina Bo Bardi, as well as recent work by Londoner Bethan Laura Wood and Lebanese designer Khaled el Mays. “It also really changes based on their geographical position and what the territory offers. Now we are all seeing that designers are more and more keen on using sustainable materials or things that would otherwise go to waste. I embrace this approach as well,” she adds.

A designer such as Pia Maria Raeder has been known to repurpose leftover wood fragments into new work. Raeder, who lives in Munich, began her career as a political reporter and TV journalist before deciding to embark on a new endeavor, to build something that lasts. When she took a much-needed break from reporting she studied woodworking, learning the necessary craft and skills to produce a range of furniture, mirrors and lights produced from hundreds of rods and pearl pieces mechanically generated from beech wood. “All of my works are an abstract interpretation of nature,” she says. The wood is sourced from German forests, with the rods for the Sea Anemone Collection individually cut, sanded, arranged by hand and coated with layers of lacquer sprayed by hand. The pearls for her seating and mirrors for the Stardust Collection are coated in liquid silver. “It doesn’t distract you,” she says about the wood. “It has its own character, plain and simple,” she adds.

While international galleries are showcasing cutting-edge work in a variety of finishes, forms and materials, the production of avant-garde ceramics has become revelatory. According to New York dealer Cristina Grajales, “Since the pandemic, I have noticed a movement towards more basic materials such as wood, clay and metals. I think that it has to do with getting back to our essence, to our roots. Materials that make us think of belonging and earth. I think that this is why so many people now are interested in ceramics. It’s the sense of time and almost a spiritual moment when you lose yourself in the clay. It’s earthy,” she says.

Casey McCafferty, Sawdust Side Table, 2021.

Courtesy: Joe Kramm for Gallery FUMI

Artist Linda Lopez, who lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas, studied printmaking and sculpture before starting a practice emphasizing clay. The California native was deeply influenced by the Los Angeles clay scene including work by Richard Shaw, Ken Price and the California Funk movement. “Clay became a huge challenge,” says the 40-year old now recognized for her textured biomorphic ceramic sculptures inspired by microfiber dusters. Lopez’s Furry series, which first debuted in 2009 in mixed media, was later produced in ceramics. “I love the technical challenge, to pull and manipulate it to be what you want it to be,” she says. “I control the clay, it doesn’t control me.” Her pursuit in understanding this earthy substance and learning about its quirky chemistry continues even today.

Sam Pratt, co-founder with Valerio Capo of the London-based Gallery FUMI, acknowledges the use of the words “materials” and “materiality” often. “That’s at the core of what we do,” Pratt says. “No matter how much we like the work, we have to like them as people,” he explains, referring to a group of thirtysomethings they exhibit, including Tuomas Makunpolka, Study O’Portable, Casey McCafferty and newcomer Jui Wei.

Study O Portable, Fuzz Coffee Table (Blue).

Courtesy: Gallery FUMI.

Pratt describes the current trend toward more colorful palettes and offbeat materials used in creating the new visual vernacular. “They push the envelope,” he says when discussing the designers who FUMI exhibits – including Finnish-born, Berlin-based designer Tuomas Makunpolka, who is working with Tadelakt, a lime plaster finish used on Moroccan hammams, floors and walls. The husband-and-wife design duo behind Study O’Portable, Bernadette Deddens and Tetsuo Mukai, use Jesmonite, a water-based composite applied in layers to create their collection of tables, benches and bowls, while Casey McCafferty’s medium is hand-carved wood – he recently began mixing his waste with resin to create a series of sawdust side tables.

This fall, FUMI debuted new work at their expanded Mayfair space with an exhibition titled Together. “We champion the new. We didn’t want to sell the masters,” Pratt explains about the decision made years ago to focus on new talent.

That talent is no longer hemmed in by materials. “Anything goes is really a material culture that is permissive,” says Benda when discussing the philosophy of today’s maker scene. “There are no ideologies, no manifesto that groups of artists now follow. It’s too much for young makers to limit themselves. It goes in tandem with the art world.”

Carmen D'Apollonio, I’d do anything for love, 2021.

Courtesy: Friedman Benda and Carmen D’Apollonio. Photo: Schaub Stierli Fotografie