Jonathan Trayte and musings on Art et Industrie
Being a fan multifunctional furniture (case in point the amazing wicker chair by Vittoriano Vigano that I posted this week ... visor and cup holder anyone?) I Was delighted to stumble across the furniture designs of Artist Jonathan Trayte. Most of this furniture doesn't seem to appear on his site but his sculpture and installations are equally as intriguing.
I'm personally always interesting to see how an artist approaches furniture design or how anyone from one discipline approaches another for that matter. If this interests you too you may like a book I also found this week called ART ET INDUSTRIE, available from Magen H gallery. The book documents a movement that began in 1977 at a gallery founded by Rick Kaufmann in New York. Its members forged a new hybrid language in three dimensions: art furniture, bridging the conceptual gap between art and design.
You can buy the book here and watch a trailor about the movement here. I was surprised to see a ladder chair in the trailer, its not something I had seen before making my own ladder chair for my first solo show. ... I'm glad I've only come across artist Howard Meister's version now. It was created the year I was born ... and it feels a little strange to have felt I was original dreaming it up 34 years later.
