Noldor, Ghana’s First Independent Artist Residency, Presents Inaugural Resident and Exhibition by Ghanaian Artist Emmanuel Taku

The inaugural exhibition, Temple of Blackness – It Takes Two, brings together 10 new paintings by Emmanuel Taku. Conceived during his four-week residency at Noldor, this first solo exhibition draws on figurative surrealism to reclaim a Black narrative and identity.

December 4, 2020 – January 17, 2021

Left. Brothers in Red, Emmanuel Taku. Mixed media: acrylic and newspaper on canvas. 127 x 200 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Noldor Artist Residency. Right. Close view of Brothers in Yellow, Emmanuel Taku. Mixed media: acrylic and newspaper on canvas. 127 x 200 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Noldor Artist Residency.

December 8, 2020 (Accra, Ghana) – Marking its first edition, Noldor, Ghana’s first independent artist residency program, unveils Temple of Blackness – It Takes Two, the debut solo presentation of its inaugural resident, emerging Ghanaian artist Emmanuel Taku. The exhibition, on view from December 4, 2020 - January 17, 2021 at Noldor’s warehouse studio space in Accra’s La district, features 10 portraits created by the artist during his time at the residency. Building on Taku’s figurative surrealist approach, the new work revisits and reclaims a Black narrative and identity. Reflecting the residency’s profound concern for its artists’ creative development, this first iteration attests to Noldor’s role as a catalyst in the emergence of a striving Ghanaian local subculture.

A technically trained emerging African artist with only limited resources to pursue his art, the Accra-based artist Emmanuel Taku was selected as Noldor’s first resident and invited to take part in the annual four-week program in November 2020. For the first three weeks, the artist resided and created in Noldor’s large-scale warehouse studio space located in Accra’s seaside La district. The final week took place in a secluded space in the periphery of central Accra, an alternative psychological retreat where Taku received personal, professional and creative guidance. Following Noldor’s unconventional format, the residency reflects an organic, holistic approach to creation – one where emotional health nourishes an artist’s creative process. 

Mentored by mid-career Ghanaian artist Gideon Appah, Taku produced a selection of works expanding on his existing style. Temple of Blackness – It Takes Two presents 10 figurative surrealist portraits, with the artist’s distinct silk-screening approach. Throughout his practice, Taku, a graduate in Visual Arts and Textiles from the Ghanatta College of Art and Design, uses a variety of materials, from acrylic to textiles and newspapers, which he applies on canvas, fiberglass, fiber net, mesh or plywood. Manipulating and further exploring the materials, he captures the Black body in abstract form, recalling a human shape yet endowing it with a supernatural essence. Individual or paired, the figures become anthropomorphic silhouettes, bodies engulfed in a common silkscreened fabric print thereby creating of sense of consolidation, synergy, and unity. Reflecting the artist’s fascination with fabric and pattern, in particular paisley, the choice of material calls to a mixed cultural identity – a textile fashioned in India, which has since adopted a British sensibility and now integrated a sartorial mainstream.

The Cowboys in Blue, Emmanuel Taku. Mixed media: acrylic and newspaper on canvas. 127 x 200 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Noldor Artist Residency.

Sketching these abstracted Black bodies, one as a reflection of the other, Taku projects a mixed, therefore in part shared, Black identity. Revisiting a narrative in which the Black body is often objectified or politicized, he reclaims perceptions of Blackness, overturning them by affirming Black identity as one whole worthy of reverence, both historically and today. “This body of work was inspired by British-Ghanaian artist John Akomfrah’s discussion on his perceptions as child that museums presenting works by J. M. W. Turner or John Constable were ‘Temples of Whiteness,’” Taku explains. “This notion stuck with me and drove me to aspire for my own ‘Temple of Blackness,’ one that would capture Black people as demi-gods, or heroes. In depicting these Black bodies as abstract, analogous shapes, all-the-more united by their silkscreen casts, I seek to reclaim their anecdotal, objectified representation, instead affirming a shared, universal and strong Black identity.”

On view until January 17, 2021, the exhibition affirms the residency’s vision to act in the development of a striving local subculture, a Ghanaian and African ecosystem where artists, museums, art galleries and a growing collectorship meet. All-the-while globally minded, Noldor will subsequently bring the works to global audiences through partnerships with international galleries. “My time at Noldor acted as a turning point in my artistic practice. I was given the opportunity and resources to develop myself creatively, expanding on an approach which I have long explored, and to anticipate a career as an international artist.”

The second edition of Noldor will take place in the Fall 2021, with the selection process to occur over the Summer 2021.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Emmanuel Taku:
Born in Accra, Ghana, Emmanuel Taku has been practicing portraiture for over ten years. Using a variety of materials from acrylic to textiles and newspapers which he applies on canvas, fiberglass, fiber net, mesh or plywood, Taku’s visual language distinctly draws on figurative surrealism. 

A graduate in Visual Arts and Textiles from the Ghanatta College of Art and Design, Taku subsequently acted as an art teacher in figurative drawing. All-the-while pursuing his independent work, he sought inspiration from peers including rising Ghanaian artists Kwesi Botchway and Gideon Appah.

Selected to take part in Noldor’s inaugural residency program in November 2020, Emmanuel Taku will unveil a new series of figurative surrealist portraits conceived through his distinct mixed-media approach. Titled Temple of Blackness – It Takes Two and presented at Noldor’s studio space from December 4, 2020, to January 17, 2021, the exhibition marks Taku’s solo debut and introduction to the contemporary art world.

About Noldor:
Established in 2020, the Noldor Artist Residency is an annual four-week program based in Accra, Ghana. Founded by contemporary African art specialist, social entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph Awuah-Darko, the residency invites one emerging African artist, technically trained and with limited access to artistic resources, to expand on his practice in a dedicated studio space and retreat. Ghana’s first independent residency program, Noldor is committed to nurturing African artists’ creative process, while acting as a pillar for their introduction and development within a flourishing local subculture and global contemporary art scene.

Temple of Blackness – It Takes Two
December 4, 2020 – January 17, 2021 | Monday – Saturday, 9am – 5pm
Noldor Artist Residency
128 Ring Road East
La, Accra, Ghana
www.noldorresidency.com

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CHYBIK + KRISTOF ARCHITECTS Affirm their Social Engagement with Brutalist Bus Terminal Redesign

Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal, Brno, Czech Republic. Photograhy by alexshootsbuildings. Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF Architects & Urban Designers.

The new design for Brno’s Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal revisits the station’s defining role in the city’s social fabric while preserving its Brutalist structure. Self-initiated by the architects, the project reaffirms their longstanding engagement for social change.

December 7, 2020 (Brno, Czech Republic) – CHYBIK + KRISTOF ARCHITECTS & URBAN DESIGNERS have announced the forthcoming ground-breaking of their redesign of Brno’s Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal in the Czech Republic. Self-initiated by the architects in 2011 and with reconstruction to begin, the project involved preserving the existing Brutalist heritage structure while addressing the need to rethink a decaying public space into a functional entity adapted to evolving social needs. Stressing the station’s central role in the city and region’s social fabric, the project affirms CHYBIK + KRISTOF’s continuous engagement in establishing architects’ responsibility as catalysts for positive social change.

Designed in 1984 and built in 1988 in response to insufficient capacity of bus stations across the city, the Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal has continuously acted as the region’s main bus station for intercity transport. Originally conceived as an extensive transportation hub, only two of its five initially projected construction phases were completed. Following the Czech Republic’s 1989 Velvet Revolution, which prompted the first non-communist government since 1948, the station was privatized, resuming its role as a bus station and foregoing construction plans and visions of its future. Established as a Brutalist heritage site, its high maintenance costs led to little upkeep, driving to its gradual deterioration.

Original drawing of the Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal, 1984.

In 2011, CHYBIK + KRISTOF, having recently established their studio in Brno, a city for which they shared a deep connection, grew aware of the station’s decaying conditions. Eager to advance a positive alternative to a seemingly irrecoverable space, they reached out to its private owners with an elementary study and redesign proposal. Published and widely shared on social media, the proposal drew considerable media and public attention. In a process strongly facilitated by the architects, a conversation was prompted between local private stakeholders and public authorities – one revolving in part on the attainment of the sufficient funds to bring their vision to life. Accounting for the complexities of the project and after a four-year-long collaborative exchange, the needed funding was attained in 2015, notably through the project’s recognition as a European funds project, thereby securing a prominent share of the investment.

Engaged in preserving the symbolic local heritage embodied by the Brutalist structure, CHYBIK + KRISTOF create a contemporary redesign, receptive to the station’s primary role as a central transportation hub – through which over 820 regional, national and international connections and 17,000 passengers transit each day. Following the original square floorplan, the redesigned main hall is an open structure devoid of walls. Acting as a two-sided roof, the inner space houses the individual bus stops while the outer area serves as a parking space for buses. Envisioning it as an intrinsically public space, CHYBIK + KRISTOF replace the existing stands – temporary structures added in the 1990s – with an information office, ticketing and waiting areas as well new platforms and an orientation system accessible to the disabled. The architects’ design gives prominence to light as easing access, evoking comfort and promoting safety. By removing the temporary stands, they open up the terminal onto the city, providing a second entry to the station at street level. While they repaint the main worn-down structure in white and install new light fixtures, they preserve and proudly bring to light the wall art on temporary stands throughout the station, previously concealed between them. Drawing a clear path to buses and various services, CHYBIK + KRISTOF transform the building into a dynamic social hub, channeling an unrestricted flow of locals and passengers alike.

Reflective of unclear, evolving and at times conflicting urban visions, the Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal is one of many similar residual spaces, preserved yet poorly maintained, and often entirely disconnected from their surroundings. As both architecture and design professionals and users of the urban space, CHYBIK + KRISTOF adopt the critical lens for which architects are well equipped – one that renders them both sensitive to and critical of an environment and brings them to consider the inherent relationships, nuances and synergies between the envisioned and the built, the public and the private, the function and the experience. Affirming what has grown into a deep-seated social responsibility over the past decade, they consider the project through not only its function, but also a studied understanding of its impact on the social fabric. By involving diverse actors – architects, public entities and private partners, local and external – they once again demonstrate architects’ central role as active exponents for change and instigators of a dialogue. In an attempt to correct past shortcomings, they see architects today as obliged to bring forth a holistic approach that moves beyond the mere construction process towards user-centered design which adheres to the environmental and social fabric.

CHYBIK + KRISTOF, Visualization of the new Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal, Brno, Czech Republic. Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF Architects & Urban Designers.

Part of a generation of architects who founded their practice in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, CHYBIK + KRISTOF have continuously sought to self-initiate and take on projects responding to distinct social need. Advocating for architects to initiate and engage with positive social change, founding architects Ondřej Chybík and Michal Krištof state: 

“Architects today share the obligation to address critical social and environmental issues. Beyond punctual functional concerns, our profession is tasked with acknowledging and deconstructing the shortcomings at the roots of our urban and social structures, thereby raising public awareness and promoting societal engagement. We see the Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal as embodying the three founding blocks of architects’ social responsibility. First, architecture responds to a functional need that must be clearly and efficiently addressed. Second, this need is expressed by the user of a space, whose experience of the latter must remain at the center of all concerns. Thirdly, and most importantly, architects intervene in a fragile ecosystem, one in which sociopolitical dynamics, economic factors, historical legacies, environmental concerns, to cite only a few, come together. It is essential, if not only ethical, to take all into account. Ultimately, by revisiting the past, engaging with the present and projecting to the future, architects can, and must, be catalysts for change.”

With completion due in 2021, this initial redesign acts as the first stage of a broader reconstruction and urban renewal project, with changes to the surrounding areas to follow.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:
About CHYBIK + KRISTOF
CHYBIK + KRISTOF is an architecture and urban design practice founded in 2010 by Ondřej Chybík and Michal Krištof. Operating with 50+ international team members and offices in Prague, Brno and Bratislava, the practice aims at creating bridges between private and public space, transcending generations and societal spheres. Taking into account local histories and environmental specificities, the studio works on a wide array of projects, ranging from urban developments to public and residential buildings. Recent projects include: Gallery of Furniture (Czech Republic), the Czech Pavilion at Expo 2015 (Milan, Italy) and Lahofer Winery (Czech Republic). The studio has been awarded a number of prizes including the 2019 Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record, and was recently amongst the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies’ 2019 40 Under 40 Award winners.
https://chybik-kristof.com/

Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal
Zvonařka 411
617 00 Brno
Czech Republic

Project Team: Ondrej Chybik, Michal Kristof, Ondrej Svancara, Ingrid Spacilova, Adam Jung, Krystof Foltyn

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A R T Communication + Brand Consultancy Announces Global PR Representation of Noldor, Ghana’s First Independent Residency Program

December 3, 2020 (Accra, Ghana) – A R T Communication + Brand Consultancy is delighted to announce the global PR representation of Noldor, Ghana’s first independent residency program.

Established in 2020, the Noldor Artist Residency is an annual four-week program based in Accra, Ghana. Founded by contemporary African art specialist, social entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph Awuah-Darko, the residency invites one emerging African artist, technically trained and with limited access to artistic resources, to expand on his practice in a dedicated studio space and retreat. Ghana’s first independent residency program, Noldor is committed to nurturing African artists’ creative process, while acting as a pillar for their introduction and development within a flourishing local subculture and global contemporary art scene.

Noldor unfolds across two distinct spaces. For the first three weeks, the artist resides and creates in a large-scale warehouse studio space located in Accra’s seaside La district. The final week takes place in a secluded space in the periphery of central Accra, an alternative psychological retreat where he receives personal, professional and creative guidance. Through its unconventional format, Noldor advances an organic, holistic approach to creation – one where emotional health nourishes an artist’s creative process.

Running each Fall and with its first iteration launched in November 2020, Noldor invites its residents to produce a portfolio of works which are ultimately exhibited within the warehouse space and subsequently brought to global audiences through partnerships with international galleries.

Deeply informed by the Ghanaian sociocultural context, both locally attuned and globally minded, Noldor is envisioned as both a participant in and catalyst to the emergence of a striving local subculture. More than a space for creative development, the residency works hand-in-hand with other cultural outlets, both public and private. An independent institutional space, it contributes to fostering and growing an aspiring local ecosystem where artists, museums and art galleries meet. 

Paired with its profound curatorial concern, it emerges as a commercially aware residency program: one actively looking to both support the longevity of its artists’ careers within a competitive art market and strengthen a growing local collectorship. Finally, Noldor affirms its educational role, offering learning opportunities for both participants and local audiences and engaged in altering local perceptions of and access to both contemporary art and psychological health.

Launched in November 2020, the residency welcomed its first emerging Ghanaian artist: Emmanuel Taku. A selection of 10 works produced throughout the program, titled Temple of Blackness — It Takes Two, will be exhibited within Noldor’s warehouse studio space from December 4, 2020 to January 17, 2021.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Joseph Awuah-Darko:
Joseph Awuah-Darko (b. in London) is the founder and director of the Noldor Artist Residency, an annual 4-week program inviting an emerging African artist with limited access to resources to expand on his/her practice in a dedicated studio space and retreat in Accra, Ghana. 

An African contemporary art connoisseur, collector and dealer, he has continuously looked to his Ghanaian upbringing and extensive travels to cultivate the ties between an established European art scene and Africa’s emerging cultural industries. With experience at African modern and contemporary art gallery Sulger-Buel in London, Awuah-Darko has actively nurtured his understanding of global art market dynamics, thereby seeking to apply and adapt them to his African roots.

In parallel, Awuah-Darko has established himself as a fervent social entrepreneur and philanthropist engaged in notions of sustainable development – both economic and cultural – and in particular as it applies to the Ghanaian context. His philanthropic endeavors, among which the notable e-waste management Agbogblo Shine Initiative, have owed him widespread global recognition (Forbes 2019 Africa 30 Under 30; West African Business Excellence Awards).

Mirroring his entrepreneurship experience, ties with the international contemporary art world, and profound engagement for a striving yet restrained Ghanaian, and African, contemporary creation, he established the Noldor Artist Residency in 2020 in Accra.

Noldor Artist Residency
128 Ring Road East
La, Accra, Ghana
www.noldorresidency.com

Image credits: Exterior View of the Noldor Artist Residency Warehouse Space. La, Accra, Ghana. Courtesy of Noldor Artist Residency.

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ADA \ contemporary art gallery, Specialized in the Work of Emerging Artists Across Africa and its Diaspora, Presents a Solo Exhibition by Rising Artist Eniwaye Oluwaseyi

Left. Eniwaye Oluwaseyi, Blue Jacket Lockdown, 2020. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and ADA \ contemporary art gallery. Right. Eniwaye Oluwaseyi, Boy from the other side, 2020. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and ADA \ contemporary art gallery.

The Politics of Shared Spaces presents a new body of work by Nigerian artist Eniwaye Oluwaseyi, highlighting the identities, narratives and power struggles formed within the different frameworks that define a shared space.

November 27 – December 27, 2020

December 2, 2020 (Accra, Ghana) – After the successful inaugural opening of the gallery and sold-out exhibition, titled Gindin Mangoro: Under the Mango Tree, by portrait artist Collins Obijiaku, ADA \ contemporary art gallery unveils its next show, The Politics of Shared Spaces, the debut solo presentation by Nigerian artist Eniwaye Oluwaseyi (b. 1994). From November 27 to December 27, 2020, the gallery presents the artist’s all-new body of work, a selection of 12 large-scale canvases that highlight the power struggles that exist within the spaces we share, whether it is a shared living space; a shared mindset; a shared community, or our shared transience. The Politics of Shared Spaces is a comprehensive portfolio of work by Oluwaseyi highlighting how social and political identities are defined, while questioning the embodiment of communal arenas both physical and metaphorical — and relative to narratives of race and class.

On view within the gallery’s 850-square-meter space, Oluwaseyi’s paintings capture each subject in a vacuum of uncertainty, making it unclear to the viewer who prioritizes each presented visual space. Oluwaseyi creates vivid and bold compositions in order to seize each individual in a non-dominant manner focusing primarily on the uniqueness of our co-existence. His paintings document our current climate, presenting raw portraits related to the Nigerian #EndSARS movement, as well as the lockdown politics, choosing, in his point of view, marginalized communities from albinos to Black youth. Eniwaye purposefully favors vibrant colors to highlight the term "person of color" emphasizing the majesty within each subject.

Eniwaye Oluwaseyi, A moment in time (family house), 2020. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and ADA \ contemporary art gallery.

The artist sees himself as both a critic and an observer. His paintings are influenced by injustice, racial conflicts and pressure of living a modern life versus traditional societal norms. Working in oil on canvas, his delicate paint strokes depict his human figures in an elegant and yet vulnerable manner, which lies in stark contrast to the powerful and striking presence of each of the represented subjects. "I try to combine unusual color palettes to go beyond the borders of religion, race and tradition," Oluwaseyi comments.

Oluwaseyi navigates through the intricate struggles that form the backbone of individual tales of existence to tell the untold stories in society. His artworks are impregnated with the struggles and experiences of individuals, evoking strong feelings of hope and redemption in the minds of viewers who connect with his pieces.

On view until December 27, 2020, the exhibition also extends digitally, complementing the gallery display with a multifaceted immersion into Oluwaseyi’s practice. A virtual viewing room and visit, as well as personal sketches and videos of the artist, these supporting materials offer an intimate insight into both his inspiration and his artistic process.

The Politics of Shared Spaces is the second iteration of ADA’s program of dedicated solo and group exhibitions, off-site projects, talks, creative partnerships and more. In 2021, ADA will also launch a residency program bringing together a local Ghanaian artist and an international artist whose practice is rooted in Africa and its legacy. Cultivating a dialogue between local and international artists, the residency is a manifest to ADA’s engagement in nurturing Ghana and Africa’s emerging art community, while strengthening its ties and influence across global audiences.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Eniwaye Oluwaseyi:
Eniwaye Oluwaseyi (b.1994) is a self-taught Nigerian born contemporary artist from Kogi State. He holds a Bachelor's Degree of Engineering in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. His practice is primarily centered around portraiture and impressionistic realism, working with bold and vivid tones in his representation of human figures in a darkened form of grisaille striking realism to give his paintings a strong, physical and direct presence.

Eniwaye Oluwaseyi's work has been placed in several notable blue chip collections and has been featured in international group exhibitions including: The Medium is the Message, UNIT London; SAY IT LOUD, Christie’s, New York; Drawn Together, UNIT London. The Politics of Shared Spaces is the artist’s first solo exhibition.

About ADA \ contemporary art gallery:
Based in Accra, Ghana, ADA \ contemporary art gallery specializes in the work of emerging artists across Africa and its diaspora. Established in 2020 by contemporary African art advisor Adora Mba, ADA is committed to nurturing Ghana and the continent’s contemporary art community and to fostering its ties and influence amongst global audiences.

Highlighting individual early career artistic practices, the gallery’s program includes dedicated solo exhibitions; off-site projects and exhibitions; site-specific commissions; talks; creative partnerships and philanthropic activities with local actors; and international art fairs. Each exhibition also extends online, complementing the physical experience with a multifaceted digital immersion into each artist’s personal practice.

In parallel, ADA will develop a residency program starting in 2021, bringing together a local Ghanaian artist and an international artist whose practice is rooted in Africa and its legacy. Cultivating a dialogue between the local and the international artists, the residency is a manifest to ADA’s engagement in strengthening these ties and to establishing Ghana’s emerging artistic scene and market internationally.

ADA \ contemporary art gallery
Villaggio Vista
North Airport Road
Airport Residential Area
Accra, Ghana
info@ada-accra.com
www.ada-accra.com

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Le Sirenuse Positano Unveils New Home Collection

Emporio Sirenuse Home Collection, ARIA Glass Collection. Photography by Roberto Salomone. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse Positano.

Emporio Sirenuse presents its first-ever Le Sirenuse Positano Home Collection rooted in the understated elegance and dolce vita flair of the Amalfi coast hotel of which it takes its name.

November 12, 2020 (Positano, Italy) – Luxury lifestyle brand Emporio Sirenuse, founded by Carla Sersale of iconic family-run hotel Le Sirenuse, presents its first-ever Home Collection – a collection of handcrafted Murano glassware, bone-china plates and mugs, and Suzani- and Ikat-inspired hand-embroidered cushions. An expansion of Emporio Sirenuse’s fashion resort wear lines, this new eclectic collection brings together pieces designed by Carla Sersale with her niece Viola Parrocchetti, the brand’s creative director. Rooted in the celebration of centennial craftsmanship, the vibrant selection of lifestyle accessories is an ode to the Amalfi coast hotel’s understated elegance and dolce vita flair.

In reference to aria, or “air” in Italian, the ARIA Glass Collection acts as a mirror to the Amalfi coast’s pure blue skies, shifting sunset hues and cool breeze smoothly skimming the waves. Designed to embrace the coast’s signature cocktails – Negroni, Spritz, Americano as well as the carefully selected champagnes and wines served at the hotel, each piece of the ARIA glassware set is blown individually in the furnaces of Murano’s esteemed master vetrai Nason Moretti – a homage to the century-old craftsmanship heritage that has long stood on the artistic front line of the Venetian glass scene.

Left. Emporio Sirenuse Home Collection, LUKE EDWARD HALL Plate and Mug Collection. Photography by Alessandro Oliva. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse Positano. Right. Emporio Sirenuse Home Collection, SUZANI Cushion Collection. Photography by Alessandro Oliva. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse Positano.

Conceived by the young British artist and designer with whom it shares its name and in collaboration with Carla Sersale, the LUKE EDWARD HALL plates and mugs playfully combine the nonchalance of French poet and designer Jean Cocteau and of British photographer and artist Cecil Beaton. Steeped in the Classical legacy and iconography of Mediterranean culture – the idyll of sculptural fragments and Romantic pantheism – the collection of gold-rimmed bone china plates and mugs diffuses patterns of wistful, androgynous faces and Luke Edward Hall’s personal take on the iconic view of Positano from Le Sirenuse. A subtle yet joyful translation of these two motifs, the set, completed by a charger plate and graceful lemon vase, is available in five color ways.

The third iteration of the Le Sirenuse Positano Home Collection, the SUZANI Cushion Cases fuse Central Asian nomadic art and the iconic Jazz age into an eye-catching range of cushion cases. Available in a range of patterns and colors, they pay homage to the Suzani embroidered textiles and Ikats collected over the years by the late Franco Sersale, father-in-law of the lifestyle brand’s founder. Initially presented at Emporio Sirenuse’s flagship boutique in Positano, the striking silk covers are hand-embroidered by local artisans in Mumbai. A chic, carefree take on traditional Tajik, Uzbek and Kazakh motifs, they pulse with vibrant tribal energy.

Emporio Sirenuse founder Carla Sersale explains:  

“The new home collection is a natural continuation to our longstanding fashion lines. In working with artists, designers and reputed traditional craftsmen, we see the collection as an ode to Le Sirenuse’s now widely coveted dolce vita atmosphere and our original aspiration to share a centennial family heritage and intimate lifestyle. The home collection emanates a particular art de vivre; and with it, one can seize a piece of this experience and make it their own, in their own home.”

The collection is available online at www.emporiosirenuse.com and exclusively on www.matchesfashion.com from November 2020 onwards.

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A R T Communication + Brand Consultancy Announces the PR Representation of Iconic Italian Hotel Le Sirenuse

Exterior View - Le Sirenuse. Photography by Roberto Salomone. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse.

November 10, 2020 (Positano, Italy) – Pursuing its engagement in representing clients bridging art, design and architecture, A R T Communication + Brand Consultancy proudly announces its partnership with iconic Italian hotel Le Sirenuse in Positano. Founded in 1951, Le Sirenuse has grown from a family summer home into a 58-room resort now considered one of Italy’s leading seaside luxury hotels.

Le Sirenuse opened in the 1950s when four Neapolitan siblings, Aldo, Paolo, Anna and Franco Sersale, turned their family summer home into a charming boutique hotel overlooking the bay of Positano. A gem that cleaves to the hillside in one of the Amalfi Coast’s most alluring towns, the hotel soon drew the attention of locals and international visitors alike. It quickly grew into an internationally celebrated and awarded icon, all the while loyally retaining the intimate, cultured atmosphere of a private home, rooted in the impeccable taste of art connoisseur Franco Sersale which came to define Le Sirenuse’s signature style.

Reminiscent of a glamorous bygone era, each of the 58 rooms and suites has a character of its own, yet share the hotel’s inimitable cachet, in which whitewashed walls, traditional vaulted ceilings and ceramic tiles handmade by local artisans pose alongside century-old antiques and works of art from the family’s private collection. Bestowed with private balconies or terraces, the rooms are immersed in the town’s natural and historical fabric – looking over the iconic church dome and the vibrant colorful houses – while the view extends onto the Mediterranean Sea and the Li Galli islands, legendary home to the sirens from which the hotel takes its name.

Exterior View of Aldo’s Cocktail Bar. Photography by Roberto Salomone. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse.

A subtle combination of storied discretion and pared-down modernity, the hotel is also home to the reputed La Sponda restaurant where fresh local produce finds its way into seasonal recipes that exalt the culinary traditions of Naples and of the Amalfi Coast. A stylish raft over Positano and its expansive seascape, Aldo’s Cocktail Bar & Seafood Grill distils the dolce vita spirit in a selection of vintage champagnes, wines and expertly mixed cocktails. Once one of the lounges of the Sersale family house, the Don’t Worry Bar nests at the heart of Le Sirenuse. Without forfeiting its secluded cachet, it was redesigned and renamed in 2020 in homage to Martin Creed’s eponymous site-specific neon installation. Tucked away a few doors up from the hotel on a panoramic al fresco terrace, Franco’s Bar pays homage to Franco Sersale, seasoned traveler, bon vivant and art collector, who was behind much of Le Sirenuse’s aesthetics as it stands today. A witting convergence of daring contemporary artists and local artisans, the bar revisits the golden age of fine cocktails and quality champagne in a place which, soon after opening in 2015, became Le Sirenuse’s second foothold in, and gift to, the town of Positano.

Stepping away from the Moorish architecture and décor prevalent in the hotel, Italian architect Gae Aulenti is behind Le Sirenuse Spa – an informed design fusing teak wood, white marble and stainless steel into a modern, essential space. With sauna, bio sauna, granite steam bath and new-for-2020 Ice Room, it seamlessly opens onto the terrace swimming pool, endowing guests with a peaceful and meditative retreat.

Treasuring the heritage of his late father, a noted aesthete whose unerring eye for Neapolitan Baroque art, Suzani rugs from Central Asia and antique furniture is today an indelible part of the hotel, Antonio Sersale and his wife Carla have pursued Franco Sersale’s collecting tradition. Celebrating this legacy and projecting it into the future, they launched Artists at Le Sirenuse in 2015, an ongoing art initiative in collaboration with British curator Silka Rittson-Thomas in which a site-specific work is commissioned from a contemporary artist whose oeuvre is felt to share affinities with Le Sirenuse’s ethos and spirit of place. The chosen artist is first invited to stay at the hotel to absorb inspirations and discuss approaches, after which the creative part of the process begins. Since its founding, Artists at Le Sirenuse has hosted leading international artists of the calibre of Martin Creed, Stanley Whitney, Matt Connors, Rita Ackermann and Caragh Thuring. Extending a commitment to creativity, the initiative is a witness to the hotel’s longstanding artistic legacy.

Interior View - Le Sirenuse. Photography by Roberto Salomone. Courtesy of Le Sirenuse.

A timeless ode to their Amalfi Coast home’s original essence, understated elegance and dolce vita flair, the hotel has remained a family affair. Second-generation co-owner Antonio Sersale looks after the day-to-day running, while his wife Carla Sersale is behind fashion line Le Sirenuse Positano,  available online and at the two Emporio Sirenuse boutiques that face the hotel’s entrance. Opened in 1990, the Emporio Sirenuse boutique took shape when Carla Sersale came together with her niece, designer and creative director Viola Parrocchetti, to channel the style and design heritage of Positano and the Amalfi Coast in refreshing new ways. Today, this flourishing brand presents regular Women’s and Men’s collections, and recently launched a Home Collection featuring a line of lifestyle accessories designed by Luke Edward Hall and other maverick creatives. The brand has since garnered a loyal following worldwide and is distributed by leading international retailers including, amongst others MATCHESFASHION, Bergdorf Goodman, Net-à-Porter, Aerin, Kirna Zabete, Ounass, Harrods and Luisa Via Roma.

A member of the Leading Hotels of the World since 1970, Le Sirenuse is open for seven months each year, from the end of March until late October.

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ADA \ contemporary art gallery, Specialized in the Work of Emerging Artists Across Africa and its Diaspora, Opens in Accra, Ghana

Left. Collins Obijiaku, Molaya, 2020. Oil and charcoal on paper, 100 cm x 70 cm. Courtesy of the artist and ADA \ contemporary art gallery. Right. Collins Obijiaku, Gindin Mangoro, 2020. Acrylic, oil and charcoal on canvas, 180 cm x 160 cm. Courtesy of the artist and ADA \ contemporary art gallery.

The inaugural exhibition Gindin Mangoro: Under the Mango Tree presents a new body of work by Nigerian portrait artist Collins Obijiaku, addressing notions of lived experience and identity.

October 15 – November 19, 2020

October 15, 2020 (Accra, Ghana) – Marking its opening in Accra, Ghana, ADA \ contemporary art gallery unveils its inaugural exhibition, Gindin Mangoro: Under the Mango Tree, the debut solo presentation of Nigerian painter Collins Obijiaku (b. 1995). From October 15 to November 19, 2020, the gallery presents the emerging artist’s new body of work, a selection of 17 intimate portraits delving into notions of Blackness, lived experience, interiority and identity. Debuting ADA’s program of curated exhibitions specializing in the work of emerging artists across Africa and its diaspora, Gindin Mangoro: Under the Mango Tree attests to the gallery’s engagement in supporting fresh talent across a diverse set of mediums, offering early career artists an opportunity to present a comprehensive portfolio of work.

On view within the gallery’s 850-square-meter space, the exhibition showcases a new body of work from Obijiaku’s eponymous portrait series, marking a radical departure from his previous work based on social commentary. A celebration of his own lived experiences and struggles and those of his friends and acquaintances, the paintings transcend accepted conceptions of portraiture and come to embody the profoundly human inner character of each of the artist’s subjects. Obijiaku creates vivid and poignant portraits, utilizing charcoal, textured brushstrokes and dactylograms to render each individual’s intimate history and complex personality. The concurrent and collinear lines, seemingly cartographic and filling the surface of the canvas with no obvious starting point nor known end, deliberately translate the unpredictable journey of each depicted life. Impressing notions of identity and of relationship to space through patterns and typography, the artist’s styled portraits compel the viewer to delve into a close, focused observation, and exert on him a dizzying embrace.

Furthermore, Obijiaku’s visual language plays with the now accepted theme of the profligacy, or shameless immorality, of image production in relation to Black figuration and representation. He disrupts the seemingly natural order of image production in portraiture by texturizing his portraits so as to suggest a form of expressionism that excludes all assumed or anticipated excess. His works do not speak to a representation of emotion. Moving beyond sociocultural constructs of gender, skin color and religion, the paintings are a homage to pure human existence, the expression of a shared desire to just be.

On view until November 19, 2020, the exhibition also extends digitally, complementing the gallery display with a multifaceted immersion into Obijiaku’s practice. A virtual viewing room and visit, as well as personal sketches and videos of the artist, these supporting materials offer an intimate insight into both his inspiration and his artistic process.

Gindin Mangoro: Under the Mango Tree is the first iteration of ADA’s program of dedicated solo and group exhibitions, off-site projects, talks, creative partnerships and more. In 2021, ADA will also launch a residency program bringing together a local Ghanaian artist and an international artist whose practice is rooted in Africa and its legacy. Cultivating a dialogue between local and international artists, the residency is a manifest to ADA’s engagement in nurturing Ghana and Africa’s emerging art community, while strengthening its ties and influence across global audiences.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Collins Obijiaku:
Collins Obijiaku (b. 1995, Kaduna, Northern Nigeria) is an early career portrait artist living and working for in Suleja, a small town in the periphery of the country’s capital Abuja.

While Obijiaku’s creative journey began with sketches and illustrations in the margins of his class notes in school, his practice took a turn in 2016 when he moved south to Enugu to live with his relatives. Taking up part time work in a shopping mall to earn a living, he developed a keen and sharp sense of observation, spending extensive time sketching his surroundings. In particular, he grew aware and deeply receptive to individuals’ gazes – decoding those of both the wealthy and the working classes, the carefree and the burdened, he studied the diversity within a superficially homogeneous group of people. A form of release from the physical exertions of his work, Obijiaku’s early pencil sketches set the foundations for his particular style, one gradually established with no formal art background or training and which he increasingly applied to sketches and painting his acquaintances.

Returning to Suleja with this new sensibility, he witnessed a friend survive a near lynching – a turning point in his creative process. Turning to a more engaged practice, he began to chronicle the precarious existence of those on the margins of society as his paintings took on a darker dimension, depicting societal ills and injustices in the hope of catharsis and as a form of social commentary. Gaining critical attention but increasingly self-consuming, Obijiaku’s work has since evolved to liberate his subjects from the dire conditions that surround them, instead representing them as empowered, unfazed individuals, witnesses to a deeper, essentially human existence.

Collins Obijiaku has been featured in several international group exhibitions including The Medium is the Message, UNIT London; SAY IT LOUD, Christie’s, New York; Black Voices / Black Microcosm, CFHILL, Stockholm; and Diaspora Unite!, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco. Gindin Mangoro: Under the Mango Tree is the artist’s first solo exhibition.

About ADA \ contemporary art gallery:
Based in Accra, Ghana, ADA \ contemporary art gallery specializes in the work of emerging artists across Africa and its diaspora. Established in 2020 by contemporary African art advisor Adora Mba, ADA is committed to nurturing Ghana and the continent’s contemporary art community and to fostering its ties and influence amongst global audiences.

Highlighting individual early career artistic practices, the gallery’s program includes dedicated solo exhibitions; off-site projects and exhibitions; site-specific commissions; talks; creative partnerships and philanthropic activities with local actors; and international art fairs. Each exhibition also extends online, complementing the physical experience with a multifaceted digital immersion into each artist’s personal practice.

In parallel, ADA will develop a residency program starting in 2021, bringing together a local Ghanaian artist and an international artist whose practice is rooted in Africa and its legacy. Cultivating a dialogue between the local and the international artists, the residency is a manifest to ADA’s engagement in strengthening these ties and to establishing Ghana’s emerging artistic scene and market internationally.

ADA \ contemporary art gallery
Villaggio Vista
North Airport Road
Airport Residential Area
Accra, Ghana
info@ada-accra.com
www.ada-accra.com

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Les Ateliers Courbet to Unveil Domeau & Pérès’ Latest Design Editions with New Pieces by Martin Szekely, Odile Decq and Marc Newson in January 2021

Image credits: Odile Decq, “U/O” Table, Édition Domeau & Pérès, 2020. Courtesy of Domeau & Pérès.

Les Ateliers Courbet announces its forthcoming exhibition unveiling Domeau & Pérès’ latest designer editions in collaboration with Martin Szekely, Odile Decq and Marc Newson – a series of chairs and tables reflecting the impeccable craftsmanship and ongoing collaborations between the Paris-based design publishing atelier and the contemporary design luminaries.

September 22, 2020 (New York, United States) – Continuing its longstanding collaboration with revered master craftsmen Philippe Pérès and Bruno Domeau of Paris-based design publishing atelier Domeau & Pérès, Les Ateliers Courbet unveils the latest Éditions Domeau & Pérès collections by Odile Decq, Martin Szekely and Marc Newson. Available for private viewing by appointment this coming Fall at Les Ateliers Courbet’s New York gallery – the studio’s exclusive representative – Domeau & Pérès’ new designer series will be the subject of a forthcoming exhibition opening in January 2021. The exhibition will highlight Domeau & Pérès’ significant contemporary design legacy resulting from the duo’s ongoing collaborations with international design luminaries. Each of the Domeau & Pérès editions is reflective of the two master artisans’ commitment to translate the artists’ design visions with impeccable craftsmanship and integrity, developing each piece in concert with the artist-designers from its conception to every detail of its fabrication.

Founded in 1996 by master-saddler Bruno Domeau and upholsterer Philippe Pérès – both disciples of France’s legendary craftsmanship institution Les Compagnons du Devoir – the atelier Domeau & Pérès has spent the past 20 years building a heralded catalogue of contemporary design pieces. The selection presented at Les Ateliers Courbet is a manifest to the New York gallery and Domeau & Pérès’ shared appreciation for design works of elegant simplicity and impeccable details.

The upcoming Domeau & Pérès exhibition brings together a new limited-edition table by legendary architect Odile Decq, a new iteration of Raphael Navot’s “Moon Sofa” upholstered in Loro Piana cashmere, an angular wood table and sculptural soft chairs fully upholstered in soft calfskin leather by Martin Szekely, alongside the designer’s iconic “Domo” chair and ottoman created for Domeau & Pérès in 2005 – never yet shown in the US.

Rooted in Decq’s architectural vocabulary, the limited-edition “U/O” tables and side tables revisit the lines of the praised architect’s previous table design conceived for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in 2001. The new table consists of a polished oak wood top set on an angular stainless-steel base and legs. A subtle sense of equilibrium emanates from the piece as its warm solid wood top rests on its sculptural, sleek metallic base, only visible to the keen eye – a work of art exemplifying Domeau & Pérès’ elegant craftsmanship and obsession for detail.

Also unveiled this coming Fall are a series of angular chairs and tables by esteemed designer Martin Szekely. Known for the perfectionism and craftsmanship exigence of his self-published design editions, Szekely continues his longstanding and exclusive collaboration with Domeau & Pérès with a series of open edition chairs emphasizing the craftsmen’s upholstery expertise as they sculpt a seat of angular shape with the sole tension and stitching points of its leather skin. With a similar vocabulary, Szekely’s “Satragno” table editions for Domeau & Pérès exemplify the designer’s interest in pure lines, revealing the essence of the material and the artisanal dexterity in every detail. Marking the unveiling of this new collection, Les Ateliers Courbet brings for the first time in the United States the designer’s first collaboration with the Éditions Domeau & Pérès – the “Domo” armchair and ottoman, a series of lounge seating created in 2005. Revisited for the first time with a new leather skin for Les Ateliers Courbet, the seats and ottomans consist in the juxtaposition of the simplest rectangular prisms fully covered in leather. Here again, Domeau & Pérès sculpt the seat without the support of a structure as they create support and flexibility with exact foam resilience and upholstery tension.

Completing the new Éditions Domeau & Pérès collection, the duo will present a limited edition of chairs by Marc Newson. Following the designer’s “Bumper Bed” edition created for Domeau & Pérès in 2013, the chair results from years of development, combining the traditional upholstery techniques mastered by Domeau & Pérès with innovative material and technology. Still in development today, Newson’s chair edition will be unveiled to the press in December 2020 and to the public in January 2021.

Working with a wide array of revered ateliers and craftsmen of various masteries – from metalsmiths to woodcrafters – Domeau & Pérès have developed a rare craftsmanship literacy, one that cultivates the historic ties and technical bridges between complimentary crafts. Their respective passion and knowledge of design combined with their consistent pursuit of conceptual integrity have cemented longstanding collaborations with design luminaries from around the world. These ongoing relationships ultimately inspired the Éditions Domeau & Pérès – the atelier’s signature collection of collaborative design pieces created by guest artists developed by Domeau & Pérès themselves. Describing themselves as “éditeurs-fabricants” or design publishers and fabricators, the two master craftsmen have collaborated on special commissions with a select portfolio of institutions and international designers, among which Marc Newson, Martin Szekely, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Andrée Putman, Pharrell Williams and Pablo Reinoso.

In conceiving their editions, they both challenge and defer to each artist’s distinct vocabulary. Describing themselves as the “creators’ midwives,” they initiate and accompany the artists in the creative process, entrusting their respective design knowledge as they guide the design and technical development of each piece. Sometimes involving the complimentary expertise of trusted artisans from different fields, each piece is fabricated under the close supervision of Domeau and Pérès themselves, from the prototyping through the final assemblage.

While each design carries the singular personality and vocabulary of its author, they all reflect Domeau & Pérès’ vision – one rooted in loyalty to the artist’s concept integrity and vision, often articulated around a design’s stripped-down simplicity with impeccable fabrication details. This aspiration for formal purity has led Domeau & Pérès to develop an identifiable collection of timeless, simple design pieces that highlights the artist’s original gestures and drawing.

With works in the permanent collections of notable museums, including Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, Domeau & Pérès’ extensive portfolio encompasses bespoke projects and special commissions for clients including private collectors, established artists and businesses such as Falcon Jets, Hermès, LVMH, Karl Lagerfeld, Dior, Berluti, the Bridge Club in Bridgehampton and the Royal Monceau hotel in Paris. Additionally, the atelier has produced numerous design exhibitions in collaboration with public institutions, such as the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, and the Jacques Tati – Les Films de Mon Oncle estate.

Domeau & Pérès’ collaboration with Les Ateliers Courbet as the designers’ sole global representation can be traced back to the gallery’s founding in 2013. Since then, the gallery’s curated selection has included numerous Domeau & Pérès editions, including works by Pablo Reinoso, Eric Chevallier and Angie Anakis.

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NOTES TO EDITORS
About Les Ateliers Courbet
Les Ateliers Courbet is a New York-based design gallery noted for its distinct curatorial focus dedicated to the ongoing craftsmanship mastery and design legacies carried on by the contemporary artisans and centuries-old manufactures it represents.

Established in 2013 by Mélanie Courbet, the gallery was born from the desire to share a deep appreciation for master-craftsmen’s ethos and works of art that embody artisanal dexterity and cultural heritage. Since its opening, Les Ateliers Courbet has garnered international recognition from a clientele of private collectors, interior designers and institutions alike. Today, the gallery represents over 50 traditional crafts passed on by long lineages of esteemed artisans from around the world, including marquetry, woodcraft, ceramic and glasswork, weaving and metalsmithing.

While pursuing its mission with exhibitions, institutional collaborations and publications, the gallery further supports its ateliers with the Editions Courbet – a series of editioned pieces created by guest artists and hand-crafted by the gallery’s master-craftsmen. The inaugural Editions Courbet collection will be unveiled in the Fall of 2020.

The Domeau & Pérès editions of Odile Decq, Éric Jourdan, Raphael Navot and Martin Szekely will be available on preview from October 2020. The new Marc Newson Domeau & Pérès edition will be unveiled in January 2021.

Les Ateliers Courbet
134 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10013
United States

https://www.ateliercourbet.com/

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Les Ateliers Courbet Unveils New Design Pieces by Bodo Sperlein from the Artist's “Contour” Series along with his "Script" Lighting Collection for Austrian Chandelier Manufacturer J. & L. Lobmeyr

Bodo Sperlein x J. & L. Lobmeyr, “Script” Collection, 2019. Photography by Jon Day, styled by Hannah Franklin. Courtesy of Bodo Sperlein Studio, J. & L. Lobmeyr, and Les Ateliers Courbet.

September 15, 2020 (New York, United States) – In November 2020, New York-based design gallery Les Ateliers Courbet will present the US unveiling of “Script” — a collection of lights by German-born designer Bodo Sperlein created for Vienna’s legendary chandelier and glass manufacturer, J. & L. Lobmeyr. Sperlein adds his signature to Lobmeyr’s catalogue and extensive design legacy with a series of lights embodying the Austrian glassmakers’ artisanal dexterity and the meticulous simplicity of their design vocabulary. With his “Script” collection, the designer gives a contemporary twist to the iconic typography of Viennese modernist design, as exemplified in Lobmeyr’s iconic collections.

The “Script” lights will be presented in conjunction with new pieces developed by Bodo Sperlein for Les Ateliers Courbet, expanding on Sperlein’s 2009 “Contour” table and bench, previously noted for their flawless woodcraft details and fluid curves achieved through the traditional Japanese Shou sugi ban technique.

Bodo Sperlein x J. & L. Lobmeyr, “Script” Collection, 2019. Photography by Jon Day, styled by Hannah Franklin. Courtesy of Bodo Sperlein Studio, J. & L. Lobmeyr, and Les Ateliers Courbet.

“SCRIPT” COLLECTION

Following its European launch in September 2019 at Maison & Objet, Paris, the exhibition marks the first presentation of the new “Script” collection in the United States. Resulting from Viennese family-owned chandelier and glass manufacturer J. & L. Lobmeyr’s latest artistic collaboration and inspired by the Wiener Werkstätte vocabulary, “Script” was developed by Sperlein in close concert with six-generation owner Johannes Rath. The collection revisits the common theme of brass pipes and white balls as Sperlein endows the design with a new bend. Structurally, each piece consists of hand-bent brass bands; in a milled groove, the cables are visibly guided as a design element. Available in gold- or silver-plated finish, together with hemispherical, mouth-blown and satin-finished crystal domes which sit on flat brass plates, the curved arms thrust each piece beyond its primary function as it embraces that of a sculptural object in space. The collection includes a table lamp, a floor lamp and a wall lamp, as well as different versions of chandeliers, utilizing Lobmeyr’s custom-made LED-elements.

Inspired by historical design luminaries Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, Sperlein’s deep appreciation for Vienna’s seminal design legacy and its ongoing craftsmanship heritage has sparked various collaborations with local manufacturers over the years, including silversmith workshop Jarosinski & Vaugoin and Hanseatic bed manufacturer Richard Behr. Sperlein has continuously sought to bring his contemporary vocabulary to the city’s timeless mastery of craft.

“Vienna’s history is rooted in the aesthetics of the city, and in a rich architectural and artistic legacy born from time-honored craftsmanship.” Sperlein explains. “Pristinely preserved treasures endlessly surface at the corner of a street, in the depths of a cellar, and in time appear in a new light. The boundless opportunity to creatively draw from the city, to combine its uncompromising craftsmanship with modern design, is at the core of the mutual fascination that the craftspeople I work with and I share; it is what unites us.”

Bodo Sperlein, “Contour” Collection Oak Finish, 2020. Photography by Jon Day Photography, styled by Katie Philips. Courtesy of Bodo Sperlein Studio and Les Ateliers Courbet.

“CONTOUR” COLLECTION

Designed by Bodo Sperlein, the “Contour” furniture collection draws inspiration from the clean-curved silhouettes of the 20th-century Art Nouveau movement. Hand-crafted in the UK by British master craftspeople, the pieces are fabricated using the traditional Japanese Shou sugi ban technique. Originated in Japan in the 18th century and primarily used to treat cedar siding to make it weatherproof, Shou sugi ban (焼杉板) involves charring a wood surface to render it a deep charcoal-black. The process imparts the resulting piece, called yakisugi, with an undeniable gravitas – a blackening of the wood that reveals clean, distinct lines and an inherent textural beauty, balanced by the impeccable fluidity of the piece’s mirrored curvature. Long drawn to Sperlein’s original “Contour” series (c. 2009) which included a table, bench and chair, Courbet encouraged the designer to expand the collection with a new console, chair and side table developed exclusively for the gallery. Each piece is available in black walnut, black moire or solid oak.

Both Sperlein’s new “Contour” pieces developed for Courbet and his latest ode to Vienna’s design and craftsmanship legacy with the “Script” collection will be presented starting November 2020 exclusively at Les Ateliers Courbet, New York.

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NOTES TO EDITORS
About Bodo Sperlein
A graduate of the University of the Arts London, German-born designer Bodo Sperlein opened his London-based studio in 2000. Originally specializing in ceramics, Sperlein has moved on to work in collaborations and commissions from technology and textiles to interior accessories, silverware and lighting. 

Bodo has collaborated with esteemed brands and manufacturers around the world, including Dibbern and nya nordiska in Germany, Lladró in Spain, Nikko in Japan, and Tane, the heritage silverware Mexican brand. Over the years, Sperlein’s repertoire has extended, echoing his enthusiasm for rejuvenating heritage brands. 

Each of his projects is a reflection of Sperlein’s engagement in supporting the cultural heritage and ethos inherent to traditional craftsmanship. He materializes this interest through the design and production of signature collections handcrafted by contemporary artisans using time-honored
techniques and various materials.

About J. & L. Lobmeyr
Founded in 1823 by Joseph Lobmeyr, Viennese family-owned chandelier and glass manufacturer J. & L. Lobmeyr has garnered the established recognition of international design institutions and museums, as well as the design industry, for its impeccable craftsmanship, its significant design legacy, and its forward-thinking leadership from one generation to the next.

In line of its visionary direction, Lobmeyr’s second-generation Ludwig Lobmeyr Senior is recognized for reviving the glass and crystal traditions of Bohemia and challenging the local glass masters to improve the techniques that eventually drew the world’s attention to the craftsmanship expertise of the region. His successor and son-in-law, Stefan Rath is responsible for some of the most iconic Lobmeyr collections, including seminal designs resulting from Rath’s longstanding collaborations with his Viennese contemporaries and historical design luminaries such as Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos and Oswald Haerdtl – designs which today belong to the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Arts and the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and the MAK Museum in Vienna amongst other museums around the world.

Under the direction of Johannes Rath, and for six generations now, J. & L. Lobmeyr has contributed to the design and craft legacy of Austria, which has influenced that of the rest of the world. Although Lobmeyr continually focuses on the contemporary interpretation of glass, it has never stopped cultivating its heritage, while retaining a thoughtful and emotional bond with the product. With guest designers and artists coming from a wide range of backgrounds – painters, architects or designers, Lobmeyr has carried-on a rich legacy, allowing the old to inspire the new, and the traditions to facilitate innovation.

Alongside its extensive collection of functional glassworks, the manufacturer has built a major catalogue of lighting designs fed by special commissions and institutional projects including the Schönbrunn Palace; the Vienna State Opera; the Kremlin; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and the renowned Metropolitan Opera House lights at the Lincoln Center in New York.

About Les Ateliers Courbet
Les Ateliers Courbet is a New York-based design gallery with a distinct curatorial focus dedicated to the ongoing craftsmanship mastery and design legacies carried-on by the contemporary artisans and centuries-old manufactures it represents.

Established in 2013 by Mélanie Courbet, the gallery was born from the desire to share a deep appreciation for master-craftsmen’s ethos and works of art that embody artisanal dexterity and cultural heritage. Since its opening, Les Ateliers Courbet has garnered international recognition from a clientele of private collectors, interior designers and institutions alike. Today, the gallery represents over 50 traditional crafts passed on by long lineages of esteemed artisans from around the world, including marquetry, woodcraft, ceramic and glasswork, weaving and metalsmithing.

While pursuing its mission with exhibitions, institutional collaborations and publications, the gallery further supports its ateliers with the Editions Courbet – a series of editioned pieces created by guest artists and hand-crafted by the gallery’s master-craftsmen. The inaugural Editions Courbet collection will be unveiled in the Fall of 2020. 

Les Ateliers Courbet
134 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10013
United States
https://www.ateliercourbet.com/

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Les Ateliers Courbet Unveils New Light Editions by Lighting Artist Thierry Dreyfus

Thierry Dreyfus, B Lamp. Photography by Joe Kramm. Courtesy of Thierry Dreyfus and of Les Ateliers Courbet.

Thierry Dreyfus, H Lamp. Photography by Joe Kramm. Courtesy of Thierry Dreyfus and of Les Ateliers Courbet.

September 9, 2020 (New York, United States) – On October 7, 2020, New-York based design gallery Les Ateliers Courbet will unveil new light editions by renowned French lighting artist Thierry Dreyfus. The exhibition will be open by appointment at the Chelsea gallery — 134 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY 10011. The new series includes three sculptural lamps, each embodying the artist’s thoughtful and poetic vocabulary. Dreyfus’s latest “Objets de Lumière” (Objects of Light) expand on the artist’s significant body of work and his continuous explorations of light as an ethereal medium allowing sensorial experiences to trigger our thoughts and emotions. Whether exemplified in his monumental public art installations or the ephemeral experiences of his scenography commissions, Dreyfus’s work seems to emanate from a dialectic between creating light and creating with light.

Thierry Dreyfus, Book Lamp. Photography by Joe Kramm. Courtesy of Thierry Dreyfus and of Les Ateliers Courbet.

Exclusively presented at Les Ateliers Courbet, the artist’s signature editions “Objets de Lumière” are intriguing and intimate punctuations of light – engaging the user as they switch from sculptural pieces to clever light sources.

Despite his discrete character and rooted preference for working in the shadow, the lighting artist has garnered a worldwide recognition with an extensive portfolio of public art installations commissioned by international cities, museums and institutions, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with his notable lighting scenography of 2017 Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between exhibition. First introduced to light and its technicality as a lighting assistant in the worlds of theater and opera, Dreyfus has mastered and harnessed light since 1985, using the elusive medium and its wide spectrum of expressions to create ephemeral experiences informed by their environment or a given context.

“Thierry Dreyfus is the man who is making the City of Light live up to its name. The designer is the master of the soft glow, bright beams and laser lines. Dreyfus may be an artist with light, but he is too modest to give himself that title or to compare himself with conceptual neon experimenters of the 1980s and with the light installations of the American artist James Turrell.” — Suzy Menkes, The International Herald Tribune

Thierry Dreyfus, View of Installation at Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral, Paris, Nuit Blanche 2010. Photography by Mathias Wendzinski. Courtesy of Thierry Dreyfus.

Dreyfus’s notable installations and commissions, the prominent institution of the Grand Palais in Paris commissioned the artist for its grand reopening in 2015. Humbled, Dreyfus conceived an ephemeral installation as a tribute to the “City of Light” and the museum’s historical architecture, making the landmark building the inherent and center element of his installation, rather than its canvas or its stage. For one night, Paris’s iconic glass nave shone like a buffed quartz popping out a stone as powerful light beams pierced through the glass roof drawing a dreamy palette in the sky. As part of the City of Paris’s 2006 Nuit Blanche, Dreyfus installed Co-Naissance, a seemingly never-ending 80-meter-high ladder to the sky in front of the National Public Library of France. A play on the title’s dual sense – meaning both knowledge and birth – the work’s verticality reflected an endless aspiration for light, wisdom, and freedom, while calling for our deepest childhood dreams.

In 2010, the City of Paris commissioned Thierry Dreyfus to create a site-specific installation in its legendary cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, making him the first artist ever authorized to install his work inside the historical building. For one night, Dreyfus plunged the edifice into darkness. As an homage to the monument he describes as “a lung of light yearning to breathe,” the artist reversed the traditional, dramatic downward lighting — customary to religious architecture as a representation of the light coming from above down to the prayers. As a poetic allegory, the artist brought his palette of lights in the heart of the cathedral — evoking the light and power coming from within the prayers. Dreyfus’s light beams projected through the cathedral’s stained-glass windows allowed more than 50,000 visitors to see the seminal building in a different light, and its iconic windows to glow on the outside for the first time in history.

In 2015, Dreyfus graced New York City with a permanent public art in the heart of midtown Manhattan, at 135 West 52nd Street. Exploring the relationship between light and the “city that never sleeps,” the neighboring Broadway area and its inhabitants, the artist erected a vertical column of LED lights, climbing up the façade of the residential building like a vertebra at its center. Pulsating softly at the pace of a resting heartbeat, the “Vein of Light” offers a sense of calm and a serene energy to the neighbors and passing by pedestrians, suggesting a pause in the heart of the city’s restless, fast-paced rhythm.

For over 30 years, Dreyfus has been sculpting, drawing and projecting light, expanding his insatiable creativity and artistic curiosity to multiple media including painting, photography and objects. Turning to the latter, which allows light to materialize at an intimate, personal scale through the essence of a material, a movement or a form, the artist has quietly and privately grown a catalogue of sculptural lamps and “Objets de Lumière” for over ten years. His limited editions are exclusively presented at Les Ateliers Courbet since 2015.

Part of significant collections around the world, Dreyfus’s personal work as well as his signature editions draw inspiration from the painstaking and romantic work of Old European Masters as well as Constantin Brancusi and Alberto Giacometti. Ranging from prototypes of lamps filled with salt crystals to square-section neon tubes carefully refracting the natural or the environmental light, each piece bears its own character, reflecting the artist’s never-ending curiosity to reinterpret and expand on the perception of light. With their distinct personalities, they however share in common the artist’s thoughtful, playful and poetic vocabulary.

QUOTES FROM THE ARTIST

“A pure line, a movement, a breath, a comma… The essential.” — Thierry Dreyfus

“Sculpting or drawing light is like molding an environment that inspires or allows one’s personal experience. There is something both humbling and empowering in being able to trigger emotions, inspire or influence one’s experience with an elusive medium that is both absent and yet inherently, terribly present – an unexpected line, a subtle movement… The essential.” — Thierry Dreyfus

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NOTES TO EDITORS
About Les Ateliers Courbet
Les Ateliers Courbet is a New York-based design gallery with a distinct curatorial focus dedicated to the ongoing craftsmanship mastery and design legacies carried-on by the contemporary artisans and centuries-old manufactures it represents.

Established in 2013 by Mélanie Courbet, the gallery was born from the desire to share a deep appreciation for master-craftsmen’s ethos and works of art that embody artisanal dexterity and cultural heritage. Since its opening, Les Ateliers Courbet has garnered international recognition from a clientele of private collectors, interior designers and institutions alike. Today, the gallery represents over 50 traditional crafts passed on by long lineages of esteemed artisans from around the world, including marquetry, woodcraft, ceramic and glasswork, weaving and metalsmithing.

While pursuing its mission with exhibitions, institutional collaborations and publications, the gallery further supports its ateliers with the Editions Courbet – a series of editioned pieces created by guest artists and hand-crafted by the gallery’s master-craftsmen. The inaugural Editions Courbet collection will be unveiled in the Fall of 2020. 

Les Ateliers Courbet
134 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10013
United States
https://www.ateliercourbet.com/

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The Austrian Cultural Forum New York Presents Artist Interview Series as Part of Current Exhibition: "Spaces of No Control"

Curated by Austrian artist and curator Walter Seidl, the exhibition explores the notion of the modern city and urban dystopias of the 20th and 21st centuries, with works by leading American and Austrian artists, including: VALIE EXPORT, Hans Haacke, Francis Ruyter and Taryn Simon.

October 1, 2020 – January 10, 2021 | By appointment only

VALIE EXPORT, Syntagma, 1983. 16-mm film transferred to video: color, sound. 17 minutes 3 seconds. From the compilation: METANOIA. Courtesy of Kontakt Collection, Vienna.

October 1, 2020 (New York, NY) – Opening on October 1, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY) presents Spaces of No Control, a group exhibition curated by Walter Seidl exploring the notion of the modern city and its signifying dystopias of the 20th and 21st centuries. The multifaceted show brings together contemporary artists based in Austria and the United States to comment on the current definitions of citizenship and public space. 

Over the past five decades, public space and architecture have changed drastically as a result of modern technology and its influence on gentrification. The precision of technology no longer requires authorship nor a tangible physical presence to document reality. The more advanced technology grows, the more control investors have in the ownership of urban planning, as citizens are gradually forced to forgo their authority and waive their access to public spaces. In light of these dynamics, New York and other large cities have been under constant artistic scrutiny as a result of municipal changes that call for permanent control, often marked by capitalist trends.

Spaces of No Control’s featured artists examine the histories of specific places and create a narrative on the defining architectural and social impressions over the urban structure. The core of the show lies in photographic examinations of cities and their social strata, which are then transferred onto other media thereby engaging viewers to reflect on how to circulate with this new reality. The exhibition analyzes city planning – initially intentioned to optimize rather than reorganize society – and the results of its complex history.

Works in the ACFNY’s iconic building’s lobby include Kay Walkowiak’s video, Minimal Vandalism, which shows a skateboarder skillfully leaving traces onto art installations, bringing to light the essence of minimal art and how these works are perceived within public spaces and often treated with irony. Francis Ruyter’s experimental paintings address the mechanical nature of the digital era, which hinders independent action and forces individuals to give in to the internet’s dynamics and evolving demands

In the Lower Mezzanine, Taryn Simon’s collection confronts the divide between those with and those without the privilege of access, and reveals that which lies hidden and out-of-sight within the borders of the United States. Located in the Upper Mezzanine is VALIE EXPORT’s short film, Syntagma, created in the 1970s to investigate the body as a membrane between the self and the public, contemplating how the female body is inscribed into society. 

The building’s Upper Gallery includes a short documentary of Hans Haacke’s controversial work, And You Were Victorious After All, entirely burnt down by neo-Nazi groups in Graz, Austria, in 1988 despite constant surveillance. His work provides a telling example of the artist’s ultimate belief that citizens have no control over their contributions within public space. In this sense, Haacke’s documentary can be considered one of the most significant and resounding contributions to Austrian art history. 

Concluding the exhibition, the main gallery includes Sabine Bitter/Helmut Weber’s Performing Publicness, a photographic representation of the Park Avenue Plaza that analyzes the particularities and contradictions that lie in the private ownership of New York’s public spaces. Finally, Tony Cokes’s video-sound installation interrogates the ways in which political and social articulations in cities are driven by the media and preconceived image reproduction.

Opening on October 1, 2020, Spaces of No Control will be on view by appointment only until January 10, 2021, and was organized with the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport.

Featured artists include:

Sabine Bitter/Helmut Weber, Tony Cokes, VALIE EXPORT, Hans Haacke, Francis Ruyter, Taryn Simon, Kay Walkowiak. Curated by Walter Seidl.

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NOTES TO EDITORS
About the Curator
Walter Seidel is a curator, artist and critic based in Vienna. Having studied cultural studies (MA) and contemporary history (PhD) at universities in Graz, Seattle, Paris and New York, his work deals with the transformation of image politics and the inherent identity constellations. Seidl curated numerous exhibitions throughout Europe, North America, Hong Kong, Japan and South Africa. His writings include various catalog essays for artist monographs, exhibition reviews, and criticism. Seidl contributes to several international art magazines, most frequently to Camera Austria International, where he is also board member and curator.

About the Austrian Cultural Forum New York
With its architectural landmark building in Midtown Manhattan, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York is dedicated to innovative and cutting-edge programming, showcasing the best of Austrian contemporary art, music, literature, performance, and academic thought in New York and throughout the United States. In addition to presenting three group exhibitions per year in its multi-level gallery space and housing around 13,000 volumes of Austriaca in its library named in honor of the late Vienna-born American writer and intellectual Frederic Morton, it hosts up to 100 free events per year in its own auditorium and supports as many projects at partner institutions across the nation.
www.acfny.org

Austrian Cultural Forum New York
11 East 52nd St. (btw. 5th & Madison)
New York, NY 10022
(212) 319 5300
Open weekdays, 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Admission to exhibitions, concerts, and other events is free.

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CHYBIK + KRISTOF ARCHITECTS Complete the Lahofer Winery in the Czech Republic

Exterior view of the Lahofer Winery, designed by CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Photography by Alex Shoots Buildings.

Nestled in the Moravian countryside, the design of the Lahofer Winery brings together a longstanding wine tradition and contemporary wine-making processes. Housing a visitor center, tasting room and production facilities, the structure immerses itself in the landscape, achieving a subtle symbiosis with the surrounding vines.

August 5, 2020 (Dobšice, Czech Republic) – CHYBIK + KRISTOF ARCHITECTS & URBAN DESIGNERS have completed construction of the Lahofer Winery in the Czech Republic. Nestled in the Moravian countryside, the Lahofer Winery fuses the region’s longstanding wine tradition with a contemporary design in constant dialogue with the surrounding vines. Reflective of modern wine-making processes, the building brings together three distinct interconnected structures – a wine-making facility, the winery’s administrative base, and a visitor center and adjoining tasting room. Emulating archetypal wine cellars of the region, the vault of the winery rests on a grid of arched beams. Acting as a mirror of this shape, an undulant roof serves as an amphitheater for cultural events open to both locals and visitors, merging the winery into the ground – and the culture – on which it rests.

CHYBIK + KRISTOF’s project finds its roots in the legacy of the Lahofer Winery – one grounded in a storied cultural heritage and a profound respect for the natural environment. Responding to Moravia’s topography and architectural tradition, rooted in the culture of wine, the architects conceive a design in symbiosis with the region’s landscape. Reminiscent of the region’s characteristic arched wine cellars, a colonnade of vaulted beams frames the interior space into its storied curve. On its exterior side, draping the winery, an undulant roof acts as an inclined open-air amphitheater and cultural venue. Lightening the volume of the building as it rests on the fertile soil, below lie three separate spaces – each attributed with a distinct function, they share a constant concern for the adjoining nature.

Towered by the concave roof of the amphitheater, the space unfolds into a vast cellar, embracing the design of archetypal Czech wineries defined by the exposed rib construction of the arches. Each reinforced concrete arch is individually designed to fit a specific angle of the ceiling, while the distance between the arches is determined by that between the vine rows. Each module rises from a vine row and runs through the space, achieving perfect visual symmetry and guiding the viewer’s gaze across the grapevines. Enclosed in a glass façade and facing south, the visitor center draws abundant light as the windows act as concealed separation from the exterior vine rows. Informed by the ambient nature, the visitor center invites visitors to fully experience its produce in the barrique cellar, made of wood, concrete and glass, and adjoining tasting room. A large-scale mural painting by Czech contemporary artist Patrik Hábl covers the entire ceiling area. Its tampered, irregular and sparse strokes, ranging from earthy reds and blacks to terroir-reminiscent browns and beiges, echo the variations of the soil and its weightlessness as it seemingly lifts from the ground, leaving its timeless markings on the walls.

In the continuity of this material wave, the structure houses its production in two halls of distinct heights, each mirroring a specific process. The first lower hall centralizes the operations, including wine-making production and employee facilities, while the second allows for operations that require lower temperatures, such as the wine press, the cellar, and the wine store. The varying heights of the interior spaces, emulating the terrain, allow for the alignment of corresponding functional exterior courtyards. While one courtyard serves as the operational area, centralizing logistic and production presses, the other holds the amphitheater, extending sweeping views of the landscape.

Interior view of the Lahofer Winery, designed by CHYBIK + KRISTOF. Photography by Alex Shoots Buildings.

An open space emerging from the rhythmic vines, the amphitheater invests the boundless roof, overlooking a horizon nourished by its history. Expanding on the Lahofer Winery’s function from a production site into a witness to the local culture, it acts as a community space dedicated to cultural events, including local grape harvest celebrations and theater performances – a hub for its lasting community to connect with visitors of the region and wide-ranging wine connoisseurs.

Describing the concept, founding architects Ondřej Chybík and Michal Krištof explain, “The design of the Lahofer Winery is deeply rooted in nature, and in the respect thereof. At a time when culture and nature appear to be antagonistic forces, we envision a space reflective of the longstanding symbiosis between the two in the region – one that profoundly respects the environment on which it rests. The structure unfolds into the native terrain, immerses itself into the surrounding vine rows, thereby preserving the essence and integrity of both soil and culture. Additionally, moving beyond a purely productive viewpoint, we prioritize the visitor experience, notably by allocating the roof as a public space open to local and international visitors – an experience essential to the understanding and appreciation of the wine.”

A selection of press images (drawings and project views) can be accessed here.

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NOTES TO EDITORS
About CHYBIK + KRISTOF
CHYBIK + KRISTOF is an architecture and urban design practice founded in 2010 by Ondřej Chybík and Michal Krištof. Operating with 50+ international team members and offices in Prague, Brno and Bratislava, the practice aims at creating bridges between private and public space, transcending generations and societal spheres. Taking into account local histories and environmental specificities, the studio works on a wide array of projects, ranging from urban developments to public and residential buildings. Recent projects include: Gallery of Furniture (Czech Republic), the Czech Pavilion at Expo 2015 (Milan, Italy) and Lahofer Winery (Czech Republic). The studio has been awarded a number of prizes, including the 2019 Vanguard Award from Architectural Record.
https://chybik-kristof.com/

About Lahofer Winery
Deriving its name from the Dobšice native, artistic woodcarver Jan Lahofer, the Lahofer Winery was established in 2003 in the Czech Republic’s historical Moravian wine producing region. The Lahofer winemakers are supported by a strong tradition of viticulture in the Znojmo region, developed through state-of-the-art viticulture procedures and technologies.  The winery produces wines from all the main Central European grape varieties, exclusively from grapes grown in their own vineyards (with the exception of the special series of French wines), selling part of their vineyard production to other wine producers. The Lahofer Winery is one of the largest wine producers in the Czech Republic, covering over 430 hectares and produces half a million bottles annually.

Client: Lahofer Winery
Location: Dobšice, Czech Republic
Year: 2015
Completion: Spring 2020
Size: 3 900 m2 (Ground floor area)
Status: Building Site
Team: Ondrej Chybik, Michal Kristof, Adam Jung, Lenka Vořechovská, Hanin Al-Gibury, Karolina Holankova, Martin Holy, Vojtech Kouril, Ondrej Mundl, Matej Strba, Zuzana Zathurecka, Zuzana Pelikanova, Victor Cojocaru, Laura Emilija Druktenytė, Zuzana Lisoňová, Gabriela Voláková 

Lahofer Winery (Vinařství LAHOFER)
Vinice 579
Dobšice, 671 82
Czech Republic

https://www.lahofer.cz/en/winary

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New York-Based Designer Jonathan Hansen Unveils New Porcelain Collection in Collaboration With French Table Design Brand Marie Daâge

Drawing inspiration from Baroque palaces and churches, Ciels Bleus replicates the characteristic frescoes’ blue-sky cloudscapes, hand-painted on Marie Daâge’s signature hand-crafted Limoges porcelain.

August 4, 2020 (New York, United States) – Created in collaboration with esteemed French table design brand Marie Daâge, Ciels Bleus is New York-based designer Jonathan Hansen’s latest signature porcelain collection. Made in Limoges, France, and inspired by the ceilings of Renaissance and Baroque edifices throughout Europe, the blue-sky cloudscape dinnerware set is hand-crafted in porcelain with hand-painted brushwork by Marie Daâge’s internationally renowned local artisans. The collection, which features a selection of 14 adorned tableware and decorative pieces, is available exclusively on leading design and fashion retailer Moda Operandi until October 31, with numerous post-exclusive international retailers including Liberty London and MATCHESFASHION.

Reflecting European architecture and design history’s influence on Hansen as an unfaltering source of inspiration, the Ciels Bleus collection finds its roots in the hand-painted ornamented ceilings characteristic of Renaissance and Baroque edifices. Mirroring an architectural and artistic element onto his work, thereby replicating the illusion of the outside captured on the inside, Hansen endows the pieces with an atmospheric depth and ethereal sense of spirituality, exuding a holistic and essential relation to nature. In choosing the theme of the blue sky, Hansen builds on the motif’s numerous historical undertones and interpretations – the sky as a boundless organic space; its mutations as deeply tied to our emotions; and its representation as evocative of a contemplative and meditative state often referenced in religious history.

Crafted by hand in Limoges, France, by the region’s esteemed craftsmen, the porcelain used for the collection materializes the represented lightness and sense of fragility. Bestowing a modern interpretation to this historical theme, Marie Daâge renders Hansen’s design onto the porcelain through quick watercolor-like brush strokes, yielding an atmospheric airiness and fluidity characteristic to her work.  Based on a figurative theme, the designs acquire an abstract essence, achieving a subtle balance between realism and an aspired dream-like perception. Likewise influenced by the Baroque grandeur of her native Austria, Marie Daâge’s color compositions build on a complex palette, the result of a several-hour-long hand-mixing process involving sometimes up to 10 powders to attain the right hue. Working with select painters, she trains them to translate both Hansen’s and her design aesthetic onto each piece. The artisans’ skilled brush work plays on a distinct pressure and flourish: rather than filling in color to pattern lines, the fluidity, movement and seeming translucence of the figures is the result of light, quick strokes, calling for a very precise hand.

The resulting collection, comprised of a dinnerware set and decorative pieces, imparts both a traditional style and contemporary étiquette. Analogous to a hand-picked fashion garde-robe, as Marie Daâge describes, the Ciels Bleus collection radiates a sense of permanence and cachet – one exclusive to the distinct and limited environment in which the pieces are produced and which grants each design with a peculiar uniqueness. Illustrations of the French art de table, timeless expressions of a lighthearted art de vivre, the pieces can be paired with both classical and contemporary sets. 

Describing his collaboration with Marie Daâge, Jonathan Hansen explains:

“Both the theme of the blue sky and my choice to work with Marie Daâge and her reputed Limoges porcelain craftsmen acquire a particular significance today. A much-needed lightheartedness, serenity and playfulness emanate from the Ciels Bleus designs, one that radiates beyond the objects and onto the very setting in which they are presented. By embracing the use of porcelain, working hand-in-hand on this year-long creative process, Marie Daâge and I manifest our shared deference and respect for the time-honored craftsmanship techniques carried on by the Limoges artisans, ones that are all-the-more essential to preserve today.” 

His first porcelain collection under his name, Ciels Bleus is Jonathan Hansen’s latest exploration of a material, which he has continuously integrated in his designs. Working with porcelain since 2009, he has built an extensive portfolio of porcelain collections produced for leading designers and brands including Aerin Lauder, the HAAS BROTHERS, and L’OBJET.

The Ciels Bleus collection is available for pre-order exclusively on leading design and fashion retailer Moda Operandi until October 31, 2020. Additional reputed international retailers starting November 2020 include Liberty London and MATCHESFASHION.

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About Jonathan Hansen
A contemporary creator with classical foundations, New York-based designer Jonathan Hansen has established his signature through collaborations with some of the leading names of fashion and furniture design. Building on his training in 18th- and 19th-century French, English and American furniture design, Hansen interrogates the fragile equilibrium between functionality and abstraction that comes with each interaction between human and object. Placing the human body at the core of his work, he conceives each piece as a biomorphic being endowed with a subtle human essence.

Designing and fabricating objects for the past 20 years, he launched his product design firm Jonathan Hansen + Co. in 2010. Hansen has worked with leading global fashion designers and brands including Thom Browne, Lisa Perry, AERIN, Ralph Rucci, The HAAS BROTHERS and L’OBJET, where he currently acts as Design Director.

In 2018, he debuted his independent design editions, SERIES I: Captum Biomorfe – the first of a continuous series of furniture design collections through which he addresses the ties between design, architecture, sculpture, and the human body. The series’ second iteration, titled SERIES II: Eximo Biomorfe, will be presented in the Spring 2021. 

Hansen's design work has garnered academic and media attention alike. SERIES I was recently included in Karen Pearse’s Splendor of Marble: Marvelous Spaces by the Worlds Top Architects and Designers (Rizzoli, 2020), and his collections have been featured in The New York Times, Architectural Digest, Vogue, Elle Decor, and Harper's Bazaar, among others. 

About Marie Daâge
Founded 30 years ago, Marie Daâge is a table design brand creating tailor-made porcelain entirely painted by hand. With more than 220 patterns and 70 colours, Marie Daâge offers an infinite number of combinations to match the unique style of each table. In the manner of a Haute Couture designer shaping a dress for her muse, she considers each interior in its very own singularity to assemble the perfect set.

Born in Austria, raised in the French West Indies and educated at the School of The Louvre, Marie Daâge started hand-painting on Limoges porcelain in 1990. Her creativity and respect of a heritage craft, quickly led her to work with artisan painters from the Limoges region, enabling her to focus on the creation. Over the years, Marie Daâge has grown into a major player on the French luxury and international decorative arts scene.

Marie Daâge collections are some of the very last to be painted entirely by hand, as opposed to printed patterns (a.k.a. chromolithography or decorative transfers). The resulting pieces represent a rare combination: fine Limoges porcelain, patterned not with common rigid decorative motifs, but with playful and expressive hand-painting. Each piece is a unique piece of art.

About Moda Operandi
Moda Operandi is an e-commerce platform transforming the way people discover and shop for designer fashion. Through its innovative mix of commerce and content, Moda allows women and men to shop for what’s new and what’s next in designer fashion from the world’s leading emerging designers and luxury brands. Founded in 2010, Moda Operandi's mission is to make it easy for designers to grow their businesses and consumers to realize their personal style. Today, Moda’s platform carries more than 1,000 brands and designers across fashion, fine jewelry and home, ships to 125 countries, and has raised nearly $300M in funding from top-tier global investors. 

The Ciels Bleus collection is available for pre-order exclusively at Moda Operandi until October 31, 2020. Additional reputed international retailers starting November 2020 include Liberty London and MATCHESFASHION.

Facebook | Instagram | @jonathandhansen @hansen.series @mariedaagefr @modaoperandi #hansenxdaage

Image credits: Jonathan Hansen x Marie Daâge, Ciels Bleus Collection. Photography by Jeffrey Miller. Courtesy of Jonathan Hansen and Marie Daâge.

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CHYBIK + KRISTOF ARCHITECTS Win Competition for the Construction of the Jihlava Multipurpose Arena, Czech Republic

Rendering for the Jihlava Multipurpose Arena. Image credit: monolot. Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF Architects & Urban Designers.

A vibrant multifunctional complex, the four-building project brings together sports, culture, and social venues open to diverse audiences. Revisiting the site as an urban sociocultural campus, they act together to revive the notion of public space and integrate the long-neglected area to Jihlava’s city center.

July 1, 2020 (Jihlava, Czech Republic) – The result of a much-anticipated public competition, CHYBIK + KRISTOF ARCHITECTS & URBAN DESIGNERS have been selected to complete the construction of the Jihlava Multipurpose Arena – one of the largest sports and leisure complexes in the Czech Republic. The construction, due to begin in 2021 and end in 2023, will build on the city’s existing hockey stadium, a deteriorating indoor sporting arena built in 1956, and expand into a four-building multifunctional center bringing together an adaptable ice rink, a rooftop running track and a gym as well as a sports academy, hospitality establishments and shops. Hosting both regional sporting and cultural events, the completed structure will act as a public platform open to a variety of audiences for a diverse range of activities, in an effort to revitalize this long-neglected area of the city.

CHYBIK + KRISTOF’s design for the new Jihlava Multipurpose Arena revisits the existing structure of the building, initially developed as the home stadium for the regional ice hockey club. A multifunctional space with a capacity of 5,600 spectators, the project extends the stadium’s original purpose by creating a versatile space, adapted to both its primary sporting purposes within state-of-the-art facilities and a broad spectrum of activities – and their respective audiences. Located on the border of Jihlava’s historical center, the arena – a structure usually confined to the periphery of cities – is adjacent to a park and university and places itself in the continuity of these two spaces. The several public spaces nested throughout the four-building “urban stadium” allow it to melt into the surrounding urban landscape. Rather than marking an interruption in the existing city structure, the arena serves as a transparent and fluid transition between seemingly distinct spaces, thereby reviving and opening up the area to new functions, and ultimately extending the city center beyond its strict historical bounds. In this new permeable space, which the inhabitants are encouraged to invest in their daily lives, the architectural framework lays the foundations for the prominent notions of free movement and interaction.

The new structure unfolds into four distinct buildings, two of which already exist, connected through open-air walkways and green spaces. While the existing rectangular stadium undergoes full reconstruction and the sports academy is maintained as a key element of the site, they are both refurbished to host new functionalities and better blend within the overall environment and its signature aesthetic. At the heart of the project, the architects erect a spacious new arena: a monumental structure, its materials and forms reflect the city’s Baltic origins – a reference likewise mirrored in the triangle-patterned façades of the various refurbished and new buildings in the complex. The oval arena is structurally conceived as a versatile space: the interior space, endowed with the complex technical equipment necessary, serves at once as a hockey rink, exhibitions and events hall, and concert venue, complemented by an indoor gym. On its roof rests an outdoor track, further enriching the building’s sports functionality and inviting audiences to look upon the surrounding views of the city.

Adjacent to it, the architects have placed a hospitality building. Placed at an intersection, its elevated pedestrian-friendly structure invites visitors into the complex by allowing them to view the full environment from the street and thereby easily orient themselves within it. Combining a restaurant, hotel, gym and office spaces, it is exclusively dedicated to enriching visitors’ multifaceted experience of the complex and ensures the connection with the neighboring sports venue. Beyond a circumstantial, events-based site, the Jihlava Multipurpose Arena is an everyday space, an urban sporting, cultural and social campus for visitors of the arena, athletes, students of the academy and university, and the general public to invest. As the four buildings’ complementary and interconnected functions contribute to this, they share a distinct red metal grid façade, formed by apposed triangles. The expansive, highly visible and recognizable complex – both aesthetically and structurally – grows into an icon for the city, a definite, familiar, and understandable building for its inhabitants.

Drawing for the Jihlava Multipurpose Arena. Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF Architects & Urban Designers.

Founding architects Ondřej Chybík and Michal Krištof outline the sociocultural significance of the project: “We envisioned the Jihlava Multipurpose Arena as a deeply versatile complex, whose various functions are reflected at once in the technical structure, the landscaping and the aesthetics of the buildings. In integrating multiple purposes, we took significant consideration of their various audiences, thereby seeking to reflect the city’s diverse social and generational communities and to encourage their interactions. More than a center for sports and events, the arena is a social campus for the city – used by the people, thereby designed for the people.”

The Jihlava Multipurpose Arena is CHYBIK + KRISTOF’s most recent announcement as they prepare to complete the much-anticipated Lahofer Winery – one of the studio’s major projects. Nestled in the Czech Moravian countryside, the winery fuses the region’s longstanding wine tradition with a contemporary design, reflective of and in dialogue with the surrounding vines. The practice was also recently amongst the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies’s 2019 40 Under 40 Award winners, following on their award of Architectural Record’s 2019 Design Vanguard Prize.

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NOTES TO EDITORS
About CHYBIK + KRISTOF
CHYBIK + KRISTOF is an architecture and urban design practice founded in 2010 by Ondřej Chybík and Michal Krištof. Operating with 50+ international team members and offices in Prague, Brno and Bratislava, the practice aims at creating bridges between private and public space, transcending generations and societal spheres. Taking into account local histories and environmental specificities, the studio works on a wide array of projects, ranging from urban developments to public and residential buildings. Recent projects include: Gallery of Furniture (Czech Republic), the Czech Pavilion at Expo 2015 (Milan, Italy) and Lahofer Winery (Czech Republic). The studio has been awarded a number of prizes, including the 2019 Vanguard Award from Architectural Record.
https://chybik-kristof.com/

About the Project
Client: City of Jihlava
Project team: Jiří Richter; Luděk Šimoník, Kryštof Foltýn, Martin Holý, Denisa Annová, Ondřej Mičuda, Urszula Sedziak, Tomáš Wojtek
Project completion: 2023
Structure: Ice rink; oval running track; gym; 24 locker rooms; 36 sky boxes; restaurant; bar; 8 small gastronomic establishments; hostel; hall of fame; fan shop; academy/university; 8 offices.

Size:

• Premises for athletes: 4,786 m2

• Premises for spectators: 5,256 m2

• Gym: 400 m2

• Restaurant: 674 m2

• Small gastronomic establishments: 690 m2

• Administration: 289 m2

• Shops: 729 m2

• Accommodation: 826 m2

• Technical facilities and supplies: 4,498 m2

• Parking: 4 852 m2

Volume: 183,630 m3
Costs: 30 million EUR

Jihlava Multipurpose Arena (Horácká Aréna)
Statutární město Jihlava
Masarykovo náměstí 97/1
586 01 Jihlava 1
https://www.jihlava.cz/arena/

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KINK Bar & Restaurant Opens in Berlin | Bridging Art and Experimental Gastronomy

Located in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg’s multidisciplinary cultural venue Pfefferberg, KINK brings together a bar, restaurant and in-house laboratory, in conversation with Kerim Seiler’s large-scale site-specific neon light installation.

View of KINK Bar & Restaurant, Berlin. Photography by Robert Rieger. Courtesy of Kerim Seiler.

June 18, 2020 (Berlin) – A restaurant, bar and in-house culinary laboratory, KINK Bar & Restaurant opens in a restored industrial building, nested in the sociocultural centre Pfefferberg, host to various galleries, artist studios and event venues. Building on its vast adaptive space and eight-meter-high ceiling, KINK brings together contemporary art, modular design and world gastronomy, to offer a both multifaceted and deeply personal visitor experience.

Sustaining a constant dialogue with contemporary art and design, the wide room is reinvested through a selection of contemporary installations and works presented throughout the restaurant and bar. At its core, suspended from its high ceiling, Swiss contemporary artist Kerim Seiler’s Spaceknot (Pfefferberg) – a large-scale site-specific work consisting of over 100 meters of red neon tubes – elegantly loops through the space. Rethinking the void “as his canvas,” the artist transforms what appears to be a two-dimensional twisted knot into a multi-dimensional space-embracing sculpture. The contrasting glow of its interconnected segments plays with the architectural scale of the room, thereby creating an all-inclusive immersive atmosphere.

In constant conversation with the work, the post-industrial atemporal setting combines classic and vintage elements with contemporary design features and objects. Separated into three spaces – a vast main room, a gallery and a window-enveloped “Glashaus” – the different levels allow for distinct functions and ambiances. The vast room fans out from its focal point, the central open kitchen and bar designed by Berlin studio Hidden Fortress combined with sitting areas as a single overlapping, merged space for staff and visitors alike.

Deploying the height of the room, the side mezzanine looks out onto the lower floor, revealing German artist Philipp Emanuel Eyrich’s wall-embracing metalwork, in dialogue with Berberlin handcrafted rugs, inspired by North African Berber culture, and a set of Roche Bobois signature modular Mah Jong sofas. Upon entering from the surrounding beer garden – Berlin’s second oldest dating from 1850 – and through the 19th-century French wing doors, the resulting space breaks from the rules of formal spatial disposition, taking down barriers and encouraging visitors’ experimentation with – and experience within – the space.

An affirmation of founders Oliver Mansaray and Daniel Scheppan’s experimental and synergetic approach, the in-house laboratory – nested in the wall and projecting onto the bar– acts as an open workshop where modern techniques and culinary expertise and experience come together. Building on the influence, exploration and fusion of international food and drink cultures, Italian chef Ivano Pirolo, most recently chef de partie at two-Michelin-starred FACIL in Berlin, and Indian-born bar manager and mixologist Arun Puvanendran work together to offer a progressive and complementary selection of creative dishes and beverages. As they revisit processes ranging from fermentation and sous-vide to distillation and infusion, kitchen and bar combine sustainably- and ethically-sourced seasonal products and extract select oils and essences, ultimately assembled in both traditional and inventive drinks and assorted dishes. With cocktails ranging from a twist on a Classic Margarita to a contemporary version of a penicillin mixed drink, paired with a deconstructed taco or Chicorée filled with minced lamb and mole, they seek to share an expressive form of gastronomy, one based on distinct micro-influences and a belief in the “art of serving.”

View of KINK Bar & Restaurant, Berlin. Photography by Lee Edward.

Sharing a longstanding passion for the discovery and fusion of international food and drinking cultures, Mansaray and Scheppan built on their respective careers in engineering and design to launch KINK in 2019. They explain: “We don’t build walls. We tear them down. We bring together what belongs together: kitchen and bar. Not only do we create a unique space where restaurant and bar see eye-to-eye, we unite culinary and cocktail art into one cohesive experience.” Drawn to – and drawing from – the cultural ambition of Pfefferberg, they highlight the importance of art and design as part of the space: “We cherish art that interrogates, moves and stimulates exchange. Art reveals differences – and similarities.”

Located in a former mid-19th century brewery, Pfefferberg was founded in 1990 as an initiative from local residents, bringing together social, cultural and commercial activities – the latest addition being KINK, hosting a year-long programme of concerts, dance and theatre performances and a variety of multidisciplinary events. Reinvesting the decaying site, Pfefferberg’s, and KINK’s, vision is deeply related to the immediate vicinity of Prenzlauer Berg, an area of the city long divided by the Berlin wall, where lingering sentiments of segregation and displacement are reflected in the urban structure and architectural landscape.

Pfefferberg connects a variety of spaces, from artists’ studios including Olafur Eliasson and galleries such as Aedes Architekturforum, to concert and dance halls. Both rooted yet relieved from this historical legacy, KINK acts as a sociocultural space for healing, reconstruction, and discovery – its very name embodying a combination of bliss, “and a touch of nonsense,” as described by Mansaray and Scheppan.

KINK Bar & Restaurant’s spacious bar area, lofty gallery and private dining room also welcome a cultural programme ranging from electronic, house and disco DJs to classical music performances, and a monthly Lab Day hosted by the bar manager and chef inviting guests to discover and share culinary ideas. The space can also be booked for private events.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About Kerim Seiler:
Kerim Seiler (born in 1974, Bern, Switzerland) has developed a complex, philosophic sculptural approach to working with space. From colourful and inflatable molecule sculptures to permanent neon light installations and architectural performative artworks, Seiler’s visual language merges complex theories of positivism and metaphysics. Through his innovative sculptural concepts for social and urban spaces, Seiler explores and extends the sensible interaction and ambivalent relation between materiality and spirituality.
Seiler completed the Vorkurs at Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich (1991/92), studied Média Mixtes at the Ecole Supérieure d’Art Visuel Genève (1993–1995), and Freie Kunst at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg (1997–2002). He received his Diploma with Professor Bernhard Johannes Blume, and a Master of Advanced Studies in Architecture from the ETH Zürich with Professor Ludger Hovestadt (2011). Seiler has shown his work in various international exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Marseille, Berlin, Zurich, Moscow, Cracow, Cairo, and Johannesburg. He is represented by Grieder Contemporary in Zurich.

Practical information

KINK Bar & Restaurant
Schönhauser Allee 176
10119 Berlin
https://kink-berlin.de/
Instagram @kink.bar.restaurant

For venue hires, please contact office@kink-berlin.com

Opening times
Bar | Wednesday—Saturday | From 8pm
Restaurant | Tuesday—Saturday | From 6pm

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