Sustainability should be seen as an ethos, and not merely an optional extra, so as to placate those already socially conscious; interior designers should be increasingly prioritizing sustainability — utilizing new technologies and smarter methods to minimize energy use and decrease emissions.
One certainty is that you can’t fight the market, and for the time being, at least, the popularity of mid-century furniture is only on the up and up, with a cult-like following for certain designers that’s feeding into and influencing the worlds of art, architecture and design.
Whilst we might all like to gaze into a crystal ball and see exactly how the future will pan out post-panemic, the best we can do is prepare; designers thrive in constrained situations and it’s possible that we might see some truly inspiring and original new work.
With recent and astronomical auction records for pieces by the likes of Eileen Gray and Diego Giacometti it might be wise to invest in those contemporary designers producing what could very well be future icons.
Our recent reality might seem grim, and perhaps it fosters in us a nostalgia or romanticism for a bygone age; but let’s not turn our back on the new, the avant-garde, the modern, for that is what drives us forward.
Collecting art should come from a very personal place and whatever the medium, the key is to choose something you love and to buy with confidence; the best time to start collecting is always now — as in love, hesitation is loss.
The fact that Studio Job describe their work as “trophies for the end of European Culture” reflects simultaneously how deeply they feel their art historical roots and a profound despair for the future of humankind.
Whilst imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery, people should buy what they like, and what speaks to them, rather than panicking over whether X, Y or Z designer would use an item (whatever that may be) in a project, and whether friends are likely to judge them for an ill-chosen wall sconce or gaudy scatter cushion.
George Condo’s Distanced Figures provide unparalleled insight into the experience of artmaking in the time of lockdown. The themes in the drawings not only respond to our current situation and the absence of human contact, they are a continuation of the recurrent themes in the artist’s work.
Wendell Castle was truly unique in that he was able to present himself convincingly to the worlds of sculpture, craft and design. For Castle, furniture and sculpture, form and function were one and the same
Much like Warhol, Basquiat first became famous for his art and then became famous for being famous, a product of the hyped-up 1980s, and a metaphor for the dangers of artistic and social excess
Around the world lockdown is now lifting and galleries and museums, both national and private, will begin to reopen; of course, the sad reality of the situation is that only the concept of art itself is poised to make it through the pandemic fully intact
Luxury is more than bricks and mortar, it’s the ability to design the atmosphere, identifying the crux of an environment, whilst drawing inspiration from context — the whole reinforced by an often imperceptible number of subtle, discreet details that work together so as to co-exist in perfect harmony.
The media should focus its interests on those designers that are genuine talents, and not merely on the promotion of celebrity interiors and those Instagram decorators and dealers that have no real skill other than the ability to style editorially friendly stage sets
We can’t erase history, but painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and installation artist Titus Kaphar has begun to challenge that narrative, and in doing so, he gives a voice to those historically oppressed
Despite signs of change, many of the fundamental structures that keep people of colour out of the art world still remain in place. African Americans are absent from historical art collections in some of the world’s largest museums, galleries and major auctions
Recognized as one of his most iconic and sought-after designs, Jean Royère designed the the Ours Polaire sofa, for the rooms he occupied in his mother’s apartment at 234 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré on the occasion of redecorating her residence in 1947
Describing his beginning, always, with light first and form second, Ingo Maurer was known for his creativity and constant reinvention. He took joy in experimenting with a whimsical approach, and throughout his career he was celebrated for designing minimalist, iconic, and at times wholly irreverent luminaires
In the gilded age, when the act of conspicuous consumption reached new and dizzying heights, Elsie de Wolfe redefined taste as achievable for the middle classes, a synthesis of comfort, practicality and tradition
While so much early conceptual art tended toward the cold and cerebral, John Baldessari’s work was infused with a droll sense of humour — lampooning traditional notions about what was considered “high” art and critiquing the hegemonic rhetoric permeating the art world
