4 november > 7 january | london | photos courtesy of friedman benda and wendell castle

Carpenters Workshop Gallery is having a solo exhibition of six new limited edition and unique works by the celebrated American designer Wendell Castle from November 4 through January 7th, 2011.

Building on a celebrated furniture design career spanning half a century, six new limited edition and unique works by American furniture designer Wendell Castle will be showcased in his second solo exhibition in Europe. Castle’s work is recognized for its sardonic sense of humor and uniquely sculptural use of materials, including his signature use of stack-laminated wood. His new body of work furthers this tradition of material based design, while also applying his distinctive exploration of volume and shape. Exquisitely crafted in stained ash and walnut wood with a smooth oil finish, the organic, curvilinear forms of this new collection link it to many of his past masterworks. Exploring structural concepts in a sculptural context, a confidence and quickness of gesture suggest a new dimensionality. […]

“The expression ‘best foot forward’ comes from the practice used in earlier times of keeping chairs that were not in use against the wall. Therefore, the front leg had all the decorative carving and the back leg was plain. In this body of work I have given careful thought to the leg and made it unusually prominent, or the opposite of no legs at all. My coffee table ‘Time Passing’ is without legs, while my chair ‘Moonless Night’ has three very large legs.” – [ Wendell Castle ] [ carpenters workshop gallery ]