Craftica. Gallery libby sellers.
until 28 february 2013 | london | click > enlarge
Initially conceived in collaboration with luxury goods house Fendi for Design Miami/Basel 2012, Craftica is a visual and tactile investigation into the diversity and origins of leather through a collection of handmade stools, lights, vessels and tools.
As Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi, the Italian-born duo behind Formafantasma, have said, “the design is driven by the symbolic connotations of leather, a material that, more than any other, represents the complex relationship between humans and nature. Leather has the ability to evoke almost ancestral memories of when nature was hunted to produce food, tools and protection for the body. Searching underneath and above the sea, from the vegetal to the animal world, the installation offers a holistic view on leather as a material.”
In creating the series, Formafantasma merged their own willful primitivism with Fendi’s time-honoured craftsmanship and rich material resources. Alongside traditional leathers, the works have been made from vegetal dried fish skins (sourced from a food factory in Iceland), oxidized metal, glass, wood and other natural materials such as bones, shells and cow bladders. The resulting effect is a tactile, pre-industrial and glamorous range that Silvia Fendi has described as “experimentation at its best.”
A selection from Formafantasma’s earlier works, including Botanica, Moulding Tradition and Colony will also be on view. All pieces will be available to purchase exclusively through the gallery.
Hours: Tuesday > Friday 11 > 6 | Saturday 11 > 4

Gallery Libby Sellers
41-42 berners street | london WlT 3NB
+44 (0)20 3384 8785 | gallery@libbysellers.com