Studio Job – Page 2 – DesignApplause

My nose my stekkerdoos: studio job for lensvelt. Milan 2013.

Jun 25, 2013

We were quite looking forward to talk to Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel of Studio Job, whose creations can stress art as the counterpoint to design, can be wildly fun, unpredictable and we anticipated an equally lively chat. A healthy body of work affirms modernism though their sculptural translations also resemble sophisticated contraptionisms of time-traveling with Jules Verne. Tonight, Studio Job is presenting their new ‘Job Office’ collection for Lensvelt. The collection consists of a buffet cabinet, a desk, and an LED lamp and is an extension of the Job Cabinet launched by Studio Job in Milan 2011 – a metal cabinet with a single door that also comes with a gold-colored key. The venue, the refectory within the monastery within the Museum of Science and Technology. The walls and ceilings covered with beautiful 18th-century Sala del Cenacolo frescoes. ‘The Wall’ is our background music.

click > enlarge

>

[DA] The chosen space is extremely surreal. And the installation’s teaser promotion is of famous people with golden noses. Job, please explain this concept for us.
[JOB] Do you know what stekkerdoos means?

[DA] Please tell us.
[JOB] The concept is ‘stekkerdoos’ translated from Dutch means multiple socket, in this case, my nose, my socket. And you know, I have a strange nose. In high school I was told my nose looked like a socket. But on the other hand, the nose is also a handle to open a drawer in an office desk.

[DA] This is a story about turning a negative into a positive.
[JOB] I think so. Yes feel the handle, feel the nostrils. Finally you can open a drawer by putting your fingers in the nostrils and you don’t have to worry about your mother saying you can’t do that. After all these years.

[DA] An ultimate revenge.
[JOB] Yes, exactly.

[DA] When did you think of this concept.
[JOB] I knew it when I was 15. It just took 25 years to make it happen.

[DA] Tell us about the ‘Job Office’ collection.
[JOB] Lensvelt makes office furniture and people today are working more and more in their home. So we are trying to personalize this experience. These pieces are very modernistic, in a modern style, like this lamp that goes back to the 50s and we also merged a sculptural presence to the pieces. A merger of the right industrial product with the gilded sculpture.

[DA] The nose is a very organic statement and the gilded button is huge.
[JOB] Yes, regarding the nose I was looking for a handle and maybe we were looking for a human statement. An the most iconic thing about the lamp is this big on/off button. And there are 100 lamps in this installation celebrating 100 years of Lensvelt. Like a big KGB office with all these lights for interrogation.

[DA] This space, this installation. Reminds me of the crazy offices in the movie ‘Brazil’.
[JOB] Exactly. This reminds me of the Pink Floyd movie ‘The Wall’ where you could see all the hammers. That’s the reason for ‘The Wall’ background music.

[DA] How does humor play into your design concepts.
[JOB] Humor is quite important. Human beings are already too serious, especially taking themselves too serious.

[DA] Several designers we talked to mention noise and chaos and they are providing ‘peace’ and ‘natural’.
[JOB] Peace and natural is not new in design. All of us are just mirrors. I feel our design is reflecting what we are up to and our environment isn’t that peaceful. And our environment is very surreal, it’s never what you think it is.

[DA] What expression are we looking for here. Something good looking?
[JOB] No. We must all admit that we are like those sparrows who try to steal the bling. We are all attracted to stuff that shines. And of course we are attracted to beautiful things and I like to play with that a little bit. But I’m not interested in aesthetics at all. I’m interested in how humanity functions, in the seducing quality of the bling bling. The sculptural aspect can be seen in our work: We have created a lot of huge gold sculptures. And the office is all about function and we about are looking for a fresh a personal look for office furniture.

[DA] Is there a sustainable aspect of the office collection.
[JOB] Sustainable is important but the term is a marketing term. What we do is make unique pieces that are well made, and some of the pieces cost quite a bit. These pieces will be handed down from generation to generation, never thrown away. Some are museum quality and they will last a long time. It could be that 100 years from now there will be more Studio Job products around than Ikea and they are so much bigger.

job and nynke in the studio | photo: t. wolzak

[DA] What is your office environment like?
[JOB] Nynke and I work in a concrete environment, like a bunker. We are surrounded by modern design from the 50s and 60s. I like the period a lot, the post war reconstruction period. If I had lived in the 50s our work would reflect that period. I’m sure if Pierre Jeanneret or Jean Prouvé lived today their work would look so different. That’s what I mean about reflecting time, the work is really a diary. It’s such a tragic thing to be a designer when the only thing we can do is dematerialize. But this can be inspiring, if you can be as less a designer as possible and maybe make art. The conflict of design and art is quite interesting.

[DA] Everything here tonight for Lensvelt are production pieces. Though your body of work includes a great deal of collectables.
[JOB] Studio Job is in the collections of maybe 40 museums. And we have many solos exhibitions around the world. So we enjoy and thrive on limited edition sculptural pieces but we are also invited by producers to create production objects.

[DA] Is the function different with limited vs production.
[JOB] It can be. It really has to do with the working with the brands and their objectives. But our mindset is to push the solutions as far as we can. I see this philosophy in fashion, in haute couture, which has a strong sculptural aspect to it. And haute couture inspires the creation and production of products which still possess the sculptural quality but becomes more reachable to the larger audience.

[ Dutch Profiles ] are short documentaries about architects, graphic, product and fashion designers in the Netherlands. The series debuted in 2009 and there are currently 85 videos plus 10 in production to date.

[design miami basel 2013 ] 10/12> chartres | carpenters workshop gallery | 2013
13/15> black cat | carpenters workshop gallery | 2013

[ neocon 2013 ] 16/17> aftermath | maharam | 2013
18> bavaria | maharam | 2013

[ studio job ] [lensvelt ] [ salone internazionale del mobile ]

Trains, planes and golden noses. Milan 2013.

Apr 18, 2013

On Wednesday evening one of seven(!) venues was the visit the ‘most‘ creative hub where we found the Lensvelt installation to interview Studio Job (coming soon). This venue included Super Studio and a hint of Tom Dixon. To reach Studio Job we had to pass through the Museo Scienza e Tecnica di Milano to reach the cloister in the S.Ambrogio Abbey. This is the oldest railway museum in Italy, having opened in 1968.

For this particular evening fog machines were installed.

If you recall this is the transport museum where you could also find airplanes and a submarine.

Artemide provides lighting along the way.

A staging area for an upcoming ‘Design Everywhere’ Tom Dixon exhibition.

We jump in a cab for three more stops and I may only have enough battery power for three more shots.

flos showroom

luceplan showroom

wallpaper* & leclettico

above > The last stop was worth the walk, though no batteries to photograph a wonderful installation of [ wallpaper* handmade ]

<a href="about ron kovach

PAD new york 2011. Carpenter's workshop gallery.

Oct 6, 2011

sabastian brajkovic | lathe i bronze

Loic Le Gaillard and Julien Lombrail, founders and directors of Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery (CWG), announce their participation in the inaugural Pavilion of Art & Design New York art fair, taking place November 10 – 14, 2011 at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory.

During PAD New York 2011 CWG will engage a collaborative design-driven dialogue with its artists, presenting an exhibition that will redefine the concept of the “art fair booth” as we know it. The booth’s atmosphere will be punctuated with utilitarian sculptures to promote bold, contemporary and innovative design-art, where sculptural form prevails over the central functionality of the artworks. CWG will showcase a marriage between a classic repertoire of design artworks—with relevance to historical staples such as the Jean Royere-inspired Royeroid Collection by Robert Stadler—while simultaneously focusing an unprecedented spotlight on emerging talents.

CWG’s featured artists at PAD New York include Charles Trevelyan, a UK-based Australian, making his American debut with his literally magnetizing, freestanding sculptures. Sebastian Brajkovic, whose artworks are included in the permanent collection of the New York’s Museum of Arts and Design, will show his new conceptions from his notorious Lathe Collection. French artist, Mathieu Lehanneur will present Light Dome, a state-of-the-art light-sculpture/chandelier that consists of a lightweight demi-spheric painted metal structure which holds 41 ring shaped neutral white fluorescent lamps in three different sizes.

[ About Carpenters Workshop Gallery ]
Established in 2004, based in the heart of London’s Mayfair district, with a new space opening in the Marais in Paris in late September, CWG is renowned throughout Europe as one of the world’s foremost contemporary design-art galleries. Its focus is to promote and foster the careers of contemporary designers through exhibiting unique and limited-edition works in solo and group exhibitions and at international art and design fairs. These shows introduce the public to the latest design aesthetics, enriching and enlightening the contemporary design landscape and discourse whilst giving emerging designers a voice. CWG exhibits unique and limited edition works both by emerging artists and designers such as Marc Quinn, Atelier van Lieshout, Studio Job, Wendell Castle, Johanna Grawunder, Maarten Baas and Ingrid Donat, as well as encouraging the talent of the up-and-coming generation, such as Sebastian Brajkovic, Robert Stadler, Pablo Reinoso, Demakersvan, Lonneke Gordijn & Ralph Naua, and Vincent Dubourg, among others. [ Carpenters Workshop Gallery ]

Carpenters workshop gallery. New paris gallery opening.

Sep 1, 2011

Loïc Le Gaillard and Julien Lombrail, the partners of Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London, will inaugurate a new gallery in Paris. Carpenters Workshop Gallery Paris is located in the prominent neighborhood of the 4th arrondissement, on the border between the Marais and the Beaubourg plateau. The gallery is in a historically stimulating location for the art world as it formerly housed the Galerie de France for many decades. The monumental space covers 600 m² on three floors, with over 350 m² of exhibition space operating on two floors. The renovation of the gallery was carried out by the decorator Jean de Piepape. The Gallery founders were both born into the core of the Parisian art-world, Le Gaillard the son of an eminent gallerist; Lombrail the son of the renowned auctioneer. Prior to meeting, each was already independently intending to open a gallery promoting contemporary art, design and the place where the two overlap. They quickly progressed setting up the Carpenters Workshop Gallery together, on the premise that sculpture can bring depth, narrative and emotion to contemporary design. The Gallery began life in a former carpenter’s workshop in 2004, an old industrial space amid Chelsea Gas Works. In 2008 the Carpenters Workshop opened a second gallery in Albemarle Street, Mayfair. Always following the instinct of its founders without compromise, the Gallery’s exhibitions attracted much acclaim and quickly amassed a reputation for presenting works of deep contemporary significance. As the number of artists grew, so did the diversity of their backgrounds and practices. With a light touch, the Gallery brought a refreshing playfulness to the debate between art and design. The works exhibited often reflect a sense of humor crucial to the Gallery’s identity. This unconventional approach to hybrid practice was then contextualized within the traditional home of fine art in London. The field of Design Art is at the dawn of its potential, it proposes a sensitive, intellectual and innovative approach to the object. The pieces are true, functional sculptures, incorporating the paradox of the unique and the mass produced, of art and function. The Carpenters Workshop Gallery collection introduces the public to the latest design aesthetics, enriching and enlightening the contemporary design landscape and discourse. This Parisian location confirms Julien Lombrail’s and Loïc Le Gaillard’s commitment to the international promotion of their artists and designers, as well as their international spectrum of esteemed collectors. Together, Julien Lombrail and Loïc Le Gaillard guide the designers toward art and the artist toward design. Carpenters Workshop Gallery represents: Atelier Van Lieshout . Sebastian Brajkovic . Wendell Castle . Ingrid Donat . Vincent Dubourg . Lonneke Gordijn & Ralph Nauta . Johanna Grawunder . Matthieu Lehanneur . Nendo . Marc Quinn . Xavier Lust . Random International . Pablo Reinoso . Robert Stadler . Studio Job . Charles Trevelyan [cwg official release]

private opening date: 22 september 2011
public opening date: 24 september 2011
address: marais 54 rue de la verrerie 75003
phone: +33 (0)1 7712 0612
[ carpenters workshop gallery ]