Favorites | Artist/Design Collaborations
“I was already interested in making usable, functional multiples…I like making editions and prints as an extension of my practice. Even though it’s very high end, there’s still some accessibility to it: Instead of just one painting, there are 30 rugs. People live with it and their dog sleeps on it.” – Jonas Wood in the New York Times
William J. O'Brien Untitled scarf via Massif Central
This unexpected period of isolation has brought about a welcome immersion into our dormant home library. First up has been some reading about Matisse’s forays into the decorative arts and the collaborations with industry professionals that those projects brought about. This past week I spent a some time reading through the essays in John Klein’s 2018 book Matisse and Decoration. Klein was a guest on Tyler Green’s terrific podcast Modern Art Notes a couple of year ago on the occasion of the book’s release. That episode is well worth a listen particularly if tracking down the book isn’t really an option right now. Klein discusses how Matisse’s interest in the decorative arts lead him into some of the most fruitful collaborative relationships of his career. Commissions for spaces in civic, educational, theatrical and even religious buildings demanded that Matisse translate his ways of making into the various types of decorative materials that would be installed as part of his designs; tapestries, ceramics, stained glass, wood. For Matisse, total control had to be conceded and the expertise of technicians leaned on to realize these ultimately very collaborative projects.
This process of translating ideas across mediums is at the heart of our own artist edition projects and I think artists are uniquely equipped to find unexpected ways of pushing the manufacturing of all sorts of commercial products; textiles, apparel and decorative furnishings. I was prompted to consider some of my favorite collaborations where artists have worked as partners in the production of items for decorating the home or one’s own body.
Massif Central
This Brooklyn-based group are named for the Massif region in France where the tradition of French silk scarf-making originated. Their roster of artist collaborators of particularly impressive and the consistent “Sold Out” that you are met with while perusing the store would indicate that these gorgeous pieces have really struck a chord with collectors of all shades.
About their company “We work with a small group of artists, each devoted to the pursuit of their individual vision, to create a dynamic and distinct collection of high-end silk artworks. Each artist’s design has been produced in an edition of 50, with hand numbered labels. Our vision has grown from our interest in blurring the lines between modern design, timeless fashion, and contemporary art-making methodologies.”
Slowdown Studio
Slowdown Studio is based out of Los Angeles and is run by Marc Hendrick (peep our studio tour of Marc’s lovely, sunny situation previously on the journal) who has a really keen eye for picking talented artist collaborators from all over the world.
About their company “Discovering emerging and established artists from across the globe, collaboration is at the heart of Slowdown Studio. The modern lifestyle brand celebrates individuality and artistry, and the result is a collection of living, breathing works of art that are both functional and beautiful.”
BravinLee | Rug Program
John Post Lee is the co-founder of BravinLee programs and he started producing rugs as an outgrowth of his work as an art dealer. Lee works with artists to design hand-knotted rugs that are then produced in Nepal.
In a 2018 New York Times article covering the growing proliferation of artist rugs points out that it has grown out of a long tradition; “In the 1960s Alexander Calder designed a hand-hooked rug with playful creatures and celestial bodies. During the Renaissance, Raphael and Bernaert van Orley worked on elaborate tapestries depicting Christian scenes with the exquisite, lifelike detail of paintings.”
Gorman - Mirka Mora Collaborations
Mirka Mora (1928-2018) was a prominent French-born visual artist based in Melbourne who worked on two textile collaborations (in 2016 and 2018) with Australian clothing label Gorman.
Since the early 1950s from when Mirka and her husband Georges immigrated to Australia from France, Mirka’s sixty years of creative energy resulted in a prolific output of work across a range of media; drawing, painting, embroidery, soft sculpture, mosaics and doll-making.
Gorman has worked on multiple collaborations of this kind – Atelier Bingo, Kindah Khalidy are among the previous artists – but their work with Mora is certainly a favorite.
DesignTex
The Surface Imaging department at Designtex is based out of Portland, Maine and it’s there that they’ve produced some particularly wonderful textile collaborations with invited artists.
To celebrate 25 years since the creation of one of their flagship materials, Crypton®, they commissioned five contemporary artists to design a pattern to be digitally printed on Crypton fabric. Our favorite design is not surprisingly from Portland-based artist Elizabeth Atterbury.
Atterbury designed a repeat called Social Dance where “organic forms and serendipitous collage play into the work of Atterbury. Social Dance grew out of a series of monoprints with Wingate Studio, from which she reconfigured plates of abstract colorforms to create a wholly new composition.”
Elizabeth Atterbury discusses her work and Crypton Anniversary collaboration Social Dance via Designtex Vimeo.
Concrete Collaborative / Cooler Gallery
Our final favorite is was unveiled only last month and was a multi-faceted collaboration between Concrete Collaborative, Cooler Gallery in Brooklyn and a group of talented artists they invited to create designs for a series of encaustic ceramic tiles. Titled Field Formations, the artists included Jenny Hata Blumenfield, Naomi S Clark, Dan Covert, Recreation Center, High Gloss, Cody Hoyt, Caroline Z Hurley, Fitzhugh Karol, Ben Medansky, Michael Yarinsky, Heather McKenna, Object & Totem, Aelfie Oudghiri, and Dusen Dusen
From Cooler Gallery’s project description; “Each artist selected by Cooler Gallery was either known for bold pattern making or beautiful craft in ceramics and was tasked to create a tile that can work well as an individual and also have a strong tessellation concept. The patterns are unidirectional, multidirectional, or randomized depending on the artist's vision. The tiles are not painted, but made of tinted encaustic concrete in a labor-intensive hand process in Concrete Collaborative's California factory. The innovation and material craft brought forth by Concrete Collaborative and the playful curiosity of all of the artists involved combine to form a new, stunningly beautiful collection that is different from just about anything on the market…”
Lastly, while not exactly a collaboration, we are also huge fans of Granby Workshop in Liverpool which began as a community-driven art project from Turner Prize winning collective, Assemble. In 2011 they entered into an innovative form of community land ownership to secure 10 empty houses, and renovate them as affordable homes. The workshop now undertakes a range of commissions, maintains an online store and ships their architectural ceramics and tableware worldwide (including into our own kitchen cupboards.)
