Sotheby’s at Sudeley Castle (5): A new Lathe Chair by Sebastian Brajkovic


Sebastian Brajkovic conceived a new Lathe (X) in 2010 for this sales exhibition.

About Sebastian from the Sotheby’s Catalog:

Renowned for his Lathe Chair series, Sebastian Brajkovic’s artistic process begins with a deconstruction of antique furniture, in particular 17th and 19th century chairs. Through a combination of wood carving, bronze casting and machine embroidering, he then reconstructs an entirely new vision. There is undoubtedly a Cubist, even Mannerist element to Brajkovic’s chairs as they belie an interest in presenting all angles of an object simultaneously. Brajkovic plays with the sitters’ comfort with the familiar and the new by taking traditional forms and techniques and subverting them with a contemporary approach. He developed the original concept for the design of the Lathe. series on a computer which rotated and morphed his drawings. Brajkovic recalls ‘The designs stretched and opened up, and the colours unfolded in multihued possibilities’. His work is at once highly contemporary and yet ingrained in history with its exquisite craftsmanship and traditional techniques. They could not exist without historical precedents, or our appreciation of them. Cast in bronze or aluminium like sculptural art works, but remaining functional as furniture, the chairs are both a tribute to the past and a prelude to the future. As Gareth Williams observed, ‘These hybrids exist entirely in their own present, but are built on our recognition of the past within them.’ A lathe chair forms part of the permanent collection of the V & A, London.

Sotheby’s has teamed up with London Based carpenters workshop gallery and organized an outdoor sales exposition, featuring 25 pieces of modern design in the magnificent garden of Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds (UK). Many chairs and benches are featured until August 1, 2010.

Sotheby’s at Sudeley Castle (4): Buison Chair Installation by Vincent Dubourg

Buison chair installation by Vincent Dubourg

Buisson is a unique work cast in aluminium. It is an example of Vincent Dubourg’s ability to create organic, otherworldly pieces which evoke a nostalgic fantasy. He uses traditional furniture-making techniques such as glass blowing, wood-bending and metal casting as a means of transforming simple materials and found objects. A fusion of furniture, architecture and sculpture, Dubourg’s works are known for their intertwining bronze branches which seem to grow as they search and explore the environment around them, striking a careful balance between the practical and beautiful. His latest work challenges accepted notions of contemporary furniture design by embracing a complete openness towards found and natural materials. Dubourg works between Paris, London and his atelier in the small town of Creuse. He studied Applied Arts at Corvisart, Paris, Industrial Design at Pivaut de Nantes and Furniture Design at the School of Decorative Arts in Paris.

Sotheby’s has teamed up with London Based carpenters workshop gallery and organized an outdoor sales exposition in the magnificent garden of Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds (UK). Many chairs and benches are featured until August 1, 2010.

Sotheby’s at Sudeley Castle (3): Huge Sudeley Bench by Pablo Reinoso


The Huge Sudeley Bench by Pablo Reinoso, especially commissioned for this amazing exhibition.

From the catalog:

As impressive in scale and ambition as its name suggests, Huge Sudeley Bench was commissioned especially for the Sotheby’s at Sudeley Castle exhibition. It represents the first time that Reinoso has worked on this monumental scale, overseeing a team of foundry technicians who employed hydraulic machinery to manipulate lengths of steel girder into exuberant and free flowing forms. Reinoso refers to this process as ‘breathing sculpture’, referencing the manner in which Calder adapted his mobiles while at the same time acknowledging its architectural properties. Commenting on his early training as a sculptor, Reinoso has stated his will to go beyond prescribed boundaries, ‘boundaries you need to know but you don’t need to respect’. Huge Sudeley Bench was created in three individual sections and treated with black autobody paint, a decision made to ensure that future generations could refresh its surfaces and appreciate the work in the pristine state it first left the foundry. It also sees the introduction of Reinoso’s new artist’s monogram which he intends to apply to all his future creations.

Sotheby’s has teamed up with London Based carpenters workshop gallery and organized an outdoor sales exposition in the magnificent garden of Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds (UK). Many chairs and benches are featured until August 1, 2010.

Sotheby’s at Sudeley Castle (2): Concrete Chair by Wendell Castle

What’s in a name when a Castle exhibits a concrete chair in the garden of a real castle?

Concrete Chair by Wendell Castle.

American sculptor and furniture designer Wendell Castle is renowned for his remarkable level of craftsmanship and innovative use of materials, including fiberglass, wood, concrete and plastic. Concrete Chair. is a highly tactile work which has been cast in concrete, its surface articulated by the subtle brilliance of tiny mineral particles recalling ancient porphyry. With their highly biomorphic contours, these chairs invite tactile interaction and demonstrate an almost animate presence – as if emulating the fluid, graceful contours of a Manta Ray, or emanating from the cache of Science Fiction imagery. In this work a tripod base supports an organic, enshrouding seat forming a silhouette which blurs the distinctions between a high art sculpture and utilitarian design object. Indeed, the artist himself observed, ‘the significant thing about my work is not what it is made of but what it is. I would like always to be free to explore all aspects of the useful objects we refer to as ‘furniture’.’

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Sotheby’s has teamed up with London Based carpenters workshop gallery and organized an outdoor sales exposition in the magnificent garden of Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds (UK). Many chairs and benches are featured until August 1, 2010.

Sotheby’s at Sudeley Castle (1): Spaghetti Corten by Pablo Reinoso

Sotheby’s has teamed up with London Based carpenters workshop gallery and organized an outdoor sales exposition in the magnificent garden of Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds (UK). Many chairs and benches are featured until August 1, 2010. Stay tuned!

Pablo Reinoso’s Spaghetti Corten is used for one of the exhibition’s banners.

Born in 1955 in Buenos Aires, Pablo Reinoso has lived and worked in Paris since the late 1970s, establishing a successful career as a Product Designer with a broad repertoire that includes furniture, lighting and jewellery design. His portfolio features numerous design projects for the packaging of luxury consumer goods, including perfume, cosmetics, wines and spirits. Reinoso’s commercial practice has developed in harmony with his artistic Å“uvre;. he began producing innovative and playful furniture designs in the 90s and has since become renowned for his dramatic re-interpretations of ubiquitous and often overlooked objects. The breathtakingly eloquent Spaghetti series focuses on the humble public bench, transforming its rigidly parallel wooden slats into a network of meandering tendrils. Spaghetti Corten., exhibited for the first time at Sudeley, is a new variation on this iconic theme with adjoining sections of teak and Cor-Ten steel. In this work organic and fabricated materials exist in a symbiotic relationship, inviting contrasts between their variable textures and surface patination.