‘Elemental Split Unit’
A hulking marble and bronze armchair
designed for indoor or outdoor use‘If you start with the impossible and do the impossible,
well, then that’s architecture’
THE FINISHED CHAIR AND
A PLYWOOD MODEL OF ITS
BRONZE SECTION SIT SIDE
BY SIDE IN THE WORKSHOPpractice than mere practicality. It’s a career
path that has set his work apart but also
provided plenty of ammunition for his critics.
Today, though, one can’t help but wonder:
has there ever been a more relevant time for
architecture that confronts, challenges, and
makes us question the world we live in? Who
would not welcome the notion of a more
beautiful and intelligent place – even if it is
just glimpsed through the boldness of a
building or through the unexpected grace of
contrasting materials paired in a chair?
Libeskind sees each of his new furniture
designs for the David Gill Gallery as distinct
microcosms of an imaginary city. ‘They
encapsulate a sense of energy, a sense of what
a city really is. They are emblematic objects
that are almost talismans of possibilities, but
also functional,’ he says. ‘But in each one
there is politics and history: the forgotten,
the repressed, the revolutionary.’
Though this is not the first time Libeskind
has designed furniture – he has released
pieces with the likes of Moroso and Poltrona
Frau in the past – working in the gallery
context offered a newfound freedom, with
standard commercial considerationssuddenly removed. ‘It’s beautiful and rare,
that freedom to really create,’ says Libeskind.
The extent of Libeskind’s liberty can be
seen in every detail, from the cutthroat
angles of the console to the cragged surface
of the bronze coffee table. Nothing about
these objects is easy or obvious: from the
silhouettes and the material choices through
to their complex manufacture, which
involved several obscure production facilities,
including a Formula One car atelier thatspecialises in carbon fibre and, of course,
the metal workshop in the Somerset barn.
On the train journey back to London,
the service still severely delayed due to the
earlier bovine misfortune, Libeskind considers
his own good fortune to be working on
projects all around the globe: from a museum
in Kenya about the origins of mankind, to
a skyscraper in Milan and a mixed-use urban
development in Nice. He’s about to embark
on quite the world tour to check-up on family
and projects alike, but he’ll be back for the
David Gill show opening, excited to see all
the pieces under one roof.
‘I really started with the impossible: if you
had shown one of my drawings to someone
and said it was a table, they would not have
believed it. That’s the only way to do things:
start with the impossible, and then prove that
it can be done,’ says Libeskind. ‘If you start
with the impossible and make it possible,
that’s uninteresting. If you start with the
impossible and do the impossible, well, then
that’s architecture.’ ∂
‘Daniel Libeskind: Fundamental Elements’,
David Gill Gallery, London, 14-27 September,
davidgillgallery.com; libeskind.com126 ∑
Design