Chilean collective GT2P has used a computer to delicately cut wavy forms based on the Andes mountains into the top of a wooden coffee table, currently on show at New York gallery Friedman Benda.
GT2P, short for Great Things to People, is presenting the piece as part of the Manufactured Landscapes exhibition, which opened in the gallery's Chelsea space last week.
Marking the Santiago-based design collective's first solo showcase, it contains a culmination of works created as part of a four-year-long collaboration with Friedman Benda. During this time, GT2P has worked on employing digital fabrication techniques to evoke elements associated to its home country.
An example of this is the circular wooden coffee table, which is covered with ripples adapted from topographical maps of the Andes mountain range, which runs north to south along Chile's border with Argentina.
To create the wave shapes, the team cut slices of wood on a computer numerically controlled (CNC) router and then pieced them together. The bumps undulate around a circular mirror placed off-centre on the table top, which could be likened to a pool of water.
Along with the table, the studio has created a credenza based on the Andes to complete its Imaginary Geographies set.
While the shapes of the table were cut carefully, a more haphazard approach was taken to create the wrinkles in the doors of the pale wooden credenza. Made with a metal hand tool, the textured surface begins as vertical lines at the base of the cabinet, before expanding into an uneven pattern towards the top.
Darker wood is used for GT2P's Suple collection of benches and shelving. The pieces comprise swooping shapes that end as rectangular stumps. For the shelving, the ends are left open to form storage holes, but they are covered to create seats for the bench.
Also in the Suple collection, which gets its name from the Chilean slang for combining different elements together, is another bench that the studio claims is its largest work to date.
Resting on a rock in the exhibition, the thin seats of the Suple bench are made of stainless steel branches that extend from a bronze core. A smaller version of the design forms the Suple chandelier.
Earlier pieces by GT2P in the exhibition include the Remolten set of stools and flower pots from 2016, made by covering porcelain, stoneware and concrete in re-melted volcanic rock.
Two sets of porcelain lights decorate a pair of walls in the gallery, with one group appearing to grow like a plant from a rock. Created using the studio's Catenary Pottery Printer – which comprises a wooden frame from which sheets of gauze, muslin or lycra can be suspended and used to slip-cast ceramics – the lights are an extension of the Porcelain vs Lava Lights launched in 2014.
Manufactured Landscapes is on display across the first floor of Friedman Benda's gallery, while the basement is filled with an exhibition of works by Israeli designer Erez Nevi Pana called Consciousness.
Friedman Benda is running the two exhibitions concurrently from 3 May to 9 June 2018.