Dezeen Magazine

Sebastian Brajkovic exhibits warped furniture at Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Furniture that has been extruded and manipulated into distorted forms by Dutch designer Sebastian Brajkovic is on show at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris (+ slideshow).

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Vanishing Point III

The Vanishing Point exhibition features new work by Brajkovic, including chairs and benches that each appear as if they are being sucked into a vortex.

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Vanishing Point III

Two benches, named Vanishing Point III and IV, are both pulled outward at one side so their backrests and seats seem to disappear into the floor.

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Vanishing Point IV

The forms are built from steel tubing that is wrapped in dark upholstery, while the traditional chair frames on the untouched sides are made from patinated bronze.

Vanishing Point IV
Vanishing Point IV

"The reason I chose these materials is not for reasons of luxury," he told Dezeen. "I chose these materials because of the way they communicate the craftsmanship. Craftsmanship is now often referred to as luxury."

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Vanishing Point IV

Brajkovic's aim is to combine historic frame styles with his form manipulations to simultaneously evoke the past and the future.

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Fibonacci

"I try to make my work as complete as possible, as if trying to give an answer to all problems you might encounter," he told Dezeen. "I do not like work that only points out to a world that looks like it is from the future, as if there is past nor present."

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Fibonacci

Similar to the benches, the Fibonacci seat looks like a normal dining chair on one side, with the frame and legs supporting the upholstered sections.

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Fibonacci

However, the backrest and seat on the other side are stretched and warped into a spiral. The distortion in emphasised by the embroidered silk patterns on the upholstery, which are squashed towards the tip of the curved portion that touches the floor.

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Fibonacci

Three seats are combined into the Conversation Piece design, linked by a wavy backrest between a splayed support on each end.

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Conversation Piece

The collection also includes a bench formed form an amalgamation of smaller stools joined at haphazard angles called Sleipnir, sharing its name with the eight-legged horse that was Odin's steed in Norse mythology.

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Conversation Piece

"I like to use found or existing furniture," Brajkovic said. "It is a way for me to celebrate post-world war two modern art. It is a way to try to get close to an idea of the deconstruction of a chair."

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Sleipnir

Brajkovic told Dezeen that the collection was influenced by the birth of his first child. "This gave me the idea to make pieces that move from a vanishing point and beyond," he said. "For me there is a resemblance of watching a baby being born and a vanishing point."

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Sleipnir

The exhibition also includes a series of aluminium tables called Lathe, which are shaped on a computer-controlled turning machine to include small ridges that circle the entirety of the surfaces. The pieces are then hardened and coloured in an anodising bath.

Sebastian Brajkovic at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Lathe Table

Vanishing Point continues until 29 August at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, 54 Rue de la Verrerie, Paris.