The renowned Established & Sons had an intervention done at it’s studio showroom during the London Design Week. We needed to find out what it was. The photo’s in the catalogue promised vivid colors. We looked around the gallery and down some stairs, in the back room we we’re greeted by a living installation. Sure, the slick carbon fiber Surface Table, by Terence Woodgate and John Bernard, several meters long, very thin and black, was beautifully elegant. We got a great view of it walking down the stairs. And the Aqua Table by Zaha Hadid was there as well. But we were there for the back room.
(images below by Colin Streater)
The left wall was completely covered by zinc passivated steel panels that each reflect the spectrum of colors lingering over the natural zinc color. Faye Toogood created ‘The Conductor’. The floor was covered in cables that connected 160 fluorescent bulbs positioned on the zinc panels to a control centre: 160 switches set on a table looking like a futuristic city of semi transparent high rise towers with antenna’s on top. It’s funny. You just stand there and look. The zinc panels gave a warm look, all the lamps actually actually made the space warm. It felt like staring at the sunset.
(images below by Faye Toogood)
On the other side of the back room, facing the The Conductor, was it’s inspiration. Jo Nagasaka’s new resin series ‘Iro’. Wooden furniture covered in vividly tinted transparent resin still showing the wood’s grain. With all the light from The Conductor, the resin colors gave the wood furniture a neon look. A bit unreal, but very alive. We found what we had been looking for, and went off to our next destination.
(image below by Colin Streater)
