COS teams up with phillip k. smith III for milan design week 2018

marking their seventh consecutive installation during salone del mobile, london-based fashion brand COS will present a large-scale sculptural installation by american artist phillip k. smith III (PKS3), known for his light-based works that blend into their surroundings. the installation is inspired by italian renaissance architecture, the milanese sky and the understated simplicity of the cos design aesthetic.

the architectural installation will be site specific to the 16th-century courtyard and garden of palazzo isimbardi, designed to offer each visitor a unique experience that changes depending on time and location. ‘my work is created in direct response to the surrounding environment, becoming a canvas that interacts with both the urban and natural landscape’, said smith in a statement announcing the project. ‘characterised by ever-changing spatial and temporal elements, every visitor’s experience of the installation will be entirely individual‘.

about phillip k. smith III: palm springs-based artist phillip k. smith III is known for his immersive, light-based installations that employ light, space, colour and the environment, changing in order to inspire viewers to reconsider their surroundings. his works are intensely physical, seemingly ephemeral and highly meditative, creating unique spatiotemporal experiences via shifting light, the changing colours of the environment and the movement of the viewer.

phillip k. smith III’s lucid stead

hidden amongst the arid landscape of joshua tree, california, smith’s ‘lucid stead’ dreamily reflects and illuminates the desert panorama. renovating a 70-year-old homesteader situated on the artist’s property, smith redesigned the deteriorating architecture into a mirror-paneled installation (read more).

phillip k III’s the circle of land and sky

for desert X phillip installed a reflective and dynamic sculpture that interacts with its surrounding desert landscape. titled ‘the circle of land and sky’, the piece defines an immersive space within the vast, arid terrain, forming a circular field of 300 geometric reflectors (read more).

last year COS introduced the ‘new spring’; a collaborative installation with london-based studio swine which ran throughout the milan design week 2017. the piece emitted mist-filled blossoms that burst and evaporated on contact with skin. designboom was excited to co-host an evening in conversation with the pair delving into the making process, the many facets of the experiential work, and the collaboration.