chamber gallery presents cabinets and curiosities

new york’s chamber gallery presents ‘of cabinets and curiosities’ from now until october 15, exhibiting experimental furniture, objets d’art and curios by nine designers. selected by chamber founder juan garcia mosqueda, with an accompanying ‘curiosity’ chosen by the designer, the cabinets reflect the gallery’s overarching theme as a contemporary reliquary for unique objects. ‘we could think of no better way to celebrate two years of chamber than asking some of our favorite designers, many of whom have contributed to chamber already, to present designs that capture the gallery’s personality so well,’ juan garcia mosqueda comments. ‘chamber is, after all, a modern day cabinet of curiosities.’

exhibition view of ‘of cabinets and curiosities’ at chamber gallery
all photos by lauren coleman

objects presented at chamber gallery include works by: chen chen & kai williams; dirk vander kooij; fort standard; gaetano pesce; kwangho lee; mos architects; nendo + glas italia; snickeriet + karl-johan hjerling; studio job + lensvelt.

alongside chen chen & kai williams’ ‘rhino tower shelf’ is the studio’s ‘swell vase’, while fort standard exhibits its own personal stone collection within its ‘relief stone cabinet’. with characteristic whimsy, gaetano pesce has contributed the never before exhibited ‘mobile verde’ cabinet from 2015, together with the scale model from 1987 that inspired it. kwangho lee displays his modular bookshelves titled ‘the moment of eclipse’ — first commissioned by chamber in 2015 — along with ‘this boy’s life’, a collection of his son’s personal objects. mos architects presents the first piece in a new series called ‘model furniture,’ informed by the imperfect representations of furniture found in architectural renderings. its curiosity comprises a selection of new works, such as quilts from the ‘low resolution quilt’ collection, aluminum chairs from the ‘model furniture’ series, and wax candles called ‘reproduction no.1’.

fort standard exhibits its own personal stone collection within its ‘relief stone cabinet’

four cabinets from past chamber collections are also on view, blending the curation of the previous two years into this current exhibition. from chamber collection #1 (curated by studio job) dirk vander kooij’s ‘diffuser cabinet’ is presented alongside some drops from vander kooij’s 3D printing robot. studio job + lensvelt’s ‘job office dressoir’ is shown with studio job’s ‘chimney ashtray’. nendo’s ‘deep-sea bookcase’ displays the japanese creative’s ‘bottleware for coca-cola’.

from chamber collection #2 (curated by andrew zuckerman), ‘walnut frank’ by snickeriet + karl-johan hjerling showcases a new collection of wooden boxes called ‘deposit boxes’ –made by the studio especially for the exhibition.

detail of fort standard’s ‘relief stone cabinet’