paul cocksedge excavates furniture from his evicted london studio

set within the rooms of a 17th century palazzo in milan, british designer paul cocksedge has presented ‘excavation: evicted’ in collaboration with friedman benda and beatrice trussardi, during milan design week 2017. comprised of furniture pieces, the show is the physical and visual reaction of cocksedge’s eviction from his london studio, which is being developed into luxury apartments. in order to pay homage to this space — where the designer spent over twelve years — the creative drilled down into the studio’s floor to excavate material which he then transformed into tables and shelving systems.

with ‘excavation: evicted’, paul cocksedge wanted to document, commemorate and preserve not only his time at the studio but also the history of the building located in london’s hackney. together with a team of people to help, cocksedge extracted hundreds of concrete cylinders that revealed the building’s former life, made of victorian bricks. after sanding, polishing and cutting the cores, the pieces were assembled in such way that they became the bases for tables that contrast with glass tops.

‘wanting to commemorate my time there, I decided to delve further into the building and uncover what was underneath the surface the studio had inhabited for the past twelve years. after carrying out extensive scans of the foundations, I drilled down into the floor to uncover the levels hiding underneath. the resulting findings epitomise london’s multilayered history, with the initial concrete hiding victorian bricks left over from the buildings former life as a stable,’ says paul cocksedge.

the project also opens up a discussion regarding socio-political aspects and cultural upheavals that currently play an important role in our contemporary society. everyday, london sees how artists and designers are displaced from their working spaces by property developers and property values.

‘intended as the last creative work to come out of the space, the pieces celebrate london’s reputation as a home for creativity — a status that is increasingly under threat as artists are displaced from their studios by property developers and rising rents,’ comments the british designer. ‘by creating pieces from the very fabric of one of london’s disappearing creative spaces, I hope to remind of the transient nature of both creative workers, and the places they inhabit. my hackney studio will also accompany me to my new workspace, in the form of a work made from retrieved material.’