tjep. counters 3D printing with sculpted furniture from bronze

tjep. counters 3D printing with sculpted furniture from bronze
 

‘as a reaction to the unstoppable digitalisation and virtualisation of all our basic needs, all the way to love and friendship, I feel an urge to produce work that is antagonistic to this trend.’ says frank tjepkema, lead designer and founder of dutch studio tjep. set within the historic and ornately decorated ballroom of the colloredo mansfeld palace in prague, tjep. presents the bronze age collection for designblok prague 2014, with designboom in attendance.

the series embodies both sculptural and utilitarian principles: stability, strength, durability and sustainability, in that it can be melted and reused. each sensually formed piece is a manually intensive work, formed from the very material that represents the dawn of civilization: bronze.

the collection refers to notions of human-caused disasters and contemporary social issues, such as climate change or a nuclear catastrophe. the sculptural result of these connotations bear a clean and simplistic aesthetic that is simultaneously visually minimalistic and physically strong. undulating drips and collected pockets of hardened molten matter form the leg of a chair, for example, or the sweeping arch of a chaise lounge.

‘for this project I wanted to create something totally opposite to the technology driven trends based on the emergence of new digital tools such as 3D printing’ tjep. describes ‘I like the idea that bronze is precious and is therefor implicitly sustainable, it is either preserved or remelted but never discarded, who knows maybe these pieces contain a couple of remelted ancient bronze swords!’

the chaise lounge sweeps in a single fluid motion
image © designboom

within the exhibition space alongside the new collection, tjep. exhibits other recent works such as ‘il treno’ — a dining experience which is fashioned off of the train compartments of the orient express — the studio’s unique jewelry line — for which it received the prestigious designblok editors choice award — and a mechanical heart with wings called ‘clockwork snow’, originally installed within the christmas windows at la rinascente in milan. 

image © designboom

drips of molten bronze accumulate to make the legs of the chaise lounge
images © designboom

the collection is set within the historic and ornately decorated ballroom of the colloredo mansfeld palace in prague

a chair from the ‘bronze age’ collection is at once simply formed and physically heavy

 each piece a manually intensive work, formed from the material that marks the dawn of civilization

the collection’s sculptural fluidity underscore the studio’s desire to create a body of work in opposition to technology driven trends

the simply formed back of a chair

chair and detail of the bronze leg

a half wood and half bronze chair from the collection

installation view for designblok

update: during the 2015 spring edition of maison & objet tjep. presents ‘bronze age’ at salons christofle (9, rue royale) in paris, on the occasion of the 16th edition of ‘MEET MY PROJECT‘ s from january 22-27, 2015.

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