Design Miami/Basel 2011:

Senses and memory, a research over the consciousness. The undefined connections between the senses and our sorrounding enviroment is what the spanish designer Nacho Carbonell has tried to represent with this collection, bringing the observer to interact with the pieces, waking up his senses and conduct him to a different view of himself in relation to the sorrounding enviroment.

“Playground closes at dusk ” is indeed an outdooor installation consisting of five pieces; four of them investigate the senses’s world and one, the biggest one, represents the memory, the capacity of the human brain to remember details, feelings and sensations and store them. All these pieces are supposed to be smelled, touched, climbed and heard: a sensorial experience in which the observer co-partecipate, plays and interacts with the parts, becoming not just a simple user of the playground, but also an entity to analyze in the whole context.

Auditorium, Odor, Resonator, Point of View and Memoralia are indeed the evocative and unequivocal names given to the pieces of this collection made of ladders, metal cones and emotional details.

For the first time, Nacho Carbonell presents work incorporating light, fifteen pieces edited exclusively by galerie BSL. The collection “Luciferase” is above all a set of living organisms capable of surprising us by their colours, textures and demeanor. ‘The root of this word is “carrier of light”, explains Nacho Carbonell, and reflects the system used by flora and fauna living in abysses, in the total obscurity found at great depths. Even more than lights, I consider these pieces like light-producing creatures.’

These creations with communicative presence maintain the equilibrium of the opposites which animates any work of nature. In this family, the exterior soft and velvety materials – epoxy resin mixed with different coloured sands, sometimes covered with plaster or metal dust – resemble the skin of an unknown species.

In complete contrast, the interior diaphanous and translucent textures, from epoxy resin mixed with coloured pigments, bring to the fore thorns, rocaille, tongues, straps and filaments, sometimes even sharpened dentition.

Some of them conjuring up the translucent sparkle of fine stones like amethyst, quartz or malachite; some the seductive eye of a predator from the great depths; others the avid mouth of a carnivorous plant.

The small scale models of the 18 Diversity pieces were presented together with the Bush of Iron during DesignMiami/ Basel 2010. They are very precise replicas from the original large scale pieces, built with the same techniques and materials. These pieces were made to give visitors an opportunity to see the hole collection together once again, even if in small scale.

(All photos by Tatiana Uzlova)

The Bush of Iron, as it is titled, is the last and most laborious piece,

designed with a reinforced all iron structure which houses thousands of wire spines

seemingly extruding from the desk-like frame. Inspite of the creature-like inspiration,

the designer opted to keep the cold and serene attributes of the metal and provided it

with a weight – close to a ton – and a volume large enough so that it creates an

overwhelming atmosphere in it’s surroundings.

In the inside of the piece, the user will find a space where to rest, think, isolate himself…

always protected from the exterior thanks to the metal extrusions reaching meters into

the air. “The innards of the Bush of Iron provide one person with a private space,

protected from any interruptions”, said Nacho Carbonell, “the outside is another story:

like a porcupine, its spines are not there to make you cuddle comfortably around it”.

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Diversity collection presented at Spazio Gianfranco Ferre with Galleria Rossana Orlandi - Photos by Tatiana Uzlova

Diversity is the single largest body of new work ever shown by Carbonell and debuts a broad array of recently created finishes made from gravel, thorns, resins, broken glass, monofilaments, and others.  The “Diversity” series was first presented at the Palazzo Ferre in conjunction with Galleria Rossana Orlandi.

In the new “Diversity” series, Carbonell takes twenty iterations of the same form – a

slender-legged chair attached to a narrow, covered desk – and creates distinct finishes for each with the result suggesting a demographically diverse neighborhood.   One is coated in “hair filaments” that can be combed and groomed; another in shards of broken glass from used wine bottles; another in a granular concrete coating and many more.  Arrayed in the vast and opulent 625 square meter exhibition space at the Palazzo Ferre, the works seem almost processional.

Making of from the collection, (video by Robert Andriessen):

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Exhibition opening, (video by Robert Andriessen):

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All photos here are made by Tatiana Uzlova.

The Crop collection is intended to simulate a space inside a corn field – a space you need to find. We created an installation of several pieces, inspired by the colors, movement and lushness of corn. The pieces were built using materials found in the field, which dictated their final textures and colours. Placed together in formation they create an intimate space.

Crop Collection at Gallery Fumi

Crop Collection at Gallery Fumi

Crop Collection at Gallery Fumi

click to see the making of

This is the story about a chair that wants to find it’s role in the world, a chair that wants to give something more to it’s user than just rest. This is a story of how a chair became a tree:

It didn’t take long for her to realize who she was, she had four little legs, a seat and a back rest. She was a chair, and she sat there, admiring her surroundings and at times feeling quite miserable. You see…all the objects next to her were either wider or higher, they were older or more wise. Her surroundings were covered in beautiful trees that waved the wind past and grew roots in curly patterns. The chair started feeling restless. She wasn’t like all the chairs! She had a soul, a will to make things better. If she wanted, she thought, maybe she could be like them.

One day though, an unexpected discovery changed her life forever. While she took a rest on a tall tree, the chair realized that the branch were she was laying  had the same color and feel than her. Could it be that she was made from the same material as all the beautiful trees in her surroundings? It sure could: “Eureka!”, she cried as she tested her leg with a pinch, “I’m also made of wood!”.

The chair started dreaming of growing tall and reaching up high in the sky just like her fellow trees. She was willing to do just about anything, the chair covered her mouth and blew and blew until her cheeks almost popped. Suddenly her back rest started growing, first slowly, then very fast up into the sky. Before she knew it, her back had grown high up and had several ladder-like steps to crawl up with. Frozen in amazement, the chair had evidenced the most exciting moments of her life.

Nacho collecting leaves for the Tree Chair

She was now tall and could measure herself decently to neighboring trees. But she had always dreamed, perhaps out of a deep paternalistic feeling, to shelter people and give them comfort. She wanted to become a place were her users would come to rest and relax, she planned to collect all the leaves and branches of her surroundings and build a shelter at the top of her ladder, she would even use saw dust from neighboring furniture factories. It would be cosy and welcoming, and who knows, perhaps little insects could use it too during cold winters.

Many months past until the chair finished her shelter. She had taken days to collect materials, everything from tiny branches to pen-like leaves, and had taken months to construct her shelter. It was worth it, she felt. The chair that had once lived disregarded from her surroundings was now the pride of all trees. With her long stairs reaching high up into her shelter, she was the hope for people looking for rest, and was the home for insects looking for a place to stay.

Her new height brought her several scary moments though. With the constant activity of people climbing up, the chair would balance from side to side like a boat. She was very unstable and, afraid of falling down, the chair grew extensions that surfaced from her shelter and reached meters below to the floor. Like roots on a tree, these extensions allowed her to remain firm to the ground. She had made a statement, standing there high and proud, now firmly fixed to the ground, the chair was here to stay for years to come. -end-

The fertility cave represents the act of love between the random

ideas in my head. It’s a symbolic representation of my brain while it

conceives new things.

Entering the cave you find a mix, a blending of ideas and forms, a

mishmash of concepts that love each other. The dark interior makes it

possible for designs to bread with thoughts of life, becoming all an orgy

of creation. Through this mix you can visualize how new possibilities

arise.

The cave is provided with two small entrances that you’ll need to

crawl through. You’ll have to make an effort to get deep into my brain,

the same way you have to make an effort to get deep into yourself. I

invite you in.

In the Skin furniture, a thin, closely adhering and elastic layer allows the user to place objects underneath it. This layer adapts and takes the form of the objects, creating spontaneous contours that lead your curiosity to discover what hides beneath them. Nacho wants us to become playful and child-like: “You’ll feel like playing hide and seek!” he says and follows on to explain why he chose for the unconventional leg heights, “it’s all about changing the point of view, one’s way of perceiving things”.

together pump it up exhibited at Galleria Rossana Orlandi during Design week Milan April 2009

Nacho and Paloma | photo credit : Tatiana Uzlova