Algorithm based furniture design, Joris Laarman

Dutch designer Joris Laarman's unique aesthetic merges cutting-edge technology and the life-sciences to create work of unexpected beauty. In 2008, Laarman's Bone Chair and Bone Chaise, his first two works since graduating from Eindhoven, were displayed in MoMA's exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind. This marked a major milestone in his career and the chair subsequently, was added to the museum's permanent collection.
In 2006, Laarman's Bone Chair revolutionized the design process by using an algorithm to translate the complexity, proportion and functionality of human bone and tree growth into a chair form. The algorithm, originally used by the German car industry, enabled him to reduce and strengthen his designs by optimizing material allocation, weight and stability, while minimizing material input. In his own words, he sculpted "using mother nature's underlying codes."
His new exhibition(Freidman Benda, New York) is the culmination of five years of trial and error, exploratory material research and his continuous quest to translate science into functional objects of beauty now, on a monumental scale. His new body of work expands on his core investigations; it includes Skyline Storage, Fractal Bookshelf, a table that captures patterns inherent to flocks of birds, and a sustainable lamp made from living cells.

Photo: Bone Chair, Joris Laarmin

http://www.friedmanbenda.com/artists/joris-laarman/

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/9336/joris-laarman-at-friedman-benda-nyc.html

The Favrile Pottery of L. C. Tiffany

Louis Comfort Tiffany introduced his line of ceramics in St. Louis at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. Compared to Tiffany glass in all its forms the pottery is rare. The total pottery production of Tiffany Studios is around two thousand pieces. The remaining number of existing pieces is small due to the fragility of ceramics and neglect by collectors in favor of art glass lamps, windows, fine jewelry and metal work. The Morse Museum in Winter Park, FL has the largest known collection of Tiffany Favrile pottery, about 90 pieces. Pottery was one of the last mediums Tiffany would explore and he had a great passion for it. Tiffany may have been more personally involved with pottery production than any other line he ever sold. It was named Favrile Pottery using the same old English term that Tiffany used for his glass. Registered as a Tiffany Trademark Feb. 1892 “Favrile” means hand-made or crafted.

Tiffany’s ceramics reflect the same formal and thematic concerns that distinguish his work in other mediums and include naturalism, historicism, exoticism and abstraction. Tiffany’s ceramic garden often amounts to nearly life-size representational sculpture. The use of ideas and forms from China, Japan, North Africa, Assyria (Iraq) and Persia (Iran) reflects the general interest in new travel and trade opportunities of the time. The movement away from realistic images in Tiffany’s ceramics and his work in general heralded the development of abstract art later in the century.


Throughout his 40-year career, Tiffany exhibited at every major international exposition, winning numerous honors, including a gold medal at St. Louis’s 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. In St. Louis, at least seven churches and the tombs of two prominent families were adorned with Tiffany stained glass. Other significant Tiffany commissions in St. Louis include interior decoration for the Busch family in 1911.


This information is based on notes compiled by Anthony Mier, the St. Louis Art Museum and the Morse Museum of Winter Park, FL.


Photo: Tiffany Furnaces, Vase, 1904-14, The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art collection, Winter Park, FL


http://www.lctiffanypottery.com/history3.htm


http://www.morsemuseum.org/home.html


http://stlouis.art.museum/emuseum/code/emuseum.asp?collection=6737&collectionname=Decorative%20Arts%20and%20Design&style=Browse&currentrecord=1&page=collection&profile=objects&searchdesc=Decorative%20Arts%20and%20Design&quicksearch=tiffany

Artisans' Section Next Meeting Thurs, March 11

Time: 7 - 9pm
Place: Members Gallery, 2nd floor, St. Louis Artists' Guild,
Two Oak Knoll Park, Clayton, MO, 63105

The next Artisans' Section meeting will focus on our members. All are encouraged to participate. Each member is invited to give a short informal presentation about recent work to our group. The presentation should be in a digital format such as jpg photo(s), a Powerpoint file, etc.and should be on a cd, a flashdrive or other usb type media. Members may bring an actual sample of work as well. The purpose is to allow section members an opportunity to utilize the Members' Gallery which the Artists' Guild staff has designated for members' exhibitions, section meetings, etc The room is an excellent space for digital projection. We will follow the presentations with a general discussion of goals and ideas for the Artisans' section including a future showcase event. A brief business meeting will conclude the evening. Need more info? email me at mike@michaelandersonstudio.com

Bravo Boris Khechoyan!

The St. Louis Business Journal ran a great interview by Rick Desloge with Artisans' section member Boris Khechoyan in the January 1-7, 2010 issue. Desloge writes that Boris arrived in St. Louis "eighteen years ago as a refugee from the civil war that forced him from his homeland, Azerbaijan. He brought with him little more than his box of chisels."

Since then Boris has established himself as a master woodcarver and teacher. He creates furniture and objects that are of art museum quality. He instructs carving classes in St. Louis as well as the prestigious Marc Adams School of Woodcarving in Franklin, IN. He has also designed and markets his own set of woodcarving tools.

The StLBJ article also quotes section members Barbara Lindeman, Chris Cosby and Jack Barlow each praising Boris for his skills and generous personality. A photo portrait of Boris and one his fantastic spider web pieces accompany the interview. Bravo Boris!

Visit his website: http://www.woodcarver4u.com/index.php
View St. Louis Business Journal online: http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/
St. Louis Business Jounal Photo: Brian Cassidy

Artisans’ Section next meeting will be Thursday Feb 11

Gary R. Tetley, AIA, architect/photographer, will present images of the architecture of Theodore C. Link at the next meeting of the Artisans' section, Thursday, Feb 11, 7:00 pm in the newly refurbished second floor Members' Gallery at the St. Louis Artists' Guild. Little has been published about Link, the designer of the St. Louis Union Station, and Tetley's interest in the architect's work dates back to 1986. Since then he has conducted interviews with Link's relatives as well as families of Link's former clients. He has set off on multiple road trips to document buildings in Mississippi and other states by St. Louis' best known historic architect.

Tetley's photographs are both historic documentation as well as fine art pieces in their own right. His architectural practice has emphasized historic preservation and he has served on the Board of Directors of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis for twenty years.

The event is free. All members of the St. Louis Artists' Guild and guests are invited to attend. For more information contact mike@michaelandersonstudio.com
Photos/composite by Gary Tetley

Visit Artisans' Section web site

thanks from The Architecture Section

To all: It is with great gratitude that The Architection Section thanks all of you for your support for our Section's inclusion in the Guild. We're in!

Now we challenge you to an ultimate frisbee match!

Architecture of India by Takeo Kamiya

The Japanese architect and photographer, Takeo Kamiya, has made stunning images and written extensively about the Architecture of India. On his website he states that publication of his book has been blocked by “Japanese mafia.” He also describes his many trips to India, surveys Islamic as well as Armenian architecture and displays his fascinating photos of incredible buildings, monuments, churches and temples.

Photo: Phygian Tomb of Midas by Takeo Kamiya

http://www.kamit.jp/engl.htm#kami