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Piet Hein Eek’s ‘Wonder Room’ at The Future Perfect
The Future Perfect to Launch Piet Hein Eek’s Wonder Room During New York Design Week
Fri, May 15 - Fri, Jun 19 2015
The Future Perfect will present Piet Hein Eek’s Wonder Room in their NoHo location from May 15- June 20, 2015 in conjunction with New York Design Week.
The exhibition marks the first time that the renowned Dutch designer has brought his Wonder Room—a collaborative space on the top floor of his Eindhoven workshop that encompasses his unique perspective on art, design and craft—beyond his studio walls. Wonder Room will unveil one-of-a-kind pieces made exclusively for The Future Perfect, studio classics from his Scrapwood Collections, collaborations with fellow Dutch artists Marc Mulders and Linda Nieuwstad, and commissions from Floris Wubben, Hansje van Halem, BCXSY & Calico Wallpaper and Paul Heijnen. Eek has also curated a selection of lighting by Bec Brittain, Michael Anastassiades, and the Roll & Hill 2015 collection featuring work from Lindsey Adelman, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, Philippe Malouin, Jason Miller, Paul Loebach and Karl Zahn.
While best known for working with scrapwood, Wonder Room examines Eek’s repurposed use of another uncommon material: discarded scrap metal extracted directly from his four floor workshop, formerly a Philip’s lighting plant. It’s here where Eek explores the nexus between found materials and resourceful craftsmanship – a technique that yields imperfect, yet mesmerizing objects.
“When I first visited Piet’s Wonder Room last October, it was clear that we had to find a way to bring this experience to New York. As an incubator for new ideas and collaborations, it showcases not only his singular pieces, but also his broader, brilliant fields of interest” says David Alhadeff, founder of The Future Perfect. “It truly is a show generated through Eek’s own unique lens.”
Wonder Room will feature a myriad of exclusive pieces and artworks by Piet Hein Eek, including the “Tube Chair” made from discarded, industrial drainage pipes salvaged during the renovation of his factory; the original prototype of the “RAG Pipe Table” made from reclaimed pipes from his former workshop; the “Welded Steel Cabinet” created by welding steel plates finished with an experimental, oxidized lacquer, the first of it’s kind; “Waste Steel” paintings, a triptych exploring the designers use of raw materials in a non-functional way; and a selection of “Hand Folded” lighting fixtures from his new collections, among other designs.
“Above all, the Wonder Room is a creative production environment where it’s possible to make almost everything we desire—it is a dense and concentrated presentation of the making that goes on throughout our building,” says Piet Hein Eek. “My hope is to recreate this experience at The Future Perfect—to show not only the final results, but also the concepts and possibilities.”
Collaborations with other creatives are an essential component of the Wonder Room concept, and to that end, Eek has commissioned Dutch artists Marc Mulders to create a series of paintings using a technique developed by Eek. Linda Nieuwstad was asked to compose new floral sculptures especially for the show. Additionally, “Hammered Bowls” by Floris Wubben were extruded from a machine that Wubben and Eek developed together; the “Inside-Out Construction Cabinet” by rising talent Paul Heijnen was first prototyped from unearthed factory floorboards and later completed using recycled plywood; among the highlights.
To fully bring his collaboration with The Future Perfect to life, Eek has curated a selection of lighting from designers Bec Brittain and Michael Anastassiades, as well as new works from Roll & Hill by Lindsey Adelman, Paul Loebach, Ladies & Gentleman Studio, Phillipe Malouin, Jason Miller and Karl Zahn that will make their US debut. He has also collaborated with BCXSY & Calico Wallpaper on an exclusive color-way of their Inverted Spaces wall covering, made from inverted images of the galaxy via NASA.
About Piet Hein Eek
Piet Hein Eek was born in Holland in 1967 and graduated from the Academy for Industrial
Design in Eindhoven in 1990. While at the Academy, he gained attention for his exam project Scrap Wood Cupboards. He sold all the cupboards and used the money to start his own design studio in 1992. The following year he partnered with fellow designer Nob Ruijgrok, establishing Eek en Ruijgrok v.o.f. Eek first developed an interest in old materials after restoring a cupboard for his sister; he thought the old wood looked nicer than the new. He has built his business around old materials, saving these discarded pieces of wood and working outside of the circuit of mass production. Eek’s work has exhibited at such venues as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Salone del Mobile, Italy; and Cïbone, Tokyo.
About The Future Perfect
Founded by David Alhadeff in 2003, The Future Perfect proudly features works from a diverse group of distinguished designers as well as emerging talent. With locations in both Manhattan and San Francisco, The Future Perfect acts as a premiere retail platform for art and design from around the world for all of North America and abroad.