Intimate Domain

Extended through December 15, 2018

November 3 – December 1, 2018

The exhibition Intimate Domain explores the personal experience–related to perception, memory, and intimacy–that design can evoke. 

The antithesis of “form and function” philosophy, some designers use fantastical forms, nature, light or material to arouse the senses, often times a manifestation of their own experiences. Comfort also plays a key part in the memory of a home – the cozy chair, for example, that envelops and protects you.

Maria Pergay has a deep history with natural elements and dream-like narratives in her work. “I learned that one can live, create, and transform materials into poetry,” Pergay said. “And when they speak, they tell things that are secret, useful, desirable, or mysterious.” Pergay’s Borgia Cabinet (2016), with carved ebony handles and reminiscent of Renaissance furniture, is immediately surprising and persistently seductive. Her lamps from the 1960s and ‘70s incorporate elements of nature and possess a whimsical beauty.

Pierre Paulin’s Elysee Sofa and Chairs (1971) invite you to sit and relax. Jos Devriendt’s Night and Day (2017) series of lamps are ceramic forms of unique mushrooms and express his interest in the ways in which time and atmosphere can transform our perception of objects and space. Designed by André Cazenave for Atelier A, the Rock Lamps (1969) were created to bring the outdoors inside the urban living environment and to re-establish the relationship between people and the source of nature. François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne are inspired by natural forms and motivated by an intense desire to re-enchant our experience of them. The pair of Grains de Café Chairs (1965/1984) are a playful homage to the coffee bean. Sheila Hicks’ Satellite (2017) is a part of a career long series of wrapped fiber bundles containing remembrances of events, people, times lived, place visited. The desire to touch them is irresistible. “What I am concerned with—and have always been—is the intimate world around me and the unfamiliar world that I wish to explore.”

These objects inspire us beyond the functional element, conjoining with sculpture, and creating a sense of experience in the home with personal and collective meanings—chosen by occupant to create a poetic and intimate domain.