Daphna Laurens – Cirkel

As reported last week we sadly couldn’t make it to the opening of Cirkel by Daphna Laurens at Galerie Gosserez in Paris. Because we were at the opening of Kibbutz and Bauhaus in Dessau.

However Daphna and Laurens were kind enough to send us a few photos of the works.

As older readers will know we are always very wary about judging articles on the strength of photos alone; that said, the Cirkel collection does look very promising.

For us the highlight is probably “Leaning Lamp”. Resembling some sort of phat, futuristic 50s sci-fi object, “Leaning Lamp” uses the wall as the stabilising leg. However, despite appearances to the contrary it is in effect a wall lamp and from a purely technical perspective has been designed to perform as such. The magic of the piece lies in the deception created through the legs, a device that separates form and function and makes “Leaning Lamp” almost an object to be enjoyed as an object rather than as a lamp. That and of course a reminder that cybermen could invade at any moment.

The actual wall lamps in the Cirkel collection  – 01 and 02 – are, according to Daphna + Laurens, inspired by Bauhaus and principally Laszlo Moholy Nagy. We don’t think anyone could disagree with that. Designed to be enjoyed as a work of art by day and a lamp by night we just love the integrated shelf. On the one hand because it is a shelf, but also because through the shelf and the decision to place the cable on the opposite end from the lamp the pair have created a delightfully simple geometry that beautifully compliments the slowly unfurling circle.

For us the coffee table, like Leaning Lamp, conveys a very fresh 1950s aura; potentially on account of the memories associated with the simple form of the legs and the wood grain in the conical container. Looking at the photos we keep coming back to the very slightly saddle form of the table top. Tables are perfectly flat. Tables are always perfectly flat. Tables don’t need to be perfectly flat. Tables can taper. And in this case the gentle curvature is a critical element of maintaining the purity of the form. And so well done for not trying to straighten everything out.

The Cirkel collection is complimented by three mirrors – Elephant, Owl and Mole – all based on the metallic mirrors they showed as part of the Copy Nature exhibition in Eindhoven.

We’ll shy away from the word “typical”, but in the past Daphna Laurens have demonstrated a wonderful understanding of how to mix wood and ceramics – and for us Cirkel would appear to once again prove their mastery in that respect.

And all in all, judging from the photos, Cirkel looks like another very strong, confident Daphna Laurens collection.

But as we say, we’ll reserve our final judgment until we’ve seen the pieces.

Cirkel by Daphna Laurens is on show at Galerie Gosserez Paris until January 14th 2012.

Full details and more photos can be found at: www.daphnalaurens.nl