Design

Elegant Glass ‘Elytra’ Wings Cleverly Unfurl from Radhika Dhumal’s Expandable Wooden Table

All images © Radhika Dhumal, shared with permission. Photographs by Arun Rameshan

“This winged table marked the beginning of my flight as a furniture designer,” says Radhika Dhumal, whose playful coffee table titled “Elytra” features insectoid layers that extend outward from its center. Winning a 2019 ELLE DECO International Design Award and the A Design International Silver Award 2021, the clever construction emphasizes natural woodgrain, slender legs, and two swiveling, glass wings.

The final composition for the table emerged from initial sketches that focused on the concept of Russian nesting dolls in which larger pieces opened to reveal smaller components. “None of the forms clicked with me, and I randomly scribbled to go beyond the imaginary box that I was restrained to,” she tells Colossal. “It was almost like a ‘Eureka!’ moment for me, as I could see a hidden form of wings opening up.” As she dug deeper into her research, she was particularly fascinated by the anatomy of beetles and the presence of hardened forewings known as elytra that protect the more delicate set of hindwings. The eponymous design ties together notions of strength, adaptability, and elegance.

From the earliest drawings to its final form, the table took about six weeks to complete. The designer recently produced a range of accent furniture sponsored by Ek Design and currently collaborates with Furlenco with an emphasis on sustainability. Find more of her work on Instagram.

Art Craft Food

Embroidered Snacks and Mass-Produced Food by Alicja Kozlowska Chew On Consumerist Culture

All images © Alicja Kozłowska, shared with permission

In the ongoing series Embroidered Ordinaries, Alicja Kozlowska translates the mass production of Pop Art into tightly stitched sculptures. The Polish artist sews packages of Oreos and half-eaten cookies, rusted cans with peeled-back tops, and 12-packs of Coca-Cola at full scale, recreating the recognizable logos and designs of ubiquitous snacks and goods. Each work begins with a felted structure the artist covers in myriad knots and stitches, which produces textured iterations that reflect on consumerism and the lasting impacts of over-consumption.

Find more of the Embroidered Ordinaries sculptures on Kozlowska’s site, and keep an eye on her Instagram for upcoming additions.

Art

Through Whimsical Wooden Sculptures, Christian Verginer Explores Childhood Curiosity and Connection

Detail of “The Tree in Me.” All images © Christian Verginer, shared with permission

From large pieces of basswood, artist Christian Verginer carves figurative sculptures that meld the play and wonder of adolescence with the vitality of the natural world. Leafy branches grow like pigtails, a bird perches on the zipper of a hoodie, and two young boys sit on ladders that lead to treetops and clouds. Textured by small gouges, the works contrast realistic renditions of children with fantastical elements, the latter of which the artist tends to paint in a single color like vibrant green, slate gray, or beige.

Verginer is broadly interested in the ways humans and nature intersect, which he conveys through a sense of curiosity and embodied connection between the two. Some sculptures foster such relationships through three-dimensional forms, like the deceased bird the girl pinches between her fingers as in “Different Stories.” Others reference shadows, including “Two Stories” and “Different Time,” which overlay silhouettes of trees and flowers atop the young figures’ bodies.

Based in the Alto Adige region of northern Italy, Verginer works in a studio he shares with his father Willy Verginer (previously) and brother Matt Verginer. Each maintains a distinct practice, although the artist shares that the environment is well-suited for feedback and critique. All three will show together this May at a gallery in Nürnberg, although you can see Christian Verginer’s work this month with Kirk Gallery at Art Herning. Otherwise, find more of his sculptures on his site and Instagram.

“Too far too close” (2023), plinth, limewood, iron wire, and acrylic, 140 x 40 centimeters

“The Tree in Me”

“Different stories” (2021), limewood and acrylics, 135 x 41 centimeters

“Different times” (2022)

“Two stories” (2022), limewood and aluminum acrylics, 68 centimeters

Art

Leaves, Insects, and Human Anatomy Converge in Delicate Pencil Drawings by Amahi Mori

“Papilio ulysses,” pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, 22.7 x 22.7 centimeters. All images © Amahi Mori, shared with permission

Through veins and hybridized beings, Japanese artist Amahi Mori connects life across the plant and animal kingdoms. Various circulatory systems blend together in seamless compositions with leafy greens emerging from a blue morpho or cloaking an elongated human hand. Rendered in graphite, colored pencil, and watercolor, Amahi’s delicate works center on the vibrancy of life conveyed through brilliantly patterned wings and supple leaves. Many of the drawings are also tinged with the otherworldly and surreal, particularly as human skin stretches to account for a growing stem.

Amahi has a solo exhibition slated for this May at Ginza Getsukoso Gallery. Until then, find an archive of her fused creatures on her site and Instagram.

“Daydream,” pencil and acrylic gouache on paper, 33.3 x 24.2 centimeters

“Papilio xuthus,” pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, 15.8 x 22.7 centimeters

“Sasakia charonda,” pencil, colored pencil, watercolor, and acrylic gouache on paper, 22 x 27.3 centimeters

“Metamorphose into leaf veins,” pencil, watercolor, and acrylic gouache on paper, 22 x 27.3 centimeters

“Papilio machaon,” pencil and watercolor on paper, 14 x 18 centimeters

“Shining,” pencil, watercolor, and acrylic gouache on paper, 27.3 x 22 centimeters

“Hello, see you,” pencil, watercolor, and acrylic gouache on paper, 27.3 x 22 centimeters

Sponsor

New York City Ballet Art Series Presents DRIFT’s ‘Shylight’

DRIFT’s “Shylight” (development 2006–2014), aluminum, polished stainless steel, silk, LEDs, robotics. On view at three special NYC Ballet Art Series performances in January and February 2023. All photos by Ossip van Duivenbode

Dutch artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta are DRIFT, a multidisciplinary group that creates experiential sculptures, installations, and performances, uniting audiences with moments that inspire a reconnection to our planet.

For New York City Ballet’s Art Series 2023, the duo curates their “Shylight” installation into a site-specific, performative sculpture, merging the movement of industrial motors with silk, multi-layered chalice-like structures. The pieces move with the grace of a dancer into a natural choreography, manifesting live emotion and personality in an inanimate material. With custom choreography supervised by the artists themselves, the works’ unpredictable, natural-looking movements become an object that feels alive as it descends to blossom in all its glorious beauty, before closing and retreating upward again.

The installation will be on view at three special NYC Ballet Art Series performances on January 27, February 3, and February 9, and all tickets are $38.

Performances are on sale now at nycballet.com/artseries.

Art

Evoking Organic Growth, Toru Kurokawa’s Ceramic Sculptures Stretch and Swell into Abstract Forms

“Visceral vision.” All images © Toru Kurokawa, shared with permission

The natural growth process, which begins with the replication of a single cell and eventually produces bodily systems and lifeforms, informs the practice of artist Toru Kurokawa (previously). Based in Kyoto, Kurokawa transforms amorphous hunks of clay into organic sculptures that bow and bend. The malleable material stretches to reveal pockets of negative space or to generate undulating edges, and once fired, the works appear to freeze those movements. “I would like to create a space that fuses the two things, existence and non-existence,” the artist tells Colossal. “I am conscious of that connection.” Glazed in textured, neutral tones, the resulting forms are abstract and biological, conveying the tension and strength of change.

Kurokawa is currently considering how mathematics and physics can influence the geometries of the works, and you can follow that progress on Instagram.

“Earth pot”

“Aggregate β”

“Holosroidea”

“Black garden”

“Threshold”

“Aire”

“Protocell J”