Switch Modern was delighted to present our latest exhibition... Dutch Masters: Contemporary Lighting from Holland. The exhibition features a range of lighting designs manufactured by Moooi, Flos, and Ingo Maurer, that were created by Dutch designers - Joost van Bleiswijk, Joel Degermark, Richard Hutten, Frans van Nieuwenborg + Martijin Wegman, Bertjan Pot, Raimond Puts + OK-ID, Studio Job, Rick Tegelaar, and Marcel Wanders. The exhibition also includes a very special lighting design by Joris Laarman - our guest of honor at the opening event.
A theme that underscores Switch Modern's Dutch lighting exhibition is the designers' exploration of technology and materials to enable thoroughly new aesthetics. The diffuser form of Bertjan Pot's Heracleum light for Moooi (detail, right foreground) features thin, branch-like metal rods that power the LEDs directly through layers of conductive material within the frame itself. This novel technology was developed with fellow Dutch designer, Marcel Wanders, and has been patented as "Electrosandwich."
Front and center in the exhibition is the Nebula suspension lamp designed by our guest of honor, Joris Laarman. As Laarman describes, "I wanted to make something elegant and timeless out of the anonymous and the ordinary; perhaps a bit in the tradition of Achille Castiglioni, but in my own way. So I created this blown glass version of a cluster of old lampshades I found when browsing a local flea market. While shuffling them into different compositions, I was struck by the strength of the image that appeared by combining them in a bunch like an explosion of light, with almost no symmetry, but with a natural harmony in its composition."
From left to right: Doug Henderson, Co-Owner, Switch Modern; Sarah Schleuning, Curator of Decorative Arts, High Museum of Art; Roy Otwell, Co-Owner, Switch Modern; and our evening's guest of honor, Joris Laarman.
The exhibition opening included 70 guests enjoying Dutch lighting design along with a selection of Dutch cheese and beer generously provided by Heineken. Our guest of honor was Joris Laarman who was in Atlanta for the opening of his exhibition at the High Museum of Art - Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age. We are huge fans of Sarah's curatorial work at the High Museum and were thrilled that she and Joris were able to attend our event. The exhibition at the High Museum of Art features a number of Laarman's designs from the museum's permanent collection, which boasts the largest public holdings of this Dutch artist's work outside of the Netherlands. The exhibition will run through May 13.
Left photo: Elizabeth Suarez enjoying a conversation with Joris Laarman and his partner, filmmaker Anita Star. Star and Laarman co-founded the Joris Laarman Lab in 2004 - they consider the Lab an experimental playground where craftsmen, scientists, and engineers create cultural meaning through technological progress. Suarez was in from Miami for the exhibition representing Flos, the Italian manufacturer that produces Laarman's Nebula light. Right photo: Laarman is chatting with Atlanta artist and arts patron, Lucinda Bunnen.
Left photo: Shawn Alshut, A2 Studio Architecture, and Liz Lapidus, Liz Lapidus Public Relations, striking a pose. Right photo: Guests taking in the exhibition.
In addition to the exhibition, guests were encouraged to wander about Switch Modern's 25,000 square foot showroom. Lucinda Bunnen and artist Judy Lampert (right photo) managed to try out several of our edgier seating designs throughout the space including the Campana Brothers' fabulously sculptural Corallo chair manufactured by Edra.
While the opening has happened, our Dutch Masters: Contemporary Lighting from Holland exhibition will remain up through May 12. Switch Modern shows a substantive collection of lighting designs both online and in our Atlanta showroom - many of the pieces included in the exhibition are now also available through our Quick Ship Program. For more information about any of the designs included in our exhibition, please contact us at 404-605-0196 or info@switchmodern.com
