aki and arnaud cooren — a french-japanese design duo known as A+A cooren — unveil their ’tiss-tiss’ furniture collection at carpenters workshop gallery in london. the exhibition marks the designers’ first solo show in the UK and it features a number of pieces all with their signature textured aluminum design aesthetic, which designboom first featured back in 2017 with the award-winning tiss-tiss chair.
installation view at carpenters workshop gallery
the tiss-tiss collection at carpenters workshop gallery features a selection of nine works, eight of which are new, including chairs, a dining table, bedside tables, stools, a bench, and lamps. each piece displays a relief of fabric on the surface and sewn stitch imprints on the edges that are cast in aluminum. they capture a moment in time during which the linen fabric was carefully laid out and emphasize the beauty of traditional hand-weaving techniques and resulting irregularity. the fluid impression of the textile imprint is juxtaposed to the architectonic, self-supporting structure of the rigid aluminum plates.
aki and arnaud developed a special manufacturing process that incorporates the process of sand-casting to achieve the appearance of intricate, handmade detail on the object’s surface. they mold a silicone duplicate of an original cardboard and linen master model, which they then sand-cast in aluminum, and dye blue, black or green. the duo experimented with this technique already in 2017 when their first tiss tiss low chair, which was awarded the liliane bettencourt prize for l’intelligence de la main (the intelligence of the hand). it took them almost four years to develop the process, further resulting in a large number of works that complete the tiss-tiss collection.
the combination of metal foundry and textiles were familiar practices to aki, whose father shinji naoi, was a silversmith and student of keisuke serizawa, the ‘living national treasure of japan’ in the field of silkscreen textile. naoi is unique in practicing casting silver using the technique of lost-wax casting in the district of ginza, tokyo, a process by which a metal duplicate is cast from an original sculpture. aki’s long-standing familiarity of such artistic practices and fascination for mingei, an artistic movement in mid-1920s japan, combined with arnaud’s fresh gaze for contemporary japanese culture and experience in contextual installation at la cambre art school has helped to create the unique artistic vision for the tiss-tiss collection.
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
‘creating the tiss-tiss collection, we were inspired by keisuke serizawa’s waterfall piece and how he manages to capture a moment in time’, says aki and arnaud cooren. ‘also the buddhist philosophy of impermanence is an important influence to us. all that exists is impermanent; nothing lasts. by capturing the fluidity of the linen material and placing natural elements onto manufactured aluminum, we give the illusion that things aren’t always as they seem. there’s no beauty without imperfection.’
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
‘tiss-tiss is a unique fusion of minimal and sophisticated japanese-french design aesthetic. it’s beautiful, architectonic, and radical. it’s very carpenters,’ comments loïc le gaillard, co-founder of carpenters workshop gallery.
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
tiss-tiss bedside table with door
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
image courtesy of carpenters workshop gallery
location: carpenters workshop gallery, 4 albemarle street, london, the UK
designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: lynne myers | designboom
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