In our third and final installment of design duos to watch spotted at the 10th edition of Design Miami/, which was held in Miami from December 3 to 7, 2014, we showcase Belgian-Dutch designers, Studio Job.
Another power couple straddling the divide of art and design, this time composed of Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel, Studio Job have set out to redefine the decorative arts for the cotemporary age with their highly-expressive, extravagant and one-off or limited-edition works cast in bronze or crafted from finely-constructed laser-cut marquetry. Smeets says, “Unlike most, we are probably not coming from Modernism. Studio Job’s contribution is that we have rediscovered a lost path. Consciously and carefully, we are positioning decorative arts in the 21st century. Is that design? Whatever. Is that art? Whatever, really.” Showcasing an approach more closely resembling that of traditional guilds rather than industrial production, Studio Job mix an extraordinary level of craftsmanship with extreme ornamentation in a style that could be labeled “neo-baroque”. Smeets notes, “We often refer back to the glory days of applied arts, its 16th- to 17th-century craftsmanship cast in a contemporary era. For instance, look at the work of Johann Melchior Dinglinger or listen to the music of Richard Strauss. It’s all there mixed up with the weirdness of our times and the punkness of our youth.”
In their designs that are both heraldic and cartoon-like, monumental and primitive, Studio Job project a strong narrative, whether it’s depicting good and evil or fantastical universes. Filled with symbolism, their opulent Robber Baron bronze series – comprising a cabinet, clock, table, lamp and jewelry safe – evokes multi-layered, cinematic tales reflecting on the outrageous excesses of America’s 19th-century tycoons and Russia’s new oligarchs. Referencing the history of art and architecture, particularly through the reinterpretation of emblematic monuments, they tackle ideas of power and corruption while celebrating and shaming art and industry and the relationship between them in their typical irreverent fashion – all with generous doses of humor.
Big Ben (Aftermath) in polished and patinated bronze, aluminium, brass, 24-karat gilding and... [+]
At Carpenters Workshop Gallery’s booth at Design Miami/, Studio Job presented Landmark, their latest collection in polished and patinated bronze, hand-blown glass, aluminum, marble and gold and silver leaf, which takes on the world’s architectural icons: an English double-decker bus sits atop the Big Ben clock, Chartres Cathedral tipped over on its side is transformed into a cabinet resembling an altarpiece, the Eiffel Tower bends under invisible pressure to become a desk lamp, the Taj Mahal is flipped upside-down so its four minarets form the legs of a table and the Burj Khalifa has none other but King Kong scaling it instead of the Empire State Building, with the Treasury of Petra housing a clock as its base. The pieces may appear over-the-top with oversized proportions and decadent finishes, but they are far from tacky with carefully considered forms and impeccable craftsmanship. Smeets explains, “We always work on icons. Architecture tells us about history, culture, politics, religion and art. It works on many levels.”
Chartres in polished and patinated bronze and 24-karat gold leaf (Photo courtesy of Carpenters... [+]
Smeets was born in 1970 and Tynagel in 1977. The Belgian-Dutch pair met while attending the Design Academy Eindhoven, then Smeets established Studio Job in 1998, and was joined two years later by Tynagel. They currently split their time between Antwerp and the Netherlands. “Basically we inspired each other and therefore joined forces,” Smeets discloses. “Nynke has a 2D approach and I have a 3D approach. So it made perfect sense to work together. We’re operative in different fields, but with the same goal in mind.” Widely collected in both private and public circles, they have exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum in New York City, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Design Museum in London, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Museum of Fashion and Textiles in Paris, and collaborated with Bisazza, Bulgari, Swarovski, Moooi and Venini.
Smeets details Studio Job’s plans for 2015: “At the moment, we are working on more than 50 pieces and projects. It’s a madhouse, but a lovely madhouse. I wouldn’t want it any other way. So there’s a hotel project in Miami, a wunderkammer in Austria, a perfume, a creperie, private commissions and upcoming exhibitions all around the world. We’re especially looking forward to a big solo show at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris in the fall of 2015. Finally, after six years of preparations, the collection we designed in the eye of the crisis will be ready to be revealed – it’s called ‘Aftermath’!”
