St. Vincents in Antwerp is presenting an exhibition by Studio Lukas Cober
29 September - 19 November 2022
St. Vincents in Antwerp is presenting an exhibition by Studio Lukas Cober, the interdisciplinary design studio that is combining craftsmanship and a deep knowledge of materials with a unique aesthetic expression. Next to some of his previous work, the exhibition will be showcasing new pieces especially made for the occasion: wall sculptures, shelves, lighting, primarily made from fiberglass and resins. They all share an aesthetic expression through shape and materiality.
Concentrating his work around unique furniture collections, designer and artist Lukas Cober emphasizes the value and beauty of raw materials, such as wood, fiberglass and resin, to create minimalist pieces of timeless beauty. The pieces are defined by architectural lines, sculptural finesse and organic shapes.
For this exhibition, Lukas Cober is building further on the Kuro collection — his debut in furniture design that is a link between freehand sculptured rural shapes and graphical lines as an answer to his search for pureness in shape and materiality; and his second New Wave collection, where Cober makes sculptural objects by hand-layering numerous layers of fiberglass cloth with resin into desired shapes.
Amongst the pieces on display at St. Vincents, there will be a new Resin coffee table, the largest dining table in black fiberglass he made so far, a large sculptural wall fixture, which will be the first light and wall sculpture by Studio Lukas Cober, a new dining chair and new Fibreglass wall shelves.
Lukas Cober is working directly and intuitively with the material, making the whole process of creating a piece an ongoing research and experimentation alike. Made on request, each object is individually build and hand shaped, breathing in a unique soul to every single piece. Cober constantly changes and adjusts details, gaining knowledge while doing so and opening up new possibilities for new pieces. Working in “collections” gives him the opportunity to constantly apply that gained knowledge in material research onto new objects.
For the Kuro collection, Studio Lukas Cober combined very graphic pleasing outlines in wood, from the domed legs to the waisted top and the tapered edged endings. There is almost a naïvety to the form of the pieces and the collection loosely calls to mind the austereness of Shaker furniture. At first sight, the benches, tables, consoles and bookcase seem remarkably simple, but the slightly exaggerated proportions and rounded forms give way to an uncannily cartoonish effect. But it’s about the contrasting organic shape that he gives to the material afterwards. The subtle curves of the top surface with visually almost zero thickness are flowing smoothly into the column shaped legs. The black burned oak surface is giving no distraction in order to leave space for the shapes to act. Seeing objects in shapes became the essence of his work and continues throughout everything he does.
While the Kuro collection laid the foundation towards Cober’s singular identity as a craftsman, designer and artist, the New Wave collection illustrates his fascination for oceans force. They are built by hand-layering numerous layers of fiberglass cloth with resin into desired shapes. After combining the shapes and removing material for smooth transitions and organic contours, the layers of fiberglass unfold in rhythmic lines and the shapes reveal themselves drawn as silhouettes against the surface.
Resin is widely used by many designers and artists, mostly as a casting material in combination with casting molds to perfectly reproduce a certain object once designed. But Cober makes pieces from resin that are not a perfect result of a piece once designed on the computer and reproduced with a casting mold. While he does use casting molds, the actual shape is given to the piece by hand and not by the mold. The outcome of that is an object that in its details could never be designed on a computer or built as a 3D model. It’s an organic sculptural piece.
Studio Lukas Cober
29 September - 19 November 2022
St. Vincents
Kleine Markt 13,
2000 Antwerp
https://www.stvincents.co
About Studio Lukas Cober
Lukas Cober was born in 1989 and raised in Aachen, the city on the tripoint of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Between 2010 and 2015 he studied product design at the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design as well as the Faculdade de Belas Artes Lisboa. During his studies and several years after he worked as an assistant of Artist/Designer Valentin Loellmann. As a very physically working person and a skilled craftsman these years have taught him how to lead his creative energy towards an artistic vision.
In 2018 he started focusing solely on his own work, creating unique pieces and collections in his eponymous studio.
Studio Lukas Cober is an interdisciplinary design studio for objects of aesthetic expression through shape and materiality. Concentrating his work around unique furniture collections Studio Lukas Cober emphasizes raw materials, such as wood, fiberglass and resin, to create minimalist pieces of timeless beauty. With his architectural lines, sculptural finesse and organic shapes in a short time, Lukas Cober has thus been able to develop a singular identity, presenting his work through renowned galleries and exhibitions across the globe.
Images (download here)
Packshots (download here)
Studio Lukas Cober at St. Vincents © Ligia Poplawska
Studio Lukas Cober at St. Vincents © Ligia Poplawska
Studio Lukas Cober at St. Vincents © Ligia Poplawska
Studio Lukas Cober at St. Vincents © Ligia Poplawska
Studio Lukas Cober at St. Vincents © Ligia Poplawska
Studio Lukas Cober at St. Vincents © Ligia Poplawska
Studio Lukas Cober at St. Vincents © Ligia Poplawska
Studio Lukas Cober at St. Vincents © Ligia Poplawska
