Hasta La Ideas

London designers JamesPlumb present a solo show of their work in Geneva this month, including a three-piece suite made by inserting cast concrete seats between the carved frames of a reclaimed sofa and armchairs.

Called Goodnight Day, the installation at Blancpain Art Contemporain gallery is sealed off from daylight and features lighting by the duo alongside assemblages of rescued furnishings.

The surviving half of a large ornate mirror is combined with a dilapidated chest of drawers while the shades of pendant lamps perch on top of bare wire standard lamps.

JamesPlumb won the retail category at last year’s inaugural Inside awards for their Hostem boutique and you can watch an interview that we filmed with them at the award ceremony here.

The exhibtion continues until 17 February.

Here are some more details from the gallery:

Goodnight Day

Galerie Blancpain Art Contemporain and Giancarlo Camerana are proud to present JamesPlumb’s first solo exhibition in Switzerland. Two artists under one name, James Russell & Hannah Plumb will completely transform the traditional white cube gallery for the occasion. Shutting off the space to natural light as they say “Goodnight Day”, they will create a unique environment with their signature lighting and assemblage.

The couple welcome the return to exhibiting in a contemporary art gallery – having studied fine art sculpture and resisted the call to define themselves or their work as either “art” or “design”. Their emphasis is on one one-off pieces made by hand, and yet their desire is to see the work used and loved day to day. Theirs is a desire to create an experience for the viewer, a journey, an emotion.

Amongst the new work presented, the couple will unveil additions to their acclaimed “Concrete Stitches” series which sees them take broken and abandoned furniture and render it functional again by casting concrete in on and around the frames. For the first time they have created a “suite” that constitutes a three seat sofa, with two accompanying armchairs.

The new assemblage presented continues from their desire to marry apparently disparate fragments into new works that appear as if they could have always existed. Half of a battered yet still ornate mirror frame combines with a shattered set of drawers that are barely able to sustain their own weight.

JamesPlumb’s profile continues to rise having recently won a prestigious Inside award, presented to them at the World Festival of Interiors by an esteemed jury of international judges for their interior design of menswear store Hostem. Other high profile projects include a commission for six sculptural chandeliers at Bloomberg’s London offices, international private interior commissions, and the recently launched “Chalk Room”, a discreet and quietly beautiful addition to Hostem.

The pair relish creating interiors and unique commissions – bringing an eye for the unusual and a passion for the timeless. Their interiors have traces of history, but with new stories to tell. Their philosophy suggests that all that we need is often already existing, but without sacrificing our modern expectations of taste, comfort, and luxury.