The British design duo told us about the work they exhibit on the remote island of Filicudi: a selection that ilustrates their need to push materials and fabrications techniques to the limit (on show until July 23rd)

Outside the molds and routes of design, Studio Casoli Gallery in Filicudi exhibits, from 21 June to 23 July, the work of British design studio BarberOsgerby: a small but well-kept exhibition that shows Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby under a different lens, highlighting the refinement of manufacturing and materials.

Since 1996, the design approach of the duo has been characterized by the exploration of materiality, color and processes with the constant use of a reduced, simple and fresh sign applied even to complex projects.

BarberOsgerby have been applying it for almost thirty years through collaborations with companies such as Vitra, Knoll, B&B Italia, Flos, Venini and Hermès. A diverse body of work ranging from industrial design, furniture, lighting and site-specific installations, collaborations with galleries and public commissions, such as the torch for the London 2012 Olympics.

For this exhibition they have selected twelve pieces – tables, lights, exercises in style – which show the possibilities they master when free from the constraints of serial production.

Made in the most varied materials – marble, glass, wood and metal – the limited edition objects exhibited at Studio Casoli are a radical antithesis to the harsh and wild landscape of Filicudi.

These objects reflect the close working relationship with the craftsmen.

For this reason From Island to Island also includes some drawings and the first collaboration with a weaver: Laura de Cesare from Pisa, who created a tapestry for the occasion composed of a series of concentric circles.

A reference to the sun in a nod to the coincidence with the opening of the exhibition and the summer solstice, and a reference to the circle, the recurring hallmark of Barber Osgerby's design.

28_MARSOTTO_SDM_2023_© Alberto Strada
Largo Collection for Marsotto Edizioni. The Largo table collection for Marsotto Edizioni, launched at Milan Design Week 2023. A special edition will be made of lava stone from Etna, visible across the sea from Studio Casoli.

What is on display in Filicudi ?

BarberOsgerby: “It is a collection of only twelve pieces created over the last twenty years, united by the variety of refined manufactures. Most of them were made in limited editions or especially for galleries”.

Tobi-Ishi_special edition_B&B Italia_01
Tobi-Ishi Table for B&B Italia, 2022. Their first work for the Italian brand was made in a striped edition in white Carrara and green Alpi marble, presented in 2022 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its launch.

Why did you chose to exhibit in Filicudi?

BarberOsgerby: “Because it's a magnificent island. We've been going there for a few years now and we got to know several people, made friends.

Including the one with the gallery owner Sergio Casoli who last year, after the exhibition on the Scottish-born artist Peter Doig, asked us to exhibit our work".

Iris Table by Barber Osgerby for Established & Sons_01
The Iris table, designed in 2008 for Established & Sons, represents a union between man and machine. It was constructed from a single geometric aluminum component, individually hand dyed and repeated to form a perfectly tessellated ring. The result is a lyrical, seamless object that recalls the color streaks of the human eye.

What spirit animates this exhibition?

BarberOsgerby: “Nothing celebratory, it's not a retrospective at all. It really has to do with showing another side of our work, with exposing the different processes that have led to objects. Something out of the ordinary: in a small art gallery, on an island in the middle of nowhere”.

194.Port vase.2016
The numerous nautical references can be found in the hand-blown glass Port vase, created for Venini in 2016, which recalls buoys and fenders.

Your bond with Italy is lasting: it all started with the Loop table designed for Cappellini...

Barber Osgerby: “That's right. Giulio Cappellini had seen our piece at a design fair in London and therefore invited us to Milan to develop the project together. That was our first trip to Italy. It happened in the mid-90s, we were about 27 years old".

001-f_new
One of the pieces created for the 2011 Haunch of Venison gallery exhibition.

What projects do you have planned in the near future?

BarberOsgerby: “In September, another exhibition celebrating ten years of collaboration with the Mutina ceramics in their headquarters in the province of Modena.

We will occupy all the exhibition space with the collections created for them, the two new ones that we will present together with the special editions of three-dimensional objects in ceramic on which we are working.

Obviously the many collaborations continue, with B&B Italia, Rimowa and the other brands”.

BARBER-OSGERBY_SIGNAL_FLOOR LAMP_CORAL_357_V4_Copyright Alexandra de Cossette
Composed of floor, wall and suspension lamps, the Signals collection takes the cone as its distinctive gesture. It is the first episode of the collaboration between Barber Osgerby and Galerie kreo.
13(DS_00812)©photoElaBialkowskaOKNOstudio
From Island to Island includes the first collaboration with a weaver: Laura de Cesare of Pisa, who will create a tapestry, composed of a series of concentric circles. A reference to the sun in a reference to the coincidence with the opening of the exhibition and the summer solstice.

Where

Studio Casoli, Via Pecorini a Mare, Filicudi, Messina

When

from 21 June to 23 July 2023
www.barberosgerby.com
www.studio-casoli.com

BARBER-OSGERBY_YO YO_BLACK_20220913_749_Copyright Alexandra de Cossette
Designed for the group exhibition Step by Step at the Galerie kreo in Paris, the YO YO staircase is a functional work of art inspired by the simple silhouettes of traditional barn ladders. The shape of the foot hole evokes the image of a stirrup or horseshoe.
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