BETHAN LAURA WOOD
London Design Festival 2017
ONEROOM is pleased to present its inaugural exhibition of recent works by acclaimed designer Bethan Laura Wood. A truly original figure, her maximalist pieces are borne from a passion in material investigation, an exploration into colour, and reinterpretation of the everyday. Working with commonplace materials such as wood and plastic, she employs a sophisticated use of colour and detail, reviving skilled techniques such as marquetry and intricate Japanese model-making to create graphic designs with story and substance. First making her name at the influential Nilufar Gallery in Milan, two year’s after graduating from the Royal College of Art, the British designer has fast established herself as an influential force, picking up the coveted Swarovski Emerging Talent medal in 2016. The exhibition includes Seaweed Kites from the Hull UK City of Culture 2017 Paper City installation, alongside a curated selection of Bethan’s signature works.
TEMPLE 2015
Pair of Wall Sconce
Ribbed glass, mirrored stainless steel, brass, LED lights
Nilufar Limited Edition of 3 pairs of example + 1 pair as AP
Temple is inspired by a mix between Japanese interlocking constructions, graphic shapes found in classic 1950s fabrics, with an interest in the world of model engineering. On a scale that sits between jewellery and furniture, Bethan became fascinated with the micro screws and miniature skills used to create these models of devotion of working trains, steam engines, cams and pulleys.
CRISS CROSS – HULA 2016
Criss Cross Collection
"Ring" chandelier
Black powder-coated steel frame, brass, pyrex, mirrored crown lightbulbs
Nilufar Limited Edition of 12 examples + 2 APs
Hula is a chandelier from Bethan Laura Wood as she continues to expand her Criss Cross collection. Two suspended large metal rings with brass spacers can be customised to cradle from 3 to 12 glass blooms creating a graphical chandelier. Hovering like a delicate spaceship it can be adjusted to suit several types of environments from large hallways to intermediary spaces.
CRISS CROSS – STANDING 2013
Criss Cross Collection
Double Bubble floor lamp
Hand-blown Pyrex glass made in collaboration with the artisan Pietro Viero, hand-blown kiln glass made in collaboration with artisans at Nouvel studio, crown-mirrored bulbs
Nilufar Edition
A layering system of floating flowers that criss-crosses to create a colourful grid arrangement of glass and light. Bethan attempts to mix the specialist skills of two different worlds of glass – artisan Pietro Viero, a Pyrex master in Italy, and Nouvel Studio, the Mexican coloured glass specialists – to make work that criss-crosses the boundaries of local and global, acting as a conduit for creative communication. The long, clear pipes and transparent fixings nod to the extruded tube forms inherent in Pyrex. Coloured Pyrex forms are blown out by hand to create bespoke volumes echoing the interplay between the light, sickly-sweet colours of Mexican lollipops. Meanwhile, companion petals are made half way around the world, in Mexico City by Nouvel Studio, to inject a vibrant jolt of colour, from milky greens to transparent neons, just like the artificially enhanced blooms in the city’s market.
HOT ROCK 2012
Laminate marquetry, coloured MDF, powder coated steel, satin brushed brass.
Nilufar Edition
"Hot Rock" landscape furniture is a series of cabinets extended from the super fake project by Bethan Laura Wood, which explore the impact of colour on the forms inspired by the ambiguity of the nature environment. Bethan takes her classic hard rock pattern and with the edition of warmer darker colours, she brings it in from the cool and sparseness of outer space. To the heat and drama of Volcanic explosions, the Visceral blood and bones, pumping and surging of the body. The furniture uses a marquetry technique to celebrate all the different qualities of the standard laminates used, treating each one like a rare wood veneers rather then a cheap substitute.
SEAWEED KITES - PAPER CITY 2016
The installation called Seaweed Kites was originally created for G . F Smith’s Paper City project as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017. Bethan’s Paper Seaweed gently hangs and sways to create a suspended world of colour and form. Combining the shapes of British seaweed with details from kite
