For the London Design Festival, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec created a massive installation so visitors could better experience the Raphael Cartoons. Ben Morgan kicked back to learn all about it.
October 14th, 2011
There was something magical afoot at the Victoria & Albert Museum throughout the London Design Festival. Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec (affectionately known as the Bouroullec Brothers) partnered with leading design textiles manufacturer, Kvadrat, to create the ’Textile Field’ installation in the Raphael Gallery.
The designers were told earlier this year that the museum would like them to do something, somewhere in their grand buildings – an open brief. Walking around the museum, Ronan felt that the Raphael Gallery was actually the least impressive.
“The gallery itself is unremarkable, visually, and I felt it was an awkward space,” he says. The pair noticed the interaction between visitors and the large artworks hung on all walls was quite limited; with people so overwhelmed with reverence for the pieces they spent little time enjoying them.
Their solution was to create ’Textile Field’, a series of upholstered oblong ’tiles’ in varying shades of green, blue, grey and white running the length of the hall – aimed at echoing a simple perspective technique used in the paintings, where distance is suggested through colours gradually fading to white on the horizon.
A central row of tiles is flanked on either side by gently sloping rows, mimicking the bottom of a hill in a park. The padded structure allows people to lie comfortably and take in the Raphael Cartoons.
“Seeing the people using it as it was intended is very exciting,” Ronan recalls. Although the Textile Field was created specifically for this space, he imagines it could translate easily to other similar situations.
“When we see how simply this works, we see how it could work well in other spaces too.”
The Textile Field is undoubtedly a new way to experience art. Let’s hope it catches on.
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec
bouroullec.com
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Sub-Zero and Wolf’s prestigious Kitchen Design Contest (KDC) has celebrated the very best in kitchen innovation and aesthetics for three decades now. Recognising premier kitchen design professionals from around the globe, the KDC facilitates innovation, style and functionality that pushes boundaries.
In the pursuit of an uplifting synergy between the inner world and the surrounding environment, internationally acclaimed Interior Architect and Designer Lorena Gaxiola transform the vibration of the auspicious number ‘8’ into mesmerising artistry alongside the Feltex design team, brought to you by GH Commercial.
“Melbourne Fringe was founded in 1982 and is an umbrella organisation supporting and advising a large number of independently run arts companies, artists and events”
“Melbourne Fringe Festival, the principal activity of the organisation, aims to bring the most contemporary, innovative and trend-setting work created and presented by independent artists, to the broader Melbourne audience”.
Elana Castle discovers the work of South African designer Gregor Jenkin.
The Dorf Ingressi™ basin mixer offers designer styling with an edge. With square lines complemented by a high polished chrome finish, Ingressi™ moves away from the everyday to make a statement in your bathroom.The sophisticated Ingressi™ mixers feature water saving technology, engineered to work with your water pressure, so you’ll always enjoy a comfortable, water […]
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Swiss home appliance designer and manufacturer V-ZUG’s first Sydney studio is a unified expression of the brand’s boutique, sustainable and design-led identity.
Extrapolating the typology of farmhouse architecture, Cameron Anderson Architects (CAARCH) has drawn on the local architecture of Mudgee in both form and materiality to deliver a surprising suite of buildings.
A third in the series of boutique hotels under the Lloyd’s Inn brand, Lloyd’s Inn Kuala Lumpur bring the immediacy of nature to the new high-rise hospitality experience in the heart of a bustling city. “Lloyd’s Inn Kuala Lumpur is unique from the other properties in that it is a high-rise development, with more than […]
In the pursuit of an uplifting synergy between the inner world and the surrounding environment, internationally acclaimed Interior Architect and Designer Lorena Gaxiola transform the vibration of the auspicious number ‘8’ into mesmerising artistry alongside the Feltex design team, brought to you by GH Commercial.