Page 141 - Sharp: The Book For Men SS21

THE LIVING ROOM IMITATES ART
A Vancouver design gallery explores the intersection of statement pieces and investment pieces
If design is like functional sculpture, then collectible design is like functional high art. In Vancouver, designer Jeff Martin gives this rising corner of the industry its due by displaying curated vignettes of avant-garde furnishings and decor at his new gallery, Alpenglow Projects. Alongside Martin’s own cast bronze and oxidized maple tables, the appropriately all-white setting spotlights cactus-like lamps made of resin-bonded sand by Steven Haulenbeek and frosted glass lights by Lukas Peet. While everything on display is ready to play an active role in your den, the handcrafted nature of some pieces and the rarity of others means that they also boast real art market appeal. So, just like an old Pierre Jeanneret chair, they may one day soar in value far beyond anything in your oil painting collection. Think of it as having your art and sitting in it too.
More design galleries for adding to your collection:
• Love House, New York
• The Future Perfect, New York,
San Francisco, and Los Angeles
LOOK TO THE SKYLINES
The art, fashion, and architecture worlds direct fresh attention to the beauty of the urban form
“DOES IT COME IN YELLOW?”
Our hot takes on this year’s most newsworthy hues
1. Illuminating Yellow and Ultimate Gray (Pantone’s 2021 Colours of the Year)
A perfect pairing for anyone who tempers their nat- urally cheerful persona by spending a lot of time worried about being too extra.
How to introduce them into your life: When life gives you lemons, arrange them in a silver fruit bowl.
2. YInMn Blue (a brand new pigment recently created from rare elements)
Who says lab techs can’t be aesthetes? Hot on the heels of artificial blue raspberry flavour, science brings us another big innovation in indigo.
How to introduce it into your life: Read up on phi- losopher David Hume’s theory about “The Missing Shade of Blue.”
3. A.I. Aqua (2021’s hottest hue, according to trend forecasters WGSN)
A colour chosen for its popularity among fu- turistic tech firms. And not because some- one’s kid had just rewatched The Little Mermaid on Disney+.
How to introduce it into your life: No clue. Best to ask your favourite virtual assistant for advice on this one.
IN-THE-KNOW ITINERARY
Three conversation topics for your next Zoom dinner party with the architect in your life
READ:
Leave the World Behind, a novel that treats its homes like main characters.
WATCH:
Blown Away, Netflix’s competition show about aspiring glass designers.
LISTEN:
Dialogues, David Zwirner Gallery’s podcast un- packing the role of art in daily life.
In New York, Pennsylvania Station’s new Moynihan Train Hall is home to artistic duo Elmgreen & Dragset’s The Hive, a spectacular ceiling sculpture depicting an upside-down metropolis. For a city that’s notori- ously short on real estate, turning ceilings into new square footage feels like NYC’s natural next step.
In Paris, Louis Vuitton’s January runway show included a playful trib- ute to architectural icons in the form of Virgil Abloh’s latest masterpiece: a puffer jacket covered in models of local landmarks like the Eiffel Tower. Prepare to get asked for directions by a lot of tourists if wearing it out on the town in the actual City of Light.
In Toronto, Frank Gehry has re- vised his designs for two supertall skyscrapers that have been in the works for the past decade, promising that sales will finally begin next year. Slightly blockier but no less shim- mery than their earlier iterations, they’re set to become two of the city’s most prominent landmarks.
THE HIVE SCULPTURE PHOTO BY NICHOLAS KNIGHT, COURTESY OF EMPIRE STATE DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC ART FUND, NY. SORA CONDO RENDERING COURTESY OF GEHRY PARTNERS, LLP
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