Lewis Kemmenoe Brings a Sense of Alchemy to Furniture Design
The designer’s debut solo show fuses wood and metal, and is now open at London’s Max Radford Gallery.
Lewis Kemmenoe is proving himself to be a master with materials. The designer, who graduated from London’s Royal College of Art in 2018, has spent time meticulously getting to grips with woods and metals, but for the first time is bringing the two together in a new body of work titled “Metallurgy”.
Presented by Max Radford Gallery in London, the show – Kemmenoe’s first ever solo exhibition – is filled with design objects that range from lighting to large pieces of furniture.
His experiments with scale exist alongside tests with the material. All in all, though, Kemmenoe was looking to introduce a new texture into his work, which is evident both from a visual perspective but also the way it feels upon the body of the user. The cold of the metal next to the warmth of the wood makes the pieces tap into the senses. The combination of both is described by the gallery as a “kind of alchemy” – “it converts the functional form of each object into something more poetic, contingent and personal”, they add.
For a table, Kemmenoe has used flamed beech wood and incorporated aluminium inlays that follow the grain of the timber – a motif repeated across an elm book shelf. “This duality is sustained in two chairs of matching dimensions,” he adds. “One formed from stainless steel with organically shaped apertures framing a multiplicity of timbers, another from flamed beech with aluminium inlays.” Finally, there are a set of patchwork veneers, which are are backlit and wall-mounted.
Metallurgy is on show at Max Radford Gallery until October 22. Take a look at some of the pieces on show above, and for more design – check out this wood-clad home that overlooks a Nova Scotian valley.
Max Radford Gallery
AUFI, 20 Eastcastle Street
London
W1W 8DB
