Faye Toogood Draws on British Craftsmanship for "Lost and Found II" Collection
With chairs made from hand-chiselled oak and benches from expertly carved marble.
British designer Faye Toogood has opened her fourth solo show with gallery Friedman Benda in New York, where she is presenting a collection that explores lost crafts, alongside reclaimed and reworked materials.
The “Assemblage 7: Lost and Found II” show takes over the gallery’s Chelsea space and brings together pieces crafted from English oak and Purbeck marble. “Historically significant, both materials draw on the nation’s vernacular forms and traditions of making,” the gallery says.
Having previewed in LA in 2022, and at the UK’s Chatsworth House location in 2023, this is the first time that these pieces have been shown to an East Coast audience, and offers an intimate insight into Toogood’s famously poetic and thoughtful process.
A key part of this is her commitment to developing initial ideas through three-dimensional models, often crafted in clay. This carving was, Toogood says, a process that could be likened to an “archaeological dig”. “The block was a landscape, and I was finding my treasure within this block,” she adds.
Courtesy Of Faye Toogood
Courtesy Of Faye Toogood
Across the gallery, the Plot, Cairn, Barrow, Hill, Hoard, and Lode pieces are representative of places, techniques and materials lost to time – with Toogood describing the look of each as “something almost prehistoric”. Many of the works, including cabinets and benches, were created from 2021-2023. A new piece designed in 2024 joins the existing works. Named Channel, it takes on the form of a bench crafted from three pieces of marble.
“Historically significant, both materials draw on the nation’s vernacular forms and traditions of making,” the gallery says. Oak, they add, has been finished using a textured technique named shellacking, which dates back to the 18th century. The stone, on the other hand, comes from a family-owned quarry on the Isle of Purbeck in southeast Dorset, and is hand-carved and chiseled to create a smooth surface.
Assemblage 7: Lost and Found II is on show at Friedman Benda until March 15.
Friedman Benda
515 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001
