Press Roundup - Roche Bobois for charity auction
To support Vital Arts’ mission of enhancing hospital environments through art and design, renowned French furniture brand Roche Bobois collaborated with a select group of artists to reimagine their iconic Mah Jong sofa. These custom-designed sofas were auctioned for charity, with proceeds benefiting Vital Arts’ work in transforming healthcare spaces.
Here’s a summary of the press coverage for the project:
Dezeen
ArtReview
Financial Times
How to spend it - 2016
8×8 Mah Jong Reimagined
Eight emerging artists take on a Roche Bobois classic for charity
“Back in 1971, when Hans Hopfer designed the Mah Jong sofa system for French furniture specialist Roche Bobois, its low, modular structure – inspired by north African seating – took the interiors scene by storm with its groundbreaking, relaxed approach to socialising and lounging. Since then, this deeply loved design has been creatively reinterpreted by fashion stars including Jean Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel and Missoni. And now it is undergoing another innovative makeover by eight contemporary artists whose designs will be exhibited at Roche Bobois’ London showroom (April 5 to 10) before going under the hammer in a charity auction (estimates from £2,500 to £5,000 each) at St Bartholomew’s Hospital on April 21.
In an imaginative collaboration with contemporary art magazineArtReview, eight artists were invited to use Mah Jong’s seat cushions and backrests as canvases, and their highly individual responses are a triumph of creative expression. Slade School of Fine Art graduate Larry Achiampong used acrylic, emulsion and upholstery paint to create the snake-like, eastern-inspired patterns on his Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherrybomb! (first picture), while another Slade graduate, Lauren Godfrey, explores dichotomies between food and art in her design,Spaghetti con Gamberetti e Rucola e Linguine al Nero di Seppia, employing machine embroidery to create trailing patterns on monochrome, digitally printed, cotton panama cushions.
In Pio Abad’s Study for a Grotto (second picture), around 4,000 glossily varnished seashells were applied to the sofa using silicone adhesive – weighing in at a total of about 40kg. Also pushing boundaries is Royal College of Art (RCA) graduate George Eksts, whose splashy Shorthand(third picture) cushions are decorated with felt, ribbons, chains, weights and bobbins. A USB stick attached to the sofa contains a looped HD animation relating to a digital drawing he projected on the cushions to position his embroidered felt “swooshes”. And Peter Liversidge, who is known for a conceptual approach that sometimes exists only as a typed proposition for a creative event, remains true to form with his Proposalfor Roche Bobois: a framed A4 page is shown alongside two undecorated seat cushions that will be donated to a charitable organisation on purchase of the proposal.
In contrast, Cornelia Baltes keeps her POP design effectively simple, using a black, wing-like drawing on a white cushion. RCA graduate Joby Williamson, has sublimated the cushion fabrics of his Plinth (Dionysus)and Plinth (Aphrodite) with digital dye – green and pink respectively – giving them a glimmering, space-age appearance. And, in Slade graduate Patrizio Di Massimo’s Finger Crossed Legs Uncrossed (fourth picture), a combination of whimsical figurative and abstract shapes flow in a dreamlike way across digitally printed poly-velvet in a soothing palette of green, yellow and pink.
All funds raised from the auction will support two London-based arts charities – Vital Arts, which delivers projects for the wellbeing of patients and staff at Barts Health NHS Trust, and Gasworks gallery and studios, which operates a programme of exhibition opportunities, studio spaces and residencies for early-career artists from across the world.”