Basé à Brooklyn aux États-Unis, le designer Matt Gagnon a créé son atelier multidisciplinaire en 2002. Formé comme architecte à l’Université de Cornell, il privilégie dans ses créations la symbiose entre le travail développé au sein de l’atelier et le service qu’il offre à ses clients.
À propos: « Les éditions limitées produites par le studio fournissent une compréhension intime des propriétés des matériaux et des méthodes de fabrication, enracinant la conceptualisation d’un projet dans une expérience pratique. Indépendamment de la portée du projet, de son échelle ou de son type, nous prenons soin de produire un travail qui transcende la fonction et dépasse les attentes, tout en considérant les coûts économiques et environnementaux. »
Il a collaboré avec Gehry Partners, Meyer & Gifford Architects et Gaetano Pesce, et compte parmi ses clients M & C Saatchi, Ogilvy Mather +, W Resort (Maldives), Fritz Welch, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (Seattle) et Ann Taylor, pour n’en nommer que quelques uns.
+ Via The Contemporist
Lasercut cabinet 2008
A multiuse sculptural wall cabinet. Bamboo plywood has been laser cut and prestressed from within a sandwiched panel to give a textural depth to a normally flat sheet material. The resulting pattern not only gives shadow to the door surface but conceals the access and function of the cabinet. The slat on each door that releases the locking latch is in a different location as the pattern does not repeat along the 22ft long cabinet. Various storage functions are hidden that require a familiarity with the piece to discover.
Ceramic Lamps 2006
A single slip cast ceramic part repeated and overlapped to capture light and produce soft shadows. The asymmetrical form of the part helps create the appearance that there are more than one type of shape. Instead it is the process of assembly that generates the range of possible end products.
A custom installation of 54 ceramic shades mounted horizontally to a aluminum rib.
Grid Wall 2006
A sculptural wall surface for dividing and enhancing space. Inspired by excess off cuts from the manufacture of our hardwood screen. The grid wall is an exploration of complexity via economy. Only two different wood lengths are used to create a seemingly chaotic and non repeating grid assemblage.
Paper tables 2005-2006
Inspired by the eroded rock formations of the American southwest. The buttes and mesas there are the result of natural forces over a very long perid of time. What are the effects of our actions over time? These tables are made of layers of recycled paper board that have been laser cut and bolted together. When reading materials are stored in the cuts the rectangular block form is made solid. There is a dialog between the old and the new.
Ball Lamp 2004
Commissioned by McNally Jackson Books in New York City. The brief for the piece was to create a visual connection between the two levels of the store. The curved mirrored surfaces are intended to act as a sculptural periscope transmitting reflections between floors. At night the glowing resin attracts the attention of passersby.
The fabrication of each ball is formed from two flat sheets rolled together akin to a baseball’s construction. The acrylic mirror is heat formed over a mold to a fixed shape. The resin lens is flat cast and rolled onto the mirror. The light source in each ball is a custom LED array.
Hardwood screen 1998
Elastic joints allow the spines of the screen to curve and hinge. The screen oscilates between functional divider and sculptural showpiece. The user determines the design of the final shape.
Modular wall 2004
Made from opaque and translucent acrylic. The base unit is comprised of an offset rectangle within a square box. Due to the asymmetrical nesting, various patterns can be generated when stacked and rotated. The system can be used to form a range of divider and storage solutions.
Acrylic lamp 2001
Acrylic and hardboard stacked in varying layers produce a diffused rectangular volume of light.
Squeeze lamp 2001
Through the repetition of a simple two inch wood part, a complex textural surface is developed. Taking cues from knitting, the assembly technique is based on a simple analog script that allows the maker to influence the process. As opposed to digital generation of form the decisions of the maker are critical to the final outcome of the piece. Each piece is ultimately a one of a kind fabrication.
The surface of the Squeeze Lamp remains elastic allowing the end user to control and change the form of the lamp. The shape can be expanded or contracted to alter the way light escapes. Thus the design remains a work in progress.
Nous Gagnon tous à découvrir Matt et ses créations. Voilà des réalisations qui sortent des sentiers battus et surtout de l’orthogonalité et de sa banalitude. Déroutant, un peu le manque de fil conducteur entre les oeuvres, comme si toutes ces réalisations ne provenaient pas de la même personne……. Mais ça n’enlève en rien de leur attrait ni de leur qualité.
L’atelier de Matt ressemble un peu à mon bureau, mais je n’ai pas la chance d’avoir un aussi beau tuyau pendu au plafond comme le petit cochon que l’on sait……….pas de barreaux aux fenêtres non plus. Heureusement!
J’ai un faible pour les « paper tables »(surtout la grise et rouge), si sobrement nommées, et me dit (une fois de plus) qu’il n’y qu’une question d’échelle pour qu’elles deviennent Architecture. Elles le sont déjà en puissance. On peut imaginer les différents étages, les terrasses et loggias avec leurs retours de murs peints de couleurs « vives-mais-pas-flashy » un peu comme sur la cité radieuse………on s’y voit déjà.
………j’sais pas pourquoi « Ceramic lamps » me fait penser à « Histoire d’O »………………………j’sais pas pourquoi…………..