Lost in Paradise

Chris Wolston May 17 - June 30, 2018

For New York Design Week 2018, The Future Perfect presents two solo shows—each new work, each from a distinct voice—in one location. With San Francisco-based designer Charles de Lisle, the gallery launches its first self-produced series of lighting, the Linden collection. Chris Wolston presents a new collection of anodized and sand-cast aluminum furniture, exclusively made for The Future Perfect.

Chris Wolston’s new furniture pieces employ freely illustrated aluminum pieces to present a tactile and compelling design statement. With a new cabinet, armchair, dining table, lighting, and wall installation, Wolston combines his interest in ancient influences and postmodern fabrication. Inspired by the surroundings of his studio in Medellin, Colombia, Wolston has created wildly colorful sand-cast aluminum pieces, collaging leaves, flowers and fruit into a rich patchwork. This is Wolston’s first experimentation with coloring aluminum though anodization, a process which extends to a series of table top sculptures, also included in this presentation.

Wolston’s work is at once playful and refined, exuberantly rendered and produced with thoughtful candor. A new graphic cabinet uses leaves and flowers to define its silhouette like a patch of technicolor jungle ripped from a comic book forest.

ABOUT CHRIS WOLSTON

 

Chris Wolston is a Brooklyn, New York-based designer who marries contemporary creativity with otherworldly inspiration and traditional art technique with playful fabrication. Forging a new thoroughly postmodern aesthetic through ancient and modern influences, Wolston creates a wide range of products from lighting to furniture.

Chris Wolston’s educational resume is extensive, beginning with his study at The Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island and continuing with the Kokrobitey Institute, in Accra, Ghana in 2008. After receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Fulbright grant to study in Columbia, the designer solidified his highly personal technique, which involves combining traditional technique with a new-age inspired aesthetic. Invigorated by the traditional Colombian methods he was exposed to, Chris Wolston opened a second studio in Medellin to continue his collaboration and workmanship with the local artisans who inspired him during his Fulbright studies.

Chris Wolston’s work is creatively unique; from terracotta vessels to neon-colored sconces, the designer’s work blossoms in creative climates and showcases the ultimate potential of artistic design. His Fetish Lights collection for Sight Unseen OFFSITE show in 2015 brilliantly exhibited his singular brand of genius and his ability to create work that fits into contemporary design culture’s larger picture. Through his studies for handmade cookware and traditional ceramic arts, his Fetish Lights collection was born. Combining clear and colorful glass pieces mixed with other materials, the designs rely on textural inspiration and form creation to facilitate a distinct dialogue between artist and viewer.

Deeply inspired by the playful connections between intent and form, Wolston’s work marries cultural influences with manufacturing prowess to arrive at collections that include furniture, lighting, seating, and accessories.

EXHIBITED WORKS