Julien Carretero at Moss

Moss is having a show called 123 from Sunday, May 17 to Saturday, June 27, so I decided to take a closer look at the artists/designers they were featuring. One of them is Julien Carretero. His work is strangely beautiful. In the past, we have been working toward unobtainable perfection–hiding seams, masking a light fixture’s mechanics, and trying to create objects that appear infinite and operate as if by magic.

We all drive our upholsterers crazy by trying to hide every seam as if the line of junction formed by two pieces of material is equivalent to a scar. I understand new technologies have made "seamlessness" possible and I know that the furniture industry has laid out a fair amount of cash in the pursuit of this perfection. But, in the last couple of years, there has been a swing towards something more tangeable. Things with imperfections and oddities are embraced. Furniture pieces where each piece is slightly different or unique have a special appeal. There is a strong shift back toward craft and an acceptance of the reality of materials–an understanding and a respect of materials and a knowledge that there was an individual who worked lovingly on a piece of furniture. We are being asked to enjoy every ridge, groove, or lapping together of two materials.

Julien’s beautiful vessels and lights are made out of porcelain plaster using a traditional plaster dragging technique that was used to make ornamental cornices. Embrace the seam!