Galerie Kreo presents Virgil Abloh's new furniture

Spray booth, metal grids on a concrete floor, spray mask, man in black hooded sweater, combat pants, black trainers, blue plastic gloves using spray paint, aart work on wooden stands, side wodd and metal leg table with black suitcase and cans of spray paint, white back wall

Virgil Abloh

(Image credit: © Julien Cedolin. Courtesy Galerie kreo)

published 20 January 2020

It seems that cultural-disturber Virgil Abloh has a concrete plan for Paris-based design laboratory Galerie Kreo as he launches his third major furniture collection, ‘Efflorescence’.

His first collection for the gallery, it's also the debut of Galerie Kreo into street culture. In the collection, tables, consoles, seats and vases are swathed in Abloh’s free-hand graffiti streaks. As founder and creative director of streetwear label Off-White, Abloh aficionados will notice familiar marks emblazoned on his previous collaboration with Gore-Tex.

Galerie Kreo presents ‘Efflorescence’: a furniture collection by Virgil Abloh

Room with white walls and neutral marble effect floor, street art installation sculpture in the centre, white stone block to the right, metallic art piece on far wall — Installation view of ‘Efflorescence’.

The furniture collection's 20 architecturally-aligned pieces draw a focus on concrete in its pure form, questioning how a material interacts within our natural and artificial environments. Pieces are indented with perfectly shaped cavities, creating a sense of organised destruction. Each work within the collection has been specially hand tagged, with neon sprays of Abloh’s graffiti.

To me, design always has the inherent idea of being a bridge from the past, with an eye towards the future
Virgil Abloh

The most impressive piece in Efflorescence is ‘Bench 2’, a skate ramp-esque seating solution measuring almost three-metres-long. Another of Abloh’s excavating offerings include Mirror 1, a slab of thick-cut glass which seems reminiscent of a cheese knife; corners are rounded while circular-cut recesses seem irregularly appropriate.

Two street art design chairs, white background — Left, Chair 1. Right, Chair 2

‘Chair 1’ and ‘Chair 3’ seem pared-back: simple concrete cubes feature a sharp ridged back with indents and a graffiti motif. ‘Here, the heritage of brutalism, its forms and ideas, are literally perforated, extruded to serve as a pedestal for the creative expression of the street,’ says Abloh. Although 2019 saw Abloh taking a break from his hectic work cycle and techno disk-jockeying, it’s clear he's back with bite.

Rectangle mirror with holes design, reflecting an image of a pink street art chair, white background — Mirror 2

Borwn marble effect floor, white walls, floor standing mirror leant against left wall, street art chair and sculptures, opening to next room, wall mirror — Installation view of Efflorescence.

Colourful street art bench, grey hole design seat, white background — Bench 2

INFORMATION

‘Efflorescence’, until 10 April 2020, Galerie Kreo
galeriekreo.com

ADDRESS

31, Rue Dauphine
75006 Paris

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