The Paris-based design gallery James makes its Art Genève debut today, keeping things grounded with a heavy-hitting crop of pieces – some previously unseen – by Fernando Mastrangelo, Magnus Pettersen, Zanini de Zanine and Domingos Tótora.
Tótora’s sublime designs made from recycled cardboard have resurfaced at the Swiss art fair, following a solo showcase at James last year. His ‘Banco Terrao’ bench, with its fierce burnt-umber hue, once again makes for a memorable focal point. Elsewhere, the Brooklyn-based Mastrangelo provides the perfect perch with his ombré cement bench, a Jeckyll-and-Hyde piece that evocatively devolves from clinical, minimalist shapes into a raw, robust form.
Norwegian designer Pettersen is exhibiting a chair made from a colourful medley of concrete, while de Zanine, counters with a chunky riff on reclaimed wood seating. Here, the designer adds a dose of Brazilian modernism with a pair of his solid ‘Espécies’ chairs. As is the case so often with exquisitely crafted objects, the spheres of design and art become wonderfully entwined.
