Karl Zahn’s hypnotic ’Momentum’ series debuts at New York Design Week

US design store Matter is known for supporting designers on the cusp of greatness, this year offering up the work of a trio of young talent at New York Design Week, alongside its in-house Matter Made collection. Bec Brittain, Hilda Hellstrom and Karl Zahn are all showing their latest works in its Soho gallery and showroom, but it's the sophisticated mobiles and stabiles by the latter that have particularly caught our eye.
Entitled 'Momentum', the pieces are the fruits of a year's worth of experimentation that saw Zahn return to his childhood obsession with mobiles. Made from a catalogue of basic shapes and materials, including brass, chain and wood, each component in Zahn's kinetic sculptures is perfectly calibrated to balance and move.
Ranging from tabletop stabiles that gently spin on tiny points, to the larger and intentionally two-dimensional wooden mobiles that robustly rotate in the air, the sculptures are enchanting, alluring and finely-tuned. It's an elegant and impressive effort from Zahn, who currently still spends much of his time working in Lindsey Adelman's studio. Watch them show off their magic in motion here.
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The pieces are the fruits of a year's worth of experimentation that saw Zahn return to his childhood obsession with mobiles
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Made from a catalogue of basic shapes and materials, including brass, chain and wood, each component in Zahn's kinetic sculptures is perfectly calibrated to balance and move
3575738322001
Ranging from tabletop stabiles that gently spin on tiny points...
3575782193001
...to the larger and intentionally two-dimensional wooden mobiles that robustly rotate in the air, the sculptures are enchanting, alluring and finely-tuned
ADDRESS
Matter
405 Broome Street
New York NY 10013
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Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
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