Since establishing his eponymous studio in Barcelona in 2018, Andrés Reisinger has helped to define the look and feel of the virtual realm. With his love of pastel colours, organic forms and surrealist environments, Reisinger brings an unexpected warmth to his designs, challenging the clinical stereotype of digital spaces. His ability to bring together the digital and physical worlds is at once disorienting, soothing and comforting. It has also won him fans including Wallpaper* guest editor Kelly Wearstler, who named him one of her five favourite contemporary creatives in her takeover of our October 2022 issue.
From the tantalising Winter House (2022) NFT residential project, a collaboration with architect Alba de la Fuente in the metaverse, to last year’s physical exhibition of seating at Nilufar Gallery in Milan, which saw three furniture pieces exist both in real life and as NFTs, Reisinger constantly pushes the limit of how these two worlds can be bridged.
Andrés Reisinger
Reisinger describes his work as ‘the reflection of an uncanny feeling, one where it is hard to distinguish whether it belongs to the physical or digital realm, reality or fantasy. For me, the digital is an expansion of our physical experiences.’
Andrés is a visual poet and a true pioneer of the digital realm
Kelly Wearstler
He continues, ‘I like to provoke, to raise questions. Many of my works feature seemingly surreal forms. The colour palette is filled with shades of pink, like the inside of our body. It is very important for me to build a collection of bodily experiences, to underline that there is a strong connection between multiple dimensions, all belonging to a human reality.’
Andrés Reisinger’s rendered Hortensia armchair, 2021
Drawn to the digital sphere from a young age – ‘Of course, I wanted to play games, but I was more interested in creating my own worlds than playing by the rules of someone else’ – the Argentinian has a knack for technical skill and precision, which led him to pursue graphic design at the University of Buenos Aires. There, his love of music inspired him to explore the visual aspect of composing.
‘At first glance, [my works] are pleasing to the eye, but on a second, more attentive look, they feature elements of oddity,’ he reflects. ‘It is important for every component of the work to be noticed, and for it to happen in a world overwhelmed with visual stimuli, it needs a discrete element of oddity.’
Andrés Reisinger stands in front of his digital artwork, Sun/Leaf, consisting of digital work Sun and its physical counterpart Leaf, at Collectional in Dubai.
One of Reisinger’s earliest works, Hortensia, 2018, began as a digital rendering of an armchair adorned with thousands of pale pink petals. It went viral on social media, prompting Reisinger to turn it into a real-life chair with Moooi, for which they ruched 500 strips of laser-cut fabric flowers into clusters to envelope the frame. ‘The experience taught me that you can create digital demand, develop a product digitally before putting it in production, without wasting unnecessary resources,’ he explains. ‘The digital can help us discover what we can achieve, by pushing what we think is possible.’
In an increasingly competitive landscape, Reisinger is already thinking about his next steps. ‘I’ve invented a genre, and that is undoubtedly a beautiful feeling,’ he reflects. ‘I might not be the most skilled creative, but I can innovate by understanding a future where different worlds can meet and enhance each other’s experiences.’
INFORMATION
A version of this article appears in the October 2022 Legends Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today