Montreal’s design scene lights up with new show inspired by camping in the wilderness

Light fixture exhibition at gallery
Lambert & Fils open new gallery in Montreal, Corridor. The space inaugurates with exhibition ‘Feu de Camp.'
(Image credit: Arseni Khamzin)

Montreal’s renowned mid-winter deep freezes haven’t hindered Canadian lighting designers Lambert & Fils from providing warmth for the city’s blossoming design community. The design duo has devised a lighting exhibition based around the concept of the campfire entitled ‘Feu De Camp’. Set in their shiny new gallery space, Corridor, they teamed up with Swiss designer Adrien Rovero, whom they met while collaborating on window installations for French fashion house Hermès, to create an exhibition that playfully examines camping and its various accoutrements.

‘The installation is aimed at bringing together our community during mid-winter to celebrate and help us launch our new gallery, Corridor,’ explains Lambert & Fils co-founder Samuel Lambert. ‘We invited Adrien Rovero to collaborate on the first exhibition and the idea for “Feu De Camp” kind of snowballed into an exploration of shape and materials. As Montreal winters can be brutal, we loved his idea of a metaphorical campfire, by which people could gather, drink nice wine and socialise.’

Light fixtures

The light fixtures for the installation ‘Feu De Camp’ are realised in ‘boy scout green.’

(Image credit: Arseni Khamzin)

Rendered in ‘boy scout green’, the installation evokes the archetypes of flashlights and match heads — indispensable tools required for the wilderness. These are arranged around a central node, 12 lamps mimicking campers gathered around a campfire. ‘The collection and installation were inspired by boy scouts and childhood imagination,’ Lambert continues, ‘as an exploration of shape and materials, it was an invitation for Rovero to design a lighting installation using simple yet refined elements like extruded tubes, industrial elastics, and electrical wires.’

‘I really appreciated those moments,’ reminisces Rovero on his short-lived tenure with the boy scouts, an experience that informed this exhibition. ‘Constructing camps and all the features and making things with only surrounding elements brings very interesting typologies. My work as a designer is really focused on that, trying to find the most efficiency with the materials and process available. Working with extrusions, pipes and a glass diffuser were my “context” for playing around.’

Green and blue tubes painted on wall

Installation view of ‘Feu De Camp’ by Lambert & Fils at the duo’s new Montreal space Corridor.

(Image credit: Arseni Khamzin)

As the inaugural show within Lambert & Fils newly christened space, ‘Feu De Camp’ sets the tone for Corridor’s programme to come. ‘Our vision for the space is to showcase projects that challenge the intersection between design and artistic practices while fostering connections between Montreal and our broader international communities,’ explains Lambert.

The duo have pencilled in a group show entitled ‘Studio Edition’ composed of emerging Canadian designers for the next exhibition, opening in April. Lambert muses, ‘Corridor is a space for creators, thinkers, and producers who are pushing the boundaries of art and design.’ 

Twelve lamps mimicking campers gathered around a campfire

Twelve lamps mimicking campers gathered around a campfire is the central node to the installation

(Image credit: Arseni Khamzin)

INFORMATION

‘Feu de Camp’ is on view until 23 February. For more information, visit the Lambert & Fils website

ADDRESS

6250 Hutchinson Street
Montreal
H2V 4B7

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Laura May Todd is a Canadian-born, Milan-based journalist covering design, architecture and style. In addition to the Italian dispatches she writes for Wallpaper*, she regularly contributes to a range of international publications, including T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Azure and Sight Unseen. Prior to her work as a journalist, she was assistant editor at London-based publishing house Phaidon Press.