In a newly stripped out shop awaiting its fate, I discovered a quirky pop-up entitled Objects for Living, Living for Objects. With as much care as a beautifully curated art gallery, lamps were displayed on simple white plinths within the discarded shell. Crossing over between art and function, these lamps are made of discarded materials, transformed into objects to be used again. And one of my favourite things is the naming: each is named and dated in the manner of the most exquisite piece of art.

I find these pieces intriguing. I’m not normally drawn to an industrial aesthetic. But in this case, components with simple forms have been selected and carefully juxtaposed. I think they would work beautifully in a pared back, neutral environment.

They are designed and manufactured by Poppy Rott, a design duo living and working in North London. Their lamps derive from a wider art project, and a desire to make things from everyday objects and the waste we create at home: ’The title of this project, Objects for Living, Living for Objects, alludes to both the human desire to collect stuff / things / objects and our contemporary need for them. Once owned, they perform as a utility for the interior and an object for living alongside. They are, to many, totemic to the daily act of making a living.’

Their lamps are low impact, low energy and hand made and derived from experiment; the result of careful testing, chance, salvage, proportional and spatial pragmatics. More than that, they represent the almost outmoded discipline of crafting.

‘The craftsman lets us consider how we live with things and how we value them. Objects speak their own language. They are things you have to read. The craftsman unlocks the latent language of things and, here, the craftsman is a bricoleur, re-articulating objects with affection, positioning them in time and space.’
Caroline Stevenson, lecturer at London College of Fashion.

The pop-up has now ended (and everything was sold). But you can view new pieces and buy directly from the studio, here. Their next outing will be at the Car Boot Remade event at Kings Cross on the 16 & !7 April.

1. Transformational Object As Artwork, no.1. 2015
Decade resistance box, formica, oak floorboard
41 x 53 x 20 cm

2. Cascading Decades. 2015
Decade counter, formica, oak floorboard
28 x 58 x 22 cm

3. Culture Jam. 2015
Tripod, gas canister, Formica, oak floorboard.
18 x 58 x 18 cm

4. Joy Sticks. 2015
Control box, gas canister, formica, oak floorboard.
32 x 57 x 15 cm

5. To Arrive Where We Started And Know The Place For The First Time. 2015
Saucepan, tin can, plywood.
17 x 45 x 14 cm