Ode To Marble
Tarek Elkassouf likes to challenge the physicality and materiality of minerals. With Ode to Marble, the Lebanese designer unveils a new series of objects for White Walls in Beirut.
Tarek Elkassouf has been working with marble for several years now. He has started a series of collections called ‘Minerality’ over a year ago and last September I wrote about his ‘Melting Lamps’ (right). He is based between Sydney and Beirut.
His studio has launched two design lines. His high-end collectible design furniture range that focuses on fusing advanced engineering and master craftsmanship. And the ‘Something by Tarek’ range that celebrates mundane objects and is handmade by artisans making each piece unique.
Marbles and Stones react differently. They float, they melt, they are thin and structural.
In this exhibition, the designer explores the relationship between machine and master craftsmanship. Although most of the work has been produced using state of the art machinery, the key actor remains the artisan.
The exhibition also focuses on drawings that were produced in the first place to help in the assembly and the finishes selection. The use of machinery and craftsmanship allowed us to use a mass customisation strategy in order to have unique pieces.
So somehow the ‘Ode to Marble’ exhibition became an ode to drawings and ode to the process.
The collection includes:
Drinks Cart
A thin circular slab of marble, become the structure of this rolling liquor Cart.
Dimensions: 115cm x 85cm x 55cm
Room Separators
In this product we borrowed basic wooden joinery and applied it to marble.
Dimensions: 35cm x 35cm x 185cm
The Melting Lamps
An intake of surrealism in design. The physical properties of the design elements are transferred so that the fragile light creates the illusion of melting through a block of Marble.
Dimension: 75cm x 45cm x 15cm
Center/Side Tables
The tables explore how the user can have control over his space. From a dynamic layout to a static display, the space changes depending on the person's intention or mood. 4 basic geometric shapes were explored that explode in the space like fractals.
Dimension: 95cmx95cmx40cm
The exhibition runs until end of May 2019 at White Walls Gallery in Beirut.
