#HTE

Sebastian Brajkovic’s Distorted Furniture Unites the Past, Present, and Future

Amsterdam-based designer Sebastian Brajkovic’s (previously) distorted sculptural forms look as though traditional French furniture has been pulled through a time loop. Brajkovic’s work—part furniture, part sculpture—explores the process of distorting interior designs and the effect his skewed pieces have on human perception and emotion.

Brajkovic’s interest in distorting interior objects such as tables and chairs originated in childhood where he began experimenting in fine art before transferring his skills to three-dimensional forms. During his studies at Design Academy Eindhoven, Brajkovic began combining art with conceptual design, eventually settling his artistic style on ‘stretching’ traditional furniture into twisting sculptures. “My inspirations comes from anything that tells a story of movement,” Brajkovic tells Colossal. “I like the aspect that time is visible in the work that I make. So I seek for literal explanations—things untwining or extruding, growing and becoming older, metaphysical experiences, and surreal vision.”

Brajkovic ‘deconstructs’ historical designs—the patterns, detail and structure appears similar to the furniture found in the Queen’s Apartment in the Palace of Versailles. By basing his work on the patterns and form found in historical design, Brajkovic unites the past, present and future, and while his sculptures stand tall as sculptural forms, they also work as functional objects. “My pieces are made constructively out of bronze,” Brajkovic explains. “Then there is upholstery on the bronze. I like this juxtaposed combination of hard/cold and soft/warm material. After this, there is metal (bronze or copper) hand embroidery usually on the works that might give the feeling of bronze structure that goes further into the surface of the fabric.”

Brajkovic’s work resides in permanent art collections across the globe, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and New York’s Museum of Arts and Design. His current exhibition at the David Gill Gallery in London runs through October 17, 2019.

Learn more about his exhibition and visit his website and Instagram pages to see more of his work.