ron arad
ron arad b.1951 Born in Tel-Aviv in 1951, Ron Arad is a creative polyglot known for his ability to navigate, challenge and transgress the boundaries of art, architecture and design. Having completed his training at the Jerusalem Academy of Art and then London’s Architectural Association in 1979, Arad established his own design practice One Off in 1981 in Camden, London. Here he began fusing together ready-made pieces to create works such as the now iconic Rover Chair. In 1989 Ron Arad Associates opened a second studio in Camden. Artist, architect and designer Arad is celebrated for his innovative reconceptualization of everyday objects and structures from materials such as aluminium, bronze and steel in his iconically fluid and curvaceous style. Known to solve practical problems with flare his latest collaboration with Louisa Guinness Gallery is no exception. Arad’s notable exhibition No Discipline opened at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2008 and travelled to New York’s MOMA in August 2010. Restless opened at the Barbican Centre in London in February 2010. In 2014 he exhibited In Reverse at the Design Museum Holon, Israel which Arad planned and designed in cooperation with Bruno Asa. Arad’s work features in private and public collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
hot ingo Conceived in 2003, Ron Arad’s Hot Ingo earrings represent his first foray into the world of jewellery. Mimicking natural lines, each sintered polyamide ball wraps neatly around its metal pole originally made in ‘03 from 18k gold with a white polyamide ball and platinum with black polyamide ball. The new works have been produced in 18k rose gold with black polyamide ball, blackened silver with white polyamide ball and silver with red polyamide ball. With a typically Arad twist, the polyamide can be condensed into a solid mass or extended to create a spiralling form striated by negative space. This particular production method derives from Arad’s collection Not Made By Hand Not Made In China (Milan, 2000), which explores spiralling and flexible 3D printed designs. Traditionally a method used by engineers and designers to create prototypes, Arad instead treats these prototypes as products, testing the limits of what computers and machines are able to achieve. Arad used the name of his long time friend and fellow designer Ingo Maurer as the inspiration behind the title of the series of earrings.
Hot Ingo, 2001, Laser-sintered polyamide, stainless steel, and xelogen bulb. opposite:
Hot Ingo, 2015
Earrings black laser sintered polyamide and 18k rose gold 10 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm edition of 100
Hot Ingo, 2016
Earrings red laser sintered polyamide and silver 10 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm edition of 100
Hot Ingo, 2015
Earrings white laser sintered polyamide and blackened silver 10 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm edition of 100
rocks series In his latest series of jewellery entitled Rocks, Arad challenges the viewer’s sensorial perception. Each piece appears heavy and dangerously jagged, constructed from shards of glass or crystalline forms. With characteristic playfulness, the real weight and tactility of each piece is far removed from its appearance. Not until the viewer has the piece in their hands are they able to detect Arad’s sophisticated manipulation of silicon. Far from smashing and threading glass, he chips away at a plain of prepared silicon, shaving each fragment off. The impression of opaque or coloured glass is realised by dropping lengths of coloured or graphically patterned silk into the silicon, adding an ingenious layer to the optical illusion. Sculpted by the hands of the maker each work is unique, varying in shape, colour and form neatly strung on a sliding shamballa knot. Rocks N.VIII, 2016 Necklace silk and silicon 19 x 22 x 2 cm unique
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above:
Necklace silk and silicon (fabric by Rive Roshan) 16.7 x 11.7 x 2.5 cm unique
Earrings 18k gold, silk and silicon (fabric by Rive Roshan) left: 1.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 cm right: 1.8 x 6.2 x 1.3 cm unique
Rocks N.VI, 2015
Rocks E.III, 2015
Rocks B.I, 2015 Bracelet silicon and silk 11.2 x 3.2 x 1.8 cm unique
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Necklace silk and silicon 26 x 22 x 3 cm unique
Earrings 18k gold and silicon left: 2.6 x 3.3 cm | right: 3.0 x 4.0 cm unique
Rocks N.VII, 2016
Rocks E.I, 2015
Rocks N.IV, 2015
Necklace silk and silicon (fabric by Rive Roshan) 20.6 x 9.0 x 1.7 cm unique
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Rocks E.II, 2015
Rocks N.IX, 2016
Earrings 18k gold and silicon left: 3.1 x 3.0 x 2.1 cm right: 3.5 x 2.9 x 2.0 cm unique
Necklace silk and silicon 32 x 13 x 4 cm unique
naja series The ‘Naja’ series of magnifying glass pendants take their name, and inspiration, from the Naja cobra; known as the “monocle” or “be-spectacled” cobra for the distinctive spectacle-like markings on the back of its hood. The series is an extension of Arad’s revolutionary 2007 light project of the same name (pictured opposite). Echoing the smooth form of its eponymous inspiration, the Naja magnifying pendant is realised of concentric circles coiled, by hand, around a piece of quartz. Since each lens is cut from a different piece of quartz, each work is different. For some, natural inclusions in the quartz cause subtle striations, which fracture the light in arbitrary patterns. Others, like a glass monocle, are perfectly clear. This intentional variation highlights the multiple states the work simultaneously inhabits; in one moment an ocular aid, helping to decipher the cocktail menu in a dark bar, the next through use of smoky or rutilated quartz, a beautiful object. When in threat the Naja cobra characteristically raises the front of its slender body off the ground and flattens its hood to appear larger to a potential predator. Naja, 2015 with Articulated magnifying glass pendant was the first realization of the Naja series with a standing height of 13 cm and an ability to retract into a flat coiled state. Due to the complexity of its construction the articulated Naja was left as a unique piece.
Since then Naja has been conceived in two different forms and is realised in two mediums: silver and vermeil (guilded silver). “Perfectly coiled” is exactly that; each concentric circle encasing the lens is perfectly round. Though handmade, it gives the impression of machine-driven accuracy. The second manifestation, “Free hand” references an alternative process. As much as Arad’s work relies on the computer and its rapid manufacturing capabilities “Free hand” is drawn first with a pencil; the tool of his art and weapon of choice since he was a child. To realise the design, the goldsmith renders each circle according to Arad’s free hand pencil sketch. The final work by contrast appears irregular, fluid and organic. Like Arad’s practice, each Naja transcends easy categorisation, functioning effectively and simultaneously as an evolved monocle, jewel and small sculpture.
Naja, 2015
Articulated magnifying glass pendant vermeil with quartz lens diameter: 6.5 cm unique
naja perfectly coiled
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Naja, Perfectly Coiled, 2015 Necklace silver with quartz lens diameter: 6.5 cm unique within a series of 25 above:
Naja, Perfectly Coiled, 2015 Necklace vermeil with quartz lens diameter: 6.5 cm unique within a series of 25
naja free hand
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above:
Necklace vermeil with quartz lens diameter: 6.5 cm unique within a series of 25
Necklace silver with rutilated amethyst lens diameter: 6.5 cm unique within a series of 25
Naga, Free Hand, 2015
Naga, Free Hand, 2015
© louisa guinness gallery © ron arad, 2016 © richard valencia, 2016
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