American designer Kelly Wearstler has unveiled her Nudo furniture collection in an installation at stone company Arca’s showroom during Miami art week.
The collection features 16 pieces of furniture, including chairs and tables, and six accessory pieces such as platters and bowls to complement the furniture.
Wearstler designed the pieces using marble supplied by the Miami-based stone company Arca.
“With these designs, I was deeply interested in exploring the possibility of creating a real softness through curvaceous shapes within the fortitude of marble,” said Wearstler. “A nuanced and sensual interplay of suppleness and strength.”
Wearstler’s creations all feature different coloured-stone that was shaped in a way that resembles bounded cords. According to Wearstler, woven textures informed the way the stone was cut.
“The universal craft of weaving is rooted in ancient cultures from across the globe and each piece in Nudo pays homage to that history,” she said.
A variety of marble types gave the Nudo pieces their multi-colour range, including verde tikal, pink marble, white beauty and calcite blue marble.
For the installation, Wearstler turned the interior of the Arca showroom – which was designed by Eraswe Studio and Superflex – into a lush, fabric-lined environment.
The entryway was swathed in a cool blue that featured a bar area and a wall with projections illustrating Arca’s sourcing and design processes.
Guests were then led through a parting in the fabric into the main body of the installation.
Here, a series of rooms created by hanging fabric were colour coded to match the colours of the Nudo furniture pieces within. The fabric walls complemented the design process Wearstler employed in order to give the marble a “sculptural softness”.
Mirrors and checkered carpets gave the installation a sense of depth, and the experience ended with a walk through Arca’s stone library.
Wearstler’s installation was complemented by a series of sculptures by Polish artist Alicja Kwade, which were presented in the courtyard of the building.
“Our presentation with Arca is an expression of what binds us together as the world converges in Miami to celebrate art and design,” said Wearstler, who attended the opening night celebration at the warehouse last Tuesday.
The installation was among a number of events celebrating the release of products last week in Miami.
Others included the announcement of American musician A$AP Rocky’s design studio Hommemade at the Design Miami booth of Italian design studio Gufram and an exhibition celebrating the work of designer Virgil Abloh with Nike.
Nudo is on show at the Arca Wynwood showroom from 29 November – 31 December 2022. See our Dezeen Events Guide for information about other architecture and design exhibitions, installations and talks.
The photography is by Nick Hudson.
