Charles Burnand Gallery presents ‘Planet Rock’ at the London Design Festival 2023

Simon Stewart, founder of the Charles Burnand Gallery in Fitzrovia, London, UK, unveiled a new design exhibition. Inspired by Studio Futhermore’s upcoming excursion to the moon, the exhibition is on view from September 16 - 24, 2023, during this year's London Design Festival. Titled Planet Rock, the exhibition is a celebration of artists and designers exploring a futuristic reinterpretation of everyday found, recycled or sustainable materials.

Planet Rock presents new works by American artist Dawn Bendick, architecture firm Labaye/Sumi, design studio DenHolm, furniture designer Matthew Nunn, industrial designer Reynold Rodriguez, sculptural artist Noa Chernichovsky, ceramic artist Caroline Chouler-Tissier, Swedish artist Fredrik Nielsen, Italian designer Jonathan Bocca, object maker Heechan Kim, sculptural artist Giles Watkins, British artist Roisin O’Connor, London-based ceramic artist Esther Palmer, ceramics and glass artist Stella Arion, sculptor Juliet Ferguson-Rose, and South Korean artist Yaerin Puyn alongside Studio Furthermore.

Each of the participating contemporary artists, furniture and product designers explored new and unique ways of working with and elevating commonly found materials, and encouraging a conversation about sustainability in design during the London Design Festival 2023. Living in a time where people no longer look to plastics, human-made resins and polymers, Planet Rock explores the wonders of what the sustainable design landscape would look like in a time where society is forced to be creative through re-appropriation and re-cycling, and how artists and designers create works that will live for a lifetime.

“Through Charles Burnand Gallery, I strive to showcase established and emerging artists and makers pushing the boundaries through their practice. Planet Rock presents new work from artists using their creative process to explore futurism and sustainability,” shares Stewart.

On display were a series of space lava vases by Marina Dragomirova and Iain Howlett, the artists behind Studio Furthermore, imagined as if exotic lava stone was sourced from distant galaxies. The lamp designs are made from 100 per cent recycled aluminium and sourced from discarded car wheels, available in numerous finishes such as white magma and crimson night. The studio also displayed their 'Sinop' centre and side table, which takes its shape from natural jagged rock strata formations blended with clean-cut geometry as if carved from lunar rock, also sourced from car wheels. Labaye/Sumi’s work with recycled glass fibre is coated using a unique paint system resulting in a new body of work that feels ancient in form and construction, yet futuristic at the same time.

Led by designers Lars Stoten & Steven John Clar, DenHolm had on display their debut piece with the gallery (with many more to come), derived from an individually selected limestone block, preserving the innate textural qualities of the material while being adorned with an assortment of unique techniques. Each of these embellishments underwent a process of intimate sculpting before being interwoven to shape, a bespoke form and structure. The creative process entailed the use of hand-drawn sketches, with elaborate details shaped and chiselled by hand, using an in-house method of adding limestone dust to pigment to paint and dye the pieces.

Also on display were paper mache, wood and recycled polystyrene reimagined by Jonathan Bocca, whose dramatic and exaggerated forms appear to be both prehistoric and from a far-off future. Reynold Rodriguez’s use of plaster to create exceptionally sturdy and durable works encouraged a discussion about materials that carry the potential to be repurposed. Loewe Craft Prize finalist Fredrik Nielsen presented a blown, melted, and metalised glass sculpture.

In addition, Royal College of Art Masters student graduates Giles Watkins, Roisin O’Connor, Esther Palmer, Stella Arion, Juliet Ferguson-Rose, and Yaerin Puyn displayed works hand-selected by Stewart for the first time with the Charles Burnand Gallery. The contemporary gallery includes graduates in its program as an annual tradition created by Stewart, to give a platform to recent RCA Masters graduates, providing them an opportunity to showcase their works alongside internationally renowned artists in design events such as this.

London Design Festival is back! In its 21st edition, the faceted fair adorns London with installations, exhibitions, and talks from major design districts including Shoreditch Design Triangle, Greenwich Peninsula, Brompton, Design London, Clerkenwell Design Trail, Mayfair, Bankside, King's Cross, and more. Click here to explore STIR’s highlights from the London Design Festival 2023.