Niko Koronis embraces the magic of marble through the ‘Metamorph’ collection

Furniture that draws inspiration from functional art embodies a harmonic blend of aesthetics and practicality. The furniture designs created in this manner exude elegance and sophistication owing to its emphasis on simplicity, clean lines, and purposeful element reduction. Greek architect and designer Niko Koronis embraces this form of expression in his collection titled Metamorph, he crafts minimal designs that mask the technical proficiency necessary to achieve them. The collection was unveiled at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London on June 29, 2023 and will be on showcase until September 24, 2023. Metamorph offers the opportunity to encounter a body of work by the furniture designer that shines a light on the material exploration of Belgian Black marble. Texture, form, and movement are crucial components in Koronis' practice. Every work of art in the solo exhibition invites spectators to interact with its surface, which analyses the interaction between polished and untreated marble. “The beautiful thing about these pieces is that, at first, you don’t understand the material. There’s almost an element of surprise until you touch the work and find that it’s cold – it’s stone. It’s a kind of exploration, but it’s also a demonstration of the properties of the stone in its varying states,” shares Koronis.

In keeping with his radically experimental approach to sculpture art, Koronis continues erasing distinctions between rigidity and play, material and form, and nature and artifice. Koronis' grasp of the subject and his extensive understanding of planning, function, and design are combined in Metamorph. The product designer catches on to his architectural training to distil the fundamentals of classical architecture into timeless objects. He pays close attention to proportion, explores positive and negative space, and strikes a delicate balance between the strong curves and rigid linearity of his designs.

The materiality of the Belgian Black marble aids Koronis in achieving his product designs, rendering a physical manifestation of his artistic thoughts. Only two locations in the world have access to this particular type of marble, which is only extracted from subterranean quarries that are open only for six months of the year. A unique and mesmerising reflective, deep black surface is revealed when each piece is polished from its raw state which is a light grey, veinless stone.

The selected works on showcase at the gallery comprise a floor lamp design, a dining table, a coffee table and a low-side table design. The monolithic design of the floor lamp titled LLK beckons you to approach its captivating shape. The features of the Belgian Black marble embrace Koronis' desired crescent-shaped form, and the unexpected curvature of this almost two-meter piece of art is enhanced by the stone's curvature.

The dining table titled PIT has a top made from a single piece of rare Belgian Black marble, but it nonetheless exudes elegance owing to its delicate contours and flowing lines. The carving style gives the impression that the marble is bending as if the desk's surface has been gradually fanning, like a deck of cards. The low side table titled CCH communicates the same visual and logical language as the surrounding artworks, maintaining the simple aesthetic of Koronis' Belgian Black marble collection. In this piece, two intersecting forms perform a game of reflection that reveals entrancing reflections of the viewer and the environment in which it is placed. The coffee table titled TSL is carved from a single block of stone, showing the remarkable Belgian Black marble in three different stages. The artist chisels the raw stone from its natural state after a challenging underground quarrying technique, which is followed by a mechanical polishing process.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery, whose emphasis is on producing and exhibiting the work of international artists, designers, and architects who look to push the boundaries of what is typically presented within the confines of the gallery and art fair space, specialising in functional art and collectable design. This outlook of the gallery satiated Koronis' approach to his designs, bringing to fruition the Metamorph showcase.

Text by Ria Jha