For its third annual partnership with Todd Merrill Studio at Design Miami, Draga & Aurel showcases an otherworldly home furnishing and lighting collection, iterating upon the duo's ongoing lucite Flare collection. While the range of functional home objects looks like they were pulled straight out of a virtual metaverse space or a surreal AI-generated interior, they are human-made by every measure.
Every piece in the collection from the Flare Dining Table and Sideboard to the Ribbon Pendant Lamps is handcrafted by the founding artists Draga Obradovic and Aurel K. Basedow with support from craftsmen in their home city of Lake Como, Italy. Molded, assembled, glossed, and sculpted by hand using lucite, a form of acrylic resin, the wares have an iridescent quality that Draga & Aurel have mastered with years of experimentation.
In a graceful arch, the Ribbon Lamps feature the lucite material draped over an LED light enclosed by a translucent capsule. Strokes of neon make the fixture appear like opal stone under direct light, evoking a sensibility that is just as much naturalistic as it is ultra-modern. The Flare Dining Table captures the ethereal effect of refracted, technicolor light by combining varying shapes and thicknesses of colored lucite pieces, making skillful use of the law of refraction.
Finally, the Flare Sideboard stands out in its arresting visual effect provided by the combination of the colored lucite doors and the reflective polished chrome frame that forms the piece's base. With its doors closed, the lucite panels form a continuous gradient of light and dark hues, accented with strobes of neon opaline insets. At first glance, it almost feels as if one is viewing an object in fast motion or a photograph in long exposure.
Viewers will find that the surreal experience of Draga & Aurel's furniture and lighting is common across the duo's breadth of work, which began with the studio's founding in 2007. Their unique ability to make their signature material feel brand new with every piece is a testament to the studio's masterful approach, blurring the lines between art and design.
Available for purchase across the globe, Draga & Aurel's collection made exclusively for Todd Merrill Studio can be found at Design Miami Booth G14 from December 3 to 8.
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