Rooted in rigorous engineering and honest material expression, New York City-based designer Ford Bostwick’s furniture and lighting sits at the intersection of architecture and sculpture.Becoming a multidisciplinary designer was somewhat fated for Ford Bostwick: his father is an architect and his late grandfather was an engineer. While Bostwick studied architecture, he says there was no “romanticised ‘aha’ moment” where he decided on his metier. Rather, his affinity for designing and making furniture emerged over time.
“I’ve always been interested in design and fabrication,” says Bostwick. “Furniture sits between architecture and sculpture, and deals with design and our relationship to materials, so that became a natural focus for me.” He was also drawn to the scale and immediacy of furniture. “Being able to see a project through to completion more quickly informs my design process, so I’m able to iterate more rapidly than in architecture.”Represented by design gallery Love House, his collection encompasses tables, chairs and lighting that are unified by a material-driven rationale and emphasis on engineering. “I try to put materials and construction techniques at the forefront rather than a typical design process, which applies material to form,” he says. Consequently, Bostwick’s process begins by evaluating a material, learning about its inherent properties and “figuring out how to work with it. I then find the form that material wants to take when applied to a specific function – be it a chair or a table.”
Most of Bostwick’s work deals with materials like bent steel, powdercoated aluminium and solid timber, often sparsely detailed and lightly treated. Joints are frequently expressed, and clarity of form is essential. Take the Domino table, for instance, where six evenly spaced plates of steel are held in place by four central rods, or the A9 table, which sees thick, bent aluminium elements fixed with exposed fasteners. Realised with a meticulous eye for detail and proportion, the effect is simultaneously rudimentary and refined.This methodology speaks to Bostwick’s reverence for the Bauhaus movement, which he cites as influential alongside the work of Charles and Ray Eames for “their interdisciplinary approach”. Everyday life in New York City also provides endless inspiration. “I’m obsessive with my work and spend a lot of time mulling over ideas,” he says, be it while biking around Prospect Park or swimming in the ocean.
When his schedule demands it, Bostwick heads to one of two studio spaces in Brooklyn: “one for thinking and one for doing”. The former is a design studio and office that he shares with his wife, Carolyne Loreé Teston, a photographer and performance artist. “It’s basically a white box, which is perfect because it’s clean and free of clutter.” he explains. The latter is a workshop at Piscina – a creative space where “other furniture designers and makers share resources and ideas. It’s a wonderful community of people.”Bostwick’s recent foray into lighting, which launched earlier this year at Shelter design fair, hosted by Afternoon Light during NYCxDesign, included two pieces that are distinguished not only by their geometric forms, but also by their overt embrace of colour – a new venture for Bostwick that prompted a deep dive into colour theory. Available in customisable colours, the collection comprises the Lucy lamp – a stackable piece “Being able to see a project through to completion more quickly informs my design process, so I’m able to iterate more rapidly than in architecture.” that becomes a table lamp or illuminated room divider, depending on its composition – and the bent-steel Mira sconce, a pair of shallow pans that appear to hover off the wall.
Having recently presented new work at the Collectible design fair in New York, Bostwick is currently collaborating with his wife on a design that is set to launch next year, as well as another with artist Theresa Crim. He has also just teamed up with interdisciplinary designer Andrew J S to work on a project for perfumer Régime des Fleurs. It’s a varied and compelling output that says a great deal about Bostwick’s endlessly curious mind. And though there was no defining moment that marked the start of his career, this current momentum suggests he has certainly arrived.
- 项目文案：Millie Thwaites
- 项目摄影：Carolyne Loreé Teston
- 项目摄影：Ford Bostwick
- 转载自：The Local Project
- 图片@The Local Project
- 语言：英语
- 编辑：序赞网
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