London

Gisela Stiegler and Marion Friedmann

Marion Friedmann proudly opened her first temporary gallery space last Saturday. This year the Austrian-born and her two protégés are part of the Brompton Design District during the London Design Festival.

Marion Friedmann Gallery presents Austrian artist Gisela Stiegler and French-Mexican designer Thierry Jeannot. Marion had an eye on Gisela’s work for years. Once she came across Thierry last year in Mexico, she felt it was the right time for a show with both of them. Also to launch the first exhibition of the Marion Friedmann Gallery.

‘Enlighted waste’ presents two different artists that work with waste packaging material in order to create light sculptures. A poetic interpretation of what some people consider scrap and some as valuable objects. The chandeliers PET bottles are from the trash of downtown Mexico City, while the polystyrene boxes are from a fish market in Vienna.

Thierry Jeannot

Thierry told me that one of these chandeliers consists of 500 pet bottles. Some of the bottles are very rare, for example the big one in the centre. It’s production stopped. There is a video where you can watch how Thierry designs some of his lights.

I have been in the location of the exhibition last year. I wasn’t really impressed by the building because the space in the basement was really dark and you couldn’t see much of the colours of the exhibited objects. But this time the lighting exhibition nailed it. The dark wooden floor, the rough walls and the length of the room complement the selection of the exhibited work nicely.

Above and below: Total view and detail of chandelier made entirely out of pieces of PET bottles by Thierry Jeannot

Below and above: Total view and detail lamp sculptures carved out of polystyrene by Gisela Stiegler