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Shaping the Impossible
When Dutch designer Jeroen Verhoeven first presented the concept of ‘Lectori Salutem’ to various manufacturers and craftsmen, they told him it would be impossible to achieve. ‘It can never be how you want it to be’, they said. Verhoeven remembers that moment as a realisation he was ‘on the right path. The path of resistance. Where new things are born’. This striking, limited-edition, piece is a testament to his vision, creativity, and determination. The thoughtful combination of highly skilled craftmanship and carefully programmed technical processes is visible throughout the work.
This desk is a successor to the artist’s previous work ‘Cinderella Table’ (2005-2006), a pioneering feat of digital design inspired by the silhouettes of antique furniture and executed in machine carved plywood. The concept of that project was a simple juxtaposition of the profiles of a commode and a dressing table which generated a new set of complex curves.‘Lectori Salutem’ was also inspired by a historic silhouette: a drawing by Parisian cabinetmaker François Linke. It is constructed using polished steel, a typically industrial material whose seemingly inflexible nature is subverted by using it to create flowing curves and undulating forms. Whilst being made from 150 individual steel panels joined by 2,300 bolts, the desk exudes elegance and movement achieved through a precise distribution of weight. The contrast between the raw steel and the resulting fluid shapes of the piece is remarkable.
The 'Lectori Salutem' desk's flowing curves The production of the piece required large-scale technical tools in order to acheive extremely accurate results in several different metalworking processes. For this reason, Verhoeven worked with an automotive factory to execute the desk, noting in a 2013 interview with Glenn Adamson that ‘a process normally used to make ten thousand of the same thing [was] now used to make only one. We wanted to compress all this attention and put it into one thing.' The artist’s personal mark was also subtly introduced during the manufacturing in the form of two silhouette portraits of Verhoeven’s collaborators, his brother Joep and design collaborator Judith de Graaw, visible at each end of the desk.
‘Lectori Salutem’ means ‘Greetings Reader’, an engaging title which encourages viewers to ‘read’ the work and witness the outstanding technological process behind it. We are invited to peer through the desk’s interior and notice how each steel pane is joined together. Shaping metal into this streamlined body went from an ambitious challenge to a successful feat in showcasing the bold production journey of this work. While respecting and acknowledging traditional craftsmanship, Verhoeven’s spectacular desk pushes the limits of modern manufacturing and creates wonder through its impressive design process.
The limited-edition desk is signed and numbered 1/20 來源
倫敦 Blain Southern 畫廊
現藏者於2011年購自上述來源文學
Jeroen Verhoeven and Robert Cook, Jeroen Verhoeven: Lectori Salutem, London, 2013, throughout
美國歐洲私人收藏
60
《「給讀者問候」書桌》
2010年作
拋光不銹鋼
78.4 x 236 x 109.5 公分 (30 7/8 x 92 7/8 x 43 1/8 英吋)
款識：藝術家簽名、DEMAKERSVAN/Jeroen Verhoeven/Lectori Salutem Desk/No. 1 of 20（底部金屬標籤）
共有20版及1版藝術家試作版，此作為第1版，由荷蘭DEMAKERSVAN製造。
估價
£70,000 - 90,000
成交價£100,800
設計部拍賣主管
設計
倫敦拍賣 2022年5月12日
105
此拍品已不再提供買賣。
