Opening today, Breaking the Box is Sebastian ErraZuriz’s inaugural exhibition at New York collectible design gallery R & Company. On view until March 9, the show presents a curated selection of the Chilean-born, New York–based designer’s functional sculptures, as well as new works from his Mechanical Cabinet series.
ErraZuriz’s approach transcends disciplinary boundaries. His projects range from public art to interior architecture, experimental furniture, and product design. Whether it’s a large video installation in Time Square, women’s shoes, or a shelving unit held up by 3-D-printed reproductions of ancient Greek and Roman busts, ErraZuriz’s designs always contain an element of surprise. The multifaceted talent employs a diverse set of technical skills, material knowledge, and aesthetic styles to produce works that challenge the standards of function.
ErraZuriz’s Mechanical Cabinet furniture series is an ongoing project reimagining how people perceive and interact with this type of object. For the latest additions to the series—debuting as part of the Breaking the Box exhibition—the designer utilized traditional woodworking techniques and hidden spinning mechanisms. Though they appear to be simplistic boxes at first glance, the new works can be transformed into modular credenzas and cabinets. While the Fan Cabinet’s flexible slat surface opens into concentric patterns, the Grand Complication piece unravels like a Russian nesting doll.
Fan Cabinet by Sebastian ErraZuriz, 2018 from R & Company on Vimeo.
The Grand Complication by Sebastian ErraZuriz from R & Company on Vimeo.
“We tend to understand reality by constraining meaning into closed and simplified boxes defined by previous cultural conventions. We live within these pre-established cognitive borders, where we only tend to see, recognize and accept as true, that which has been previously ordered and defined,” said ErraZuriz. “In Breaking the Box, I use art, design, and craft to break open our relationship to objects, beauty, and time, in order to reconsider conventions.”
