21 June – 23 July 2023
Industrial designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, will bring their work to Studio Casoli, Filicudi this summer for an exhibition that charts their restless urge to push materials and fabrication processes to their limits. Open from 21 June to 23 July 2023, From Island to Island celebrates the role of the handmade in their work, which they often describe as ‘engineered craft’.
Made by both hand and machine in glass, wood, wool and metal, the limited-edition objects show the breadth of materials, colours and processes they work with when freed from the constraints of volume production. They also reflect their close relationship with craftspeople, from boat-builders to glassblowers.
From Island to Island involves their first collaboration with a weaver: Pisa-based Laura de Cesare, who will create a tapestry representing the sun. Other new and little-seen pieces will include tables from their 2023 Largo collection for Marsotto Edizioni, with a special edition made in lava stone from Mount Etna, visible across the sea from Studio Casoli. Barber and Osgerby’s Tobi-Ishi table for B&B Italia – their first work for the Italian manufacturer – will feature prominently. The striped edition sculpted from white Carrara and Alpi green marble was presented in 2022 marking 10 years of the iconic design. The Iris table, designed in 2008 for Established & Sons, represents a marriage between man and machine, constructed from a single geometric component, machined from solid aluminium, hand-anodized and repeated to form a perfectly tessellated ring. The result is a lyrical, seamless object, recalling the colour striations of the human eye.
From Island to Island is the first contemporary design exhibition at Studio Casoli in Filicudi.
Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
Designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby founded their London studio in 1996. Their diverse body of work spans industrial design, furniture, lighting and site-specific installations as well as gallery and public commissions such as the London 2012 Olympic Torch and projects for the Royal Mint. They are currently working with leading global manufacturers including Vitra, Knoll, B&B Italia, Flos, Venini and Hermès. Their work is held in permanent museum collections around the world including the V&A and the Design Museum in London, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Art Institute of Chicago.
Says Edward Barber: ‘The exhibition demonstrates our obsession with how things are made. It spans almost every type of construction we’ve worked with, from glassblowing and weaving to machining metal.’
Says Jay Osgerby: ‘Seeing makers at work has been fundamental to our design education. The more you learn how they operate, and the more they understand how you work, the better each piece you produce is going to be. It’s a dialogue.’
Says Sergio Casoli: ‘From the great British island to small Filicudi, the works of Barber Osgerby are independently placed in space. Great practicality is combined with art – each piece is “Readymade” and we celebrate its uniqueness.’
