Artist Joep van Lieshout explains how he "likes to get dirty" by taking a hands-on approach to designing furniture, such as his Liberty Lounger chair for Moooi, in our latest Design Dreams movie for the Dutch brand.
Van Lieshout, who describes himself as an "artist, designer, architect and developer", runs his studio Atelier Van Lieshout from a former warehouse in the docks of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The studio produces a wide range of work, from large-scale art installations and sculptures, to individual products, such as the Liberty Lounger chair and Statistocrat lamp for design brand Moooi.
Joep van Lieshout runs his studio Atelier Van Lieshout from a warehouse in Rotterdam
"I really like to work in the workshop, to get dirty," Van Lieshout said in the movie, which Dezeen filmed for Moooi in Rotterdam. "I think it's very important to connect the eye and the hands to create a product." Van Lieshout often creates large conceptual artworks comprising a series of related installations, sculptures and objects.
"Normally, I work for a couple years on a certain project, which is a kind of parallel utopian world with dystopian aspects to it," he explained.
"And for these imaginary societies I create the systems, I create the architecture, I create the furniture. Many of the pieces for Moooi that we designed come from these larger art projects."
The Liberty Lounge chair is based on a prototype Joep van Lieshout...