A collection of conceptual aluminium furniture by designers Orson Oxo Van Beek and Quinten Mestdagh straddles "the boundary between aesthetic and function" through its excessive decoration.
Designed by Antwerp-based spatial designer Orson Oxo Van Beek in collaboration with fashion designer Quinten Mestdagh, the collection is currently being exhibited at the Everyday Gallery in Antwerp.
Entitled Ornamentum, the collection comprises a chair, a table and a lamp made from pieces of aluminium with sharp and pointy edges, making them appear dangerous to touch or use.
The Ornamentum chair is made from sharp, laser-cut aluminium pieces
"We wanted to make the pieces so overly decorated, to a point where the actual furniture becomes functionless; an ornament in itself," Van Beek told Dezeen. "The danger adds to the aesthetic and, most importantly, to the non-function of the object," he added.
Looking to the ornamental styles of rococo, baroque and renaissance furniture, the structure of each piece is made up of the decorative emblems and graphic symbols found on furniture from these periods.
The Ornamentum collection was inspired by the decorative styles of rococo, baroque and renaissance furniture
Van Beek and Mestdagh designed the structures of the pieces around these emblems and symbols in order to create conceptual pieces that sit somewhere between form and function.
"This collection aimed to create a collection of unfamiliar decorative furnitu...