Maison et Objet has descended upon Paris, already promising to return in the fall and present what the next year may bring. But for the present, 2016 opens with a generous flow of design concepts for the home and office, living and working spaces, galleries and all manner of gathering places beyond. Martha Sturdy has populated an ever-evolving universe of design pieces with elements as fit for the home as the art gallery.
In fact, much of what proves evident about the Canadian’s work is that singular word: “elements.” Using resin, brass, steel, aluminium and cedar as her cast of characters, Sturdy renders functional artistic pieces for living spaces, redefining the way in which we look at our homes. But the modest Canadian would be reluctant to say so.
“I don’t really want to talk about myself…I don’t want to seem egotistical,” says Sturdy, “but I feel like I am here to teach and pass on to the next generation.” At 73, the designer, who leans forward with an almost coquin grin, is just now finding her stride, with an eternal sense of youth to boot.
“It goes from ice to snow. We have a blue line transition,” explains Sturdy. “One day I was out walking on my property and I discovered a waterfall completely frozen over by ice. I took a video of it with a camera my daughter gave me. And in the video you can see the water flowing under the ice…It’s nothing. But it’s magical.” That discovery served as the muse for a constellation of pieces one will find in Sturdy’s catalog.
“Leather is a surface. Wood is a varnish. But resin is what it is,” says Sturdy. “You can spill things on it, buff it and it’s still resin. When I was in art school we had 3D and I worked with resin. Because it can be so many colors and it isn’t a surface, it’s the entirety of the item. So as you age it takes on your character.”
Character is a good way to describe Sturdy’s portfolio. Resin chairs with leather cushions, resin cubes mounted on castors, low backed seats, resin coffee tables 12 inches from the floor, and black cedar benches and cubes are some of the eye catching pieces one might find in her catalogue. For her cedar pieces she uses a very honest approach. She doesn’t hack through the wood with a buzzsaw like many of her contemporaries. Instead she takes a wedge and splits the wood so that it halves naturally along the lines of the tree. What results is a piece that isn’t perfectly square or rectangular, but rather a piece that cuts lines along the natural contours of the tree in its original form.
“I love cedar because even after you cut it, it doesn’t rot.” And truth be told, rubbing your hand along one of the black cedar cubes or the long cedar benches, you feel the shape and texture of the original tree. Sturdy remains honest and rather faithful to her cedar pieces’ original incarnation. “We can’t imitate nature,” she insists. “It’s too good.”
Martha Sturdy’s collection can be viewed via her site. Some of the shining stars in Sturdy’s universe of art and living spaces are wearable sculptures, indestructible tables and chairs inspired by forces of nature.
