Bronze Age collection contains all hand-crafted pieces, using traditional skills that once underpinned our very survival, each piece a manually intensive work and formed from the material that represents the dawn of civilisation.
“For this project I wanted to create something totally opposite to the technology driven trends based on the emergence of new digital tools such as 3d printing. I like the idea that bronze is precious and is therefor implicitly sustainable, it is either preserved or remelted but never discarded, who knows maybe these pieces contain a couple of remelted ancient bronze swords!” Says Frank Tjepkema, lead designer and founder of Tjep.
The bronze aspect of the collection infers stability, strength, durability, sustainability (it can be re-melted and reused and is never discarded). The furniture shapes are classic interpretations, yet they have undergone a transformation. The aim of the collection is to instil connotations of human-caused disasters, such as climate change or a nuclear melt-down, putting these pieces at the centre of contemporary social issues.
Visually light but physically strong.
The result however is sculptural, with a pure aesthetic, that is visually light but physically strong. Have these pieces been affected by great calamity or is there still strength in the traditional, like an ancient bronze sword?
Alongside the new collection, Tjep. will be exhibiting other recent works such as Il Treno, and Tjep.’s unique jewelry line.
Watch the close collaboration with some of the best bronze craftsmen in the Netherlands >
< Hosted by Designblok Prague and presented in the wonderful Ballroom of the Colloredo Mansfeld Palace, Tjep. has the pleasure and honour of presenting it’s latest body of work: Bronze Age.
Collections:
- Centre Pompidou Paris permanent collection
- Philippe Starck private collection
- Rodica Seward private collection
- Lidewij Edelkoort private collection
- Hans Lensvelt private collection
