batten and kamp combines textured cast aluminum with rough-cut marble in furniture series

Batten and Kamp’s Nature-Inspired Works Debut in Paris

From a Distance is an exhibition of sculptural furniture by Batten and Kamp at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris. As the studio’s first solo presentation in Europe, the exhibition brings together a body of work that investigates the relationship between memory and place, combining forms and materials gathered directly from nature with advanced digital fabrication techniques and traditional craft.

Debuting at the show is ‘Echo,’ a series of 3D printed aluminum chandeliers where branches found at sites of natural disasters are suspended in light, and ‘Titan-Mercury,’ a lounge chair with a textured cast aluminum surface anchored to rough-cut Italian marble. Featured works include ‘Still,’ a video meditation on dislocation by Batten and Kamp in collaboration with Trance Films, and a room scent by Bibi Parfum chosen to enhance the ethereal qualities of the works and the surrounding light-filled Parisian gallery.

all images by Benjamin Baccarani, courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Digital Craft Meets Natural Form in From a Distance series

From a Distance exhibits works years in the making, drawing on field research in New Zealand and production experimentation in Paris and Hong Kong. It channels the designers’ belief in the future as well as their interest in what is lost along the way. ‘Echo’ is a new series of light sculptures where natural forms gathered from the wilderness are replicated in aluminum and presented as sacred objects. Echo 01 and Echo 02 feature branches found at the sites of a cyclone-induced flood and an unseasonal wildfire in the designer’s native New Zealand. The branches are digitised via 3D scanning and rematerialized in laser-sintered aluminum. These organic forms are then suspended within precisely engineered light fittings. Both delicate and brutal, the sculptures recall dappled light filtering through tree canopies while also suggesting a future where we may long for once-familiar and now-vanished forests.

The designers describe the works as ‘ghosts of remembered trees,’ evoking both loss and the comforting beauty of our natural environment. The tension between raw material and refined structure continues with ‘Titan–Mercury,’ a futuristic lounger that one may expect to find bolted to the rocky surface of a distant planet. A cratered aluminum seat, cast with a texture reminiscent of lunar terrain, is fixed to a rough-cut Aurisina marble boulder using exoskeletal laser-sintered stainless steel fixings. The lounger builds on the studio’s previous works, juxtaposing raw stone with industrial metals, and here combines marble millions of years old with materials typically associated with aerospace. The chair’s brutalist form belies carefully considered ergonomics, and it functions both as sculpture and practical indoor or outdoor seating.

Titan-Mercury features solid cast aluminum and natural marble

Known for their boundary-pushing approach to collectible design, Alexandra Batten and Daniel Kamp operate at the intersection of craft and technology. Their work draws on organic systems, science fiction, and personal as well as geological history. From a Distance captures the duo’s unique vision, one that looks simultaneously backward and forward, to craft objects that feel both ancient and otherworldly.

the textured surface is reminiscent of a lunar landscape

3D printed stainless steel fixtures anchor the aluminum to rough-cut marble

Batten and Kamp’s new sculptural furniture is arranged in response to the light-filled gallery

Echo lights recall forest canopies

the chandeliers are made entirely from laser-sintered aluminum

the branches featured in Echo are gathered from sites of natural disasters

a custom scent is diffused through the exhibition by volcanic stone and hanging droppers

the branch featured in Echo 02 was found after an unseasonal wild-fire

the branches’ organic forms are captured by 3D scanning and printed in aluminum

organic forms are juxtaposed with precisely engineered light fittings

project info:

name: From a Distance
designers: Batten and Kamp | @batten_and_kamp

host: Carpenters Workshop Gallery | @carpentersworkshopgallery

photographer: Benjamin Baccarani | @bacca_stop

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom