illya goldman gubin embraces cardboard boxes, shaping them into stools for bottega veneta
the ukrainian artist shapes each box through direct physical contact, leaving its folds, creases, and irregularities visible in a series of individually formed seats.
prefer designboom on googleIllya Goldman Gubin shapes cardboard through an embrace
For Bottega Veneta’s Summer 2027 show, Ukrainian artist Illya Goldman Gubin turns cardboard boxes into stools through an unusually physical process, embracing and crumpling each box with his body before reinforcing it with resin and fiberglass. Each stool begins as an individual box, with its folds and interlocking flaps retained in the final form, recalling the interwoven leather fettucce of Bottega Veneta’s Intreccio. Goldman Gubin uses his own body to give each piece its final form, leaving the marks of that encounter visible on the finished seats.
Bottega Veneta’s Intreccio inspires the folded structure
Cardboard has been a recurring material in Goldman Gubin’s work, from sculptures and installations to furniture. For these stools, he starts with the box as it is, folding and crumpling it by hand so that each form develops through the pressure of his body. The resulting creases, dents, and uneven surfaces remain visible once the cardboard is reinforced with resin and fiberglass, making each stool slightly different from the next.
A cardboard box is made to carry something before it is usually thrown away, but Goldman Gubin gives the same material another purpose by turning it into a seat. The box that once carried an object can now carry a person, while its folded flaps are worked into one another to recall the interwoven leather fettucce of Bottega Veneta’s Intreccio. Goldman Gubin uses the existing structure of the box to create the interlocking effect. The process leaves the making visible in the finished stools, with the original material still legible beneath the hardened surface. What begins as an ordinary cardboard container is reshaped through direct physical contact into a piece of furniture, retaining the folds and irregularities produced along the way.
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project info:
name: Karton Hocker [Cardboard Stool]
designer: Illya Goldman Gubin | @illyagoldmangubin
commission: Bottega Veneta Summer 2027 show set
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