hvila editions stars glowing dragon scales, amoeba sand vases, & tree-trunk urns

Hvila editions at downtown design, dubai

Design gallery ’hvila editions’ toys with imagination in its recent selection of works for Dubai’s Downtown Design in 2022. The hand-picked furniture pieces, lighting, and kitchenware by artists and designers orchestrate a seeming fever dream with glowing dragon scales, amoeba sand vases, and tree-trunk ash vessels. Through experimental techniques, the objects display artisanal imagination turned tangible, handmade items to be sought after for personal and public spaces.

Each piece appears distinctive in its form and materiality, brewing with the subtle collective artistry throughout the collection. hvila editions founder Anita Hansen shares that the design pieces reveal deep intuition and convey the emotions of their makers as part of the poetic narrative the series is aiming for, coupled with a contemporary and artistic sensibility.

images courtesy of hvila editions | photo © Sian Lee

Setbyol Oh turns dragon scales into lamps

Berlin-based Korean artist Setbyol Oh ties her dragon scales into a knot and turns them into a hanging lamp that softly glows at night. ‘Way Home’ slithers through its eight-meter-long tube made of mulberry paper (Hanji) and wicker in which LED lights are installed. The lighting channels a mythological creature misted with magic, a suitable creation for enthusiasts of fantasy and daydreamers. Oh shares that Hanji is a traditional Korean paper that has been used for hundreds of years in Korea for doors, windows, wallpaper, and to make lamps in traditional houses.

It is made from the fibers inside the stems of one-year-old mulberry trees. She adds that the historic process of boiling and drying the fiber from the bark of trees gives the paper durability and a flimsy surface rooted in its natural properties. Since Mulberry trees are strong and resilient to moisture, they can resist high humidity and large temperature differences between summer and winter. Oh takes this as an inspiration to individually pleat and shift them into a leaf shape. She says that about 1950 of these wrinkled paper leaves are glued onto the tube’s surface.

RBS Bubble Vessel, Steven Haulenbeek

Steven Haulenbeek resin-bond sand for amoeba vases

Multiplying and growing organisms seem to come through when viewers look at the veiny and bubbling resin-bonded vases by Chicago-based artist Steven Haulenbeek. He creates his vase series by using solid cast blocks of resin-bonded sand which is typically a byproduct of the metal casting industry. He sculpts the material by hand and soaks it with a coating of color resin that penetrates into the outer layer. He cures it first then extracts the object from the uncured sand block, leaving the textured hardened shell.

The resulting vases vary in design and style while evoking the experimental style of Steven Haulenbeek. He shares that his vessels, furniture, lighting, and sculpture are often inspired by coral, cactus, rock formations, and other natural forms. His work crosses what might be dubbed ordinary and seeks to reinvent production methods to let the rawness of the objects he works on emerge organically. By allowing uncontrollable variants infiltrate his techniques, Haulenbeek experiments with the balance between control and serendipity.

Bleached and Limed Sycamore Hollow Form, Robert George

Robert George carves ash vessels from trees

British arborist and artist Robert George works trees into eye-catching objects such as hand-carved ash vessels. For his collection with hvila editions, he turns freshly-sawn ash wood into urns, reminiscent of going back to and being one with nature afterlife. George explains that as the bowl dries, the wood releases its tension and forms new shapes, making it easier to carve it to his desire. ‘Certain areas are left smooth to highlight interest in the wood and grain patterns. When the sunrays shine through the wood, it seems to become nearly transparent,’ he adds.

While the skin of his ash vessels retains the original features of the ash wood, his thorough carving evidently marks his handiwork. For the artist, it is often difficult to expect what a project may look like in the end as he often starts off with something that is as raw as a raw material can be. Robert’s relationship with trees harks back to him working at height for over a decade, studying, climbing, and being in contact with wood in its rawest form, ‘day in, day out and come rain or shine.’

Kapoor, Setbyol Oh (Oh Licht) | photo © Sian Lee