South African Designer Creates Furniture Bridging Engineering And Storytelling

South Africa might not come to mind as a center for emerging design, but a sample of work we spotted by Gregor Jenkin Studio last week at Design Miami got our attention. The exhibit staged by Southern Guild, South Africa’s premier design gallery, of Jenkin’s furniture pieces weren’t the sleek and colorful variety usually associated with European manufacturers. In fact it was quite easy to look past the natural steel and light wood pieces exhibited.

The ingredient that makes Jenkins’ work interesting is the narrative that is intertwined within the design of each piece and the unique way that is accomplished. Gregor Jenkin Studio describes the mission of their work to solve problems and find new ways of doing something old. Rather than bill themselves as a creative studio, they instead operate as an engineering environment. The technical crafting of each piece is impressive and something Jenkins dedicates much effort to. Look a bit deeper and you begin to see the subtle storytelling contained within each object which compliments the attention to detail. The work blends political commentary, humor and mutating everyday objects.

I am an ardent admirer of design that single-mindedly, efficiently and unselfconsciously serves its purpose, but to suggest that anything is free of a narrative – as if it really looks the only way that thing could possibly look – is crazy, and in my opinion, undesirable. I think that the reason the ‘sociopolitical’ aspect of my work is prevalent is because it’s made in the politically charged context of the country in which I live. It’s important to remember that, for me, this is a resource – the same way that Danish design has a traditional relationship with wood, and therefore a particular mode of craftsmanship, and outcome.

The debuting at Design Miami 2011 is a collection of 14 tables called Migrate Migrant which caught our eye. The steel tables were rendered in motion like migrating cattle or mineworkers, who have to leave their homelands to come to the city to work in the mines. The shapes of the individual tables range from functional to pure sculpture.

Me Time is a clock contained within what first appears to be a blackened steel cabinet. Jenkins actually constricted the work out of plywood coated with a matte black finish. The imposing shape of the clock resembles something straight out of an old factory.

Setalight is a floor lamp constructed from a stack of seemingly perfectly balanced Enamelware bowls, plates and cups.