Civilised Primitives

At Design Miami/Basel, inside a giant tent, Kiki van Eijk presented a collection based on the idea of nomadism, based on a lifestyle increasingly flexible and temporary.

During the recent edition of Design Miami/Basel, Dutch designer Kiki van Eijk presented the project “Civilised Primitives”, supported by Milan gallery Nilufar, as part of the project “Design At Large” that greeted visitors in the fair’s main hall.

Civilised Primitives. Photo Mariëlle Leenders

Kiki has always had a soft-spot for the macro-narrative that completes her designs; I can recall, for example, the fairy-tale atmosphere of diverse and delicious previous collections such as “Cut&Paste”. This year in Switzerland she presented, inside a large tent (instrumental to the context of the story) that she also designed the pattern for, a series of handcrafted furniture pieces in bronze, an antique material, with primordial elements.

“The tent was designed specially for Basel: it presents the collection in a coherent manner and emphasises the idea of nomadism that is the basis for ‘Civilized Primitives’. I am fascinated by the idea of impermanence and how our lifestyle is becoming more and more flexible, more nomadic”, adds the designer. The presentation seems to go back in time with a kind of prehistoric setting (or apocalyptic?), exploring the value of survival today, Van Eijk herself describes it as a journey back but also able to look at the future.

The designer started by investigating the “survival mode” that physiologically leads to “inventions”. Starting with basic methodologies (but fully-functional), primary needs are resolved. “This project stems from my relationship with nature, the respect that I have for it and the inspiration that this brings into my life each day. In reality I live a double life: one set in the countryside, when I’m at home with my family, and one in the city, when I am working in my studio; I think that all the objects describe this duality that I have”.

Although archaic and crude in terms of shapes, the collection – that plays on the repetition of simple forms such as the circle, square and triangle – combines a radical and rough mark with a super-technological touch, in particular in the development of lights such as the three lamp-sculptures Physical Interactions. These – already part of the exhibition “Physical” shown during the last Milan Furniture Fair and shared with her designer husband Joost Van Bleiswijk – are born out of wonderful designs and combine the digital avant-garde with an unfinished feel. They are activated in different ways: in the first case all you need to do is touch it to turn up the dimmer or alternatively switch it off; the second lamp has to be blown on to switch it on while the last – Flint – has to be rubbed quickly with two pseudo-sticks just as you might in a forest to make fire.

“I needed to return to nature”, explains the designer “but return in my own way”. The series is completed by other types of “products for survival” such as a desk, candle-holder, mirror and clock hung from a branch and a comfortable day-bed. For this, Kiki started with a simple A shape, or rather two sticks in a triangle connected with a bar 50 cm high, to create an alcove – prehistoric and yet refined thanks to a cushion and even a bedside lamp for reading – complete with customised fabric.

“I wanted to create pieces that were basic, pure, authentic in their simplicity, but also filled with creativity. The branches are simple and beautiful, physical elements then transformed into something different using one of the techniques that man has always used, such as bronze casting”. The shiny, polished material appears even more striking when combined with this linearity dictated by the idea of exploring design in a physical and tangible way. “I wanted to use a process that almost took me back in time, to the roots of the production process. But there is also a strong desire for truth in this project: a process of simple construction combined with a use of ancient materials”. Kiki, born in 1978 and a graduate of the Design Academy in Eindhoven, has a particular capacity to combine ancient techniques and make them contemporary, producing objects with refined aesthetics and surprising originality.

Civilised Primitives
Collection of bronze objects: candleholder, mirror, clock, desk light, curved lamp, desk, table lamp
Design: Kiki Van Eijk
Materials: bronze, anodised aluminium, textile
Edition: limited

Civilised Primitives

At Design Miami/Basel, inside a giant tent, Kiki van Eijk presented a collection based on the idea of nomadism, based on a lifestyle increasingly flexible and temporary.

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