Krueck + Sexton, Reflections – From There to Here

Active since the late 1970s, Ron Krueck and Mark Sexton have worked in the partnership for over 35 years. Their Chicago-based office started to work on exquisite residential projects, where high-tech approach to materials and technology met sensitive, yet brutal forms of poetry and postmodern sensuality. During the late 1970s and 1980s, Krueck + Sexton focused on a series of the exclusive private commissions, which they designed as a total works of art, showcasing their various skills from the general architecture to every single detail. The exhibition Reflections focused mainly on the unique individual pieces of furniture, selected from the several of their private residential projects of that time. 

Starting in 1979 with their first project of Steel and Glass house, their projects were created as complex architectural works where perfect craftsmanship and innovative materials highlight architect‘s signature poetic style. Steel and Glass house, A Painted Apartment and a series of Untitled apartments, all in Chicago, present a compact collection of works, where visuality of French avant-garde decorator Pierre Chareau‘s 1920s design ingenuity was translated into the glamorous mix of high-tech and postmodern. Fluid spaces of steel, glass, velvet and stone defined refined and dreamy residential dwellings, doubled as sophisticated art installations of reflections, subtle colors and almost unmaterialized being of the used materials. For example, their Painted Apartment, overlooking Lincoln Park and Lake Michigan, was designed for the client, who didnt want to live with paintings, hanging on the wall, anymore, but wanted to be surrounded by an integral work of art. Custom-made furniture pieces accompanied the highly individualistic space, divided by curved glass light boxes and perforated metal screens of different densities and glass bricks walls.  

As a compact part of their interiors, Krueck + Sexton designed several individual furniture pieces to match with their highly avant-garde spaces. Volume gallery shows some of these, which express the original fusion of industrial aesthetic and robust futurism. Krueck + Sexton‘s seating furniture has almost robotic appearance with of the high-tech twist on Jules Verne‘s technological visions of the 19th century. The expressive stainless steel or polished bronze structures are hold together by rivets and upholstered by mohair and cotton velvet fabric. Some of the 1980s pieces were produced again by the gallery in a limited edition of eight pieces. It just documents the actuality of this forgotten designs, which seems very relevant in the context of the contemporary design scene.          
Come parte integrante dei loro interni Krueck + Sexton progettarono vari pezzi unici d’arredamento in armonia con i loro spazi d’avanguardia. La galleria Volume ne presenta alcuni, che esprimono un’originale fusione di estetica industriale e robusto futurismo. Le sedute di Krueck + Sexton hanno quasi un aspetto robotico, con il guizzo d’alta tecnologia delle visioni tecnologiche ottocentesche di Jules Verne. Le strutture espressive d’acciaio inossidabile o di bronzo lucidato sono tenute insieme da rivetti e imbottite con tessuti di lana mohair e di velluto di cotone. Alcuni dei pezzi degli anni Ottanta sono ancora prodotti dalla galleria in edizioni limitate di otto pezzi. Il che non fa che provare l’attualità di questi progetti dimenticati, che appaiono molto importanti nel contesto della scena del design contemporaneo.