Rich Brilliant Willing: Pro Forma

March 18 - April 3 '11

Chicago

Volume Gallery debuts the premier, limited edition collection from Rich Brilliant Willing: Pro Forma.

In Pro Forma, the first solo exhibition of limited edition work, Rich Brilliant Willing debuts a collection comprised of a series of personal storage pieces inspired by international air-shipping containers and what RBW identifies as a transient nature in the contemporary idea of home.

Well known for their appropriation of ready-made components, Theo Richardson, Charles Brill and Alexander Williams (Rich Brilliant Willing), Pro Forma draws inspiration from the curious forms of air shipping containers, the corners of which are heavily chamfered or rounded to facilitate their fitting economically into an airplane’s curved fuselage.

With Pro Forma, Rich Brilliant Willing borrows from the archetype of globalization and transposes it onto icons of the home: the credenza, the coffee table, the bookshelf, side table and bar cabinet. By stripping the container shapes of their original context and the furniture objects of an overly specific function, a dialogue of abstraction emerges.

First and foremost, Pro Forma is a material-rich investigation. The rugged and deliberate shapes of commercial transport are tamed by the more lavish palette of home furnishing and antique luggage: brass, leather, lacquer and American hardwoods; steamer trunks in an age of global logistics.

Rich Brilliant Willing
website

Founded in 2007 by Theo Richardson, Charles Brill and Alexander Williams, Rich Brilliant Willing is an internationally renowned furniture and product design studio based in Manhattan. Operating a laboratory style workshop and office, they place emphasis on material and formal exploration often through the appropriation of familiar objects and ideas.

Volume Gallery
website

Volume Gallery is an event-based gallery with a specific focus on American design, particularly emerging contemporary designers. Founded by Claire Warner and Sam Vinz, formerly of Wright Auction, Volume Gallery releases editions, publications and exhibits that showcase the work of American designers to regional, national and international audiences.