Fossilized 2.0 at Industry

22 September - 11 November '11

Los Angeles

INDUSTRY has opened their new Los Angeles Gallery and their premiere exhibition Fossilized 2.0: The Shredded Collection, new work by innovative designer Jens Praet, one of the current generation of designers creatively addressing sustainability and the amount of waste being generated globally. His tables, consoles, benches and shelves are made in limited editions from shredded magazines and documents. Each design is made from a specific title, and toys with the availability and accessibility of information.

Created from shredded issues of Art in America or Details or The Rob Report—once forms of communication—magazines rendered unusable as a source of information, but yet otherwise utile, perhaps as a magazine table.

Similarly, a console made from classified documents—information not meant for general distribution—can be safely used in public because the data on the documents has been shredded and rendered unreadable. Praet also plays with the notion of boutique versus industrial design by re-purposing materials created for mass consumption into limited edition collectible works.

About the Designer:

Belgian-born Jens Praet lives and works near Florence, Italy. He studied architecture and foreign languages in Belgium, graduated in Industrial and Communication Design from I.S.I.A. Firenze in Italy, and followed the IM Master course in Conceptual design in Context at the Design Academy of Eindhoven in the Netherlands under Droog Design's co-founder Gijs Baker.

His design vocabulary is streamlined though rooted in classicism. Jens established studio Jens Praet, a design studio based in Panzano in Chianti (a small town near Florence, Italy), in 2007. Studio Jens Praet works from a conceptual angle on topics of contemporary culture, of his own initiative and on assignment. The studio has an intensive approach towards traditional handcrafting in combination with avant-garde techniques.

Jens has a strong passion for everyday objects, honest materials, finding inspiration in unexpected details and daily issues which often become the starting point in developing a new concept. Studio Jens Praet’s work has been exhibited at important international venues and has been featured in many major design publications and newspaper world-wide.

Shredded Collection Table: Fast Company Edition by Jens Praet

Shredded Collection Bench: White Edition by Jens Praet