Sarah Burns’ furniture at Marta LA is inspired by traditional American craft

Affirming its role as a true tastemaker in American design, the curators of the Los Angeles gallery Marta have handed over their space to Sarah Burns, an artist, designer and all-around rising figure in the New York creative circle. 

Burns, who formerly worked with artist Marc Camille Chaimowicz, has gained recognition for her vintage jewellery shop, Old Jewelry Store, which pairs its large online presence with a hidden store tucked away within a Chinatown shopping mall, where she fuses her affection for gestural forms of all scales together with her ironic sense of humour.  

Sarah Burns: ‘Prairie’s Edge’ at Marta LA

For her first solo show, titled 'Prairie's Edge', Burns has created nine furniture explorations that recall her parents' furniture store in the Midwest. The deeply personal study, which takes its name from a casino in Minnesota that Burns' grandmother frequented, experiments with the notions of American craftsmanship and materials like birch, steel, wood and glass, while exuding the impish, tongue-in-cheek humour that Burns has become known for. 

The pieces have been loosely displayed in Room Groups, that reimagine the traditional programmes of the domestic space. Her ‘Knob’ screen serves as a room divider yet facilitates interaction with its circular cutouts. Similarly, the ‘Coastal’ mirror can be swivelled and adjusted, just like the side view mirrors on tractor-trailer trucks, to create new dynamics with a room. Rooted in function yet inherently playful in nature, the collection is rich in narrative without allowing it to ever overtake each piece's purpose. 

Having worked with a host of well-loved New York names, such as the interior designer Giancarlo Valle and fashion designer Rachel Comey, Burns has naturally developed her furniture practice, first making pieces for her own home and then for the Old Jewelry Store as well. 

Speaking about the overlap between jewellery and furniture, Burns says, ‘Jewellery and furniture can be playful without sacrificing functionality – [my] things have to look good but they also have to feel right, and vice versa. Similarly, they can both be forms of adornment, and they're both inseparable from the body. It's all related. Both jewellery and furniture need the body to complete the work, yet they have the ability to exist autonomously as objects.’

'Prairie's Edge' by Sarah Burns is on view until 10 June 2023

Marta
3021 Rowena Avenue
Los Angeles

marta.la
sarah-burns.com