Lauren Manoogian rocks on with earthy glassware collaboration

With 2020 feeling like an unending uphill climb, the open and collaborative sentiment championed by the cult New York designer Lauren Manoogian is a balm for the spirits we didn’t know we needed. The knitwear specialist is currently showcasing 21 vessels by the Parisian designer and artist Lætitia Jacquetton in her Manhattan showroom and online. Delicate, organic glass forms are uniquely paired with rocks foraged in the countryside.
 
‘Showcasing the work of other artists and craftspeople has been an intention for some time,’ Manoogian shares. ‘I like the idea of having a platform to highlight other people’s work that I love and feel inspired by. The first installment in Object came organically through travels to Peru and discovering the interesting ceramic traditions throughout different regions. Now more than ever as we are all pushed further into digital mediums, it feels very vital to have that sense of wonder and emotional connection to objects.’

In Jacquetton’s practice, the artist combines the traditional expertise of glass blowing, which she learnt in Murano, Italy and in Nancy, in Eastern France, with a keen sensitivity to the natural environment. Each of her sculptural pieces involves blowing glass around rocks that she has consciously selected from nature, while paying attention not to disturb the natural surroundings where they were found. Imbued with both a sense of rarity and reverence, these vessels poetically articulate a moment in time captured in solid form.
 
For Manoogian, who met Jacquetton in Paris several years ago, the similarities in their work boils down to the seemingly simplistic, yet transformative use of materials.
 
‘Both are sculptural and have very defined proportions but have a mutable quality that is arrived at in a very intuitive way,’ Manoogian reflects. ‘This makes them approachable and suitable for elevating daily life. In that way both of our work is very intimate in end use and also in the process. There is a tactility that is evident in both our work and experimentation to find that perfect tension point in materials that influences the final form. ’
 
Ultimately, it’s the deliberate connection to nature that Jacquetton’s vessels articulate, that capture the imagination. ‘I like and respect the intention and the uncontrollable elements in the process,’ Manoogian concludes. ‘There is an element of risk in making each piece as she is working quickly and utilizing gravity and fire—the end result is very gestural and encapsulates the moment when everything came together. That is what makes each piece so alive, so unique.’

INFORMATION

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