Objects of Desire

The Wick Culture - Cysaan, Helen Beard

Art Cyssan, Helen Beard

At a time of forbidden human contact, Helen Beard’s high-octane artworks of erotic tactility pack a greater punch. Flat in colour and rich in sensuality, her paintings are unapologetic in their celebration of female empowerment and sexual experience. Her highly distinctive style has resulted in sell-out shows at Reflex Amsterdam and Newport Street Gallery: Damien Hirst is one of her greatest champions. She often uses pornographic online material as inspiration, wanting to paint in ‘an exciting, fresh way that doesn’t involve shame or prudishness and opens up possibilities of talking about the subject without being shy.’ In its depiction of an androgynous couple kissing, Cyssan has become one of her cult hits.

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The Wick Culture - Cocoon Lamp, Nacho Carbonell © The Carpenters Gallery

Design Combi Cocoon lamp, Nacho Carbonell

Ethereal and embracing the magic of nature, these lamps by Spanish designer Nacho Carbonell are reimagined as small tree-like structures. Held together by steel branches, they’re enveloped in steel meshes covered with a mix of sand and textile hardener – also Carbonell’s own creation. ‘I like to see objects as living organisms, imagining them coming alive and being able to surprise you with their behaviour,’ Carbonell says. ‘What I want to create are objects with a fictional or fantasy element, that allow you to escape everyday life’. Let these lamps light the way.

Carbonell’s Cocoon lamps are available at London’s Carpenters Workshop Gallery, a world-leading gallery in collectible design and functional art.

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The Wick Culture - Candy Sculpture Sphere Chandelier, Estudio Campana

Design Candy Sculpture Sphere Chandelier, Estudio Campana

The light at the end of the rainbow. The changing iterations of colour that emerge from this Estudio Campana-designed glass chandelier are as much a joy as the confectionary goods they’re based on. First presented by Lasvit at Paris trade fair Maison&Objet in 2016, the Candy Sculpture Sphere Chandelier was inspired by the sweets sold at the popular markets in the Campana brothers’ native Brazil. The duo are renowned worldwide for their eclectic, poetic and artistic style of design, and this chandelier – made as part of their wider Candy Collection – is an expansion of their colourful universe of creations.

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