British designer Michael Young has created his his latest work, the MY Collection, that was commissioned by Gallery ALL of Los Angeles and Beijing, and will be exhibited for the first time at Design Miami/Basel 2019 next week. Each piece consists of a cluster of hollow metal stainless steel extrusions capped at each end, which are then covered with white enamel and polished.
When talking about the inspiration, Michael Young says, “The concept came in two ways. A while back, I had worked with cloisonné in Northern China and began to look at how patterns and colors came together, and how metal could be shaped to create divisions of form. Some of my earlier attempts were inspired by oil on water and the natural patterns generated by this when taken in a snapshot. For Gallery ALL, we looked at these in a new way by self generating forms created by the computer, and then we extracted the patterns in two dimensional slices.”
“We had differentiated various functional forms into seating, consoles and tables,” he says. “Next we applied these patterns so they would then be twisted into 3 dimensions and extruded vertically. In production you cannot color the vertical surfaces of the pieces, so we played with making a stunning polished edge.”
“The metal is molded around huge clay forms, and the internal structure is created over several weeks. It is completely artisanal, and there is no other way to produce this than with historical methods combined with contemporary craft techniques.” Overall, the collection consists of a couch, a side table, a writing desk, a round coffee table, a console, and a lounge chair.
Photography provided by Gallery ALL and Micheal Young Studio
