Joints + Bones was a group exhibition investigating the structure and connections of design, as opposed to surfaces or skins. 

 

Some exhibits made the mechanics of their joinery explicit, asking us to look at how construction can lead to overall form or rationale. Tension, pivots and bespoke 3D-printed parts are some common means with playful possibilities. Other projects investigated new methods of combining materials, often with an unusual agent employed to do the joining: a stretch of fabric, a hose clip, or shrunken plastic bottles. Exhibits varied from decorative screws and cable ties, to modular structures that can repeat to fill whole rooms. 

 

Alongside these works, was a set of complementary exhibits  inspired by bones and anatomy in more abstract ways. Translucent textile hangings that remind of X-rays, crockery in bone china, elastic ligaments that hold lids to their containers, and skeletal structures grown by fusing powder around hot wires.

 

Encouraging a deeper appreciation of design, Joints + Bones looked at how methods of joining can go beyond an essential role and give a piece of design its logic, originality and character. 

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Participants: Adam Guy Blencowe, Bonsoir Paris, 1882 Ltd, Minale-Maeda, Micaella Pedros, Rita Parniczky, Soft Baroque, Raw Material, Rive Roshan, James Shaw, Michael Marriott, Studio Ilio, Marina Stanimirovic, Hunting & Narud, Tomas Kral and Max Frommeld.

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Graphic design by Design & Practice

Photos by Sylvain Deleu