Collectors spend a lot of time considering what air and light and hands and years have worked upon the surface of things. The thoughts of a collector tend, too, in the direction of desire, of ownership, of relationship with the object. We immerse ourselves in the story—real or imagined—of why a thing was made, and by whom, what it was used for, and how its use has changed it over generations. We wonder how the object will change us. Things have a way of communicating the history of their creation and ownership, and this narrative converses with that of other objects. What we live with is one way we tell the story of our lives.
So it was winter, and we wanted leather furniture and objects. We found them, but also fur kept coming to us—coyote, gazelle, sheepskin, musk ox hide. We began to feel a little decadent surrounded by all these skins and thought about where else the story could take us. As is so often our habit, we turned to art. We looked at the skin we found there. And a stream-of- consciousness began to flow through all these things and their layers of meaning.
We invite you to ride the current and enjoy the ideas that emerge—for each person, a different story, as the story is transformed by each maker, each work, each collector who acquires it.
Lawton Mull, April 2014
Two fun parties, with a week between of meditative quiet interrupted only by a few cherished visitors. That’s what we call a successful exhibit. We hope these pictures offer a glimpse of what transpired in the Lawton Mull Studio. Just click on an image to start a slideshow (heartfelt thanks to Beth Horta, Elisabete Duarte, Alex Lawton, Jeff Hoppa, Ben Bunch and Chris Mason Johnson for contributing their photographs of the show to our website). Drop by the New York Design Center in May and June to see some of these pieces in our installation on the 1stdibs floor.
