KIM: Hi Konstantin. Do you have a moment to talk?
KONSTANTIN: Hello. Yes, of course.
KIM: I’d like to hear your thinking about Cugino and also about
Mattiazzi, having worked with them over many years. So, I’ll
start with a few questions.
Cugino is quite a solid piece – you might say it plays with
a volume of both wood material and void, but it has a small
footprint overall. Can you tell me about the tension in its
geometry?
KONSTANTIN: Cugino is the result of many tries; it happened
over time, with wanting it to be an object that we don’t already
know, but also something that is maybe a little bit familiar. We
did it again and again, making variations, trying things out and
learning from each piece. I wanted to make an object for Mattiazzi
that is ‘not a stool’ and is ‘not a low table’, but could be both.
The idea is to make a wooden object that is open for interpre-
tation, not given a function from the outset, that finds its use
and its place over time. It is not about structure, it is not about
economy. It is not appropriation– I’m cautious not to quote from
primitive objects. Because we worked on it for so long and made
so many iterations, it came into its own.
KIM: Is the desire to create an open work, as Umberto Eco calls
it when he talks about a piece that is only completed when it is
seen or used?
KONSTANTIN: It might remind us of something, but we haven’t
seen it before. It is about semantics – grammar and language
that we find attractive.
KIM: How do you think about wood and Mattiazzi together?
