One man’s discarded everyday paraphernalia is another’s inspiration to create great works of art. Certainly that is true in the case of Belgian designer Jens Praet, who uses everything from leftover magazines and discarded fabric to create contemporary furniture. Praet’s shelves, side-tables, tables, consoles and libraries are all made of everyday materials, used in innovative ways, to create designs that are actually functional art.
It was while Praet was still a student at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, that he developed his popular “Shredded” series — furniture pieces made out of shredded magazines, office waste and resin. He believes the series was “a reaction to the office waste found at the academy”. Impressed by his products, the high-concept Dutch design label Droog asked him to recreate the line for them.
Since that early success, Praet has moved from strength to strength and his work has now been showcased at important international venues like Dubai Design Days, Miami Basel, OBJECT Rotterdam and Beijing Design Fair among others. His projects are currently included in the permanent collections of two museums: The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the Mint Museum in Charlotte.
Praet’s first steps into art/design occurred when he was just a child. Raised in an “artistic family” (his father is a sculptor) his earliest introduction to the aesthetics of design came in the form of the iconic Wassily Chair designed by Marcel Breuer (a tubular steel and canvas creation). He recalls, “My parents had this chair amongst other design pieces at home. I remember I found this piece particularly odd, I was intrigued by it.”
Another early inspiration was the work of the Italian architect and designer Gaetano Pesce. “I first got in touch with Pesce’s work when I was very little, I remember seeing his show in the mid 90s in Paris and was amazed by his creativity. I think this was the moment I wanted to become a designer/artist/architect. I didn’t know exactly what at the time, but I knew I wanted to do creative things,” Praet says.
Apart from upcycling everyday objects, Praet has worked with some unusual materials in his career. For a furniture line called Processus, he used patterned, hand-painted Iznik quartz tiles and on a collaborative collection called Evergreen (a series of height adjustable pendant lights), he worked with black or white glass, copper or brass.
Dressed, his most recent collection, uses leftover and discarded fabric to create functional art objects like bowls and vases. The inspiration for this too harks back to his childhood. “The inspiration of the Dressed series comes from the sculptures my father creates and incorporates waste as well,” Praet tells us.
For Praet, every product is a labour of love — and he won’t let his aesthetics be compromised for a quick buck. He says, “My studio likes to create with unusual materials. Each concept is studied and takes a long time to develop. Our philosophy is to create something remarkable and therefore quality is the main focus, not quantity.”
And at a time when artistes are exploring digital techniques to augment their products and machines are substitutes for manual labour, Jens sees them as just “helping tools”. “The personal touch is very crucial to my work,” he says. “And I believe this can only be conceived when handcrafting can actually be seen in a design.”
