Marc Fish
Untitled 2 Bronze โOne Pieceโ Console, UK,ย 2015
Todd Merrill Studio
Marc Fish
โUntitled 1โณ One Piece Console, UK,ย 2015
Todd Merrill Studio
Marc Fish
Mollusque,ย 2012
Todd Merrill Studio
Marc Fish
Laminaria, UK,ย 2015
Todd Merrill Studio
Wendell Castle pioneered the use of stack lamination in design in the early 1960s, opening up a world of possibilities to designers looking to manipulate wood. Marc Fish is among contemporary talents who have taken this technique and ran with it.
The Brighton-based, British designerโs undulating tables, with their intertwined limbs, come to life thanks to a micro stacking technique that uses cold rather than heat to create organic curves. Each piece is made by hand, and thus inherently unique. At Todd Merrill Studio’s booth at FOG Design+Art this week, Fishโs newest works are on display, along with an entire booth full of cleverly engineered forms.
Fishโs latest works come from his โLaminariaโ furniture series, which tellingly takes its name from a genus of brown algae, better known as kelp. Nautical forms run throughout the designerโs practice; past works include elegant low tables and cabinets inspired by nautilus, mollusk, and cowrie shells. His series of โMollusqueโ tables, for example, combine sycamore, glass, and copper in a sleek, swooping motion. Fish effectively conjures the natural object that inspired him, while expanding on it, thoughtfully distilling and dramatizing its form.
While he debuted his new collection with Todd Merrill last fall at The Salon Art + Design, Fish has continued to innovate on his technique and develop the series. Works like Laminaria, UK (2015) embrace the fine potential of wood, while also echoing the naturally occurring beauty of driftwood. The refined, narrow form is lifelike, resembling a living creature or a growing plant; its every curve is highlighted by a soft sheen. The seamless combination of metal and wood seen in the โMollusqueโ tables is an element that Fish has also carried into some of the latest works. Untitled 2 Bronze โOne Pieceโ Console, UK (2015), for example, combines oak and bronze. And true to the designerโs penchant for sea life, the workโs deep color is due to squid ink.
Fishโs approach to wood hints at his background in metal fabrication; the strong twisting forms he is able to execute in wood might be more expected in metal, though this may be exactly what makes his works so compelling.
โKat Herriman
Visit Todd Merrill at FOG Design+Art 2016, Jan. 14โ17, 2016.
