Gallery FUMI invites you to escape the winter chill and step into their new group show Chance Encounters. The exhibition features the works of the gallery’s close-knit assortment of international artists and designers, all met at chance moments in time that have grown to become close friends. This show accentuates the international influences on the collection, bringing together works that seem entirely unrelated in style and construction but create perfect harmonies within the space. Illuminating the gallery window is the new Coincidental Chandelier by design duo Tina Roeder and Ward Merrill Hooper, made of hand-applied oil colour on brass. The floating collage of bright colours and spontaneously cut shapes strikes a whimsical opening chord to the exhibition, offset by the starkly controlled elegance of Sam Orlando Miller’s Stella Velata mirrored wall sculpture and table. The latest additions to Max Lamb’s noted Poly series, their rough-hewn forms accentuated by the glossy black finish, are set in dialogue with the clean lines of Lara Bohinc’s lacquered works. Her signature combination of playful geometry and vivid colour palette found a new creative outlet during her artist residency in Wajima Japan in 2017. Her newest works, the Rising Moon Table and Setting Sun Chair, command attention with their sleek design and bold colours. In the lower floor of the gallery, one encounters a collection of works exploring the breadth of design encompassed by Gallery FUMI’s designers. Particular highlights include the Boullee Table by Brooksbank and Collins, its precise, concentric rings echoed in the slices of travertine and oak in Francesco Perini’s Incontro Bench and Console. The gallery is pleased to be showing the work of two new designers, met recently by fortunate chance; the Danish glass artist Stine Bidstrup who’s cast and polished glass sculpture is inspired by optical phenomena and architectural form. Jie Wu is a Chinese innovative material designer, specialising in layered works of coloured resin and rare antique rosewood.
