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Thomas Heatherwick, Modern Painters May 2010

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MarinaKCashdan

Thomas Heatherwick is a British designer known for sculptural and textural designs. His studio designed the UK pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai Expo, featuring 60,000 acrylic rods encasing seeds that sway in the breeze. Heatherwick draws inspiration from nature and uses unusual materials in unexpected ways to create special designs. He aims to make ordinary objects and spaces more interesting through texture rather than shape.

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innovator thomas heatherwick TWO IMAGES, HEATHERWICK STUDIO. OPPOSITE, MARKN OGUE Cultivation Cathedral thomas heatherwick spreads U.k.s seeds at the shanghai expo. Marina cashdanwords above and right: renderings of the U.k. pavilion at the 2010 shanghai expo. opposite : heatherwick. 30 Modern Painters MAY 2010 artinfo.coM
Designer-sculptor Thomas Heatherwicks studio is a five-minute who invited the young man to live and work at his home. There Heatherwick constructed a walk from Londons Kings Cross tube station, in laminated-birch gazebo, which an industrial space hidden behind the remarkable still stands in Conrans garden. Edwardian fa巽ade of a onetime government The two developed a close building (saved from its former state of decrepi- working relationship. (In 2004 tude, Heatherwick tells me, by a fa巽ade- Conran, a Design Museum retention project). Visitors enter through a 10- trustee, offered Heatherwick his foot-tall wrought-iron gate and follow a dark own show.) This influential cobblestone drive to an oversized glass door. connection and an installation he Just above the studio is a Travel Lodge, part of a created for Harvey Nichols for chain of budget hotels. I actually am embar- the 1997 London Fashion rassed, quips Heatherwick. I had a vanity thing Weeka dramatically lit plywood where I was thinking, Would it be bad to be sculpture, titled Autumn under a Travel Lodge? And actually its great Intrusion, that climbed up the being here. entire front of the department Heatherwick and his team of 25 designers, store, weaving in and out of its architects, artists, and fabricators moved into the windowssolidified his reputa- 7,700-square-foot open-plan studio-workshop tion quite quickly. London had almost two years ago. Its equipped with a full fallen for Heatherwicks very kitchenclean and minimal in designwith a special designs. long, communal table, a conference room, a Im interested in the format meeting room, and a large workspace in the of where specialness is, he back. In the common area, the wall is lined with says. One part of that is trying shelves and drawers marked with labels like Clay, to spot that specialness in Fibres, and Rubbers, Plastics. projects that come to you, and The air hums with productivity. Tacked-up also the other way around sketches and a few maquettes are sprinkled around to keep you thinking, reflecting, says trying to make projects happen if youve got an throughout the rooms. You need [older work] Heatherwick, whose explosive head of curls and idea for one. A project he made happen was a boyish looks make it hard to believe hes 40 carryall constructed entirely of zippers. In 2004 years old. On this particular afternoon, the focal he presented the concept to Longchamp, a point in the front space is the 10-foot-high French family-run leather and luxury-goods Lamp-Post Chandelier sculpture, which was company. Our old studio was near a zip factory, constructed for the Super Contemporary so Id been experimenting with them. I ap- exhibition at the Design Museum in London last proached [the Longchamps] with an idea for a year and has just returned. The sculpture typifies bag. And they were like, Who are you? he Heatherwicks approach: something special recalls, laughing. But almost immediately there made from ordinary materials. was a kind of genuine chemistry, because theyd Heatherwick likes the word special, perhaps never met a designer before. After the Zip bags partly (and subconsciously) because this successful launch, Longchamp invited Heather- adjective has been applied to him since he was wick Studio in 2006 to design its first contempo- quite young. Born and raised in North London, rary flagship store, in New Yorks SoHo. Heatherwick comes from a creative family. His Special has also been used to describe mother was a bead collector with a shop on Heatherwicks design for the U.K. pavilion at the Portobello Road, and his father, a musician, Shanghai Expo, opening this month. In winning introduced him to architecture and design early the commission, his studio beat out a number of on. Because of his bohemian upbringing, the British firms, including Zaha Hadid Architects. designer was initially wary of working in the The finalized design, he says, emphasizes texture luxury market but became attuned to it after over shape. This is another theme in Heather- launching Thomas Heatherwick Studio (which wicks work: His 184-foot starburst B of the Bang has since dropped the Thomas from its name) in sculpture, built to mark the Manchester Com- 1994. Luxury is only relative to what you believe monwealth Games in 2002, was so textural it was luxury to be, he says, remarking that taking a almost dangerous, having to be dismantled last solitary journey on the Heathrow Express to the year because its metal spikes were falling off. airport is a greater indulgence for him than Im interested in texture, he says. In large getting picked up in a limo: Im not comfortable structures, buildings always tend to be shapes: having a driver in front and not talking to him. Theres the sky, and theres a building; theres Ignoring him makes me feel like Im being rude. that shape and that shape. But could we make a Heatherwick studied 3-D design at Manches- building and sky somehow blend with each ter Polytechnic, going on to get his MA in other? Could you have a soft building? product design at the Royal College of Art, in A maquette of the Shanghai Expo pavilion sits London. While at rca he happened to meet on a table in the studio. It looks like a combina- Terence Conran, the U.K.s foremost designer, tion sea urchin and 1970s fiber-optic lamp, with artinfo.coM MAY 2010 Modern Painters 31
innovator hundreds of plastic fibers jutting out from a which emanate 60,000 transparent acrylic central structure. Adhering to the events filaments, each encasing a seed donated by the themeBetter City, Better LifeHeatherwick bank and lightweight enough to be continually played with the U.K. passion for horticulture. swaying with the breeze, causing, as he puts it, British cities are the greenest in the world the building to tingle. The sun will illuminate greenest, as in the quantity of greenery built the rods during the day, and at night lamps will into the infrastructure of the cities. The worlds light them, infusing the interior of the pavilion first public park of modern times was in a British with a shimmering glow. The structure will take city. The Victorians believed that it would help up only about a quarter of the land allotted to peoples health, so they cleared slums and built the U.K., with the remainder carpeted in gray parks. And we set up the Royal Botanic Gardens Astroturf, no doubt enhancing the wholes of Kew, the foremost botanic gardens of the otherworldliness. Because normally people world. He drew inspiration from Kews Millen- have built the pavilion as big as their site, weve nium Seed Bank partnership, the largest ex situ deliberately not done that. Instead, were making project anywhere dedicated to preserving the a big public space. Youve got 239 pavilions seeds of plants threatened with extinction. showing off, so how do you show off when Working with more than 50 countries, the everyone is showing off? It seemed that the partnership has collected seeds from 10 percent best way was to try and find some calm idea, of the earths wild species and hopes to increase Heatherwick says, brushing his hand over the that to 25 percent by 2020. Heatherwick little sea-urchin maquette. Ive always liked designed a 贈25 million seed cathedral from doing projects that you dont expect. MP ALL IMAGES, HEATHERWICK STUDIO clockwise from top: heatherwick-designed windows at harvey nichols, London, 1997. interior rendering, U.k. pavilion, 2010 shang- hai expo. pavilion detail, encased seeds. 32 Modern Painters MAY 2010 artinfo.coM

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Thomas Heatherwick, Modern Painters May 2010

  • 1. innovator thomas heatherwick TWO IMAGES, HEATHERWICK STUDIO. OPPOSITE, MARKN OGUE Cultivation Cathedral thomas heatherwick spreads U.k.s seeds at the shanghai expo. Marina cashdanwords above and right: renderings of the U.k. pavilion at the 2010 shanghai expo. opposite : heatherwick. 30 Modern Painters MAY 2010 artinfo.coM
  • 2. Designer-sculptor Thomas Heatherwicks studio is a five-minute who invited the young man to live and work at his home. There Heatherwick constructed a walk from Londons Kings Cross tube station, in laminated-birch gazebo, which an industrial space hidden behind the remarkable still stands in Conrans garden. Edwardian fa巽ade of a onetime government The two developed a close building (saved from its former state of decrepi- working relationship. (In 2004 tude, Heatherwick tells me, by a fa巽ade- Conran, a Design Museum retention project). Visitors enter through a 10- trustee, offered Heatherwick his foot-tall wrought-iron gate and follow a dark own show.) This influential cobblestone drive to an oversized glass door. connection and an installation he Just above the studio is a Travel Lodge, part of a created for Harvey Nichols for chain of budget hotels. I actually am embar- the 1997 London Fashion rassed, quips Heatherwick. I had a vanity thing Weeka dramatically lit plywood where I was thinking, Would it be bad to be sculpture, titled Autumn under a Travel Lodge? And actually its great Intrusion, that climbed up the being here. entire front of the department Heatherwick and his team of 25 designers, store, weaving in and out of its architects, artists, and fabricators moved into the windowssolidified his reputa- 7,700-square-foot open-plan studio-workshop tion quite quickly. London had almost two years ago. Its equipped with a full fallen for Heatherwicks very kitchenclean and minimal in designwith a special designs. long, communal table, a conference room, a Im interested in the format meeting room, and a large workspace in the of where specialness is, he back. In the common area, the wall is lined with says. One part of that is trying shelves and drawers marked with labels like Clay, to spot that specialness in Fibres, and Rubbers, Plastics. projects that come to you, and The air hums with productivity. Tacked-up also the other way around sketches and a few maquettes are sprinkled around to keep you thinking, reflecting, says trying to make projects happen if youve got an throughout the rooms. You need [older work] Heatherwick, whose explosive head of curls and idea for one. A project he made happen was a boyish looks make it hard to believe hes 40 carryall constructed entirely of zippers. In 2004 years old. On this particular afternoon, the focal he presented the concept to Longchamp, a point in the front space is the 10-foot-high French family-run leather and luxury-goods Lamp-Post Chandelier sculpture, which was company. Our old studio was near a zip factory, constructed for the Super Contemporary so Id been experimenting with them. I ap- exhibition at the Design Museum in London last proached [the Longchamps] with an idea for a year and has just returned. The sculpture typifies bag. And they were like, Who are you? he Heatherwicks approach: something special recalls, laughing. But almost immediately there made from ordinary materials. was a kind of genuine chemistry, because theyd Heatherwick likes the word special, perhaps never met a designer before. After the Zip bags partly (and subconsciously) because this successful launch, Longchamp invited Heather- adjective has been applied to him since he was wick Studio in 2006 to design its first contempo- quite young. Born and raised in North London, rary flagship store, in New Yorks SoHo. Heatherwick comes from a creative family. His Special has also been used to describe mother was a bead collector with a shop on Heatherwicks design for the U.K. pavilion at the Portobello Road, and his father, a musician, Shanghai Expo, opening this month. In winning introduced him to architecture and design early the commission, his studio beat out a number of on. Because of his bohemian upbringing, the British firms, including Zaha Hadid Architects. designer was initially wary of working in the The finalized design, he says, emphasizes texture luxury market but became attuned to it after over shape. This is another theme in Heather- launching Thomas Heatherwick Studio (which wicks work: His 184-foot starburst B of the Bang has since dropped the Thomas from its name) in sculpture, built to mark the Manchester Com- 1994. Luxury is only relative to what you believe monwealth Games in 2002, was so textural it was luxury to be, he says, remarking that taking a almost dangerous, having to be dismantled last solitary journey on the Heathrow Express to the year because its metal spikes were falling off. airport is a greater indulgence for him than Im interested in texture, he says. In large getting picked up in a limo: Im not comfortable structures, buildings always tend to be shapes: having a driver in front and not talking to him. Theres the sky, and theres a building; theres Ignoring him makes me feel like Im being rude. that shape and that shape. But could we make a Heatherwick studied 3-D design at Manches- building and sky somehow blend with each ter Polytechnic, going on to get his MA in other? Could you have a soft building? product design at the Royal College of Art, in A maquette of the Shanghai Expo pavilion sits London. While at rca he happened to meet on a table in the studio. It looks like a combina- Terence Conran, the U.K.s foremost designer, tion sea urchin and 1970s fiber-optic lamp, with artinfo.coM MAY 2010 Modern Painters 31
  • 3. innovator hundreds of plastic fibers jutting out from a which emanate 60,000 transparent acrylic central structure. Adhering to the events filaments, each encasing a seed donated by the themeBetter City, Better LifeHeatherwick bank and lightweight enough to be continually played with the U.K. passion for horticulture. swaying with the breeze, causing, as he puts it, British cities are the greenest in the world the building to tingle. The sun will illuminate greenest, as in the quantity of greenery built the rods during the day, and at night lamps will into the infrastructure of the cities. The worlds light them, infusing the interior of the pavilion first public park of modern times was in a British with a shimmering glow. The structure will take city. The Victorians believed that it would help up only about a quarter of the land allotted to peoples health, so they cleared slums and built the U.K., with the remainder carpeted in gray parks. And we set up the Royal Botanic Gardens Astroturf, no doubt enhancing the wholes of Kew, the foremost botanic gardens of the otherworldliness. Because normally people world. He drew inspiration from Kews Millen- have built the pavilion as big as their site, weve nium Seed Bank partnership, the largest ex situ deliberately not done that. Instead, were making project anywhere dedicated to preserving the a big public space. Youve got 239 pavilions seeds of plants threatened with extinction. showing off, so how do you show off when Working with more than 50 countries, the everyone is showing off? It seemed that the partnership has collected seeds from 10 percent best way was to try and find some calm idea, of the earths wild species and hopes to increase Heatherwick says, brushing his hand over the that to 25 percent by 2020. Heatherwick little sea-urchin maquette. Ive always liked designed a 贈25 million seed cathedral from doing projects that you dont expect. MP ALL IMAGES, HEATHERWICK STUDIO clockwise from top: heatherwick-designed windows at harvey nichols, London, 1997. interior rendering, U.k. pavilion, 2010 shang- hai expo. pavilion detail, encased seeds. 32 Modern Painters MAY 2010 artinfo.coM