Matter Made started 15 years ago in New York, first as a gallery and then as a showroom with a much broader concept ranging from skin care and body care products to lighting and furniture and objects for the home. Jamie Gray, founder and curator, then slowly developed a product space that was specifically meant for artwork and exhibitions being the kick off for today’s recognisable design language.
Today when picking a designer and product, he cares for pieces that are recognizable and have a real, true personality and vision. Think Faye Toogood (puffball lamp on pic no.4) and her and you get the idea.
Grey points out too that he is observing an evolution of crafts, which was really disregarded. “You have your design fair continuing over here and your craft fair continuing over there. Somewhere in the middle craft has become incorporated – and a form of making – in the design sector. I see that happening in Europe too, with makers starting with ceramicists or wood or metal workers that are making things with a design language, in a design context. I see it as a global trend.”
Apart from including in his portfolio ‘official’ pieces, he is working with some local designers he knew to set up some one-off pieces. It was very much an exploration and experiment, learning and understanding how production worked.
