Ralph Nauta and Lonkee Gordeen, Studio Drift.

Studio Drift is one of the most unusual creative duets, the pride of modern Dutch design. Their personal exhibition in Amsterdam Museum Stedeleyk "Encoded Nature» (Coded Nature) - the first result of a short but intense creative path.

Related: Dutch Design and its 10 newsmakers

Studi0 Drift was founded in 2007 in Amsterdam. The Dutchwoman, artist Lonneke Gordain began on her own, then her partner, an Englishman, designer Ralph Nauta, joined her. Everything that Lonneke Gordain and Ralph Nauta do belongs to the most modern trend of tech art - it is spectacular, often imitates natural processes and is based on advanced scientific achievements.

Gordain and Nauta emphasize that the most interesting thing for them is to look for unprecedented forms and original incarnations for new technologies. Another factor that characterizes their approach: the result must be associated with a deep aesthetic experience.

The chair of the call. Ghost, plexiglass 5 cm thick, laser-printed. 2008 The chair of the call. Ghost, plexiglass 5 cm thick, laser-printed. 2008 Stool from the call. Ghost, plexiglass 5 cm thick, laser-printed. 2008 The chair of the call. Ghost, plexiglass 5 cm thick, laser-printed. 2008 Sketches Ghost. 2008

Studio studies are always interdisciplinary. Studio Drift combine different genres - sculpture, installation, performance. Both designers are graduates of the Eindhoven Design Academy, so they are both interested in ideas and concepts. And most of all they like to look out for the delicate, sometimes destructive relations between the evolution of man by forces of nature and technical development.

Lonneke Gordain attracted the attention of the press in 2005, making a glowing sculpture of Fragile Future. Nauta developed the project by introducing into the installation the heads of ripened white dandelions, each of which had an LED attached. This project became the starting point of the joint work of the duet.

In 2007 and 2008, the more advanced versions of the Fragile Future were shown at the Milan Furniture Salon, an advanced press responded to the lamp, and Studio Drift was invited to speak at Design Miami in 2008. In Miami, designers met Julien Lombray and Loic Le Gaillard, the founders of the Carpenters Workshop Gallery. Until now, gallery owners recall that the work of Studio Drift impressed them with something unseen, some kind of poetic revelation. So everything was unusual and spectacular.

Light installation FlyLight, PAD, Paris, 2015. Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

Cooperation with the Carpenters Workshop Gallery (for the first time the gallery showed their work in 2009 at the Paris PAD exhibition), on the one hand, allowed it to enter the market, on the other hand, it demanded strengthening the functionality of the objects. In general, Studio Drift avoids restrictions, they have never been fascinated by the idea of ​​just making lights. Therefore, it took some time to maintain their own priorities, learn to adapt their installations to the needs of specific customers.

Cветильник Fragile Future.

Lonneke and Ralph themselves think of themselves as part of a small group of designers who are passionate about technology. In addition to Studio Drift, Toika, Random International and TeamLab succeeded in technological experiments.

Kinetic Installation In 20 Steps.

Without a doubt, the ShyLight project - an order from the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum - contributed to the Studio Drift fame among the general public. Dancing lights ShyLight were designed specifically to decorate the stairs leading to the newly opened new wing (Philips Wing) of the famous museum. ShyLight - five light soaring forms that mimic the opening and closing flowers. The art installation allowed visitors to the museum of old art to refresh the perception of the classical heritage.

Among the recent high-profile projects Studio Drift - Drifter, presented by Pace Gallery at the Armory Show in New York. A giant concrete block soaring under the ceiling from a material that is familiar to us, makes a tremendous impression. Designers wanted to look at concrete, we remembered that humanity knows this material for more than five centuries. In addition, the block, according to the idea of ​​the creators, should resemble durable simple material, which made strong houses in the country of Utopia, described by Thomas More.

Installation Drifter, Pace Gallery. ShyLight installation at Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Project 2014. Fragile fixtures in a private project, Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

Last December, Studio Drift in Miami showed the grandiose project Franchise Freedom - 300 drones, with light fixed on them, a single organism soared into the night sky of Miami. Using computer algorithms, the designers added stellar flights to the drones software so that a myriad of luminous points emulate the flight of a flock of birds. Such an amazing synchronization used to be observed only in the wild.

Installation Franchise Freedom, 300 luminous drones in the night sky Miami, November 2017.

The indisputable advantage of Studio Drift is that they do not slip into small commercial projects, but are ready to spend their energy and life time on real works of art.

The apparent success only expanded the possibilities for work. Designers work tirelessly. Today, together with the famous Dutch architectural bureau of Rem Koolhaas, the OMA reconstructs the building of the former Amsterdam prison Bijlmerbajes. Instead of a prison there will be a large workshop, laboratory and research center. All that Lonneke Gordein and Ralph Nauta really love.