Q&A WITH: Acrylicize
Acrylicize is an award-winning studio of artists, designers and craftspeople working across multiple sectors and using an astonishing array of materials and techniques. We are hugely impressed by the imagination and innovation that goes into creating such spectacular installations (do take a look at their project portfolio here). Keen to find out more about the studio’s design approach, we had a chat with James Burke, Founder and Creative Director of Acrylicize.
The studio’s work embodies strong concepts that are wonderfully executed - the Acrylicize team is clearly a group of talented and creative individuals. What are their sources of inspiration?
Inspiration can come from anywhere. We purposely bring different skill sets, disciplines and perspectives into the studio so that everyone is a source of inspiration to each other. We also massively encourage people to go out and take in the world outside you can get just as much from the journey to a gallery as you can in the gallery itself. It’s our belief that all the ideas we need are right in front of us - we just need to be able to see them.
With the studio’s ethos of continually pushing things forward, we imagine a great deal of research goes into deciding the most suitable materials and techniques for each project. Can you tell us about this part of the process?
Here we completely let the process drive the outcome. That way we let the narrative of the work dictate what the final execution should be. As a result, we are often working with materials and processes we haven’t used before. This becomes a huge learning curve for us and one which is integral to the philosophy of the studio. A good example is the work we did for Heinz. We ended up doing two portraits of HJ Heinz, the company founder. One was with tomato seeds, the other with shopping trolleys (of course!). For each piece we did a lot of internal tests before finding experts in the necessary fields to help develop the final works. In both instances we came out with completely unique works that pushed the boundaries of portraiture to a place we’d never seen before.
As hospitality interior designers, we’re wowed by the lighting installations - Cycle [at Shaare Zedek] is beautiful, as is Equilibrium; Contours and LiveWire are simply fantastic. What have been some key challenges in realising these types of projects, is additional expertise drawn from other sectors?
With light you can plan all you want but until you use the actual lights and the actual space you really never quite know how it’s going to turn out. This is a double-edged sword as sometimes it doesn’t come out as you envisioned and you need to develop further - and other times you are pleasantly surprised and you end up with results you couldn’t have planned. Either way with lighting you have to be very hands on and just play - this makes it incredibly fun to work with.
Thinking about the embodied energy in materials and production processes [and possibly the whole-life-cycle of art work / installations], does the studio have a sustainability policy or consider these factors when working on a project?
We do a lot of up cycling and look to re-use materials and items as much as we can. As a result, we produce a new lease of life for otherwise unwanted items. Examples of this are many - Drinking straws, Coca Cola bottles, lots of toys, reclaimed woods, car parts etc.
And finally, which art movements, artists or works do the Acrylicize team rate?
We are big fans of Dutch artists and sensibilities - notably the way they fuse art and design together so seamlessly. Examples are Helmut Smits, Studio Drift and Maarten Baas, Moooi to name a few…