You would by no means accuse designer and artist Martino Gamper of being idle. Audacious? Sure. Valuable? No. Few people have put such a quantity and number of work into the world with their naked palms. His curiosity to experiment by doing is spectacular, voracious, even perhaps regarding. How stressed is that thoughts? How uncooked are these fingers? Whereas a complete retrospective of Gamper’s tasks is opening in London in October 2024, a brand new pearlescent pink ebook from his publishing home Dente-de-Leone has landed with a thud in time for summer time.
Contained in the Hook E book, designed by Åbäke, printed by Dente-de-Leone, £27 from dentdeleone.com and Waterstones
(Picture credit score: Angus Mill)
Hook E book – nearly 1000 catalogues the indefatigable Italian’s latest give attention to – effectively, the clue is within the title. It’s a stunning object in itself, designed by Åbäke and bearing all of the hallmarks of the design studio’s playful sophistication. In a wonderful panoply of papers and printing methods, Gamper’s thousand-odd (and typically they’re odd) hooks are laid naked. The sheer vary is mind-boggling in itself. Every hook is a minor feat; collectively, the gathering presents as a taxonomy of supplies and processes – a single archetype extrapolated into smithereens.
(Picture credit score: Angus Mill)
(Picture credit score: Jasmin Bruno)
Gamper acquired correctly hooked on hooks in New Zealand, the place he tends to spend winter. An early assortment of hooks was exhibited as ‘Hookaloti’ – a present in 2019 at Michael Lett in Auckland. A second present, in 2023 at Anton Kern in New York, gave Gamper the impetus to quickly develop his hook library. That present had the attractive title ‘I Am Many Moods’, courtesy of Gamper’s pal, the creator Deborah Levy, who additionally penned a quietly profound textual content for Hook E book, titled: ‘Attachment Idea; holding and letting go’.
Gamper’s world is compelling. So when Hook E book arrived, we picked up the telephone to seek out out extra…
Why Martino Gamper is hooked on hooks
Wallpaper*: You’re rigorous Martino!
Martino Gamper: The hooks had been the straightforward half. Photographing and cataloguing all the things for the ebook was much more laborious.
W*: The attraction of a hook is maybe apparent, however I’m curious to listen to what you want about them.
MG: I’ve at all times appreciated hanging issues on hooks. I wish to preserve issues off the ground. In 2011 I did a live-in residency present at Galleria Franco Noero in Turin. I moved in with nothing however a daybed and made all of the furnishings over the course of a month from my creativeness. I actually missed having wherever to maintain issues – to hold issues. Hooks.
Hanging round – again within the day
(Picture credit score: Chris Dawes)
Wallpaper*: I bear in mind visiting you in 2007 within the early days of your ‘100 Chairs in 100 Days’ undertaking, and even then most of your studio was held on the partitions on pegs and hooks and numerous mechanisms.
MG: That’s proper. Hooks are easy objects but in addition ambiguous. They’re sculptural, ornamental and useful concurrently. That’s fairly a uncommon mixture. They maintain fascinating area round them.
W*: Inform us in regards to the materials selection.
MG: It was excuse to play with totally different supplies that I don’t know. I at all times wish to push the boundaries of my data and expertise, however it’s important to have a adequate purpose to make use of a brand new materials. A hook is a reasonably easy experiment on this case: make a 90-degree bend (or thereabouts) in something and it might grow to be a hook. Additionally it’s a three-dimensional object, not a flat floor. All it has to do is hopefully be robust sufficient to carry one thing up.
Set up view of ‘I Am Many Moods’ at Anton Kern, New York, 2023
(Picture credit score: Izzy Leung)
W*: How do you are feeling whenever you see them in such a big quantity, as at Anton Kern in New York?
MG: It was fairly an amazing set up. I believed I had an idea however an empty white dice is a tough problem. I requested the staff to shut their eyes and take a marker and begin plotting. We then drilled holes and put in, with a number of tweaks. Looking back it was nearly an excessive amount of – it might typically be laborious to see the wooden for the timber.
W*: You speak about counting on instinct in your apply and course of. Please develop.
MG: I love to do first and suppose second. I have to get my palms into my tasks after which work out what’s occurred. You may overthink issues prematurely, however I discover it makes extra sense for me to post-rationalise than pre-determine. There’s an excessive amount of complexity in life already. Hold issues easy!
(Picture credit score: Angus Mill)
W*: Is there a fabric that stunned you?
MG: Cork is surprisingly tough to work with. It’s very gentle. You may’t actually sculpt it, solely sand it. You may’t actually paint it both, it doesn’t simply tackle color or dye. Clay then again I cherished studying about. I made hooks in a number of glorious potteries in New Zealand. It’s a exceptional materials. When you don’t get issues proper first time, even in case you’ve fired it, you’ll be able to grind it again down and begin once more. It has infinite chance.
W*: Your books are quick changing into collectible objects too. How essential is the ebook as a part of your course of and maybe additionally your legacy?
MG: I’ve at all times cherished books being a part of my tasks. Even on the Royal Faculty of Artwork I made a ebook with Kajsa [Ståhl, from Åbäke] about corners. Photographing and documenting is a robust method of speaking. I actually imagine in books and I imagine they endure as bodily objects. My ebook for ‘100 Chairs’ is useful for colleges and universities, I’ve discovered. It helps as a instrument to speak to college students about other ways of considering and dealing in design, hopefully opening eyes and minds at an essential stage of their studying.
(Picture credit score: Angus Mill)
W*: And as for all these hooks – what occurs subsequent?
MG: They’re on their method again from New York. They may seem in my present in October, after which I’m trying ahead to them spreading out to individuals’s properties all over the world. Now we have fairly a number of hooks at house. And I’ll preserve making them, too.
Hook E book – Virtually 1000, designed by Åbäke, printed by Dente-de-Leone, £27 from dentdeleone.com and Waterstones
(Picture credit score: Angus Mill)
Supply: Wallpaper
