pressrelease Diane Steverlynck (°1976)
After studies in visual arts and then textile design at La Cambre in Brussels, Diane Steverlynck has opened het studio in 2003 to develop objects and textile accessories.
Diane’s work focus includes research on materials and structures and their influence on the use and identity of everyday objects. Characterized by their diversity, her products are simple and coherent. Behind each of her creations, there is a story, one that involves material, people, use and memory. In a rigorous way, she develops products from the diversion of structural and functional principles inscribed in our collective memory. Treated with care, the construction and finishing details carry the symbolic and visual identity of the object. Rather than from a formal will, her projects take simple structural and functional principles, drawn from various sources and associated in an unexpected way, as a starting point. Cross breeding heterogeneous cultural references, her creations respond to universal uses while carrying the trace of collective and personal mythologies.
Diane Steverlynck works for industrial clients like Limited Edition (BE) and Trico (JP). In 2000 and 2001 she worked for Studio Edelkoort in Paris and as an assistant to Dutch textile designer Eugène Van Veldhoven. She also distributes her own productions in galleries and shops such as Verzameld Werk (BE) and Magazin (DE). At the same time she is active in the teaching area at the Gent Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
Diane presents various distinct projects, each of them forming the crystallization of a sound conception process.
“Double” is a little oval mirror that creates a face to face of multiple references by using a simple technical operation. The bevelling of mirrors is generally used to frame, isolate and close out image. Diane uses bevelling, in contrary, to double our double. The front surface is flat and the double reflection is obtained with the cutting work on the other side of the mirror. Seen from the side, the mirror lets us penetrate its guts.
“Leaning” is a series of low space consuming storage of which the form and the function are determinated by the pattern of the fabric and the weight of the wood. Existing in numerous typologies and variations, the bellow system allows the fabric to be folded like a fan when the storage is empty.
“Tight stool” is a wooden puzzle of legs and seat kept together with a coloured thread. This stool is inspired by the elementary binding system people use in everyday life to place together loose elements and form, change or fix objects. The thread is essential to the construction of the stool, it’s the structural binding element, but it indirectly brings a decorative note that refers to the tradition of trimming. With a simple element as a rope, individual elements stick together to make a seat. The only thing required is some strength.