In her Love art print series Julie Progin pays tribute to iconic designs pairing unlike things together with her distinctive humour.
In the early eighties the collective Memphis sparked a revolt in the design world with the launch of a collection combining bold geometries, wild patterns and banal materials like aluminium or Formica. One of the most iconic pieces was Ettore Sottsass’s Carlton room divider, a bookshelf and cabinet that combines different colours of plastic laminate in a tiered, anthropomorphic form that seems to recall the head and arms of an ancient idol or totem.
As an avid collector of vintage tin toys Julie Progin saw a lot of formal similarities between the Carlton and a robot she owns and displays at home.
Julie Progin shares, “When I purchased this tin robot, I immediately thought of Sottsass’s bookshelf and how they would make the most perfect and yet unlikely pair. The vivid colours, the geometries and the fact that both have human characteristics made me think that the celebrated toy and legendary bookcase would make the perfect couple.”