Inside Design with Bill Amberg Studio

Exhibition open 22st Feb – 6th Mar 2013
Private View 21st Feb 6pm – 9pm
In conversation with Libby Sellers 28th Feb 7pm – 8pm
Bill Amberg talk 6th Mar 7pm – 8pm

See the video from this event here.

In the first of a new series of exhibitions to be held at Great Western Studios, Bill Amberg will bring to life in the project space the story of five different artistic collaborations in leather. He will exhibit a Charge bike (with customised leather pan saddle, handle bars, rat traps and mud flaps), a herring-bone parquet floor, a wall-mounted shelf table (using the same techniques that were developed for the Shard reception desk), a pair of paneled doors and, finally, a table top desk showing various material combinations.

Look out too for the Wagamama design project, showing the work in progress behind the design of their take-away packaging; plus a unique Johnny Walker Blue Label bag which will included leather maps, casing and full design process description and materials. A visual treat and an exploration of design at its finest, these design stories will be told through a combination of materials, sketches, tools and objects.

Amberg has an encyclopaedic knowledge of leather – the texture of different types of skins, how they feel and how they can best be used to create everything, from the 300sq/m floor in Selfridges mens’ shoe department to the lift interiors at the Shard, the perfect bag for cycling, or a myriad of stylish storage solutions for pens to computers. This is where his design genius lies. Amberg will explore his ethos of developing a product successfully through the process of making it.

This exhibition will also look at the importance of craft and how vital it is in the development of a design.

By way of background, Amberg grew up in Northampton, the home of the British shoe and leather industry. His mother – a maker and an architect – would buy scraps of leather from the market for her son to transform into his very earliest creations. In Australia, in the early 80s, Amberg met the inspirational mentor and leather worker, Gay Wilson. It was there that Amberg acquired his fundamental belief in craftsmanship and a respect for leather as a multifaceted material.

During his long and illustrious career, Amberg has worked with many great designers and architects – Paul Smith, Donna Karan, Romeo Gigli, David Chipperfield, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano – to name but a few. In 1986 Amberg created his first leather floor for an architectural practice, quickly becoming the master of bespoke leather in interior design. He has completed a variety of exceptional commissions from leather panelling the Maltese Falcon super- yacht to the stunning, leather-lined fumoir bar in Claridges.

Whether via his classically designed bags or inspirational interiors, Inside Design will illustrate the secrets behind Bill Amberg’s unique vision.

Further information: www.billambergstudio.com