Studio Libertiny is a young design studio based in Rotterdam, established by Tomas Gabzdil just after he graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven. What characterises the Studio’s practice is a strong conceptual stance linked with an interest in playing games with our perception of materials.

For example, ‘What is Nature?’ was the starting point of the series of Five Paper Vases. The idea was not to give a concrete answer but rather to use the dialectic nature of it, hence the use of two artefacts: wood and paper. Gluing 700 identical prints by hand, one by one, using wood glue and press resulted in solid blocks that have similar characteristics to wood. This, combined with traditional wood working technique and repetitive labour, gave birth to these subtle and poetic objects which all display the distorted image of a tree.

The Studio was noticed very early on by opinion leaders in the design field such as Murray Moss (the Moss shop emporium in New York showed some of Studio Libertiny’s work earlier this year); Art Design Basel/Miami, who selected the Studio for their young designers exhibition at Miami Fair in 2007; the design critic writer and advisor Janice Blackburn who selected them for her London exhibition ‘Small show for big talents’; and the influential Milan based Spazzio Rossana Orlandi.