Mirror Mirror: State bedchamber

With their endearing shapes and long, shaggy pelts, Fernando Laposse’s designs are like something out of a fairy tale: furniture that one can imagine befriending.

Despite their large size, they have an air of vulnerability, as if they were members of a rare endangered species.

The pieces only take on their full meaning when you know how they are made, and why.

Laposse creates them in a Mexican village called Tonahuixtla, which has been devastated by climate change. The primary material is sisal, the fibre of the agave plant – a type of succulent used in the production of tequila. Laposse has pioneered the innovative use of this material in the region, where he is also organising an extensive planting of agave, with the goal of restoring the community’s economy.

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Painted Hall

Maker Bench (Hexagon) prototype, 2018
oak, walnut

Maker Bench (Hexagon) 2018
oak, walnut

Joris Laarman (b.1979), The Netherlands

Grotto

Cryo III, 2022
Steel, wood polystyrene, polyurea, aluminium foil, resin, suede, onyx

Concretion (edition 3/8), 2021
Aluminium

Chris Schanck (b. 1975), USA

The Chapel

Pew Bench/Moon (edition 2 of 8), 2016
Spoon Chair / Moon (edition 1 of 8), 2016
Spoon Chair / Moon (prototype), 2016
all sand-cast bronze, silver nitrate

Lode II (edition 1 of 8), 2021
Trove I, 2022
Trove II, 2022
Plot II (Prototype), 2022
all hand-carved Purbeck marble

Faye Toogood (b.1977), UK

The Oak Room

Hoard of Oak Hill, 2022
hand-carved oak

Hoard I, 2022
hand-carved bog oak

Hoard II, 2022
hand-carved bog oak

Faye Toogood (b. 1977), UK

Chapel Corridor

Rhythms Vase, 2014
white stoneware clay, with stained highlights

Ingxondorha (Volatile Rocky Terrain), 2022
Umthombo (Spring), 2022
Umgodi (A Mine), 2022
Amaza (Waves), 2022
Isiziba (A Pool), 2022
glazed, hand-coiled stoneware

Cornish Waterfall, 2019
stoneware

Andile Dyalvane (b. 1978)

Great Chamber

Vase no. 7, 2006
glass and rope

Vase no. 16, 2006
glass and patinated aluminium wire

Xiangzheng, 1999
glass polished and oxidised aluminium wire

Vase no. 4, 2006
glass and rope

Lingam, 1999
Lingam, 1999
Lingam, 1999
glass

Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007), Italy

Green Satin Drawing Room

Water Filter, Stalagmite, 2012
Water Filter, Stalactite, 2012
Water Filter, Funnel, 2012
Water Filter, Funnel 2012
Water Filter, Tongue 2012
all carbonised oak, mouth-blown glass, copper

Water Filter, Spoon, 2012
carbonised oak, mouth-blown glass

Glass bottle, 2012
carbonised oak log, mouth-blown glass

FormaFantasma (founded 2009), Italy