Arthur Van-Poucke is a lamp and furniture maker. He primarily makes lampsand has been creating a series of them called “Light and Legs” that experimentswith acrylic, testing and experimenting with different colour samples and typesof plastic. For the lamp legs that support the lamps, he makes aluminum casts.Alongside the lamps he makes furniture that is both functional and thesculptural. Arthur’s background is more technical, beginning with a study inindustrial materials that covered chemistry, physics, and material reactions,followed by a preparatory year of art classes. He eventually decided againstengineering and committed fully to art and design, which he then studiedformally. When he moved to Amsterdam recently, making lamps and furniture becamehis primary practice and focus.
Arthur has been at Contact since the beginning of the year. He wasspecifically looking for this type of space, as he worked in a similarenvironment while studying and really enjoyed it. What he values most is themix of artists and practices in the space, the shared tools, and the fact thatthere is always someone around who can help if you do not know how to dosomething or use a particular machine.
The project he is currently working on is a table, made to order forsomeone who had already bought one of his lamps. For the table, she gave himcomplete creative freedom to do what he liked. He made five drawings and shechose one, leaving the choice of materials entirely up to him. The table hasfour legs with feet, cast in aluminium from real feet. Almost everything wasmade here at Contact, with the exception of the welding. He sees it as afunctional sculpture and as the beginning of something larger, a kind ofscenography he wants to develop that brings together his lamps, architecture,and sculpture into a single narrative. This piece is also a very meaningful oneto him. Over the years, Arthur has explored many different forms and shapes,but this piece feels like a new and exciting step in his practice.
Something that really inspires him is the materials themselves. He isalso fascinated by the strangeness that objects take on when removed from theirintended context. Industrial forms and components, or on object such as anengine, disassembled and each piece seen on its own.
