TEN: BEYOND THE BEETLE
(DI)SSECTED BEETLE
By Simon Wick
(DI)SSECTED BEETLE
Fashion designer Simon Wick offers up a ‘(di)ssected Beetle’. The deconstructed seat is reassembled with layers of GUBI’s surplus textiles and upholstery offcuts, as well as packaging materials such as cardboard and plastic. Taken as a whole, the piece gives form to the complexity of the production process behind such a seemingly simple and compact object as the Beetle Chair.
“Often in fashion, the finished garment reveals little of the story behind it – you never see the fabric offcuts on the factory floor, or the lining materials piled up in bags. You only ever see the thing itself, perfect and complete. It is the same in furniture design. I wanted to tell a story of the Beetle that almost never gets told, to create a clear visual and tactile expression of its material composition, and to pay tribute to the volume and complexity of the work that goes into the making of such a seemingly perfect form.”
- Simon Wick
SIMON WICK
FASHION DESIGNER, COPENHAGEN
Simon Wick is the co-founder of (di)vision, a rapidly growing Danish design and fashion label that has erupted onto the international scene. The brand has built a dedicated following and a strong community around the commitment to ‘creating from what already is’. Wick’s charisma and rockstar aesthetic is visible throughout his work, usually characterized by material fusions, bold customizations, and daring reinventions of fashion staples, earning recognition from fashion media worldwide.
“Simon Wick operates on the Beetle with surgical violence, disemboweling and reassembling it to show its insides. It is a quest to find the truth, to reveal what is usually hidden, to question a production process, and to desecrate the perfection of an object. Although the Beetle is stripped, abused and subjected to Wick’s stringent aesthetic therapy, the result is an investigation into its essence, the quality of the materials used.”
- Marco Sammicheli, curator, TEN: Beyond the Beetle
TEN: BEYOND THE BEETLE
GUBI SALONE 2023’s landmark exhibition showcases 10 creative responses to a modern design icon.