Creative Mind: Kostas Lambridis
Riding high from a recent solo show at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, the fast-rising Greek artist uses found objects to create intricate furnishings and accessories
Replication isn’t in the vocabulary of fast-rising Greek artisan Kostas Lambridis, who recently wrapped up a solo show highlighting intricate, one-of-a-kind creations at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in New York. Each of the complex furnishings has a puzzle-like quality, assembled by fusing together dozens of ready-made objects found everywhere from a flea market in Athens to Facebook—and even a street corner.
“I live in a big metropolis that’s full of garbage, so garbage becomes my material,” he says. “I’m not necessarily trying to add value but find the value they already have.”
Material approach: Lambridis, who assisted in Nacho Carbonell’s studio, took a mono-material approach to his latest creations, each of which spotlights one of his “five families” of elements: wood, metal, plastic, glass, or mineral. “I thought it would be better to keep them separate from each other and try to see if I could produce interesting work within this limitation,” he explains. A swirling steampunk bar, for instance, incorporates aluminum, steel, and car scraps from a Volkswagen Beetle and Citroën 2CVs.
Outside the box: For his master’s project at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, in 2017, Lambridis reinterpreted the Badminton cabinet, a monumental 18th-century Baroque decorative arts icon. His version—which melded marquetry, embroidery, ceramics, and more—was quickly secured for a group exhibition at the Fondation Cartier in Paris.
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Spring Issue under the headline “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.