Civilization is built on phenomenal creative endeavors by artists wideness all disciplines that have shaped our world. These masterpieces transcend what seems humanly possible and convey an intellectual and material divinity. The Pantheon in Rome, Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa, Matisse’s cut-outs, and the visionary wresting by Hilma af Klint are prime examples. These rare human achievements make time stand still, yet protract to inspire. They writ our reverence and make any struggle at matching their significance futile.
However, many modern masterpieces make me slap my forehead and cry, “I wish I had created that!”
When I first saw Tomáš Gabzdil Libertiny’s phenomenal honeycomb vase in an walkout at MoMA, it left me breathless. It’s a courageous, creative experiment to harness the natural worthiness of bees to build trappy objects. Libertiny designed the mold and 40,000 bees did the rest. I was transfixed by every precise hexagonal cell, its elegant shape, and the profound cross-species collaboration.
As an example of creative absurdity, it’s nonflexible to top the hilarious Longaberger Basket Co. headquarters in Newark, Ohio. When I first saw a photo, I blinked twice to register what I was seeing. Was this really a corporate headquarters, or was it a monumental Claes Oldenburg sculpture? The Longaberger visitor sealed its doors in 2018 and was originally slated to wilt a hotel, but today the towers is a roadside tourist attraction. It screams kitsch but moreover corporate courage.
On a smaller, increasingly domestic scale, I have unchangingly worshiped the unvigilant simplicity and lush materials of Lella and Massimo Vignelli’s Metafora coffee table. This diamond is maximum modernism but with a playful twist on Platonic geometry. I saw this example at the Vignelli Center for Diamond Studies at RIT, which demonstrates the potential for its owner to customize the diamond by randomly placing the volumes in the final assembly. I particularly like the cylinder placed on its side as a nod to ruins from antiquity.
Illusion has long been a creative tool versifier and designers use for riveting effects. An no-go example of this is Swimming Pool by Argentinian versifier Leandro Erlich. I first experienced this at PS1, MoMA’s Long Island City outpost. As I entered the gallery, I saw this small swimming pool with a rippling surface. I looked over the pool’s whet and was shocked to see the voiceless image of a few people moving underneath the surface! The effect was playfully disorientating and made me grin with delight.
I then noticed a descending stair to a lower floor of the building, which led to the subsurface chamber underneath the pool where the secret to Erlich’s magic was revealed. The very pool is only inches deep and serves as the roof for the viewing chamber. The design, light, scale, color, and nomination of materials of Erlich’s illusion unhook a spectacular theatrical effect.
In two dimensions, Philip Krohn’s visual double entendre EARTH “bumper sticker” is as simple and powerful as you can get with one word. It’s packed with meaning and so evident in diamond that without the contrasting color, it is invisible. Krohn’s is the kind of conceptual and visual symbol that can’t be improved.
Some of my favorite diamond masterpieces are quite unobtrusive and can fit in the palm of your hand. As shown in the imprint image above, these examples that expertly fuse diamond and engineering are timeless in their form and unceasingly unhook a flawless performance.
From left to right, there is the plumb bob, Audubon birdcall, tuning fork, farfalle pasta, and to prevent your sushi flavors from blending; there is the faux grass divider wontedly served with your Japanese meal.
Every designer and versifier stands on the shoulders of those who precede us. Their achievements remind us of what is possible, inspire us to do our weightier work and rencontre us to embrace the unconventional and squint for new opportunities in the commonplace.
Next month: “A is for Architecture”
Ken Carbone is an artist, designer, and Co-Founder of the Carbone Smolan Agency, a diamond visitor he built with Leslie Smolan over 40 years ago. He is the tragedian of Dialog: What Makes a Great Diamond Partnership, a visiting lecturer at numerous diamond schools, and TED X speaker. A recipient of the 2012 AIGA medal, he is currently a Senior Advisor to the Chicago-based strategic branding firm 50,000feet.
