HERBERT

http://herbert.co.il/

Project: Herbert. Furniture and Fireplace Showroom. 14 Maskit Street. Herzliya Pituach, Israel.
Design: Pitsou Kedem, Irene Goldberg & Sigal Baranowitz.
Lighting Design: Orly Avron Alkabes.
Built-up area: 180 square meters.
Photography: Amit Geron.

The design concept for the Herbert showroom in Herzliya Pituach is the result of two central anchors – the owner’s profound passion for design and the special characteristics of the products contained within the showroom.

The client, an ardent design fan, combines in his display unique fireplaces for outdoor and indoor use. The objects, all designed with clean, modern lines and constructed of raw materials such as corten steel and smoothed concrete. They form an exciting collection of designs that manage to raise objects of simple materials to the level of a work of art.

The impressively tall space chosen for the showroom is situated in a new building in the heart of the Herzliya Pituach’s industrial area. The space’s design aimed at expressing the balanced tension that exists between the beauty of raw materials and the beauty of minimalism in design – thus echoing the underlying thread that links all of the store’s products.

The space is woven from simple, easily obtained materials that, through the use of various manipulations, transform the gallery itself into a designed object that becomes the perfect canvas for the range of products it exhibits.

The cement-block walls of the space’s shell have been left exposed in their natural, unprocessed form and their use has been expanded to include the entire perimeter of the space. The result is a strong and unified textural background which becomes a powerful backdrop for the display.

The objects themselves are exhibited as if in a gallery. This provides an adequate stage for each object rather than displaying them as part of a staged scene emulating a place or scenery.

The various objects have been placed on display platforms – some at floor level, others raised – each object on its own designated space. The floor is composed of islands of cast concrete with small basalt aggregates dispersed between them to emphasize the contours of the concrete islands. The use of basalt is reminiscent of landscape architecture – a tribute to the showroom’s emphasis on outdoor furniture.

Floating sheets of grey steel continue the language of display islands and hold the display of the outdoor furniture

Another manipulation introduced to the space in its vertical planes , at times from above and at others from below.
A row of rusted steel rods hangs from the ceiling at regular intervals one from the other. It bursts from one corner of the space, reaches the corner across and breaks off again to re-divide the space.
A second row emerges from the ground below, seeming as if it is about collide with the rods suspended from above. The tension created in the small gap between them accentuates the sense of movement achieved by virtue of the diagonal lines that play with the space.

As one moves through the space the perspective constantly changes, each time exposing a new architectural composition – sometimes the rods are perceived as a wall and at others they become transparent. The natural material of the rods, rusted steel, will also change over time and will add yet another sense of regeneration to the space. The interweaving of the green rods between the rows also contributes to the sense of motion.

As kinetic sculpture, composed of a multitude of lines, the tiny swaying motion of the suspended rods introduces a poetic layer to the space and refines the presence of the raw, unprocessed materials.