Zachary Pulman x The House of Contemporaries blur the line between furniture and sculpture with their dining room concept for Design Encounter:Decorex 2019. Asked by Decorex International to design a dining room for their ‘Design Encounter’ concept, Zachary Pulman Design Studio joined forces with artists Divine Southgate-Smith, Bence Magyarlaki (The House of Contemporaries) to design sculpturally inspired furniture objects. The geometric units, fabricated by The Interior’s House, aim to poetically reinterpret the notions of human interaction and movement in space, in particular, a dining space. Focusing on the tension between geometric forms and anthropomorphic postures, The House of Contemporaries became fascinated with simple actions: to fold, to twist, to morph, to expand and to contract. Each unit has one simple rule; All objects can be compacted into one whole unit and can be redistributed in the space in multiple compositions. Differing in scale, form and materiality, standardised measurements are slightly exaggerated, everything is slightly too large and awkwardly mantled together. Order is not part of this spacial vocabulary. ‘We’d been working with Divine on screens and curtains for a new Japanese/Australian restaurant and the collaboration brought rich results. For Design Encounter, we decided to curate the space together with an ‘artist meets interior design’ approach. Always exciting to blend skills and see what comes out the other end.’ Zachary Pulman The contemporary art-based pieces are contrasted with a classical 3D arch design painted in a 2D format. Marc de Groot’s Beehive Light, Fractal Light, and Raven Tiles – which can positively influence the humidity of indoor environments and even inhibit the spread of household odours, further enhance the futuristic, sculptural feel of the space. Raven Tiles were selected for this project as their core philosophies of reducing environmental impact are aligned with the rest of the team. The sculpturally-inspired furniture objects include: SCOOT – Sculptural three-piece table by Divine Southgate-Smith and The Interior’s House MORPH – Sculptural couple seat by Divine Southgate-Smith and The Interior’s House BODY ALPHABET – Sculpture stool (stacked and individual) by Bence Magyarlaki BEEHIVE – Lamp by Marc de Groot GRID THREE-LEGGED RACE – Side tables by Zachary Pulman with tiles by Raven Tiles FRACTAL – Standing fixture by Marc de Groot OMBRE BOLD WEAVE – Rug by Shore Design Encounter at Decorex (6-9 October 2019) was a journey through a series of interconnecting spaces for a unique, immersive and personalised encounter, a boundary-pushing collaboration between Architect John Allsopp and acclaimed interior designers Natalia Miyar, Run for the Hills, Samantha Todhunter Design, These White Walls, Zachary Pulman and Sella Concept. Developed in response to the challenge of creating a personalised experience for visitors of this show that celebrates personalised design, Design Encounter brings interiors to life, using storytelling and cutting edge AR technology. The installation took visitors through a series of interconnected rooms created by the six acclaimed interior designers. Visitors were invited to explore and react to space by identifying items that they like, towards an ultimate goal of revealing an AR visual spectacle at the end that matches their personality. The experience was made possible with the free and purpose-built Decorex Design Encounter app. By placing their phone cameras directly in front of items they were able to access extra information on the designers, products and suppliers, while AR ‘likes’ allowed them to log their preferences. Creating a personality profile that was translated and revealed to them as an AR visual spectacle at the end of the journey. Images of this could then be shared on Instagram and other social channels. Zachary Pulman x The House of Contemporaries – Design Encounter:Decorex was featured in Elle Decor, FT How To Spend It, Design Week, Decor & Style and FRAME Magazine socials.