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In Focus: The Reliquary
The Reliquary is a Los Angeles-based creative workshop that explores the intersection of the historic and the modern in pieces that are elevated with sustainable components. The studio is launching this year with the upcoming release of its first collection. In an age of machine-made and mass-produced furniture and objects, its work stands apart.
Informed by an old-world sensibility, the studio employs traditional techniques and motifs in new, imaginative ways. Each piece is made to order by seasoned artisans in northern and southern California.
The atelier challenges passing trends by mining cues from the past, an ethos embodied in its first collection, which comprises the Arch bookcase and Tracery wall lamp. The Arch range is inspired by the pointed arches of High Gothic architecture, and the design reimagines these storied motifs on 6.5-millimetre aluminium sheets in anaesthetic lexicon that evokes cloisters. The sheets are hand-brushed to achieve a patina that varies from surface to surface due to the variation in hand finish. The bookcase is available in two sizes with an open or closed back, and custom finishes and sizing are available upon request.
The Tracery wall lamp is emblematic of archetypal rose windows found in centuries-old cathedrals and is hand-carved in rare Calacatta Borghini marble — a milky white stone with grey and gold veining, fabled to be a favourite of Michelangelo’s.
With concealed LED components, an exposed cord as well as stainless-steel mounting hardware, Tracery is a seamless synthesis of old and new.
Both the bookcase and the wall lamp are testament to the studio’s determination to preserve tradition and place emphasis on craftsmanship in an age of mechanisation.
