The Finnish Designer Using a Traditional Moroccan Wall-Surfacing Technique to Make Furniture

Amsterdam-based designer Tuomas Markunpoika aims for “tedious functionality” in his designs, but to us there is mystery and wonder in the bulbous, colorful slabs of material that compose his furniture. His new series of works is called “Contra Naturam,” or against nature — a mauve bench, a coffee table and chair in grayish and springy greens, and a side table and console in pale yellow and cream. Each looks cut from the earth or plucked from a stage set, at once natural and totally fake. Built on a strata of industrial materials from layers of Moroccan Tadelakt plaster — a material more traditionally used to seamlessly finish the walls in hammams — the forms have been worked and reworked with spatulas and palette knives, revealing a smooth surface with a finished sheen. On display at Gallery FUMI in London, the show runs until September 8.

Contra Naturam Stool2 Contra Naturam Side Table Contra Naturam Console1 Tuomas-Markunpoika-Contra-Naturam-Coffee-Table-01 Contra Naturam Side Table2 Contra Naturam Stool1 Contra Naturam Bench 2