Written by Maria Christina Didero, and published in LOFT The Nordic BOOKAZINE  Volume #10
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A flamboyant career created with passion and dedication fused with natural talent. Tall and long-limbed, his sculptural body reflecting a devotion to sports, two deep dark eyes looking down from almost two metres, Arik Levy took a shortcut to the world of international design to be recognized as an inventive and polyhedric creator. Designer, technician, artist, photographer and filmmaker, Levy’s skills are multi-disciplinary and his work – fuelled by a poetical and never-ending zeal for research and innovation combined with an unpredictable and surprising world of visions – can be found on display in renowned shop-windows as well as prestigious galleries and museums worldwide. “I bring technology into sculpture and art into industrial production,” he likes to state.

Based in Paris, co-founder with partner Pippo Lionni of the multidisciplinary studio Ldesign, with his 20-strong team of designers and graphic artists, Levy has worked in a broad range of disciplines including product design, industrial design, corporate identity, interior and stage design. He is best known to the general public for his furniture design for global companies such as Zanotta, Visplay, Living Divani, Kolon Sport, Desalto, Tai Ping, Swedese, ENO, Baleri Italia, Bernhardt Design, Viccarbe, E15, Planika Fires, MGX Materialise, Baccarat, Galeries Lafayette, Gaia&Gino, BBB Bonacina, BPI Issey Miyake Parfums, Molteni & C, Bitossi, Flora, Serralunga, Vitra, Christofle, L’Oréal and Hennessy. Nevertheless, Levy feels that “the world is about people, not tables and chairs.”

His wide production of pieces – last year, the Milan Furniture Fair hosted more then 10 projects – is reflected in his idea that “we specialize in non-specializing” which can be considered his ultimate code for accepting only projects that truly, deeply inspire him; a wide range of production from an open mind, his hunger for research, innovation, and experimentation allows him to create innovatory concepts to be translated into projects, spaces and experiences, from the famous ‘Cubic Meter Storage System’ (a seven-in-one module with the constituent parts combined and embedded into each other so as to form a perfect volume of one metre – in homage to a universal measure?), an example of how to reproduce the essence of things, to the lamp ‘Umbilical’, a wattle of luminescent ropes closer to a piece of art than an object of industrial production.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1963, he moved to Europe in 1988, graduating eleven years later in Industrial Design with a distinction at the Art Centre of Europe in Switzerland. Levy’s first international success was winning the Seiko Epson Inc., in 1991; after a period in Japan where Levy consolidated his ideas producing products and pieces for exhibitions, he took part in several design exhibitions all around the world. Back in Europe, Levy applied his innovative concepts and installations to contemporary dance and opera scenography. Winner of many awards (Red Dot Award in 2008 with Mistic for Gaia&Gino, Wallpaper* Design Awards 2007 with Cubic Meter, Grand Prix de la Presse Internationale de la Critique du Meuble Contemporain, Arik’s sofa by Ligne Roset in 2002) his work has also been exhibited in numerous high profile galleries such as Mouvements Modernes in Paris and Rove Gallery in London with experimental pieces for special editions – eg. the Rock pieces – and in museum exhibitions; there are far too many relevant exhibitions to list them all here.

Countless are the museum acquisitions by some of the most prestigious design and contemporary art institutions worldwide, such as the Umbilical Ball and Umbilical Knitted Light acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2004, the Double Layer Chair by the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2002, the Need Light by both the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in 2000 and the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1998.

Returning to the present, the 2009 Milan Design Week consecrated – or maybe re-consecrated – the young Israeli designer as one of the most prominent figures of international design; his April Italian performance was characterised by the strong relationship with the luxury company Swarovski (Swarovski Crystal Palace Collection) for which Levy has conceived ‘Osmosis’, an installation of ‘contemporary crystal diamonds’ where he has investigated the classical shapes by all means possible: big sculptures in marble, small jewels in silver and gold, different scales of diamond-skeletons in fibreglass and stainless steel, and at the very end of the historical Milanese landmark, the Magazzini di Porta Genova, he presented in a dark room a striking set of digital projections about the infinitive games these diamond shapes are able to inspire. In ‘Osmosis’ a visual and emotional perception is transformed through a membrane to experience the transition from real to virtual, from solid to a metaphor, which he describes “as the movement from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until the concentration on both sides is equal.”

But for this multitasking creator this year’s Milan Fair is not only Swarovski. Besides being invited by Living Divani and Desalto, Levy could not escape the fashion trend of conceiving design sex-toys – by entering into the world of ‘design objects’. They have lately provided a good excuse for women to openly buy them, after all, they are just pieces of design! Invited to be part of the ‘Love Design’ exhibition, a project that explores the multifaceted relationship between design and positive feelings such as affection, desire, pleasure and romance but also jealousy, distance, separation and pain, Levy who likes to explore the burden of things chose to situate himself between design and pleasure, conceiving a charming wooden jar with an extractable vibrator which slides inside a hole made on the side, developing in this project an experimental work about the relationship we do have with objects and the way we interact with them.

‘Powered By Jimmyjane’, as his piece is titled, talks about power, penetration, interaction, action and reaction as well as the natural and the superficial, rawness and technological advances. In fact all the elements that have to be taken into consideration when creating so-called ‘good design’. Another project presented in Milan, the outstanding tables collection for the German company Planika, was certainly an out-ofthe- ordinary idea. Looking at these fire-tables, as Levy calls them, the fire seems trapped by glass (series of tables with a centrally placed glass cylinder employing the patented Glassfire Technology) which surrounds it so that the guests can have dinner in close contact with this power of nature, enjoying the spectacular view of dancing flames. In accordance with Levy’s belief that the truth of the product lies in its function, he created a truly uncommon concept of a table by adding fire and combining this everyday item, strongly emphasizing its significance.

Maria Cristina Didero (MCD): ‘Osmosis’ was one of the most prominent events at the Milan Furniture Fair 2009. It reflects your idea of bringing technology into sculpture and art into industry. You called it a journey; can you describe that journey. Arik Levy (AL): ‘Osmosis’ from the urban landscape into the environment of the installation, opens up a journey into the micro vs. macro expression of architecture, the ensuing architectural products together revealing the techno-craft element of the work. In my own personal journey I continue travelling between art and technology, design and engineering, reflection and light. Swarovski’s masterly approach perfectly offers this magical alchemy as I search for the platform to experiment, explore and revile boundaries of stone cutting. Moving from sculpture to space, through the environmental landscape and seeing the more tangible products, clarifies that this body of work embodies and mimics osmosis while at the same time offering a semi-permeable bridge to my other work.

MCD: You have said that “the world is about people, not about tables and chairs.” Arik, what is your world, your life? AL: To me, life is a system of signs and symbols where nothing is quite as it seems.

MCD: And your thoughts about design. What is your personal definition of design? AL: In my studio I have different spaces where projects can be made in different conditions. Maybe I create industrial Art, but when I have a client with a brief and production, it may be called ‘Design’, but he may ask for a piece of ‘Art’.

MCD: Every day all of us come into contact with design. What is your relationship with it? AL: Simple but critical, emotional but practical!

MCD: What’s your earliest design memory? AL: Making a fan with an ice-cream stick and a motor, then showing it to my grandpapa.

MCD: Do you think the history of design has to be taken into consideration when creating a new product, or do you prefer to look to the future rather than to the past? AL: The past is an integrated part of us. I look to the future but obviously bring with me some of the heritage of the past.

MCD: Which object epitomises, represents, design par excellence? AL: No single one absolutely. Many and none.

MCD: How do you get your first creative impulse for a project? AL: It is more like an uncontrolled muscle. It happens at any moment of the day and also at night-time. I especially like the ones that come when I swim.

MCD: How do you physically represent your early idea of a project? AL: I have no rules and usually use mixed media for it.

MCD: Do you have any criteria for refusing or accepting a project? AL: People to work with, subject of interest, quality of production, company, budget.

MCD: Is there a particular masterpiece in the history of design, a project that you would like to have created yourself? AL: A screw.

MCD: Which object is the most necessary for mankind? AL: Hospital.

MCD: Do you like cinema, painting, music, any other expressions of art? AL: Painting, sculpture, story-telling.

MCD: Are you a collector, and if so, of what? AL: Yes. I collect emotions.

MCD: What kind of relationship do you have with time? Any daily routine? AL: No routine, but I love time and timing things.

MCD: Are you superstitious? Do you have any rituals for good luck before starting a project? AL: Superstitious... sometimes. But no rituals.

MCD: Is there a geographical, special place in the world, you like most? AL: Yes, the water.

MCD: If it was possible, to go back in time: what would you like to become? AL: A woman.

MCD: Describe in a few words the life you are leading now? AL: Great, exciting, loving!

Arik Levy works both as scientist and as a poet of the present, moving from industrial design to one-off pieces with the same flexibility and fondness. His only and unique engine is passion. Innovation, simplicity and experimentation are the hallmarks of his work. As a recognized designer-superstar Levy is still able to present himself as a curious and inquisitive soul framed in a true smile on his face – because, as he said, the world is made of people and his gentle, simple attitude works as a pleasant magnet. We will keep on hearing only good things of him in the coming years.

This article was published in LOFT The Nordic BOOKAZINE Volume #10. It was written by Maria Christina Didero a freelancer in the field of cultural events.