Soraya Osorio Welds Minimalism and Metal
Designer Soraya Osorio moved to New York a little under two decades ago, but it wasn’t until last year that she debuted her first eponymous collection. A long-time consultant, she created luxury retail and residential spaces for fashionable clients such as Pierre Hardy and J. Mendel Boutiques. Osorio finally decided to strike off on her own with a collection that capitalizes on her expertise in metals. Her debut capsule, “Soraya Osorio Inspiration Collected,” features the designer’s refined sense of minimalism in furniture form.
At The Salon Art + Design 2015, Todd Merrill Studio spotlights a handful of Osorio’s latest pieces. Her Epic Desk (2015), constructed of grazed aged brass and smoke black steel, looks as enticing as its description. A commanding curve of metal that lands somewhere between Donald Judd and Futurism, the desk demonstrates Osorio’s ability to bring depth to simplicity.
The detailing points back to Osorio’s sophisticated calculations and eye for minutia. Indeed, the designer likes for weight and line to be balanced at a precariously perfect point. Take for example, Brass Ave Chaise (2015), a skillfully weighted lounge chair that reflects upon the two states of its material: smoothness and sharpness. These playful associations become a doorway for Osorio’s work to push beyond the bounds of functionality, into the sculptural.
Spatial play comes naturally to the designer. Always contextualized by architecture, Osorio’s work is as much about mass as it is about negative space. While her Moi (2015) mirror and Secre Screen (2015) engage the elements of the room directly, pieces like the leather and aged brass V Bench (2015) do the same in a subtler way. The cut-away arches that form the bench’s base derive strength from emptiness. Simple and raw, her work demonstrates a timelessness that feels authentic to the material as well as the contemporary design landscape.
—Kat Herriman
Visit Todd Merrill Studio at The Salon Art + Design 2015, Booth A14, New York, Nov. 12th–16th, 2015.
Follow Todd Merrill Studio and Explore The Salon Art + Design 2015 on Artsy.
