Rhythm and vines
Dror Benshetrit climbs Under/standing at Brancott Estate.
The installation among the vines.
An angular, geometric retail environment at Cut25, a fashion store in SoHo.
The Star of David feature and Dror’s blue Peacock chair at the SoHo Synagogue.
The Star of David feature and Dror’s blue Peacock chair at the SoHo Synagogue.
A 3D printed kinetic cube made using QuaDror, created for Belgian 3D printing innovator Materialise.
An installation at the University of Milan, consisting of 30 concrete QuaDror structures, presented as part of the Salone del Mobile 2011.
United States-based, Israeli designer Dror Benshetrit’s sculptural installation Under/standing was recently installed at Brancott Estate Winery in Blenheim. Camille Khouri attended the unveiling and spoke to the designer about his work.
The sculptural installation Under/standing looms large and strong over Brancott Estate’s grapevines and at the same time, seems right at home there, with the intersecting lines of rust orange Corten steel merging with the linear geometry of the rows of vines.
According to Benshetrit, interacting with the installation is integral to capturing its purpose. “The whole meaning of this piece is that you have to literally stand underneath it to understand it.” On site, the designer encouraged the viewers to get under it, to climb it if we dared.
The sculpture was fabricated by Auckland’s Design Production and arrived on the vineyard in flat-pack form. After being lifted into the air, the piece almost effortlessly unfolded as it was steered onto its site.
“This idea of going from flat to three dimensional was part of the motivation for the sculpture,” says Benshetrit. “For me, this piece is about the connection with nature and the relationship between art and the process of winemaking – the expansion of flavour and the extension of taste.”
This project, much like Dror’s many other interior and installation designs, uses QuaDror technology: a geometrical system derived of four identical elements that interlock and create a structure. Under/standing is the largest project yet to use the technology, but Benshetrit has his sights set on bigger plans.
“We’re working on creating a project at the scale of a building, but the issue is that building codes need to change in most places in the world before such projects can be allowed to exist. We’re constantly working on experimenting with that geometry. I feel there is so much potential for more practical application and building typologies that use QuaDror,” he says.
Studio Dror’s other projects include interior fit-outs for high-end stores and public spaces. Often, QuaDror is used for storage systems or furniture pieces in these fit-outs, and the results are dynamic and creative. In one project for a SoHo synagogue, the studio created a Star of David made of two triangles that slide to reveal a Torah.
“For me, there is really no boundaries to creativity. It is just our recent educational system that forces people to be labelled as this or that,” says Benshetrit. “Creativity transcends boundaries. I insist on working in a variety of scales. We like to work with projects that have public relationships. Whether it’s product design or art installations or public architectural projects. For me, the most important thing is the aspect of experimentation and innovation.”
