Amy Lau Redefines Brutalism With Exhibition At Salon Art + Design

Amy Lau’s infatuation with brutalism, quite literally, started small. “I was at a flea market in Belgium and I [bought] this beautiful black wood trinket box with big chunks of different colored glass studded into this darkened patina resin on the top of the box,” she explains. “It reminded me of the great Claire Falkenstein’s beautiful brutalist gates at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.” When she tested positive for COVID-19, she spent her quarantine staring at the box and recognizing all the different facets brutalism has to offer.

Now, the interior designer is taking her fascination to the next level by presenting an exhibition called The Beauty of Brutalism during the 2022 Salon Art + Design. Inspired by Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse housing development in the 1940s, brutalism is known for its rough surfaces, monochromatic palette, and unusual shapes. (As Lau points out, Le Corbusier’s development was created in “béton brut,” which translates to raw concrete.) However, Lau is turning the attention to period pieces that are rich in color, materials, textures, and finishes.

“I took a deep dive into studying glass, ceramics, lighting, and furniture from the period and noticed a repeating pattern of something entirely new to what we thought was brutalism: The beauty in it,” she explains.

A carefully curated collection of 36 pieces, the classic understanding of brutalism will be challenged with abstracted applications of copper enamel, striking angular variations of cut glass, and distressed, handwrought metalwork. Highlights include a coffee table by Jules Dewaele for Pia Manu, Silas Seandel’s wall sculpture, and the Longboard Floor Lamp Albano Poli designed for Poliarte, the latter being a favorite for Lau.

“I love the name of it as it’s named after the ancient rulers of Lombardy and reminds me of Charlegmagne’s Iron Crown with its embedded stones,” she shares. “Poli created this unique modular composition of rectangular varying heights out of rugged tarnished metals and inserted beautiful colors of jagged glass that jut out like rough-cut jewels.”

As visitors tour the collection, Lau hopes they develop a “renewed interest and appreciation for the movement and the variations of its unique style”—just as she has.

Lau says: “As with anything, when I look and learn more about various times in the history of design, it broadens my eye to new ways to look and think about the interiors and products I create.”

Beauty of Brutalism is on display from November 10 through November 14, 2022 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. You can learn more about the exhibition at https://www.thesalonny.com/.

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