New Work / MARIÁN LAŠŠÁK: Diary of Dailiness 2 collection

The last year’s collection of lights entitled Diary of Dailiness presented by Marián Laššák arrested me with its rawness, intentional imperfection along with its brazen use of a plasterboard fragment as the key construction element. The author bent it, creating a certain new, yanked-out space lit by a naked bulb “from above”. Plasterboard is widely popular interior wall surface (it is cheap and functional), yet its toll is taken through its “cheap” outcome. Yet, Laššák’s hilarious remix gave it a new charge, which somehow grasps some aspect of the Slovak character, or, to put it better, the ability of gaining maximum effect for minimum means. He recently exhibited his collection at the London Design Fair, adding new objects, materials and mainly bold colours. Apart from plasterboard, he works with concrete, brick and copper details. The new version has a considerably higher aesthetic quality; with a reduced rawness of the original concept (which I personally miss) and increased surface finishing. Laššák confesses to his desire to make his art more accessible to viewers. At the same time, he did not give up on the ambition of making design using building materials. Both his mirror and shelf pretend to be a massive piece of masonry yanked out of a wall; he also made a standing lamp in the concrete version.

P.S.: The designer’s decision not to renounce aesthetics was not vain; his entire collection at the London Design Fair was sold out.