Ivy (2003)

We all have objects around us that we’ve seen a million times, but never really experienced. Never really felt them, smelled them, or climbed them like kids would do. It can be very liberating to not always choose the path that is set out for us. And yes, a lot is set out for us. Architects study routings in buildings thoroughly when creating their designs and more and more we are becoming consumers of not only products, but also of experiences and our surroundings.

Ivy aims to break these routines. An ode to freedom and a plea for fun opposed to efficiency. Ivy is like an adventurous decoration that works as a free-climbing wall, from which you can see your ‘overdesigned’ interior from a different perspective, sit in that place you couldn’t reach before or find alternative routes to go upstairs. It can be quite an eye-opening experience to see something you see every day from a different angle. Climbing hold producer Axis Round Edges in Rotterdam helped me develop the handles and still produces them. Using hand-sculpted foam models, we made large silicone molds. The grips themselves were then cast in Polyconcrete, a mixture of silver sand and polyester that is also used in traditional sport climbing holds.

(photocredit: CAB Burgos, Adriaan de Groot, JL)