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Recycling Architectural Panels |
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Original Designs |
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Who Is Thierry Durieux? Thierry Durieux was born on 21 June 1959 in Corbeil, Essonces, France. His family moved to California in 1963 and Thierry was raised on the West Coast. Thierry’s mother was an artist who always had pieces of paper and crayons and paints for her sons to play with and she is Thierry’s main artistic influence. Art and design are in his family blood for Thierry’s maternal grandfather was a famous handbag designer in early 20th century Europe. His interest in the East and spirituality is also inherited for Thierry’s grandmother who was a certified reflexologist long before complementary therapies were sought after in the West. Thierry finished school and trained in the building trade and travelled to Europe in 1981. He worked in the winters laying tiles and spent the summers travelling. He first came to Indonesia in 1984 to check out the surf in Bali and bought a woven rattan rucksack from Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. This rattan bag began his life long love affair with Indonesia and the many ethnic groups there. Over the past 20 years, Thierry has worked with craftsmen in East Java, Central Java, West Java, Madura, Banyuwangi, and Bali and he currently has a beautiful collection of antiques and folk art from many of the Indonesian islands. Some of the collection is for sale through Indostan, 14 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4HE, United Kingdom and through this website. The woven rattan bag from Kalimantan was beautiful and very useful but sadly the woven straps and the bottom were not strong enough for Thierry’s surfer’s life-style and they broke. Having befriended a leather craftsman in Yogyakarta, Thierry asked if he could mend his bag using leather. The result was Thierry Durieux’ first design and the beginning of his craft shop Kalimantan Creations in Camden, London. Kalimantan Creations is now known by many as ‘the best shop in Camden’ and it holds over 10.000 hand made products from furniture to small gifts in wood, reed, horn, bone, hide, textiles, stone and bronze. Thierry Durieux’ Original Designs One of Thierry’s tendencies in design is to take an interesting looking object and changing its function. For example a didgeridoo is transformed into a standing floor lamp, or a piece of 19th century carved architectural detail of a Central Java house is combined with other pieces of old reclaimed teak to make a mirror frame or a coat hanger. The other tendency in Thierry’s work is to copy a beautiful object from nature or culture and then change its function. For example a photograph of an old USA carrousel animal becomes a sturdy rocking animal strong enough for 40 year-old children to play on! The classical beauty of a classic motorcycle engine is represented in hand-carved teak and becomes an eccentric glass top coffee table and the seat make bar stools. Sea shells and toy sea horses are copied in wax and cast in bronze in villages that have been for generations casting bronze in East Java and from the casts Thierry makes bathroom accessories and a magnificent mirror. The mirror is worth a visit to ‘the best shop in Camden’ (real name is Kalimantan Creations) in the Stables Market in Camden, London, just to see it in real life as it is difficult to take a picture of it in its full glory to put on the web. |
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the Shop |
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tel 020 7482 3595 |
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The Livery |
Stables Market |
Chalkfarm Road |
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Camden Town |
London |
NW1 8AH |
United Kingdom |
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Warehouse |
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tel fax 020 7284 3525 |
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The Arches |
47-49 Castle Mews |
(Off Prince of Wales Road) |
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Camden Town |
London |
NW1 8SX |
United Kingdom |