Visiting Artist: Nacho Carbonell

Born in Spain in 1980, Nacho Carbonell is now based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, where he works alongside his team of designers and artists in an open warehouse. He graduated in 2003 from Cardenal Herrera University in Spain and went on to study at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Upon graduating, he created collections such as Evolution in 2009, which won him a nomination for Beazley Design of the Year from the Design Museum in London. In 2013, he won Designer of the Year in his home country, Spain. He started collaborating with Carpenters Workshop Gallery in 2015 and has since become one of the leading artists that the gallery represents worldwide. Carbonell is known for his tactile approach to sculpture which plays with textures, experimental techniques and natural materials. His approach is unique, seeing objects as ‘living organisms’ that come alive and surprise you with their behaviour. For Carbonell, forming a relationship with his work is integral – he creates objects with his hands in order to impart his personality to them. He describes his pieces as “communicative objects that arouse one’s feelings and imagination… that allows you to escape everyday life”. Carbonell’s designs are made using locally sourced materials he finds near his studio in Eindhoven. Carbonell’s pieces have been shown in museums around the world such as the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, the 21_21 Design Sight in Japan, the Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina. His pieces are also in several private collections.