Textures in Design

Peter Pracilio finds things. And then he puts crystals all over them. The crystals are Swarovski, and the “things” are skulls – of Fallow deer, Axis deer, Springboks, Dik-Diks…although, he’s hardly a glitzy taxidermist. Peter’s best series, “my mother the hunter”, utilizes “trophies and remnants from” his “own Mother’s hunting trips”. One of my favorites, “golden goat”, is a goat’s skull encrusted with golden crystals, it’s corkscrew horns left unadorned. The contrast in textures — between the dry-as-the-desert smoothness of the skulls with the shimmery gems on top — is not just clever, but suggestive (do we glamorize death, if so, why so, and etc… .). And it’s this sort of juxtaposition which plays out  in my mind while designing interiors.

So who is Peter Pracilio? (See: here.) And what do we think of his bags of bones? Webster’s Dictionary says that art is “the conscious use of skill and creative imagination, especially in the production of aesthetic objects”, that aesthetics is “of, relating to, or dealing with…the beautiful”, and that design is “the creative art of executing aesthetic or functional designs.”

So what is Peter Pracilio’s work? Is it art or aesthetic design – and does it matter? If the only emotion that went into his “fur-covered espresso maker” was a fervent desire to make something pretty – in lieu of misery, unspeakable joy – what does that mean? If Versailles itself was created only as an object of beauty, does that somehow make it less beautiful?

Fur-covered Espresso Maker (makes very furry coffee.. . ... .)

New Zealand Dama Dama deer with diamonds all over its face.. . .

Ovis Aries

Lucky for MH Studio, we got to ask the man himself. “I consider the pieces I make ‘Art’ due to the one off nature of the sculptures and the intention behind them,” says Peter. “Not embodying the same passion as my mother and her hunting, I viewed her trophies as macabre and it would upset me to see them. After sharing a trip together to Milan’s Salone de Moblie and seeing the Swarovski Crystal Exhibition, I wanted to make a piece that mutually celebrated my mother’s past with my future and the nature of these beautiful animals. I wanted to give these animals a second life and reinterpret how we view trophies and memories.”

What do you think?

What I do know is how much I truly enjoy Peter’s work. Whatever it is. And how I’d like to own “unicorn”, gleaming like a lighthouse on my mantle.

Unicorn