Studio Drift

Studio Drift is an Amsterdam-based artist duo founded by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn in 2007. It specializes in choreographed sculptures and kinetic installations, with the focus to re-establish the connection between humans and earth.

History






Studio Drift was founded in 2007 by Design Academy Eindhoven graduates Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn. They first collaborated on Gordijn's graduation project, Fragile Future, a number of ball-shaped LED lamps with real dandelion seeds glued onto them, giving the bulbs a flowerlike appearance. Designers also created a miniature lamp Dandelight, following the same concept.

Fragile Future turned out to be the most successful project of Studio Drift so far. In 2008 it won Light of the Future award from the German Design Council and later different versions of this art work were included into permanent collections of Stedelijk Museum and Victoria and Albert museum. It was displayed in many cities globally including New York (2010), Jeruzalem (2011), Abu Dhabi (2013), São Paulo, (2014) London (2015). and in Venice during the Art Biennale (2019)

Studio Drift's first commercial project was a series of outdoor benches made in 2007 for the Amsterdam Botanical Gardens named the Water Web Bench. In 2008, artists presented their Ghost Chair at the Milan Furniture Fair.

In 2010, the duo was invited to New York to make Fragile Future installation for the Dead or Alive exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design.

In 2011, studio showed their kinetic art project Flylight during the Salone del Mobile and later in 2012 at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. The computer-controlled installation, that draws inspiration from the flock of birds, is composed of as many as 180 hand-blown glass tubes suspended from cables and outfitted with halogen lamps. It was commissioned for several private residential projects.

In 2013, artistic duo presented first prototypes of Nola lighting system during the Dutch Design Week. In 2014, the studio presented a standing mirror named The Obsidian Mirror made out of the toxic waste during Salone del Mobile. In October 2015, a second piece from this collection, a hanging wall mirror, was shown at Thing Nothing exhibition at Van Abbemuseum. In late October 2014, when Philips Wing of Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam opened after the 11-year renovation it featured studio's Shylight chandeliers.

In 2015, artists installed a grand-scale kinetic sculpture named In 20 Steps at Berengo Foundation's Centre for Contemporary Art and Glass during Art Biennale in Venice. This art object was re-created in 2018 for the Abu Dhabi Edition hotel.

In 2017, Studio Drift presented two projects in the US: in March they displayed a giant levitating concrete cube during the Armory Show in New York  and in December launched 300 drones to form a flying light sculpture named Franchise Freedom during Art Basel Miami with sister company Drone Stories. Franchise Freedom was an evolution of their earlier Flylight project. This project won THE DESIGN PRIZE (established by Designboom and Abitare magazine) and was nominated for the Beazley Designs of the Year 2018 award.

In April 2018, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam hosted the first solo exhibition of Studio Drift projects. In 2019, newly opened art museum Amos Rex hosted their second solo exhibition and their works were shown during the Venice Art Biennale in the exhibition Dysfunctional.

In 2019, DRIFT won the Dezeen Awards for ‘Designer of the Year’ and ‘Lighting design of the year’ with the artwork Franchise Freedom.

Later during the year, DRIFT had their operatic debut. DRIFT artist Lonneke Gordijn - together with director Monique Wagemakers and Choreographer Nanine Linning - deconstructs the traditional codes of opera through the creation of Ego. Ego is a time-based kinetic sculpture in the signature block form of the art studio. Initially, the sculpture was created to materialize the internal turmoil of Orfeo, the protagonist of the famous opera, on the stage. In March 2020, Ego had its debut off-stage at PACE Gallery in New York.

On 5 May 2020, during the Liberation Day in the Netherlands, a special performance of Franchise Freedom flew over the city of Rotterdam. The artist duo prepared the special custom show to celebrate freedom during the coronavirus crisis.

In 2022 the Philadelphia Museum of Art staged a retrospective of their work titled Rhythms of Nature: The Art & Design of DRIFT. They also received the museum's Collab Design Excellence Award on the same occasion.

Works

 * Fragile Future (2006)
 * Dandelight (2007)
 * Water Web Bench (2007)
 * Ghost Collection (2008)
 * Fragile Future III (2009)
 * Shylight (2010)
 * Flylight (2011)
 * Nola (2013)
 * The Particle Plan (2014)
 * The Obsidian Project (2014)
 * In 20 Steps (2015)
 * Semblance (2016)
 * Amplitude (2017)
 * Concrete Storm (2017)
 * In 20 Little Steps (2017)
 * Meadow (2017)
 * Drifter (2017)
 * Franchise Freedom (2017)
 * Materialism (2018)
 * Ego (2020)