HYBRIS ASTERN

HYBRIS ASTERN, a showcase of the collaboration between ASTRONAUTS and SERAPIS.
The two Athens based collectives meet, bringing together their respective specialisms in metal and textile to create limited edition furniture and ornaments. Drawing references from their common ground in the maritime, waterborne mythologies, aquatic creatures and seafaring vessels.

Launching, is a pair of chairs, that borrow the names “Scylla & Charybdis” from ancient Greek mythical sea monsters. ASTRONAUTS have pushed their exploration into hydroforming, introducing complexity in form and highlighting the process capability to produce rigid unibody structures from thin steel sheet. Finished with custom translucent powder coat, revealing the heat blemish from the welding process. The pieces are upholstered with bespoke colour ways of SERAPIS “Rust” design in jacquard woven cotton fabric.

Using their signature photographic narrative, SERAPIS inkjet print images on silk for a wall hanging alluding to fishing nets, draped on hydroformed mirror polished stainless steel hooks. For SERAPIS’ interpretation of a beaded curtain, they knot silk pieces that were discarded from their garments production, reflecting their attentiveness towards using recovered material and recycled fibres.

Made by ASTRONAUTS is a creative studio specialising in limited edition objects; founded by Danae Dasyra & Joe Bradford. For ASTRONAUTS making is central, with materials or processes dictating, and design being merely a response. 
The artists subvert conventional industrial manufacturing techniques as they self fabricate their work in house, at their Athens-based workshop. Enabled by proximity to the objects’ evolution, they work sculpturally, thus reaching their distinctive aesthetic. Reflecting on the experience of encounter, the duo aims to create a moment of surprise. Inviting one to find strange beauty in the atypical, imagine narratives of the pieces' origins and function. Ultimately, challenging imposed perceptions of aesthetics and objects in search for freedom.