CASTE

“The landscape here inspires everything I do. I live in a valley surrounded by mountains. It’s a very extreme climate: <i><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>desolate in the winter and quite alive in the summer.</b></span></i>”<br /><br /><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8297/7782361254_6b083aaf0b_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="623" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8297/7782361254_6b083aaf0b_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" width="700" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://castedesign.com/"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>CASTE</b></span></a> in the July 2012 edition of <a href="http://www.castedesign.com/press/vogue_living_australia_july_2012.pdf"><i><b>Vogue Living Australia</b></i></a>. Ty Best approaches his design as sculpture, pulling references from the sky, space, travel. Personally, they call to mind 3 of my favorite designers/sculptors that pushed form into their own netherworlds : <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/arts/design/13bontecou.html"><b>Lee Bontecou, </b></a>Gae Aulenti, and <a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/philippe-hiquily/"><b><span class="darkgreybold">Philippe Hiquily</span>.</b></a><br /><br /><br />"With their tripod bases and tapering, stalactite-like legs, some of Ty Best’s furniture pieces look a little like sinister creatures from a retro science fiction film. But don’t fear: there’s nothing at all menacing about the furniture’s affable designer. “With their sense of animation, a few of my pieces can be a little scary,” Best says playfully. “It’s never conscious, even though I love everything related to planets and space travel.” In fact, <a href="http://castedesign.com/"><span style="color:#330000;"><i><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>CASTE</b></span></i></span></a>, the exquisite line of furniture, lighting and one-off objects Best founded in 2007, derives its inspiration much closer to home. “My work is really driven by the tension between what’s in my mind and what I see in my surroundings,” explains the designer, who has lived in remote Missoula, Montana, since 1995. “The landscape here inspires everything I do. I live in a valley surrounded by mountains. It’s a very extreme climate: desolate in the winter and quite alive in the summer.”<br /><br /><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/7782577378_eb72f5276a_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="650" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/7782577378_eb72f5276a_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" width="700" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8439/7782360890_e6298fd008_c.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="562" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8439/7782360890_e6298fd008_c.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" width="699" /></a><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8433/7782447448_111826c164_c.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="468" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8433/7782447448_111826c164_c.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" width="702" /></a><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8302/7782577814_83443d1191_c.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="465" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8302/7782577814_83443d1191_c.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" width="701" /></a><br /><span style="color:#999999;"><br /><br /></span><i><span style="color:#999999;">for more information on<a href="http://castedesign.com/"> </a></span><a href="http://castedesign.com/"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>CASTE</b></span></a></i><br /><br /><br /><br />

CASTE

“The landscape here inspires everything I do. I live in a valley surrounded by mountains. It’s a very extreme climate: desolate in the win...

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