Founded by Ifeanyi Oganwu, Expand Design Ltd is a London-based studio engaging in architecture and furniture design by investigating the correlation between history, base materials and opportunities presented by state-of-the-art fabrication techniques. Through our projects, we unearth unidentified typologies that are inspired by the past, grounded in the present, and on a journey to a new aesthetic domain.
Installation Photo by Ian Scigliuzzi
BULGY was successfully launched by Dutch gallery, Priveekollektie at Design Miami / Basel 2013, where Miriam and Irving van Dijk welcomed at their booth – collectors, designers, curators, critics and enthusiasts from around the world in celebration of design culture.
BULGY, Aluminium
2120 x 400 x 2000 mm / 83.5 x 15.7 x 78.4 in
Edition of 1 + 1AP + 1P
BULGY is a wall-mounted console which explores its vertical latency through surface curvature flow and reflectivity, drawing its immediate environment into the space of the work.
Here, the functional surface is fused with a protruding element using an L-shape that is adaptable to a broad range of applications, rendering the work multi-sculptural.
Mirror polished sheet aluminium is utilized for lightness and pliability, swelling to fuse function and sculpture; structure and surface.
BULGY is handcrafted in the UK in conjunction with automotive body specialists utilising wheeling and hammerforming processes to create the curved surfaces in sheet metal.
Photos by Ian Scigliuzzi.
“Nouvelle(s) vague(s).” IDEAT, France, April – May 2013
Look Mum, No Hands is wonderfully reviewed by Mikael Zikos in IDEAT’s behemoth anniversary issue.
Download PDF with translation via icon below:
A methodically engineered construction in which structure creates surface, Contoured Crater Desk appears to float in weightlessness with its fifty birch ply plates stretched between two pools of stainless steel. At the top, a broad patch of brushed stainless steel defines a writing surface. While at the base, a mirror polished steel slab anchors the birch ply plates and reflects their ascent to a cantilever.
Embedded within the desk are lead ballast counterweights which further stabilize the construct. Material is extracted from the desk’s core to form a side table assembly and offset the buildup of mass, leaving behind a Fontana-esque crater which serves as vertical storage.
Desk
Birch Ply, Stainless Steel, Lead Ballast
2224 x 1004 x 756 mm / 87.5 x 39.5 x 29.8 in
Expand Design for Armel Soyer Editions
Limited to 10 + 2P
2013
Ifeanyi’s first solo show opens next week at the Paris gallery of Armel Soyer.
Entitled Look Mum, No Hands – the exhibition is an amazing opportunity to observe how the ideas and concepts central to Expand Design are evolving. The selected works, including architecture projects from Ifeanyi’s studies at Columbia University, explore the relationship between materiality and topology; craft and engineering; architecture and design.
The show will mark the launch of Contoured Crater, a desk and side table collection exclusive to Galerie Armel Soyer. The desk, methodically engineered, appears to float in weightlessness with its fifty birch ply plates stretched between two pools of stainless steel, while the offcuts from its Fontana-esque crater are assembled to form a side table.
An illustrated catalogue will be available at the gallery next week and an online version shortly afterwards.
Please see below for details:
Opening reception is at 6pm on Tuesday, April 23rd
Galerie Armel Soyer
21st Century Design and Decorative Arts
19-21 Rue Chapon
Marais
75003 Paris
Exhibition runs till July 12th and will constitute the gallery’s presentation for Designer’s Days Paris taking place June 4th – 9th.
Photo by Gilles Pernet
Splice will be featured in the group presentation by London-based gallery Perimeter in this year’s edition of Art Paris. The event takes place at the Grand Palais and runs from Wednesday March 27th to Monday April 1st.
On Friday 29th Pascale Revert, who leads Perimeter, will be take part in a panel discussion on the topic of challenges facing design from emerging countries, it will be a great occasion for Pascale to shed more light on her unique approach to this edition of Art Paris. The discussion kicks off at 4pm and includes design mavericks Arik Levy, Cheick Diallo and Matali Crasset as well as gallerist Paola Bjäringer.
For additional information please visit:
http://www.artparis.fr/en/
Photo by Gilles Pernet
Joseph Gergel. “Between the Artist and the Designer.” This Day, March 10, 2013
Designing Africa curator Joseph Gergel’s illuminating text on the exhibition is featured in This Day newspaper, available online here:
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/between-the-artist-and-the-designer/141728/
Ifeanyi will participate in the group show organized by Lagos-based African Artists’ Foundation (AAF), taking place from March 8th till April 5th 2013.
Surveying an exciting range of emerging practitioners, the exhibition titled – Designing Africa: Appropriating Culture, Mediums and Meanings, further probes the sometimes blurred boundaries between art and design, while initiating a discourse that is both African and (globally) inclusive.
Curated by AAF’s Joseph Gergel, the exhibition includes the work of Native Almaqri, Chinenye Emelogu, Alafuro Sikoki-Coleman and thanksthanksafrica, a diverse group of artists with a shared sensibility to process, experimentation and presentation.
The occasion marks Ifeanyi’s first show in Nigeria, as well as the first public presentation of the Double Agent Suite following its Milan debut in 2011. 
For additional information please visit:
www.aafgallery.com
Splice is featured in a double-spread on the November issue of AD Italia brilliantly written by Alessandra Valli.
“Ideas from Space.” AD Italia, November 2012
Download PDF with translation via icon below:
Ifeanyi is now represented by Netherlands-based gallery Priveekollektie led by Miriam and Irving van Dijk.
Priveekollektie will feature a selection of gallery artists including works from Expand at this year’s edition of Design Miami, their fourth outing at this prestigious fair, which is widely considered to be the most prominent and substantive forum for international design and is renowned for bringing together the most influential designers, collectors, dealers, curators and critics from around the world.
Other designers featured in Priveekollektie’s presentation at the fair include – De Intuïtiefabriek, Richard Hutten, Reinier Bosch, Rolf Sachs, Nigel Coates, Dominic Harris, and Thukral and Tagra.
Design Miami takes place from December 4th to 9th at Meridian Avenue & 19th Str, adjacent to the Convention Center. Concurrent to this event, Priveekollektie is also participating in Art Miami, Booth A32.
Priveekollektie / Booth G22 / DESIGN MIAMI
About Priveekollektie:
Priveekollektie represents internationally recognized artists and designers as well as providing young and upcoming talents with a platform for showing their exceptional collectible design and art pieces. Key in the collection is the combination of contemporary art and limited-edition design and the crossing of the fine line between both disciplines.
Before opening the gallery in 2006, Irving and Miriam van Dijk avidly collected art and design. Their personal approach, knowledge and taste has developed one of the leading galleries for collectible design in Europe, with exceptional exhibitions and participations in renowned international fairs in Paris, Basel, Miami, London and New York for both contemporary art and design.
For additional information please visit:
www.designmiami.com
www.priveekollektie.com
“Wish List: Olympic Special.”
Oryx, Qatar, July 2012
Going for Gold… or Silver in this case.
With the Olympics only weeks away, the editorial team at Oryx, the in-flight magazine of Qatar Airways have featured Splice in the Silver section of their London 2012 wish list.
Download PDF via icon below:
Other Selections:
“Splice and PAD Paris.”
Clear Magazine, March 19, 2012
http://clearmag.com/art/splice-pad-paris/
“Splice Chair.”
Scoop.It!, March 22, 2012
http://www.scoop.it/t/art-design-technology
“Splice Chair – Ifeanyi Oganwu.”
Paper Blog, April 2, 2012
http://www.paperblog.fr/5435379/splice-chair-ifeanyi-oganwu/
Milky Splice, Composite Material, 2012
790 x 820 x 460 mm / 31.1 x 32.3 x 18.1 in
Milky Splice is characterised by pearlescent swells of color originating from the interplay of light and surface curvature, revealing subtle shades of red, purple and white.
Its sweeping form simultaneously embraces the user positioned on its concave elevation, whilst creating a dissection by means of a blade-like vertical horizon line originating at its rear. This vertical blade transitions into distinct horizontal wave forms on each side elevation, creating structural forces that synthesise form, function and surface flow, marking the transition between the blade and waves by blurred surfaces in motion. The outcome is a rich constellation of color maps across a very compact volume.
