Dutch multi-disciplinary designer and artist Helmut Smits makes recognizable objects out of ordinary materials with unthinkable and extraordinary results. A sports stadium is actually a fruit and vegetable stand, a drum kit is made from tin cans, houseplants and lighting fixtures are combined into one household object, and a Nascar is made from plastic shopping bags, tape, plastic foil, and air.
Helmut Smits’ work is also subversive and reactionary. An apparatus to filter Coca Cola into pure, distilled drinking water or a fake CNN hostage situation backdrop. In Helmut Smits own words, his work “aims to trigger the autonomous thinking of designers and the applied thinking of artists, while it would do both for a general audience.”
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Ordinary Objects Art
- There is an opportunity to create new art from ordinary materials and objects.
- Subversive Design
- Designers can aim to be subversive and reactionary to evoke different reactions from their audiences.
- Combined Objects
- There is a trend of combining different objects and materials to create new and exciting designs.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Art
- Artists can explore the use of ordinary objects and subversive designs to create new forms of art.
- Furniture
- Furniture designers can experiment with combining different objects and materials to create new and innovative pieces.
- Product Design
- Product designers can aim to be subversive and create products that evoke different reactions from their target audiences.
