Ontwerpen voor een salontafel c. 1930

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made these designs for a coffee table, but when, I'm not sure. What you see here is a collection of sketches with a very limited palette of black lines on a white background. It gives the piece a raw, immediate feel, like a glimpse into the artist's mind at work. The lines are confident, and purposeful. Cachet isn't fussing over details; he's mapping out the big picture. The texture is the smoothness of the paper, broken only by the graininess of the pencil. Look at the design on the top left: it almost looks like a wonky guitar or some kind of heraldic shield. I love the way Cachet combines functionality with ornamental flourish. There's a real energy in the simplicity of the lines, a sense of the artist thinking through the possibilities of form and function. This piece reminds me of some of the architectural drawings by Paul Klee, these artists, like many others, embrace open-endedness, inviting us to bring our own perspectives and experiences to the act of seeing.