Ontwerp voor de haak van een paraplu 1874 - 1932

Mathieu Lauweriks made this design for the hook of an umbrella, we're not sure when, and seemingly using graphite on graph paper. Look at how the hook’s form emerges from a series of lines, tentatively searching for its shape. It's like Lauweriks is thinking through the act of drawing itself. This kind of layering and repetition, it's like he's building the form right before our eyes. He’s not hiding anything, it’s all there on the surface, a real honesty. The grid lends an underlying structure but the hand-drawn lines are free and expressive. Those small circles floating around the form, they are so casual. You can really feel the artist at work, in the process. You know, this reminds me a bit of Sol LeWitt's instruction-based drawings, but with a practical bent. It shows how art and design are just different sides of the same coin, constantly informing each other. It's all about the conversation.