Ontwerp voor een servetring 1911

Mathieu Lauweriks made this napkin ring design in 1911 with pencil and ink on paper. It's cool to see the ghost of the ring in pencil repeated as if he's testing out the form. The grid is like a framework for the drawing but also makes me think about musical notation, as if the image could be a series of notes strung together. Lauweriks probably sat with his drafting tools and pencils, thinking about architecture, ornamentation and how design elements interact. I like the way a single line becomes three lines and suggests volume and the idea that simple forms when repeated, generate volume. The design has a kind of minimalist aesthetic, and reminds me of the visual systems of Agnes Martin, or Sol Lewitt. Artists are always riffing off each other, across time. It’s a reminder that art is an ongoing conversation.