22 DIGS.NET | 11.12.2021
P R O F I L E | AT H E N A C A L D E R O N E
Calderone's influences and fascinations. None more fundamental
to this collection than her love of authentic and natural materials.
She also drew patterns and forms from the architectural shapes
and palette of master Mexican Architect Luis Barragán, the irreg-
ular repetitions of abstractionist painter Agnes Martin, and thrusts
of color by artist Ethan Cook.
"I love to create symmetry and then break it," Calderone says of
Broken Symmetry, whose genesis traces back to her fateful trip
to Morocco, where Beni's team of female weavers now hand-
crafts her designs. "I love repetition, and order, but I also love
to resist the obvious. Somehow there is common ground and a
sense of balance in those very imperfections. How I designed
this collection follows the same vernacular." Flaws for her are
not defects, but a delivery system for more interesting, dynamic
design, an ethos she shares with Beni, along with a passion for
Morocco's rich craft traditions. Both appreciate seeing "the hand
of the maker."
But what of that celebrated eye? One look at Calderone's
sophisticated space in Brooklyn, with the fruit of her latest
collaboration lavishly underfoot, and finds it easily, if not
extravagantly. Everything is in its place, a paeon to order and
the age-old, but filtered—sometimes playfully, always boldly—
through a fresh point of view. You can't take your eyes off it.
athenacalderone.com
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I love repetition, and order, but I also
love to resist the obvious. Somehow
there is common ground and a sense of
balance in those very imperfections.
