Humans Since 1982 and Kit Kemp collaborate to distort time
Sometimes the most surprisingly satisfying of artworks come from the most unconventional and unexpected collaborations.
Take the latest endeavour from one of the UK’s most loved interior designers and the creative powerhouse behind the Firmdale Hotels brand, Kit Kemp whose studio has joined forces with Swedish collective Humans Since 1982 which mashes up art, tech and telling the time in the most mesmerising of ways.
Together they’ve created the just-launched ClockClock 24 ‘Dada Blue’ an eye-catching blue panel which fuses Kemp’s love of colour and Humans founders Per Emanuelsson and Bastian Bischoff’s technological prowess.
Measuring 90cm x 40cm it features 24 small clock faces and pairs of white hands, which dance around sometimes sychronised, sometimes not. Moving in carefully designed and programmed choreographies, once each minute the clocks’ hands align to tell the time as a digital clock.
The collaboration is a culmination of a relationship that dates back to 2013 when Kemp commissioned a bespoke version of Humans’ work ‘A Million Times’ for the lobby of Ham Yard hotel, which also featured spinning clock faces programmed through the studio’s proprietary software with precise cyclical and cumulative patterns transfixing the viewer.
‘Our journey with Kit Kemp has been truly exciting,’ says Emanuelsson. ‘Being selected by her was a big deal for us, her belief in our vision meant a lot and her commitment helped to build our studio into what it is today. In Kit’s universe, we see a lot that resonates with our own passions and values. The curiosity to explore and experiment, the blurring of borders between art, design and entertainment and the uncompromising approach to quality and craftsmanship. Yet, it’s the differences that really make our collaboration special. By bringing our minimal, technology-based timepieces into Kit’s colourful and welcoming sphere has created something truly unique.’
If you fancy taking a look for yourself, head to Firmdale’s Haymarket Hotel where the piece now takes pride of place on the wall in the hotel’s expansive pool area, with a sofa considerately placed in front for onlookers to sit and contemplate the eternal and universal passage of time.
Kit Kemp Design Studio x Humans Since 1982 ClockClock 24 ‘Dada Blue’ Edition £8,350, kitkemp.com
