Overview

Wood is good.

— Patrick Kim-Gustafson

Born of a Korean mother and Swedish father, Patrick Kim-Gustafson is a Swedish designer and artist based in Paris.

 

After several years working with reknowned industrial designer, Philippe Starck, 2020 marked a turning point in Kim-Gustafson's career. Taking advantage of time relieved by the pandemic, the artist-designer set up his studio in Loupchat, a small village in the Lot region of south-west France, the region of his wife’s family. Making his first creations there, the studio was inaugarated under the name, Ateljé Loupchat, with it's core beliefs dedicate to exploring the evolution from tree to object, nature to worked sculpture. Leaving behind his tedious work as a designer, most of which was done digitally, Ateljé Loupchat reinvigorated Kim-Gustafon's desire to work with materials directly and give life to personal creations beyond the implicit rules or limitations of the design world.

 

Unlike the work of a visual artist, which often involves adding material, Kim-Gustafson works by subtraction. From singular pieces of wood, the artist playfully maniuplates with their density and volume to produce new forms, such as 200-kilo vases housing a soliflor, a massive bench with a single, slender seat, or organic lamps perched on pedestals. The results are hybrid sculptures that are both delicate and daring, devoid of any obvious practical function, questioning the boundaries between practicality, aestheticism and the exuberance of object and work of art. 

 

Biography

Born 1986 in Stockholm, Sweden. Lives and works in Paris, France.

 

Education

2012

MFA, Industrial Design, School of Industrial Design Lund University, Sweden

2010

BFA, Industrial Design, School of Industrial Design Lund University, Sweden

 

Exhibitions

2025
Galerie Marguo, down to earth, Paris, France
2024
Galerie Marguo, It’s beautiful you would’ve seen – and it’s all around, Art Paris 2024, Paris, France
2022

Secret Gallery, Happy Interior, Paris, France

Works
  • Call dibs bench
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Call dibs bench, 2024
    French oak treated with linseed oil
    180 x 37.5 x 45 cm (70 7/8 x 14 3/4 x 17 3/4 in)
    Without feet: 180 x 37.5 x 33 cm (70 7/8 x 14 3/4 x 13 in)
  • Chutes 001
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Chutes 001, 2024
    French oak, burnt, brushed, ebonised.
    each approx. 18 x 8 x 5 cm (7 1/8 x 3 1/8 x 2 in)
    Weight: 0.5 kg each
  • Face mirror
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Face mirror, 2024
    French oak treated with linseed oil
    150 x 25 x 25 cm (59 x 9 7/8 x 9 7/8 in)
    Mirror diameter: 20 cm (7 7/8 in)
  • Hideaway
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Hideaway, 2024
    French oak treated with linseed oil and a vegetable tanned leather inlay
    64 x 25 x 26 cm (25 1/4 x 9 7/8 x 10 1/4 in)
  • Karlsson
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Karlsson, 2024
    French oak treated with linseed oil
    29 x 41 x 29 cm (11 ⅜ x 16 ¼ x 11 ⅜ in)
    Weight: 17 kg
  • Lean on me
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Lean on me, 2024
    French oak treated with linseed oil
    100 x 24.5 x 24.5 cm (39 3/8 x 9 5/8 x 9 5/8 in)
  • Pastorn
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Pastorn, 2024
    Fumed french oak and linseed oil
    32.5 x 40 x 26 cm (12 ¹³⁄₁₆ x 15 ⁷⁄₁₆ x 10 ⁵⁄₁₆ in)
    Weight: 6.5 kg
  • Pomperipossa
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Pomperipossa, 2024
    French oak treated with linseed oil
    57 x 29 x 26 cm (22 ½ x 11 ⅜ x 10 ⁵⁄₁₆ in)
    Weight: 25 kg
  • Raphaël
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Raphaël, 2024
    French oak, burnt, brushed, ebonised and burnished
    28,5 x 25 x 28,5 cm (11 ⅜ x 9 ⁹⁄₁₆ x 11 ⅜ in)
    Weight: 15 kg
  • Stationery
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Stationery, 2024
    French oak, burnt, brushed, ebonised and burnished
    81 x 25 x 25.5 cm (31 7/8 x 9 7/8 x 10 in)
  • Katsuya 15
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Katsuya 15, 2023
    Burnt and brushed douglas fir (Yakisugi)
    Each: 20 x 15 x 50 cm (7 7/8 x 5 7/8 x 19 3/4 in)
  • Monolithic petal pedestal
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Monolithic petal pedestal, 2023
    Linseed oiled oak
    85 x 29 x 30 cm (33 1/2 x 11 3/8 x 11 3/4 in)
  • Big Ada
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Big Ada, 2022
    Linseed oiled white oak
    L200 x D50 x H100 cm (78 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 39 3/8 in)
    Weight: 300 kgs
  • Lily of the Valley
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Lily of the Valley, 2022
    Linseed oiled oak
    Each: L20 x D20 x H50 cm (7 7/8 x 7 7/8 x 19 3/4 in)
  • Sal Comporta
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Sal Comporta, 2022
    Linseed oiled oak with ferric acetate
    Each: L20 x L20 x H50 cm (7 7/8 x 7 7/8 x 19 3/4 in)
  • Secret Stuff
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Secret Stuff, 2022
    Linseed oiled oak
    Each piece between L25 x D25 x H40 cm (9 7/8 x 9 7/8 x 15 3/4 in) and L25 x D25 x H200 cm (9 7/8 x 9 7/8 x 78 3/4 in)
  • Achasan
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Achasan , 2021
    Black steined spruce
    L40 x D40 x H50 cm (15 3/4 x 15 3/4 x 19 3/4 in)
  • Plumwine cups
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Plumwine cups, 2021
    Recycled brass and aluminium
    L9 x H9 x D8 cm (3 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 3 1/8 in)
  • Svartbygge 3
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Svartbygge 3 , 2021
    Black steined and waxed Douglas fir
    L30 x D30 x H40 cm (11 3/4 x 11 3/4 x 15 3/4 in)
  • Castor sqr
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Castor sqr, 2020
    Carved stool in untreated spruce with dowtails in oak
    L30 x D30 x H45 cm
  • Stool Samples
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Stool Samples, 2020
    Oiled oak from Loupchat and spruce treated with Marseille soap
    L35 x D35 x H40 cm (13 3/4 x 13 3/4 x 15 3/4 in)
  • Svartbygge 1
    Patrick Kim-Gustafson
    Svartbygge 1 , 2020
    Black stained construction spruce
    Stools: L40 x D25 x H40cm (15 3/4 x 9 7/8 x 15 3/4 in)
    Bench: H80 x D25 x H40 cm (31 1/2 x 9 7/8 x 15 3/4 in)
Video
Press