Egawa + Zbryk
Since beginning their collaboration in 1996, Rie Egawa and Burgess Zbryk have gained a great deal of international attention. Their work has been published in the United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Italy in such important periodicals as Intramuros, Interni, Wallpaper, and ID magazine. They have received numerous awards for their design work, yet they do not limit their aesthetic by thinking of themselves only as designers. Although their work relates to contemporary design and much of their work serves a function (lighting, chairs, screens), their pieces also have the look and feel of art objects. This seems especially true with work such as Sweater Tubes, lighted sculptures that have colorful hand-knitted coverings. Egawa and Zbryk admit that they are more interested in aesthetics than in function—further supporting their development as artists rather than designers per se.
One of their signature pieces, Puzzle Screen (2000), is, aptly, a room divider that fits together like a puzzle and can be made out of a variety of materials such as powder-coated steel or plywood. The screen can be scaled to a variety of sizes; in 2006 egawa + zbryk completed a seventeenfoot- tall version for a client in Atlanta.
egawa + zbryk’s working method further exemplifies their artistic orientation and attention to the individual object. They continue to make most of their work in their studio instead of sending it out to be fabricated. Both take pride in the craftsmanship of the object and are equally adept at working in a variety of materials, including wood, metal, plastic, paper, and textiles. Recently egawa + zbryk have begun exploring public art commissions with a measure of success. They have recently been awarded a project for the City of Kansas City, Missouri’s One Percent for Art program.
—Mark J. Spencer
