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Now, the art and design worlds are adapting as quickly as possible to the new ways of showcasing new and classic works and 3D rendering has provided a new dynamic to the relationship between art and the consumer. Offering at once the opportunity to experience art in a totally dreamlike setting, 3D renders can also bring a level of intimacy to the relationship by allowing audiences to bring the design or art into their own homes. And perhaps that is the more surreal of the two. 

In an exploration of the potential of 3D renders, digital gallery Adorno has worked with 14 tech-savvy designers who have each created environments for some of the design work in the Adorno collections. 

These 14 world-builders take us down a digital rabbit hole into a series of spaces that are surreal, detailed and sometimes subversive. It is against these imaginative landscapes that the designs sit, calling into question whether they can also be real and complimenting the skills of the designers who have created them.  

These rendered spaces close the gap between the piece of design and the possible worlds it can inhabit. Though some of the spaces are peculiar, the ability to see a piece in a space other than a gallery can help the viewer imagine how it would look in the familiar as well as the fictional.

The visualisations featured in the rendered collection are by Another Artist, Nicholas Preaud, Gonzalo Miranda, James Tralie⁠, Jesús Mascaraque, Karl Larsson, LAVS, Loay Altal, Martin Schropp, Mercedes Luna Larrahona, Nicole Wu, Sebastien Baert, Secondary Bounce, and Thomas Dreux.

With an uncanny attention to detail and an adept use of colour, light, shadow and texture, these designers are able to create environments that are strikingly real. From elegant interiors seen from unusual perspectives, to outlandishly colourful surreal stages.

Jesús Mascaraque’s environments have a soft, idyllic light to them. Pastel tones and gentle streams of sunlight offer up soothing scenes to surround the works of design that occupy his spaces.

Both Karl Larsson and James Tralie on the other hand, create surreal scenes in playful colours where the distinction between the wild and domestic worlds have blurred and nature invades the interiors. Their dreamlike scenes offer blissful digital escapism.

The possibilities of 3D rendered work and the spaces show how technology and art can work together to bring audiences closer to the work in a way that traditional galleries and exhibitions couldn’t offer.

Another Artist creates striking architectural spaces, with angular glass facades, geometric rooms with rough material textures, or with soft curving walls. These unusual and highly crafted settings are both futuristic, otherworldly, and yet within them sit the contemporary works of the Adorno curated designers. The juxtaposition of real and unreal create a beautiful subtle tension in the mind of the viewer. 

Once a public experience, the ability to accurately render objects and create convincing environments has meant that curated, “high brow” culture experiences can now be accessed in the comfort of our homes. You can visit the Tate while in the bathroom, or watch the National Theatre’s greatest shows while you sit on your sofa, or transport a rendered piece into your home while you make tea.

Due to the restrictions put in place for COVID-19, the Cluster Crafts exhibition couldn’t take place in its usual physical format in 2020. In order to continue supporting and sharing the work of the talented designers in the Cluster community, we are busy sowing the seeds for an exquisite book that combines content, personal stories and imagery of recent work. The book will have a digital presence and readers will be able to summon renders of each piece into their homes through QR codes embedded in the pages. 

We’ll be sharing more information on our book in the coming weeks. 

We recently featured Adorno in our article on their London Design Week installation the Virtual Design Destination, where the work of over 100 artists from Europe could be experienced by online visitors in a series of digital worlds.

Thank you for reading,
Katie De Klee & Cluster Team.