AVL Workbench (140x140x74) by Atelier Van Lieshout

Dutch artist-designer Joep van Lieshout was born in Ravenstein, the Netherlands in 1963.  He studied at the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam between 1980 and 1985, graduating with a Master’s degree in Fine Art. Between 1985 and 1987, he worked in one of the funded studios of De Ateliers, an independent foundation in Amsterdam that supports young artistic development. In 1987, he also spent time working at Villa Arson, a contemporary art and research institution in Nice, France. It was also during the 1980s that he designed objects using what became his trademark material—brightly colored polyester.

In 1995, van Lieshout founded Atelier Van Lieshout in Rotterdam, with the hope of “undermining the myth of the individual artistic genius.” The atelier produces projects that overlap the worlds of art, design, and architecture, often incorporating themes of politics, power, and life and death. AVL’s work runs the gamut from ambiguous furniture to sculpture, interiors and even polyester-constructed mobile homes. Clients and collaborators include Moooi, Lensvelt, and Carpenters Workshop Gallery, among others. Atelier Van Lieshout’s works belong to private and museum collections worldwide.