Barbara Nanning

Barbara Nanning’s mesmerizing sculptures unite tradition with innovation and are a fusion of carefully chosen unconventionally combined elements.
Barbara unites classical artistic methods with an innovative use of materials to achieve an entirely unique language of form, one which often evolves in the making process. As Barbara notes “after each of my trips abroad I return to my studio with a profusion of new ideas about colour, design and texture that has profoundly influenced my work.” Nanning sets down her inspiration in dozens of sketches, drawings and photos that function as a memory aid.
Nanning continues: “I see myself as a material bound artist, inventing and developing unusual methods and techniques with new surface textures. I heavily rely on the malleability of the material and explore experimentally the boundaries of what is possible. With my work I try to capture the essence of motion and growth”. Nature, both organic and inorganic, is a constant source of inspiration for Nanning.   She examines crystals, jellyfish, flowers and micro organisms with an almost nineteenth century fascination for form, structure and geometry. The designer combines regularity with fluidity, order with chaos and the rigid with the informal.
Barbara Nanning was born in 1957 in The Netherlands and lives and works in Amsterdam. She graduated from the prestigious Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and is the recipient of several international awards. Nanning’s work is represented in the permanent collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, among many other important museums.