Schimmel & Schweikle Dutch/German, b. 1993/1994

Schimmel&Schweikle (1993 and 1994, NL and DE) are craftsmen of digital materiality. Moving back and forth almost seamlessly between the computer and “real world”, their play brings new aesthetics to the table — be it sculpture and furniture.

Without forcing a hierarchy, they intertwine techniques, hand-tools and software. Rather than opposing, the real and the data are a continuation of one another, in content as in shape. Finding that new 3D filaments allow wood to be printed, for Janne Schimmel & Moreno Schweikle means a hand-carved piece can be digitalized and then reborn. Seeking digital material properties, they look into the narrowing gap between online and offline. There, 3D renders stop being a representation of a shape or a thing; but become digital material, become an object.

Schimmel & Schweikle both finished their studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven, after which they started the studio together. In 2019 alone, their work has been exhibited at Alcova Milan, the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Design Museum Gent. It was also the year for their first solo exhibition at Collectible Brussels with Everyday Gallery.

Text by Céline Mathieu