For Paul Cocksedge, each body of work is a vehicle for narrative, drawing inspiration from and abstracting the physical process of making. Cocksedge’s practice can be defined by a search for hidden values and properties in order to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Born in 1978 in London, Cocksedge studied industrial design at Sheffield Hallam University, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design in 1997. He subsequently studied with Ron Arad at the Royal College of Art in London, receiving a Master of Arts in Product Design in 2002. In 2004, he founded Paul Cocksedge Studio in London along with his partner Joana Pinho.
Since the studio’s inception, Cocksedge has gained public recognition for his ambitious interventions and installations that question the nature of human perception. One notable example is the Poised Table (2013). Inspired by the flexibility of a piece of paper, Cocksedge sought to investigate the limits of balance. Following an intensive series of calculations regarding gravity, mass, and equilibrium, Cocksedge achieved a table composed of a single sheet of a steel plate, the form of which is akin folded paper sheet. While the piece appears improbable appearing as though it is about to fall, Cocksedge achieves full stability, a feat which garnered the Best Contemporary Design Moët Hennessy PAD Prize in 2014.
Through his multidisciplinary practice, Cocksedge has collaborated with fellow designers such as Issey Miyake and Ingo Maurer, as well as with brands such as BMW, Flos, Hermès, Sony and Swarovski. He is well known for his public installations and large-scale projects, which include A Gust of Wind (2019), a light sculpture for the Eskenazi Museum of Art at the Indiana University, USA, and an upcoming 105 foot-long canopy for the Oman Botanic Garden, which will be one of the largest gardens of its kind in the world. In 2019, Cocksedge debuted Please Be Seated (2019), a large-scale sculptural pavilion that offered the community seating without obstructing the circulation of the street in Broadgate, London, and Exploded View Bridge (2020), a permanent bridge construction in Cape Town made of sustainable cross laminated timber.
Cocksedge’s work is held in numerous collections throughout the world including the British Council, London; Design Museum, London; Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington, IN; Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
He lives and works in London, UK.
