Michael Samuels

We met Michael Samuels in the street. His friendly colleague GL Brierly, whose studio is in walking distance, took us half way. Compared to most of the other studios we have been to, the house of Michael´s studio is completely renovated, even on the inside. His studio has double glazed windows and a decent heating, and for London standards it is quite large. The space still gets too small when it comes to site specific work, for example doing...

We met Michael Samuels in the street. His friendly colleague GL Brierly, whose studio is in walking distance, took us half way. Compared to most of the other studios we have been to, the house of Michael´s studio is completely renovated, even on the inside. His studio has double glazed windows and a decent heating, and for London standards it is quite large. The space still gets too small when it comes to site specific work, for example doing the bigger commissions for Comme des Garçons. You can admire these sculptural cabinets in Dover Street Market.

A collection of furniture from the 1960s is piled up in one corner of the studio. They are waiting to get a second much better life once Michael has transformed them into his objects. The beautiful glasses, which often form the “base”, are from Scandinavia.

“Screens” is what he calls his floating sculptures. Some have integrated light, cast a grid on the floor or the wall, and thus create something beyond the physical work.

“The less I plan, the better” Michael Samuels explains, “not to know where things end…”
So on principle he never makes drawings but prefers to see “happy accidents” happen while he works.

Such a shame we had to leave after one hour! Michael Samuels had another appointment in his studio, this time with a museum curator. But he had some comfort: “Don´t miss the Burberry factory outlet next door,” was his goodbye to me, “you can at least wait there for your taxi!” ….I am sure I will visit Michael´s studio more often!