Samsung just announced their color customizable Bespoke kitchen appliance range at the start of the year at the 2022 CES. But that all pales in comparison to the expressive abstractions on display across their latest limited edition collaboration conceived with the chromatophiliac and multidisciplinary artist, Alex Proba.
The limited-edition Bespoke’s abstract jungle print motif design on display – one inspired by nature and intended to bring “the outdoors indoors” – was first interpreted using an arrangement of color papers by Proba before being realized as a final print. The result is a wildly expressive push against what we typically associate with home kitchen aesthetics, refreshingly moving us beyond the monochromatic and metallic palettes that have dominated the American residential market for the last few decades.
We recently spoke with artist and founder of Portland and Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary design studio Studio Proba, Alex Proba, about her take on her limited edition Bespoke refrigerator:
Could you tell us briefly how you got involved with Samsung for this project?
I was initially tasked to take on a whole room design in Samsung’s Bespoke 837 space in the Meatpacking District in NYC. The idea was to create a studio environment that is surrounded in my work including Samsung’s Bespoke lineup. I took the task at hand and created a wonderland filled with my art work and products from the floor up to the walls, shelving, and Samsung Bespoke appliances.
The 837 Samsung Bespoke space was a great success and seeing the refrigerator in the space with my art work sparked the next chapter of actually offering the product to the world – and now your home. For the limited-edition design, I worked alongside Samsung’s design and product teams to ensure my art seamlessly integrated with the panel dimensions and layout.
Color in the kitchen still seems to be off-limits here in the United States, but the decades’ long trend of monochromatic kitchens seems to be slowly softening. As someone who obviously innately embraces color into their life and home, how would you recommend someone who is a bit tentative to add color into a room associated with function, rather than fashion?
The beautiful thing about Samsung’s Bespoke collection is that it brings joy and art to your home in the most unexpected way. You don’t have to look for the ideal space to hang or place a piece of art, it’s right there for you on an item that every household needs and uses every day. The kitchen specifically is the perfect space for art and color as it’s the place of entertaining and making memories for families. Adding a piece of art in this way brightens everyone’s day.
The Bespoke edition refrigerator obviously presents itself as a four-panel canvas for adornment. But conceptually, did you approach the treatment differently knowing the purpose and daily use/durability requirements of a large home appliance?
As a lot of my work, it is inspired by nature and memories. With the design approach for the refrigerator, I tried to brighten up your space and bring the outdoors indoors. Designing for Samsung’s Bespoke refrigerator was a new adventure for me, and a way for my art to transcend traditional mediums – bringing vibrant color with abstract patterns to unexpected places. Although the refrigerator is a four-panel canvas I treated it as one piece of art.
If you’re as intrigued by this vibrant treatment as much as we are, you’ll be able to reserve the limited-edition Alex Proba-designed Bespoke 4-Door Flex by signing up here.
