Lucas & Tyra Morten
The Most Beautiful Flowers Bloom for the Shortest Time
From their atelier in Varberg, on the west coast of Sweden, Lucas and Tyra Morten work in tandem to produce hand-made, limited edition objects. Thick, angular and unmoving, their forms have an almost geological presence, like a mountain or cliff face. Occupying the liminal space between art and design, it is a point of principle – rebellion, almost – for the designers to deny function in favour of artistry, particularly hailing from a country where logic, practicality and functionality is admired above all else – the result of its Protestant history and more recent flat-pack heritage.
Each taking the role of the artist and the muse, the creator and the critic, the act and the inspiration, the collaboration between Lucas and Tyra encompasses both their individual approaches and their collective philosophy. Whilst Lucas alone is occupied with the physical production of the pieces, Tyra is equally inherent in their creation; as Lucas notes, “Even if she isn’t in the studio doing the sawing and the sanding, she is part of the process all the way through. We’re always discussing and transferring different things between us, which is what brings the objects to life.”
Having first met as teenagers, in the intervening years the pair have moved cities and countries; lived together and apart; and have followed their own aspirations before embarking on their joint venture. To mark a decade of fruitful partnership, Lucas and Tyra will be married in a ceremony-cum-exhibition held in Blå Hallen, a sprawling 19th century factory in Höganäs, an hour or so south of Varberg, which has been restored and reanimated as a centre for art and culture.
Both formless and monumental, rational and sacral, permanent and fragile, marriage is pure concept and a daily routine – but, above all, it is a creative act: it is the catalyst to make something together, be that a home, a family, a life, or, indeed, art. Like the monumental wax sculptures that will be lit, the ceremony and exhibition are fleeting moments in time that will appear and disappear. As artists and makers, it requires a mix of romance and realism to truly accept that nothing lasts forever, but it is a sentiment that is at the heart of Lucas and Tyra’s collaboration: “As we like to say: the most beautiful flowers are the ones that bloom for the shortest time.”
