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A few weeks ago I shared a little sneak peek of a collaboration I’d been working on with Berlin-based designer and maker Pat Krupa.
Now the finished piece exists.
Raw steel. Concrete. Light. Shadow.
Part object, part monument. Part of his world, part of mine.
Only two of these were made, and this one currently stands in Berlin, waiting for its trip to Manchester, carrying a little piece of R3N under that grey city sky.
Pat works with original lighting objects, often using steel and concrete, creating single pieces or very limited runs. His work has that stripped-back brutalist feel I really love, where the material is allowed to speak for itself. Nothing too polished. Nothing pretending to be softer than it is. Just weight, surface, form and atmosphere.
His photography also leans into cities, concrete, urban texture and brutalist spaces, so this whole thing felt like a very natural meeting point between our worlds. I absolutely love Brutalism.
For me, it sits somewhere between an art object, a lamp, an industrial shrine and a tiny monument.
The steel cube carries the R3N cat mark, cut into the surface with that dripping black and red shape, while the concrete and metal base give it this heavy, grounded presence. It feels like something found on a rooftop, in an old factory, or on the edge of a city after dark.
There’s a bit of Berlin in it.
There’s a bit of Manchester in it.
There’s a bit of Harrowden in it too...
I love how it takes the flat visual language of my work and turns it into something physical, architectural and useful, but still a little strange. A piece of light with teeth.
Huge thanks to Pat Krupa for bringing this into the world with such care and craft.
How awesome is this. 🖤❤️
Collaboration: R3N x Pat Krupa
Materials: raw steel, concrete, light
Edition: 1 of 2
Made in: Berlin
Coming to: Manchester
