Sophisticated Robert Kuo designs on display at Pacific Design Center
Robert Kuo is a designer for all ages. Marrying ancient Chinese motifs and crafts including enamel cloisonne, lacquer work and hammered copper repousse with sleek modern forms, he has consistently redefined contemporary art furniture and accessories since opening his namesake West Hollywood store in 1984. Now, the Beijing-born, Taiwan-raised Kuo is celebrating his 30th anniversary as a Los Angeles designer with a retrospective exhibition of his work for his own showroom as well as Baker and McGuire furniture. The show runs through Friday in the fifth floor atrium of the Pacific Design Center.
“Not only is his furniture exquisitely crafted, it is so extraordinarily tactile and sensual,” says the interior designer Madeline Stuart. “It invites you to reach out, rub your hands over the surfaces and caress it.”
In addition to designing furniture--including the Woodgrain Design Square seats, which were voted Los Angeles Times readers’ favorite side table exemplifying the California Look in 2011 -- Kuo is known for his colorful Peking glass vases and lamps made from carved stones and crystal.
“I bought a chalcedony necklace that he designed and left in on a client’s coffee table as a piece of art,” says interior designer Oliver M. Furth, who says Mr. Kuo’s sophisticated East-meets-West designs do not fight for the spotlight. “He has a beautiful sense of materials and there is a wonderful masculine quality—a refined chunkiness—to some of his work that complements modern furniture and antiques.”
On Thursday at 4 p.m. the designer will be feted at a cocktail reception at Baker, 8687 Melrose Ave., Suite B525. The retrospective then travels to New York, where it will be staged in the Robert Kuo showroom Nov. 3-14.
“I am honored to be able to exhibit my pieces on both coasts, meccas of design and culture,” says Mr. Kuo, who also designs bath and tile products for Ann Sacks and fabric for S. Harris. Looking back at the evolution of his work, he adds, “My pieces are more mature and more an extension of my personality. I don’t feel ‘peer pressure.’ I think that is the advantage of age. It is also the reward.”