At Carpenters in Paris, Five Easy Pieces pairs five new editions of Rick Owens Furniture with works from Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy’s personal art collection. Curated by Lamy, Owens’ partner and longtime creative collaborator, the exhibition examines raw materials, architectural form and the marks of time. Rusted steel and ancient wood lend the duo’s sculptural furniture a rugged beauty that resists immaculate surfaces.
On view from October 20th, 2026 to March 15th, 2027, the exhibition takes its title from Bob Rafelson’s 1970 film, a New Hollywood classic about alienation and the rejection of conventional success. Long admired by Lamy, the film lends an ironic note to works whose elaborate construction makes them anything but easy.
The beauty of resistance: rusted steel and ancient wood
The monumental K Plug Steel Rust revisits a form first prototyped by Lamy from Owens’ sketches. Previously made in alabaster and bronze, the latest edition explores balance and structure through weathered steel. Three versions of the Pedalò seating sculpture also feature rusted steel patinas, paired with cylindrical leather cushions.
For the first time, the Tomb Chair and Stag Chair are crafted from swamp wood, or bois de marais. Submerged for thousands of years, the timber acquires a dark grey-green hue and a distinctive aged character. The new rusted-steel Double Bubble sofa contrasts its weathered surface with graphite crocodile leather, retaining the piece’s sculptural profile while departing from an earlier swamp-wood edition.
On the gallery’s upper level, the Antler Bed, made from recycled elm, extends the exhibition’s interest in decay and renewal. Its organic surfaces preserve the wood’s irregularities, allowing material history to shape each object’s character.
Art and collectible design
Lamy has also selected works from the pair’s personal collection, including pieces by Barry X Ball, Giovanni Leonardo Bassan, Marilyn Minter, Youssef Nabil and Scarlett Rouge. These works place Owens and Lamy’s furniture in dialogue with contemporary art, revealing their shared interest in sculptural form, emotional intensity and unconventional materials.
Across the exhibition, industrial steel and time-weathered wood resist the pursuit of flawless finishes. For Owens and Lamy, collectible design becomes a study in the tension between precision and imperfection, permanence and change.
Known for her unflinching originality, Michèle Lamy joins Marina Abramović in a conversation about freedom, failure, and the human body as a vessel for creation. Read how they redefine what it means to be an artist today.
Photography by DANIELLE LEVITT
Double Bubble Rust
Photography by BENJAMIN BACCARANI, courtesy of CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY
Pedalo Rust
Photography by BENJAMIN BACCARANI, courtesy of CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY
K Plug Table Steel Rust
Photography by BENJAMIN BACCARANI, courtesy of CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY
Special thanks to PERRIER COMMUNICATION
