For artist and maker Simone Tops, materials are not merely passive recipients of form, but active agents in the process of becoming. The objects are a result of the artist's material experimentation which is shaped by an intimate technical knowledge of glass, steel, and leatherwork. These materials do not have fixed essences, rather they run in a continuum, matter into matter, surface into surface and form into form.
The emergent sculptural and architectural pieces are resultant of a desire to push materials to their outermost limits. The biomorphic forms that emerge from this process are not just a matter of visual resemblance or imitation, but a new form that is changed, as if almost elementally. In Studio Tops's pieces, the organic and the industrial are not antithetical, but rather two aspects of a shared material reality, constantly entangled and interpenetrating.
Artist and designer Simone Tops established the creative workshop Studio Tops in 2017 and is based in Naarm. Founded on the principles of longevity, craftsmanship, and a cross-disciplinary approach Top’s studio brings together a technical knowledge of glass, steel and leatherwork to create both sculptural and architectural forms, as well as a range of hand-crafted sculptural leather bags which honour the qualities of these materials.
Simone Tops creates works that are crafted to last, patina over time, and designed to be companions for life.