Carpenters Workshop Gallery — Spring '26 exhibitions

It feels like the perfect setting for reflection; for design that asks us to pause. This season, Carpenters Workshop Gallery opens its spring–summer programme with three exhibitions (Komorebi, Caos Calmo and Persistence of Form) that explore how art can propagate ambience, as opposed to simply occupy a space. The most meditative of the three shows may well be Komorebi, a new body of lighting by Paris-based studio Aki+Arnaud Cooren. The exhibition’s title refers to the Japanese word describing sunlight filtering through leaves. It is an image that neatly captures the duo’s longstanding fascination with light as a poetic, almost sentient presence. At its centre is a new series of lamps from the designers’ ongoing Ishigaki collection, inspired by memories of freediving around Japan’s Ishigaki Island. Crafted from bamboo, metal and linen, the sculptural floor lamps draw upon natural materials to create immersive, mesmeric environments that replicate the sensation of being underwater. Seven new pieces appear in a pigment inspired by coral formations encountered around the island. In keeping with the Coorens’ restrained sensibility, the works favour a kind of sensory kindling over spectacle. Nature’s subtle luminosity diffuses through linen and glides across gently curved forms, casting shadows that float rather than fall.