Samuel Ross

The titles that the British polymath Samuel Ross bestows on his creations may seem, at first, like they must have been randomly generated – the hallucinatory poetry of some artificial intelligence. They yield their meaning only gradually, and in this, they are much like the works themselves. This elegant marble bench bears the title Optimistic uncertainties solicit integration (Material Articulation) – to which you might justly say, “…what?” Take the time to parse the words, though, and they fall into place, like stones into a foundation. Optimistic uncertainty: what better way to describe the mindset of avant-garde design which by definition puts something new into the world, never quite knowing how the world might react?