John Wigmore & Paul McCobb

Ralph Pucci is proud to introduce five edited Paul McCobb designs to a new generation. McCobb is considered to be the unheralded mid century designer who died in 1969, at age 51. “I love seeing something different, especially when it’s from the past and feels fresh and right now. Paul McCobb’s lines are fine, pure and elegant. They feel like sculpture. The back of the sofa, you can almost see how it was first sketched on a page. It’s not fussy, it just sings. Simplicity without being boring. There’s grace to the proportions and tailoring that I don’t think was appreciated in the intervening years in design. Imagine what Paul could have achieved with another couple of decades!”

John Wigmore first debuted paper lighting sculptures at RALPH PUCCI in 2014, inspired by the minimalism of Richard Serra and Sol Lewitt. He wanted to create objects with an ethereal quality. His fascination with natural materials led to light sculptures in wood, and so it was a natural evolution that brought him to clay. “I started making bowls for myself and I wanted to see if I could push it to be a body of work,” he says. The result is Wigmore’s signature square and rectangle forms executed in clay as classic table lamps and sconces. “I was inspired by the clarity and restraint of Luis Barragan’s architecture, the sensitivity of Japanese tea bowls, and Californian ceramic artists,” says Wigmore, “which I captured using the natural materials of clay, ceramic glazes, Japanese paper and light. I have created a new vision of classic designs that resonate beyond the objects themselves, literally and figuratively.” These are all hand-built, not slip-cast, rolled out individual slabs of clay pieced together almost architecturally. “It’s a beautiful process of something natural that still has mystery to it. I am using the kiln and the glaze chemistry to be a part of the creative process, with custom glazing and firing levels; however I might envision the design, there’s the randomness of what will emerge from the kiln.”