The hands of lust

Xavier Lust at Le Botanique, Brussels, Oct. 2015.

The hands of lust

For all of the designer Xavier Lust’s prominence – witness the Botanique’s retrospective devoted to his work – his creative genius seems to me to stem from a strange collaboration. The hands of Lust are not alone. By deforming steel plates, he allows the metal to express itself, to arch on its own, offering up its loveliest curve. Natural? Or supernatural? In light of the Belgian designer’s success, his alliance with matter resembles a pact with the devil.