The wit and whimsy of Serban Ionescu’s ‘objects of dormant utility’ The wit and whimsy of Serban Ionescu’s ‘objects of dormant utility’ The vibrant works of Romanian-born Serban Ionescu cut across the border lines between design and art, as featured in the April 2021 issue of Wallpaper* Ionescu’s ICES (In Case of Emergency Sculptures), 2020, are small handheld works that can be utilised in the event of an emergency, a comment on the shifting notions of sculpture over time
Inspired by a summer job as a model maker at an architectural firm, Serban Ionescu went on to study architecture at Pratt Institute, where he thrived creatively and discovered a fondness for the work of Lebbeus Woods and John Hejduk. ‘But the negative side of architecture school is that it builds up this amazing kind of naivety that you’re going to change the world,’ he reflects. Graduating in 2007, he was soon disheartened by the difficulty of making a dent in the profession, and set his sights on being an artist instead.