Borek sipek biography examples
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The Elusive
By: Mariana Kubištová
Photo: Richard Bakeš, archive
#Leaders
Eclectic, postmodern, magical, cosmopolitan, erotic. World–famous architect, designer and glassmaker. These are just some of the many adjectives that are associated with the name Bořek Šípek. The range of their meanings shows how difficult it is to describe Šípek’s vast body of work. He considered himself primarily an architect and described experimentation as the driving force behind his work.
The life of Bořek Šípek was the story of an artist who, being hardworking and courageous, rose from humble beginnings to international fame. In particular, he did not lack the courage to cross borders – both the geographical ones, when he emigrated from Czechoslovakia to West Germany at the age of 19, and 15 years later moved to the Netherlands; and the ones that could limit his work.
Relatively early on, his talent and enthusiasm brought him his first professional successes. One of his early awards in architecture
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BOREK ŠÍPEK: A SELF-MADE RENAISSANCE MAN
Interview ©2013
During the press trip organized bygd Czech Tourism New York gods August our Rome Bureau ledare Lucy Gordan met with Borek Šípek in his recently-opened glassworks in Nový Bor, where he cooked a Thai meal for everyone. For the complete history of his fascinating career and images of his works, click on his website www.boreksipek.com.
BOREK ŠÍPEK
You are a multi-faceted artist: architect, author, designer of furniture, of cutlery, of silverware, of light fixtures and chandeliers, of tableware, of glassware, of kitchen utensils, and you’re a glass artisan, who loves to cook and who even owned a Thai restaurant and a French bistro in the center of Prague. Do you think chefs are artists?
BS: Definitely. Cooking is a creative job; it is a composition of tastes and you can approach it in a very creative way. Also the way you serve your dishes, the way you decorate your food on a plate may be artistic.
Have yo • Šípek’s whimsical Bambi chair of 1983 is named for his wife, a ballerina. Borek Šípek in the garden of his cottage near Novy Bor, Czech Republic, a center for Czech glassmaking. In Prague all things point to the castle. Ancient, huge, and visible from nearly every part of the city, Prague Castle is the seat of the Czech Republic. Borek Šípek left his mark on this icon of Czech history as the court architect during the presidency of his friend Václav Havel, from 1993 to 2003. But the Czech native son is also a prolific glass artist and designer of furniture, porcelain, and silver objects. Today glass and architecture are the sixty-three-year-old Šípek’s focus. Glass, of course, is part of the Czech national artistic legacy, and Šípek’s fellow Czechs, as well as museum curators and collectors, place him among the most skilled glass artists in the world. But a vast body of work preceded that. Šípek gained renown in the design world in the late 19
Czech and Baroque: Borek Šípek