CASTLE
The first pieces of the Castle collection were created by Charles Kalpakian exclusively for Booroom Gallery in 2021. Now, on the occasion of PAD London, the collection is joined by two new works — a wood and onyx console, and a stool in shades of rose crafted in the same technique.
The key idea of the collection is how various natural elements create a sculptural unity, a combination of vertical and horizontal, and the power of a human in the center of an intellectual construct who can transform and create elements. “I wanted to explore the relationship between men and architecture: they are upright, standing on their feet and strong enough to carry this sculpted wooden architectural beam. This collection is based on my approach to historical architecture”, says Kalpakian. Each marble block is meticulously cut, rotated, and aligned to follow the natural rhythm of its veins — creating almost mystical composition where matter becomes self-referential, where imperfection transforms into language, and where mineral lacework lets emptiness breathe.
This choreography of solid and void is both raw and precise, echoing the brutal beauty of a landscape untouched, yet purified by the eye of the designer. There is no ornament for ornament’s sake — only clarity and intention, where time leaves its trace in the form itself.
Elegance here is not softness, but structure. It’s the kind of elegance that emerges from restraint — from subtraction, from the dialogue between mass and air, shadow and stone. At its core, Castle balances radicality and refinement. The radicality of shaping silence from weight. The refinement of translating millennial material into a contemporary alphabet. It’s a modern gesture rooted in ancient logic — a sculptural language that echoes both the vernacular craft and the futuristic toolpath. Where form follows time, and time becomes form.
Each veneer sheet was carefully selected to create a continuous, seamless landscape — one in which the eye can wander and lose itself, like tracing the contours of an imagined topography. The wood grain flows like lines of force, drawing a fluid, natural horizon across the surface.
Carved white onyx anchors and elevates this composition, offering a mineral foundation that is both discreet and powerful. Here, a primal dialogue emerges between wood and stone — between organic warmth and luminous solidity, between the artisan’s gesture and the timelessness of raw materials.
