{"id":455787,"date":"2026-05-19T01:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T01:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/455787\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T01:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T01:09:11","slug":"isamaya-ffrench-shifts-her-gaze-to-interiors-objects-with-studio-iron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/455787\/","title":{"rendered":"Isamaya Ffrench Shifts Her Gaze to Interiors, Objects With Studio Iron"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLONDON<\/a> \u2014 Isamaya Ffrench<\/a>, the British makeup artist and designer, has turned her attention to a different color palette with the opening of a gallery and concept store called Studio Iron.<\/p>\n

\n\tHer aim is to create a platform where younger artists \u2014 and established ones \u2014 can experiment with interior design, furniture and decorative objects. Studio Iron\u2019s first pop-up exhibition is taking place at Saatchi Yates<\/a> until June 7, before moving to its permanent spot in The Painting Rooms in Soho in June.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe gallery derives its name from Isamaya, which means \u201ciron strength\u201d in medieval Germanic. Ffrench, who studied 3D and industrial design, said she wants the artists to create pieces that \u201csit in the liminal space between art<\/a> and function and design.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFfrench is used to breaking boundaries, and working across a variety of disciplines including beauty<\/a>, fashion, art<\/a> and film. Last year she launched Core Collection, which fuses skin care with makeup, and this year she will reunite with Nike on their \u201cRun Forever\u201d 2026 sneaker collaboration.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA look at the Studio Iron show at Saatchi Yates gallery in London. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe show at Saatchi Yates features 62 works arranged around the large, concrete-floored studio. Iron and steel dominate the post-industrial-looking room, with sculptures, installations and paintings that radiate fragility \u2014 and resilience. It\u2019s balanced chaos that makes sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUpon entering, visitors are met with \u201cUntitled (Wolf),\u201d 2026 by\u00a0Benjamin Kustow, a large, snarling wolf with an arched back. Its protruding ribs and spiky hair are frozen in midair, like a cornered cat. There\u2019s also a king-sized bed that sits on the floor inside a black, glossy, tubular frame. The work, by Kouros Maghsoudi, is called the \u201cHug Bed, 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFfrench said she wanted the displays to be detailed, tactile and tempting although, as with any gallery, visitors are not supposed to touch anything. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPhoebe Saatchi, Arthur Yates and Isamaya Ffrench in costume, and wearing prosthetics.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a walk-through, Ffrench said she wanted to create a space that broke down boundaries. She sees the current art scene as hierarchical and too associated with certain genres, limiting the kinds of stories artists can tell. To her, \u201ccreativity is creativity. It\u2019s all magic,\u201d and doesn\u2019t need to be labeled or defined.<\/p>\n

\n\tFfrench handpicked the artists, who range from emerging talents such as Atelier Formenta, Andu Masebo and Manon Wertenbroek<\/a>\u00a0to established names including Gary Card, Paul McCarthy, Kelly Wearstler,\u00a0Anne Imhof and Marina Abramovi\u0107.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was the first time that some of the artists designed furniture. Ffrench worked as a mentor, guiding them on the commissioned pieces and trusting them to do new and different work. She had faith in their ability to get the job done.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen the core or the seed of something is honest, the work is too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough Ffrench enjoys running her beauty<\/a> business, she also craved radicalism, newness and pure art. \u201cThere are limitations in every single thing you do, but there aren\u2019t really in this space, and that\u2019s really exciting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Studio Iron show at Saatchi Yates in London<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tOnce it arrives in its permanent home, Studio Iron will continue to expand its homeware and object design. It\u2019s even going global to produce films in Mongolia later this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tFfrench said she hopes to establish a creative agency and continue recruiting new designers to push the boundaries of conventional interior art. She wants to help artists to explore new territory and create works that may have no explanation, but still leave the audience satisfied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2014 Isamaya Ffrench, the British makeup artist and designer, has turned her attention to a different color…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2273,307,304,305,306,1902,308,93,61,60,99],"class_list":["post-455787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-beauty","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-london"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}