ABOUT
Philadelphia based furniture designer and fabricator, Laura Bertapelle, is a multi-media artist who is passionate about reintroducing commonly used materials to individuals and spaces in newly engaging ways by demonstrating attributes of these materials’ properties through material manipulation and processes.
Her early work focused on sculpture and ceramics. In 2012 she was introduced to the Furniture Design Department at Rhode Island School of Design where she ultimately majored. Finding a new intrigue in the challenges presented from creating functional designs instead of sculptures, her material explorations expanded into wood, metal, glass and more. Since graduation she has focused on establishing a collection of glass tables for custom commission where she melds both her sculptural tendencies with functional form.
She has shown her work at venues such as Philadelphia Museum of Contemporary Craft Show, Design Philadelphia, National Liberty Museum Annual Gala & Glass Auction and more. Her work can currently be seen and purchased at Studio Ambler in Ambler Pennsylvania, a showroom committed to displaying local artists and their craft.
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As an artist one of my greatest rewards is creating works that ensnare the participant’s attention to the same initial curiosity that motivates me to create, which is my insatiable intrigue in the natural beauty that everyday materials and forms have and yet are waiting to be seen and interacted with. To find these unique characteristics it takes countless tests and experiments to find what has been overlooked within a material; working to seamlessly integrate material and process to achieve a final form greater than the sum of its parts. When I have found what has been overlooked, I leave it with the audience to examine and interact with, leaving them with a final form that transcends the limits of what was known and creating a new experience in the space my work inhabits.
Contact Laura at lbertape@alumni.risd.edu with any inquires.