{"id":471354,"date":"2026-05-06T14:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/471354\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:08:14","slug":"inside-studio-iron-isamaya-ffrenchs-new-dystopian-dreamworld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/471354\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Studio Iron, Isamaya Ffrench\u2019s new dystopian dreamworld"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day after the opening of Studio Iron, Isamaya Ffrench<\/a>\u2019s new exhibition at Saatchi Yates, Instagram is filled with images of the eclectic works occupying the space: a latex dress hanging above a plate of cracked eggs \u2013 replaced periodically by the gallery team \u2013 a feminine cyborg-like figure sprawled across the floor, and a large, inviting glossy-panelled bed.<\/p>\n

The night before, the London gallery was packed for the opening of Ffrench\u2019s first move into art curation. Known for a throughline of creative direction across beauty and fashion, the shift feels like a natural one. As she explains, \u201ccreative direction is already about constructing worlds, sequencing ideas, and shaping how something is experienced. Curating applies that thinking spatially and materially \u2013 working with objects and people rather than images alone. It allows for a slower, more dimensional form of storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Named Studio Iron<\/a>\u00a0after Isamaya \u2013 which means \u201cIron Strength\u201d in medieval Germanic \u2013 the exhibition also introduces her forthcoming Studio Iron Gallery. \u201cIt made sense to carry a sense of who I am at my core, plus my love for raw materials, particularly metal… and the music genre of course,\u201d she explains. The design gallery and concept store is set to launch later this month, with a focus on artists working in the \u201climinal space of art and design.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pin<\/a>\"si-a-benjaminkustow-q60\"Benjamin Kustow, Untitled (Wolf), 2026
\nResin, Silicone, Fibreglass, Acrylic paint, Synthetic hair and flock, feather quills, 120 x 86 x 160 cmCourtesy of Saatchi Yates<\/p>\n

Ffrench\u2019s work has long leaned into industrial and dystopian aesthetics, and that sensibility carries through here. She expands on this relationship to material, telling us: \u201c[the materials] tend to strip things back to structure and function. There\u2019s an honesty in materials that have been pushed or stressed…..metal, latex, treated surfaces – that reveals process rather than concealing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the works in the space feel textured and cold, from Anne Imhof\u2019s bronze bench to a strap-leather wall embossed with \u201cXANAX\u201d. \u201cThose aesthetics also sit slightly outside comfort, which can make people look more closely,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt\u2019s less about dystopia as a theme and more about the clarity that comes from reduction and tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

While online coverage offers a glimpse of the works on display, many of the exhibition\u2019s subtleties are best experienced in person \u2013 like the pairing of older works with more contemporary pieces, placed in deliberate sightlines with one another. It\u2019s a considered approach, one that reflects Ffrench\u2019s freedom of thought. \u201cI don\u2019t have any formal training in anything \u2013 just a longstanding experience across different creative industries and practices so the show highlights placing works in proximity that wouldn\u2019t usually be seen together.\u201d <\/p>\n

One notable example is an impish statue of a Pinocchio-like boy by artists 4_F_S_B and Tom Schneider, which stands proudly in front of a 17th-century oil painting. Ffrench goes on to explain, \u201cIt\u2019s not to provoke for its own sake, but to create a dialogue where meaning emerges through contrast. The idea was to build an environment rather than a display: something that asks the viewer to reconsider value, authorship, and use.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pin<\/a>\"si-a-4-f-s-bandtomschneider-q60\"4_F_S_B and Tom Schneider, Locally Hated, 2026
\nSculpture, 140 x 30 cmCourtesy of Saatchi Yates<\/p>\n

Throughout the exhibition, that approach is pushed further: five leather stools, soil, and \u201cthe artist\u2019s hair\u201d are grouped in a circle, while a furry, growling wolf at the entrance appears almost inviting to touch. \u201cSome pieces are displayed almost as if they could be activated…. sat on, worn, handled- while others are deliberately withheld. That ambiguity is intentional. It reflects the idea that function completes the work, but you have to build a relationship with it first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the exhibition itself, Studio Iron Gallery is conceived as part of a wider way of working \u2014 one that extends beyond the typical gallery format. Ffrench points to independent studios, small-scale exhibitions and cross-disciplinary collaborations as the spaces where the most interesting experimentation is happening. It\u2019s in those spaces that work can remain open longer, producing more unexpected results.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s with that in mind that she hopes Studio Iron Gallery becomes a space that supports emerging voices and helps shape cultural positioning. \u201cThe intention is to build an ecosystem where curation, design, and creative direction feed into one another and where ideas move from concept to object to context.\u201d Essentially, she says, it will be \u201ca platform that produces as much as it presents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studio Iron runs at Saatchi Yates 30 April \u2013 7 June.<\/p>\n