Multi-hyphenate designer and Louis Vuitton men’s artistic director Virgil Abloh has taken over Galerie Kreo’s London and Paris sites with a two-part show of new furniture dubbed “Efflorescence.” The collection, 20 pieces in total, is inspired by Brutalist architecture and the urban environment and made up of a suite of graffiti‑strewn coffee tables, consoles, seats, vases and mirrors. With a botanical title that seems intentionally to contradict the hard-edged nature of brutalism, the collection embraces both ideals by letting materials like concrete find a home in stark but highly organic forms, often awash with perfectly round holes. One bench slants upwards midway, as if it were a skateboard ramp, while another table winds fluidly, with holes scattered at its base and an ovular top. A massive planter overflows with dozens of orange pincushion proteas and, adjacent to it, a large mirror leans against the wall, the show’s vibrant graffiti—an Abloh signature—reflecting between its many cavities.
