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The internet cult around the work of Nik Bentel goes beyond screens and physical shop windows. The NY artist and designer has created such a sensation based on his artistic practice of turning everyday objects into handbags, knives or bracelets sculpted with an avant-garde approach.
A graduate of the Brown-RISD dual degree programme, Bentel has presented on some of the system’s key stages such as Paris Fashion Week, Milan Design Week and the United Nations Climate Summit. In addition, he has been commissioned by countless brands with whom he creates exciting, strange and engaging experiences using alternative forms of product design, advertising and performance.
Subverting the ordinary
Bentel’s experimental character is reflected in its products and objects. In an archive of ironic and irreverent designs inhabited by its pink leather bag inspired by Wes Anderson’s iconic box from ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. ‘The Bentel’s Box Bag‘ is a transformation of the iconic and fictional Mendl’s cake box.
Nik would also take the trendy Espresso Martini cocktail beyond the bar to transform it into a limited edition chain bag from Absolut Vodka. The quirky ‘Absolut Espresso Martini’ imagines what a crystal glass filled to the brim with the classic drink would look like, with the aim of ‘inspiring some thought and reflection on the possibility of creating something exciting out of the everyday’.
Within Bentel’s culinary imaginary, it is also worth mentioning his knife with which to assassinate capitalism. His ‘The Capitalism Knife’ is constructed with a knife base and a kind of American express in which he once again materialises the sarcastic philosophy that feeds his narrative.
Other well-known works are his fresh ‘Milk bag’ inspired by cow’s milk, or his ‘Pasta Bags’, which he recreates from boxes of Italian pasta brands in different modern iterations that also have different messages underlying them. A humorous undertone of social criticism with which the designer cooks up irreverence and serves it up in today’s world.
