About

Smith & Winken is a studio laboratory created in 2020 by Valery Kuznetsov and Otto Winken. This project combines two designers with a solid professional background and immense experience in architecture and product design.

The signature style in the development of utilitarian design objects by Valeriy Kuznetsov and the creative technical thinking of Otto Winken enabled the creation of the kinetic objects series from the Endless Movement collection.

Smith (Valeriy Kuznetsov) is a co-founder of the Ukrainian studio decorkuznetsov, author of interior projects, participant of European exhibitions, and winner of international competitions, including Red Dot 2020, 2015. Otto Winken is a Ukrainian architect and engineer of Austrian origin who has numerous architectural and unique design projects under his belt.

Endless Movement is a limited edition kinetic sculpture collection that currently contains 20 objects.

The authors aim to show the beauty of our usual world from a new perspective. They make you look at the combinations of familiar materials and the laws of physics from an unexpected angle, demonstrate the beauty of the eternal connections between mechanics and bionics. Finally, they remind us that each human is a mechanism in a way, just like our planet and the entire Universe.

Smith (Valery Kuznetsov): «Each of the collection’s objects arose as an attempt to learn from the basic mechanisms and patterns of interaction between the Earth structures, living and artificial. Again and again, we raise the question: What is life? Spirituality of inanimate nature or technicality of the living creatures’ existence? Exploring scenarios of the future, we demonstrate the hypothetical forms that can develop in the process of evolution.»

The viewer’s attention is fixed on the surrounding world, where everything is in motion. The authors use wood, paper, textiles, and metal as the primary materials, while the elements of the sculptures are set in motion by specially designed mechanisms.

The ratios of proportions and materials, details, and range of motion of each element are carefully crafted. The movements are so conscious that the mechanisms appear as living organisms. They could exist both in the distant past, in the unpredictable future, and on any planet in the Universe.

Otto Winken: «Having come a long way from finding a shape, images, creating countless sketches, to a finished object, now we are moving in the right direction.

There are no technical or technological revolutions in the Endless Movement project. Our goal is to observe, study and rethink the world around us. An attempt to slow down and realize that everyday materials and phenomena can look totally different. Kinetic sculptures appeal to the eternal: movement, light, and their interaction with each of us. Their physical dimensions are commensurate with human proportions, and they are emotionally in tune.»

Endless Movement is a slight gap between time and space. Hence, the feeling of the fourth dimension, where the laws of nature and mechanics shift, and the world seems perfect.