Ontwerp voor een schoorsteenmantel c. 1928

This is a pencil drawing of a mantlepiece design by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet. There's something so intimate about seeing an artist's sketch. You can almost feel Cachet's hand moving across the page, working out the details of his design. The lines are light and airy, suggesting a sense of possibility and experimentation. I’m drawn to the cross-hatched area on the left of the lower image. It’s a simple mark, but it adds depth and dimension to the drawing. It also reminds us that design is never neutral. It's always a product of choices, decisions made by the artist in response to the materials and the challenges of the task at hand. Cachet's sketch reminds me a little of the architectural drawings of someone like Le Corbusier, where the emphasis is on clarity, functionality, and a kind of stripped-down elegance. It’s a reminder that art and design are always in dialogue.