Unearthing Faye Toogood’s Assemblage 7: A Journey Through Time + Material

Not all that’s lost is meant to stay hidden. In Faye Toogood’s latest body of work, Assemblage 7: Lost and Found II, the British designer uncovers the beauty of rediscovery, bringing materials from the age of antiquity into the present with a poetic touch. The collection, now on view at Friedman Benda in New York, transforms English oak and Purbeck marble into sculptural works that celebrate British craftsmanship and the passage of time. Each piece tells a story of what is reworked, reclaimed, and reimagined, blending history with modern design.

Toogood began her creative journey by sculpting each piece as a clay model before working with the final material, a process she likens to an archaeological dig. “The block was a landscape, and I was finding my treasure within this landscape,” she reflects. Using English oak, a material steeped in British history, and Purbeck marble, a rare limestone layered with fossilized shells, she hand-carved and chiseled each form to uncover its hidden beauty. The oak is finished with an 18th-century shellacking technique, while the marble, sourced from a family-owned quarry, reveals its intricate, natural layers and textures.

This marks Toogood’s fourth solo show with Friedman Benda, a gallery renowned for showcasing groundbreaking contemporary design and art. After debuting in Los Angeles in 2022 and later at the Chatsworth House in the UK in 2023, these works are now being presented to an East Coast audience for the first time.

There are 11 pieces on view: Barrow, Cairn, Channel, Hill, Hoard I and Hoard II, Lode I and Lode II, Pile, Pit, and Plot II. Each one is exclusively made in limited editions, with no more than 20 produced. Most of the works were created between 2021 to 2023, with the Channel bench being recently added in 2024.

Reflecting on the collection, Toogood shares, “I felt like I was revealing something that had always been there. Something almost prehistoric that had been lost to time, and it was my job to find it again.” The collection certainly evokes the awe-inspiring accomplishment of unearthing a historic find at an excavation site. Toogood once again masterfully bridges the past and present, crafting pieces that feel like rediscovered relics, despite being meticulously made in modern times.

Assemblage 7: Lost and Found II is currently on view at Friedman Benda through March 15, 2025. To learn more, visit t-o-o-g-o-o-d.com.

Workshop photography by Genevieve Lutkin, gallery photography by Izzy Leung.