Andrew Algier is a designer and artist with a passion for function. Informed by a decade of experience building furniture in Brooklyn, NY, he creates work at a high level of craft and manipulates the experience of the user through intentional design. Consistently using wood as a primary medium for its warmth and workability, he aspires to create pieces that inspire and intrigue without looking obtrusive in contemporary interiors. Andrew is originally from Lebanon, PA and received a degree in Studio Art in 2014 from Messiah University. He is planning to attend UNO in the fall to pursue an additional degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Statement:

LEASE AGREEMENT

SUBJECT TO LEASE: MIRROR, CABINET, AND/OR END TABLE. LESSEE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROPER CARE AND ATTENTION TO AND FOR LEASED OBJECT. LESSEE WILL REPORT TO LESSOR WHEN OBJECT IS FULL OF COINS FOR DRAINAGE SERVICE (COLLECTION). LESSEE WILL LOVE AND CARE FOR OBJECT UNTIL AND BEYOND THE POINT AT WHICH PAYMENTS SATISFY PRINCIPAL BALANCE. 

Sara Schoenberger (married name: Algier) is a designer, dreaming and building through light. A New Orleans native, her studio formally took root in 2019 in Brooklyn, NY, after many years honing her craft as a designer and metal fabricator. Her studio now offers its own made-to-order products that are placed in galleries, private residences and commercial spaces. Sara’s work is often marked by a dynamic, graphic quality, which can be traced back to a childhood spent drawing, as well as her time at Carnegie Mellon, where she earned a BFA in Sculpture and Site-Specific Art. 

Statement: 

How each fixture will engage the surrounding space is a necessary source of inspiration. With the knowledge that the work’s impact will continue to evolve in the mind and hands of each client, she seeks to create fixtures that inspire, awe and delight.

Letter from the Hostess:

Some advice on how to experience these works of art: The furniture asks us  to act and react. The lighting asks us to observe.  Taken together in what resembles a living space, these works show that it is possible to have a single, aesthetically consistent experience, even when its components are made with different intentions and by different processes. Let me tell you more about those intentions and processes. 

After a decade in the luxury furniture market, Andrew presents a collection of works in which concept is as important as design. He shows a table, a cabinet, and a mirror – all of which you must pay to use. Here, machine lending and vending (which Andrew calls “money schemes”) meet luxury furniture. We are invited into a world wherein even using our household items comes at a price. The inspiration for the animatronics comes from Andrew’s childhood favorite – the brooms in Fantasia. But this fantasy comes to life in a way that compels us to ask whether there exists any limit on what can be turned for profit. These handcrafted pieces feature arduino coding and coin slots designed by Andrew himself.
Sara’s metal practice is more intuitive than conceptual. It has been this way since she started out as an artist with linear and graphic drawing. She turned to working with forms in sculpture and soon after in metal, landing and lighting design. She says that she enjoys activating her creative and technical minds together, and practicing new and surprising ways of making things. For the light fixtures here on display,  Sara began with two constraints: they would give off soft atmospheric light, and the bulbs would be easy to change. Otherwise, she approached her materials without a plan, jumping into the creative void and seeing what lay on the other side. Through trial and error, and following her excitement, she arrived at the designs you see here tonight. What this free process revealed was more familiar than Sara might have expected. The Arcade resembles the arched ceiling of a Church, a space wherein Sara spent many mornings during high school. The light disks sit where clerestory or stained glass would. One can also see influences of her summer spent documenting every facade in the French Quarter.  

The two followed their creative paths to professional design work in Brooklyn. It was there one morning on the bus into Red Hook that a mutual friend introduced the two. They’ve since been married, and moved back to Sara’s hometown of New Orleans. This  exhibition is their first solo show together.