CASTE in the July 2012 edition of Vogue Living Australia. Ty Best approaches his design as sculpture, pulling references from the sky, space, travel. Personally, they call to mind 3 of my favorite designers/sculptors that pushed form into their own netherworlds : Lee Bontecou, Gae Aulenti, and Philippe Hiquily.
"With their tripod bases and tapering, stalactite-like legs, some of Ty Best’s furniture pieces look a little like sinister creatures from a retro science fiction film. But don’t fear: there’s nothing at all menacing about the furniture’s affable designer. “With their sense of animation, a few of my pieces can be a little scary,” Best says playfully. “It’s never conscious, even though I love everything related to planets and space travel.” In fact, CASTE, the exquisite line of furniture, lighting and one-off objects Best founded in 2007, derives its inspiration much closer to home. “My work is really driven by the tension between what’s in my mind and what I see in my surroundings,” explains the designer, who has lived in remote Missoula, Montana, since 1995. “The landscape here inspires everything I do. I live in a valley surrounded by mountains. It’s a very extreme climate: desolate in the winter and quite alive in the summer.”
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