Objectspace launches its 2026 programme with a major new commission by Italian designer Martino Gamper, whose work has long explored the cultural and social life of furniture.
The exhibition, Endgrained, transforms the gallery into an active, communal environment centred on a new body of furniture designed by Gamper. Chairs and tables populate the space not as static objects but as tools for use, inviting visitors to sit, work, rest or gather.
Throughout the exhibition, the gallery will host a programme of performances, talks and workshops, while the public will also be able to book the space for their own purposes, from rehearsals and meetings to community events.
An accompanying exhibition and publication, developed by Gamper in collaboration with Objectspace and designers James Goggin and Shan James of Practise, will be set in the Chartwell Gallery, and explore the influence of timber histories in Aotearoa. Later in the year, an edited version of the show will travel to Objectspace’s Christchurch satellite, the Sir Miles Warren Gallery.
Free and open to the public, Endgrained positions the gallery as something closer to a civic room; part exhibition, part meeting hall, where design becomes the framework for connection.
The exhibition will be on display at Objectspace until 31 May 2026.
