This month sees Snarkitecture's first solo show open at what is rapidly becoming one of M.E.'s favourite design galleries.

'Funiture' will be on view at Volume Gallery in Chicago from the 20th of April, and consists of a new body of work and site-specific installations by Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham of Snarkitecture.

Combined to create a landscape of childlike wonderment, the pieces emerge from a world of manipulated objects, materials and finishes in the pursuit of new and imaginative results.

'Funiture' reconsiders reality, and often aims to create confusion - whether with familiar objects in unexpected contexts, or the dissolution of recognizable volumes into irrational forms.

This deliberate confusion results in functional pieces that appear to act in ways opposite to their intention, causing a double take or encouraging further exploration. Their 'Break' cabinet iscracked down the middle, the two halves resting on squashed feet.

Moments of implied instability, the appearance of impossible conditions, and oscillation between construction and ruin are balanced with subtle contrasts of texture and material richness too: the 'Lean' floor lamp leans into another, causing the globes to fuse together and a wood table ('Pour') is suspended in collapse as a heavy stone infill rests on top.

With a motto borrowed from Lewis Carroll, (the intriguing phrase: "Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes") the intention of the installation is to engage existing architecture in a potentially playful manner and to create a threshold between the familiar world of the everyday and the unpredictable world of Snarkitecture...