Images by Tijs Vervecken
What Remains
For PAD London 2026, Objects With Narratives presents What Remains? — an exhibition of objects that feel at once contemporary and timeless, each piece caught between the moment of its making and a history it seems to have already lived. The presentation is developed in collaboration with Sabah Art, who presents works spanning modern and contemporary practice into dialogue with OWN's selection.
Every piece was crafted in the present, yet many carry a sense of the past, as though found ratherthan fabricated. The presentation extends the atmosphere of Objects With Narratives' award- winning 2023 PAD London exhibition. Not as a recreation, but as a return to the same feeling of discovery, warmth and mystery.
Handmade surfaces, natural imperfections and visible traces of process give each object a physicalpresence. References to different cultures, periods and places surface throughout, never literally: each object seems to belong to several narratives at once, and the boundaries between furniture,sculpture, art object and artefact begin to dissolve even more.
Several works appear worn before their time, as though age were built into the material rather than accumulated afterward: bronze already carrying a patina, wood already silvered as if by weather, stone softened at the edge as though by hands and touch over decades. It is as if a material remembers a story it never lived. The effect is disorienting in a surprising way: an object can feel newly crafted and long-inhabited at the same time.
Walls from earth, custom timber flooring and a restrained architectural backdrop form a warm, immersive setting where material, texture and silhouette can hold the room.
Rooted in traditional craftsmanship and driven by a passion for exceptional wood, Cornilly produces floors entirely tailored to each project. From the selection of the timber to the dimensions, proportions, surface treatment and final finish, every detail is carefully considered and crafted in our atelier. Made for architects, interior designers and private clients looking for something truly distinctive.
