Foreword

 

There are few artists in this world are born out of their inner urge to go beyond the shackles of the knowledge that they have academically gained. These creative beings, in many cases, well learned and then self-awakening forced them into drop out of their academically earned comfort zone and move into discover the unknown. As a result, they reinvented their new self that benefited the whole existence around them.

 

19th century witnessed beginning of new engineering field -Electrical Engineering. Life of a normal Electrical Engineer involves designing electric equipment, develop end products needed for various micro level home or individual use to large and multipurpose electrical or communications equipment or assisting the manufacturing or installation of electrical products. 

 

But there are few electrical engineers likes of Jim Campbell who turned their life around than being just an engineer and recreated themselves as creative beings or artists. Periclis Frementitis (41) is such electrical engineer who quit being so and followed his inner calling, reinvented himself as a designer working in a diverse range of contemporary art and design disciplines, from lighting to furniture and sculptural objects.

 

Periclis was born in a small city in Greece called Patras. He was graduated as Electrical Engineer from University of Patras. He pursued his career as Electrical Engineer and moved to London in search of better prospect. 

 

However, he was never satisfied being an electrical engineer. He had visions of creating something of his own using the knowledge and experience of being engineer. He is an avid art lover. Always was interested by works of modern masters and designers. To name the few, he was especially impressed by works of Kazimir Malevich, Kostas Tsoklis, Juan Miro, Modigliani, Anselm Kiefer, Albert Giacometti, Jiannis Kounellis. 

 

Hence, he begun a new journey of being creative designer in 2014. Thanks to London, which provided him with creative vitality, art and multicultural ambience that opened his senses into see beyond what he was learnt to do as Electrical Engineer.  He realized the need for radical change to his professional life to survive as satisfied soul. Since, he started taking his creative side seriously and made it a point to develop passion for aesthetics, design, and materials more definitively.

 

In 2016, he left London to pursue his new dream and returned to Patras against the will and wish of his closed ones. He also quit his mundane world of being just an Electrical Engineer to build his own design studio called HIGHDOTS to explore, experience and express his own Contemporary Art & Design. “I had to ‘’die’’, in order to reinvent myself and finally live again,” says Periclis about the turnaround in his life.

 

“The essentials: to give form a meaning, to give form an instinctive thought, give form an essence, to tell a story with my own alphabet is what drives my designs and creations,” says Periclis about his creative vision. 

 

His process creation is very intuitive. He likes being surrounded by heaps and chaos of materials and elements which eventually lead him to the bring together the final synthesis. He normally chose to create more primitive, innocent, and imperfect forms than perfect ones.

 

Inspired by ideals of “Kallos”, Periclis creates contemporary lighting sculptures and fine objects with his own hands or and sometimes take help of traditional artisans. He main use of medium are brass, ceramic and raw stones. Using these materials and mediums Periclis creates forms and the composition that he creates are utterly simple and beautiful, elegant and timeless. In the process of arriving at “balanced” composition he renders Zen like quality to his works. 

 

His work has been featured on ELLE Decoration, as well as, he has been collaborating with architects and interior designers worldwide. He considers his new journey as Contemporary designer of artistic lighting installations in two words, “blessed and beautiful,” says Periclis.  “I said beautiful, but not easy,” he adds. 

The Online exhibition “The Essentials” is tribute to Periclis’s creative hardship and represents photography of some of his light installation designs and art works.

 

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- Deviprasad C Rao
(Artist / Curator / Writer