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The Penton Kitchen: On view at 019 during all public events this Summer.

The Penton Kitchen is one of very few surviving works by the English designer Norman Potter (1923–1995). Potter was notoriously unconcerned with legacy and institutional recognition, and cared little about documenting his work. The feeling is mutual, it seems! Despite Potter’s being an articulate, politically-literate designer, and despite his remaining a forceful influence on a generation of designers through his two books, published by Hyphen Press in London, no museum in the UK could be convinced to accept this major example of his work into their collection.The kitchen, an extraordinary sculptural space-frame on which storage units and appliances were originally suspended, is presented at 019 in an arguably more fitting context.

James Langdon (whose book on Potter is forthcoming in 2025) has taken care of the kitchen since 2014, on behalf of Potter’s family. Now it is restored by 019, with students from KASK, where it will remain a long-term fixture, to be used: as a kitchen, a space for events, and a teaching object.

@jameslangdon.eu
@kaskgraphicdesign
@schoolofartsgent