Borek Sipek

Borek Sipek was born in Prague in 1949. After studying interior design at the School for Arts and Crafts in Prague (1964-68), he went to Germany to study architecture at the Kunsthochschule in Hamburg, and to Stuttgart to study aesthetics and philosophy. In 1983 - the year which also saw his first major architectural commission, his sister's house in Hamburg - he moved to the Netherlands and set up the design office that would provide a base for his subsequent explorations of Oriental and Occidental arts and crafts. His fateful encounter with Driade, which resulted in furniture, objects and ideas that would eventually find their way into important collections, also dates from his period. Sipek's systematic revisitations of traditional craft techniques and materials have won him not only several prestigious awards (including, in 1991, the Croix Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French government, and in 1993, the Prins Bernard Fons Prize for architecture and the applied arts), but also, and perhaps more importantly , an international reputation as an imaginative and versatile artist adept at playing off traditional certainties against modern(ist) uncertainties. When appointed Prague Castle Architect (the previous incumbent was Joze Plecnik) by Czech President Vaclav Havel, he worked from 1992 to 1996 on architectural detailing and other features of Joze Plecnik's orderly 1920s conception, redesigning the state rooms and creating new exhibition rooms. While maintaining his major interest in art, he has also worked increasingly as an architect. In recent years he has designed stores (including Shoebaloo in Amsterdam, 1991, and in Rotterdam, 1995; Léon Gulikers offices and showroom in Gulpen, 1993; Komatsu clothing stores in Tokyo, 1996), official reception facilities (the Mayor of Rotterdam's offices on the top floor of the down-town World Trade Center, 1987) and artistic and cultural amenities (including the project for the extension of the Het Kruithuis Museum, Den Bosch, The Netherlands, 1994; and the project for the Luxor Theatre( Rotterdam, 1996).