Opiary Concrete Hoodoo

Robert Remer’s unique, biophilic approach to design incorporates organic forms into modern garden furniture, ornaments and sculptures, inspired by the evolving relationship between nature and civilization. 

In 1992, Remer graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in architecture. While at Yale, he studied sculpture under American sculptor and installation artist Alice Aycock, known for her important contributions to the land art movement of the 1970s.

In 1994, Remer began his studio practice before founding the Opiary design and production studio in 2010 in Brooklyn, New York. At Opiary, Remer focuses on integrating natural elements into every design, from his concrete Echelon planter and modern, minimalist Ukiyo Saucer fountain to his distinctive Caldera coffee table. 

Remer’s collection of hand-sculpted, nature-inspired furniture also includes the concrete Hoodoo standing lamp and the classic, yet contemporary, Queen Anne dining table. The innovative Eero center table features a tempered glass table top and open area to grow ornamental plants, flowers, or cooking herbs, or to house artificial plants. 

Remer’s designs at Opiary have garnered critical acclaim at several exhibitions and art fairs. In 2019, Opiary won Best in Show at the New York Metro Architectural Digest Show Awards and Best Exhibition Booth at Boutique Design New York. The organic Drillium club chair was named Best Piece of Furniture by the International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA) at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in 2021.

Opiary has been featured in numerous prestigious publications, including Forbes, Interior Design, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful and Vogue.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of Robert Remer building and garden elements, decorative objects, tables and more.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”

Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.

Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.

It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.

Abstract sculpture has evolved over time with artists making a variety of striking statements in stone, bronze, ceramic and other materials. In the collection of abstract sculptures on 1stDibs, you are sure to find a piece that is perfect for your space.

When exploring how to arrange furniture and decor, consider color, texture and what kind of energy it should evoke. Abstract sculpture can elevate any home through its many decorative possibilities.

Auguste Rodin is often called the father of modern sculpture for his pioneering naturalistic forms and figures that vividly express emotion. His work in the 19th and early 20th centuries broke with artistic conventions and inspired modernism, leading to a new period of avant-garde abstraction.

Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were among the first artists to push abstract sculpture into the mainstream. They helped define the Cubism movement, which focused on deconstructing the world abstractly. Other 20th-century artistic movements, including Italian Futurism, Dadaism, Neo-Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, all contributed to the advancement of abstract sculpture. Italian Futurism, for example, celebrated movement, dynamics and technology in abstract sculpture. These movements continue to inform abstract sculpture today.

With abstract art — sculpture, painting or a grouping of prints — a work can complement a living room, dining room or other space, or it can act as a bold focal point.

Browse a range of modern abstract sculptures, postmodern abstract sculptures and other sculptures on 1stDibs.