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17-25 October 2026

3026: Anti-Luxury

Is it anti-luxury? No! Droshakiryan® proposes a new definition of what ‘luxurious’ means. Luxury is set by time, but who sets the time? Matter does!

Hosted by Shushanik Droshakiryan

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Entrance fee

DDW ticket required

Event type

Exhibition

Accessibility

Tactile
Free wifi available
Toilets available
Fully wheelchair accessible
Wheelchair friendly toilet available

Opening hours

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The Golden Matter
The Golden Matter
Venus In Fury
Gold, copper, silver: a trilogy of shimmering materials, handcrafted from a biocomposite made from Dutch wool and seaweed, with a hint of metal. These materials offer a new, unpolished perspective on luxury design.

The Golden Matter

When it comes to luxury, gold is one of the most defined ideas of value — and one of the most exhausted ones. From far, droshakiryan® materials seem delicate and luxurious, with sheen and a rich metallic palette. Come closer, and the materials are cracked; there is a texture contrast between elements of nature: fluid metal, thick, fuzzy wool. Up close, the material performs gold rather than being golden, refusing its old terms of sheen, permanence, and polish. Gold becomes an active part of material behaviour and formation, a texture of luxury that is unpolished.
Gold is an argument; it is the sound of Armenian zourna, burning, intense, yet grounded in ancient elegance. Gold performs as fatigue from pleasure and indulgence; hence, the material is cracked, between a shimmering surface and a fibrous one. Gold spans countless shades, but this material commits to a single one, Armenian Illuminations, the shade of gold that sets the palette's rhythm; throbbing, active matter.

The Silver Matter

Where luxury usually shows off, silver hides. From far, it glows; come closer, it shifts between shine, white, and transparency; up close, it performs distance, visually never settled. That shine becomes a new identity here: an unpolished, dusty mirror.
Silver is the humming of the drums in Ravel's Boléro. Silver is the distance from which the Armenian highlands are seen. Silver is pleasure unattained, the north wind hitting the surface of the river Amstel. Fragile, it imprints every action taken while the material was still wet, like a snail's body, responsive to everything around it. Thin, silky, satin-shined, soft to squeeze — a delicate feel. Its tone sits between duck feathers and white wool fibres, two different softnesses, two different whites. Slowed down, silver controls the fragile surface of the material.
Silver is not a color; it is an unpolished, dusty mirror, reflecting and changing the space around it.

The Copper Matter

Luxury follows copper's lead: warm, rose, vivid, fluid. From far, copper is vibrant, full shade. Come closer, and it thins; the closer you get, the less you see. It needs space around it just to be read at all. Copper could perform countless narratives, but this material commits to one: its inner drama — smiths, womanhood — and that drama is its transformation.
Copper is an absolute definition of femininity, changeable, controversial. Womanhood! Working with copper is like imagining a scene where women are smiths, firefighters, and alchemists. The timing is fast, feverish; everything interrelated, experiment at the core; too fast to catch, so the material leads. This is momentary, changeable matter that shines, cuts through, and oxidizes as it wishes: unpredictable, a duel, fencing with the material in real time. Imprinted folds, liquid traces; but the copper shine is what's unique: copper never gives the same shade twice. Copper is everything but color.
Droshakiryan® trilogy interprets luxury as a time phenomenon, a play between momentum and timelessness. Luxury is set by time, but who sets the time? Matter does!

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Dusty Gold Matter
Dusty Gold Matter
Venus In Fury
The Copper Matter
The Copper Matter
Venus In Fury
The Silver Matter
The Silver Matter
Venus In Fury
The Silver Matter
The Silver Matter
Venus In Fury

About Shushanik Droshakiryan

Droshakiryan® envisions luxury as an unpolished, process-driven phenomenon. Its new collection plays with the banality of how we perceive gold, silver, and copper, pushing beyond the expected shine into cracked, furry materials spanning textiles, wearables, and speculative architecture. Droshakiryan® is a critique on the rising 'faceless' biodesign industry. This debut collection is developed at Venus in Fury Lab in Amsterdam, using biomaterials from Dutch wool and seaweed (NL patent pending).

Partners

Sponsored by 3026: Anti-Luxury
Sponsored by 3026: Anti-Luxury