Studies and workshop
László Kálmán, goldsmith and set and costume designer, began his applied-art career under the opportunities typical of the 1960s–1970s.
Between 1966 and 1970 he was a student at the Budapest Secondary School of Fine and Applied Arts. In 1971 he was admitted to the goldsmith programme of the Hungarian College of Applied Arts. His masters, the goldsmith artists József Engelsz and József Pölöskei, introduced him to the professional traditions of this ancient art form: the possibilities inherent in the use of materials and the professional techniques of their working, as well as the principles of goldsmiths’ object making.
Already during his college years, in 1973, he participated with a tea set at the 15th Milan Triennial. The set of objects, with its chromium-plated surface and absence of decorative motifs, has an austere appearance. The material use and forms of the vessels demonstrate contemporary thinking and experimentation intertwined with respect for tradition.
His debut at this prestigious international event was also acknowledged by the art historian Gyula Rózsa in the relevant issue of the journal Kritika (lit. Criticism).
Following the completion of his diploma in 1975, László Kálmán undertook postgraduate master training at the Hungarian College of Applied Arts between 1976 and 1977.
As he pursued this form of further professional training, he also began independent creative activity as a goldsmith: in 1975, together with five colleagues, they established a shared workshop. This method for creating appropriate working conditions represented a smaller financial burden for the participants than if they had each had to provide for this independently.
A well-equipped workshop was, moreover, a basic requirement for the realisation of larger-scale commissions connected to architectural projects. In the country that, from the 1980s onwards, gradually developed a commercially oriented outlook, and later operated according to new economic principles following the regime change [the Hungarian transition from state socialism to parliamentary democracy in 1989–90], hotels, restaurants, cultural and artistic institutions, and financial organisations increasingly demanded works by metal artists for the design of their exterior and interior spaces. Execution was more efficient when artists worked together in teams. These commissions provided financial security for creators who addressed professional challenges collectively, and who expanded the boundaries of traditionally understood goldsmithing and metalwork: they practised applied art by producing functional objects that also had aesthetic value. Design and execution took place in a craft workshop, but the dimensions and spatial extent of the objects increased.
In the mid-1980s László Kálmán, together with his colleague Lajos Simay, founded the manufactory ART METAL, where, in addition to three or four trained metalworkers, they also employed a metal press operator, a lathe operator and a metal polisher. In this way they were able to keep the entire process of execution within the workshop, which was a guarantee of quality.
Among the works created in the workshop, the lamps and lighting fixtures of the Móricz Zsigmond Theatre in Nyíregyháza (1980) and the National Theatre in Pécs (1986) are outstanding. While in Nyíregyháza traditional brass was still used for the works, in Pécs the structure carrying the light source and distributing the light was already formed from steel. In other words, the bearer of the ancient message of light was the material of the present age.
The design and execution of lighting fixtures connected to architectural projects made László Kálmán conscious of his philosophical interest in the relationship between mass and space. For the interpretation and exploration of this question, in view of his activity and experience as a goldsmith, light proved to be an appropriate instrument.
Set and costume design – Theatrical space
Since, alongside his impulse towards object creation, the need for an artistic interpretation of reality also manifested itself with similar intensity in László Kálmán, between 1979 and 1982 he completed the set and costume design programme at the Hungarian College of Fine Arts. His masters were Márta Jánoskúti and Gábor Szinte.
Already during his studies he prepared set and costume designs for the National Theatre in Szeged, for Gábor Thurzó’s play A holló és a sajt (The Raven and the Cheese).
After obtaining his second degree, László Kálmán was contracted for four years, between 1982 and 1986, to the Szigligeti Theatre in Szolnok. Here he collaborated on productions directed by Tibor Csizmadia, András Éry-Kovács and István Paál. After the Szolnok years, in 1988 he worked on two further occasions with Tibor Csizmadia at the Géza Gárdonyi Theatre in Eger.
As inherent to the nature of the art form, these works were visible then and there on the stages of the respective theatres. The journal Színház (Theatre) mentioned the set and costume designer by name in almost every article on the productions, praising his work. In the April 1984 issue, Judit Szántó wrote a review of Schnitzler’s Anatol. She not only refers to László Kálmán’s work there as an “atmospherically strong, wittily organised stage”, but also published, alongside her article, a photograph of the performance in which the sets and the actors’ relationship to them are clearly visible.
The furniture arranged in a circular formation evokes in the viewer a mandala-like notion of wholeness.
In this space the characters appear in such a way that all of them are closely connected to a chair with a backrest, which, beyond serving the comfort of sitting, may also serve as a hiding place or protection for them in their games with one another and in their deceptive gestures. Even the standing figures are positioned near a chair back. Among the furniture, gate-like or screen-like set elements are noticeable, which, without a concrete function, fit into the order of the circle defined by the chairs and tables. The vertical rectangles of the screens, gates and chair backs suggest a different kind of order, a different structuring of space, than that implied by their circular arrangement. The plot of the play, and the corresponding stage image, also conveys that the characters live within the falsely claimed totality of their own games. They have fixed themselves to a given point of this totality, from which they do not wish, or perhaps are not even able, to move away. The incomprehensible system of the characters’ relationships and games has turned the area of the circle into a space of their own labyrinths. Upon this space, physically arranged with almost geometric precision, yet rendered inescapable by the characters’ unfathomable intentions, a lamp casts light, like upon a virtual labyrinth.
The sensitivity of László Kálmán, manifested here, to the relationship between real and atmospheric or virtual space also became a significant factor in his later metal artworks.
In this period of his career he pursued three parallel paths at the same time.
In harmony with his set and costume design activity, in 1983 he participated in the exhibition Dráma és Tér (Drama and Space) held at the Kunsthalle. In 1980, at the Cultural Centre in Esztergom, and then in 1985 at the Kisgaléria in Komárom, while he presented jewellery and functional objects in solo exhibitions. As a third creative path, more and more in the form of independent workshop production, he produced substantial interior architectural works, mostly lighting fixtures, for various public buildings.
Although László Kálmán pursued set and costume design only until the end of the 1980s, the world of theatre and his sensitivity to theatrical space remained a major factor of his creative activity in the subsequent periods of his career as well. This is also demonstrated by his monumental works of the early 2000s connected to various theatrical construction projects.
In 2001–2002 he created a dome with an area of 200 square metres above the auditorium of the new National Theatre in Budapest, with opening windows, made of steel, brass, bronze and glass, as well as glass chandeliers. In 2004–2005 he produced the metal interior architectural elements of Müpa, including the copper handrails and the information desk.
Independent works
Works connected to architectural projects
The financial security he achieved and his professional maturity and confidence bore fruit in the second half of the 1980s, when László Kálmán was able to establish his own workshop under the name FORMAX.
Among his works connected to architectural projects, the lighting fixtures created for the Hilton Hotel Budapest stand out, produced from 1987 onwards over several decades, for the refurbishments carried out every six to seven years. In 1987 he created a spatial sculpture with a floor area of 16 square metres from brass and chromium-plated brass for the hotel’s Executive Floor. This was connected to the floor opening between the third and fourth levels in such a way that from the upper level there was no direct view into the restaurant operating on the third level. In this way he resolved the dual function of spatial separation and lighting. The lighting fixtures placed at the nodes of the lattice-structured, modular spatial construction serve as points of orientation, an Ariadne’s thread within the labyrinth of the structure as a whole. This space-dividing lighting structure was dismantled in 2018, and its new metal-and-glass successor was likewise commissioned from László Kálmán.
In 2005 László Kálmán also produced the metal elements for the hotel’s interior spaces, the stainless-steel railings and lighting column capitals, as well as the chromium-plated steel and glass table and floor lamps. Similarly, in 2009 he created the stainless-steel pendant lamps, chandeliers and wall lights for the Icon Restaurant. These consist of crystal-clear glass tubes built into a copper-clad steel frame structure, through which the light of the LED sources is refracted, producing a distinctive play of light. In 2015 he composed ceiling lighting fixtures and wall lights for the reception area from patinated brass and glass tubes. For the hotel’s 2018 refurbishment, László Kálmán contributed new pieces again: for the conference/ballroom he created lighting fixtures with a diameter of 160 centimetres, formed from crystal-clear glass tubes mounted on a steel frame clad in patinated brass, while the ceiling lighting fixtures of the room adjacent to the conference room were composed of bent glass tubes fixed to copper frames with a diameter of 120 centimetres.
Alongside his hotel commissions, those works are also of great significance that are exceptional due to their innovative sheet-metal processing techniques, such as the column capitals created in 1996 for the atrium of the Bank Center in Budapest. On the capitals of the ten-metre-high columns designed by József Finta and his office, stainless-steel sheets one centimetre thick had to be cut to shape. In the mid-1990s, however, laser cutting as a sheet-metal processing technique was still considered a novelty even within the metalwork profession. In Hungary, only a single laser-cutting machine suitable for this purpose was in operation, at the Bay Zoltán Research Institute. For this reason, László Kálmán had to commission them to carry out this phase of the work.
The artist subsequently learned to use the computer software by which a graphic design can be made suitable for laser cutting. He has been employing this procedure in his creative practice for more than two decades. The new knowledge acquired during interior architectural projects also provided new possibilities for the design and realisation of his independent sculptures. These works came into being through the combined application of traditional goldsmith techniques and high-tech processes.
Sculptural works
For László Kálmán, at the beginning of his career, light proved to be an appropriate instrument for the interpretation and exploration of philosophical questions concerning the relationship between mass and space. The new metalworking needs that arose in the course of construction projects, and the solutions developed in response to them, also opened up new possibilities for the artist in terms of sculptural thinking and expression.
The works of the Lebegő labirintus (Floating Labyrinth), Terepasztal (Tabletop Model), Személyes mandala (Personal Mandala) and Térelválasztó (Space Divider) series were created by László Kálmán using new methods that differ from traditional sculptural techniques. Instead of shaping material through carving or modelling, he formed sculptural shapes by bending sheet metal and by employing the digital high technology of laser cutting. Through this process, the compositions were able to enclose larger spatial volumes with a smaller mass of material, creating a visual which evokes a sense of lightness and floating. The sculptural bodies formed from layered, openwork sheet metal may, on the one hand, evoke in the viewer a sense of transparency and permeability, while, on the other hand, the misalignment of the cut-out openings in the layers may also surprise us with sensations of mystery, enigma, or even disorientation.
The first cube created by laser cutting was produced in 2011, to which the artist gave the title Lebegő labirintus (Floating Labyrinth). The subsequent works of the series, similarly to the prototype, emerged from the transposition of planar labyrinth motifs into three dimensions. By shaping laser-perforated metal sheets into a cube, a sculptural object came into being, a three-dimensional spatial form that, owing to the light effects of the openwork solution, creates an engaging spatial experience. Since five of the six sides of the cube are partially or wholly visible, the combined visual effect evokes the notion of a labyrinthine network, the vitality of which is further enhanced by the distinctive material combination, namely the contrast between rusted iron and gold leaf.
The labyrinth metaphor may evoke in the viewer the archetypal motif known from Greek mythology, the inescapable structure designed to confine destructive forces, but, building on this association, it may also prompt a personal interpretation of fate, a confrontation with one’s own labyrinths, and an active search for a way forward arising from this encounter.
The basic motif of the Személyes mandala (Personal Mandala) series is the circle, which in Eastern culture represents a model of completeness and symbolises the harmony of body and soul and a contemplative search for meaning. László Kálmán placed the circular disc, ornamented with cut-out vegetal forms and covered with gold leaf, onto a square brass plate with cut-out geometric forms. In this way, since 2015, he has created layered compositions and reliefs based on the conjunction of the stylised labyrinth motif and the ancient mandala symbol.
The artist’s interest in the mandala motif was inspired not only by his travels in the East, but also by the scientific views and personal experiences of Carl Jung relating to mandala psychology. By connecting archetypal motifs from Eastern and Western culture, László Kálmán offers a sculptural example of a distinctive personal search for meaning, in which the confinements of lived experience and the active struggles fought within labyrinths may give rise to the need for a meditative search for direction, shape its practice, and, as its outcome, bring about a sense of completeness derived from the harmony of body and soul.
László Kálmán has been creating the pieces of the Terepasztal (Tabletop Model) series since 2014. In these compositions he combines the labyrinth and the mandala with an additional geometric form, the pyramid, or with the motifs of the gate and the path. Their material use is also richer than that of the earlier labyrinth or mandala compositions: alongside glass, light appears as a consciously applied, luminous constructive element in certain works.
Alongside motifs known from Eastern and Western mythology, he incorporated personal motifs, thereby enriching the semantic field of the metaphorical search for direction, and elevating its contemporary relevance to a mythological level.
The pieces of the Rétegek (Layers) series, created in 2013–2014, are reliefs arranged in horizontal rectangular formations. Their compositional principle is provided by metal sheets perforated with laser technology and layered behind one another. The contrast between the labyrinth motif of the front plate and the negative forms appearing on the metal sheets placed behind it generates a distinctive tension. This is further intensified by the contrast between the copper front plate and the black surfaces of the negative forms visible behind it, which in the space of the reliefs almost evokes the impression of physical movement. The indirect LED lighting built between the layers has not only an atmospheric function or one that enhances the illusion of movement, but also a practical one, making visible the miniature sculptures placed in the small openings of the rearmost layer. The Rétegek (Layers) series seems to have paved the way for a new group of works in László Kálmán’s creative career.
In the works of the Paravánok (Screens), or Térelválasztók (Space Dividers) series, produced from 2014 onwards, the labyrinth motif appears as a decorative element on upright, human-scale rectangular forms. LED light sources built between the two layers of the metal rectangles ensure that these objects can fulfil not only the function of spatial division, but also that of ambient lighting.
Design objects and lamps
Just as the nature of light and the question of illumination preoccupied László Kálmán at the beginning of his career simultaneously as a philosophical issue and as a practical task, this type of interest and its transformation into a creative programme can be seen throughout his entire career.
From the mid-1990s onwards he began to design lamps that were not produced on commission. He made prototypes of these so that interior designers and investors could select from them for their projects. In 2005 the artist also published a catalogue containing his lamp designs. In the same year he organised an exhibition of the lamp prototypes at the Gaál Imre Gallery in Budapest.
The fact that these works can be approached simultaneously as commercial products and as works of art derives from the creative attitude with which László Kálmán shaped them. As he put it in his catalogue:
“The lamp is an object with a dual function: when it is not lit, it is a symbolic spatial form; when it is switched on, it is a functional object that provides light.”
The artist created lighting objects suitable for a variety of functions: wall lamps, table lamps, ceiling lamps, bedside lamps, floor lamps and standing lamps. With his designs he primarily aimed to serve hotels and to produce small-series, exquisite pieces. However, he has been commissioned to design luminaires for private residences as well. The structures that carry the light source and distribute the light were made of chromium-plated or patinated copper and brass, aluminium, or stainless steel, complemented by materials such as glass, metal mesh, wood or bronze.
To create them he combined traditional goldsmith techniques with high-tech processes. Their form and sculptural qualities are characterised by rational structure and constructive, simple geometric forms. This is also reflected in the lamps’ imaginative names, which can simultaneously be understood as sculptural titles: Gyűrű falikar (Ring Wall Light), Hullám (Wave), Hasáb (Prism), Quadrát (Quadrat), Tojás (Egg) or Létra asztali lámpa (Ladder Table Lamp). In their plasticity, these objects themselves create an interior, define space and carry the potential of light. According to their function, they assist spatial orientation and create atmosphere.
The design objects in László Kálmán’s oeuvre that stand closest to the function of lamps are the candleholders created for the cathedral of the Benedictine Archabbey of Pannonhalma. On the occasion of the architectural reconstruction of the basilica carried out in 2012–2013, the need arose for liturgical objects that would harmonise with the architectural space’s appearance, which is close to its original medieval state, and evoke the puritan, purposefully formed liturgical objects of the Middle Ages. In the case of the candleholders, too, it was necessary to create an object that carries and distributes a light source, now bearing and dispersing the light of fire. Adapting to this purpose, the artist chose the same structural rationality and geometric forms for the appearance of the object as in the case of electronic structures. And if, owing to the function of the space and the natural character of the light, the possibility arises here that the candleholder has a sacred function, then perhaps we can also assume that László Kálmán’s electronic objects that carry and distribute light, through their forms and sculptural appearance, just as through their treatment of light as a compositional element, also offer the possibility of a sacred quality to our profane living spaces.
The creative personality
The metal artist career of László Kálmán, and the brief period of set and costume design activities, can be modelled through a few evocative, characteristic images, although its full richness cannot be demonstrated within the constraints of the present career overview.
In addition to taking a look at the works and their documentation, I consider it important to highlight another feature of this artistic career: in parallel with the creation of a personal creative workshop and with his fidelity to the convictions of his own artistic world, László Kálmán consistently placed strong emphasis on participating, with his individual artistic values, in professional communities. This is clearly illustrated by the list of his group exhibitions, which shows that from the outset he was a committed participant in every collective event of his contemporaries in goldsmithing: all 13 goldsmith biennials held to date, as well as the professional survey exhibitions organised at the Kunsthalle, the Museum of Applied Arts, the Barabás Villa, and at other Hungarian and international exhibition venues. In a similar spirit, he aligned himself with the later programmes of the Gaál Imre Gallery in Pesterzsébet, which hosted his solo exhibition in 2005, and with the group exhibitions of the Hungarian Academy of Arts. When the occasion called for it, he also participated in professional discourse through theoretical contributions, for example at the symposium Az ötvösművészet az építészetben (Goldsmith Art in Architecture) held at the Erdős Renée House in 2004, or at the conference Az ötvösművészet a belsőépítészetben (Goldsmith Art in Interior Architecture) organised at the Barabás Villa in 2012. These examples clearly demonstrate that he established a distinctive harmony and balance between his personal creative activity and his commitment to the community.
[2022]