Leonie Lacouette Gallery

Leonie Lacouette's elegant clocks successfully reconcile the strict geometries of minimalism with a warm, approachable palette of colored patinas on the copper and nickel that predominate her designs. She manages to strike a balance between concepts and influences that otherwise might seem like polar opposites.

Over 20 years ago, Lacouette started making clocks as a practical way to make a living while using the aesthetic training she received in art school. Today, working from her rural studio in upstate New York, Lacouette contrasts her life with that of her youth growing up in mid-town Manhattan. "I like the simplicity of my current work's design. Coming from Manhattan, everything was go-go-go, always accumulating more stuff-stuff-stuff, having lots of things. It feels great to have something simple and beautiful, a style that I can call my own."

Beauty meets functionality in these clocks as Lacouette continues to create new designs that refine the perfection of both. "I'm a mechanic as well as an artist," she says. "These things need to function, after all." Continuing her dedication to creating clocks that are modernist but affable, Lacouette fuses geometric abstraction with softened edges and organic warmth. She now hopes to extend her work to include a broader palette of exotic wood veneers.