Carpenters Workshop Gallery presents Lightness of Form, an exhibition by acclaimed British designer Terence Woodgate, whose practice is grounded in a refined visual language that distills function into poetic abstraction. Developed in close dialogue with John Barnard—pioneering engineer and designer of the first carbon fibre Formula 1 car—this body of work meditates on the intersections of space, movement, and minimalism.

Lightness of Form invites viewers into a contemplative world where form becomes a balance of aesthetic beauty with practical ergonomics . Rooted in a philosophy of reduction, Woodgate’s creations are imbued with the formal rigor and silent power of modernist sculpture, echoing the artists and architects such as Donald Judd, Eduardo Chillida, Tadao Ando, and Luis Barragán.

The works on view—ranging from sculptural tables to cabinets and seating elements—serve not as demonstrations of technology but as visual essays on equilibrium. Metamorphosing from soft and flexible to solid and rigid, carbon fibre allows the designers to create pieces that are durable and structurally optimised while also emphasising lightness

In this collaboration, Barnard’s precision-driven approach finds new expression through Woodgate’s conceptual clarity. The exhibition reveals a dialogue between two distinct disciplines—engineering and design—refracted through an artistic lens. The result is a body of work that transcend categorisation: neither wholly functional nor strictly sculptural, but suspended in the fertile space in between.

Terence Woodgate was named a Royal Designer for Industry in 2003 and has received numerous international honours, including Red Dot’s Best of the Best and the iF DESIGN AWARD for Ecology. His works are held in major public and private collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Museu d’Arts Decoratives in Barcelona.

Barnard has led many of the design innovations in Formula 1 over the last twenty years, which have defined the form and function of the modern Grand Prix car. They include the carbon fibre monocoque for McLaren and the Ferrari type 640. His work has been exhibited by and is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.