Oscar Nicol-Schwarz makes work that sits between the mechanical and the living, design that escapes the term inanimate. Lighting, form and movement used to create calming pockets in busy environments. Currently working across installations, exhibitions and commissions he designs intending to create anomalies, to provoke curiosity and to question what "inanimate" means.

His practice engages with engineering logic to explore and interpret the relationship nature has with humans. He is drawn to designs that feel alive, whether that be mechanisms that mimic natural behaviour or forms that suggest nature instead of clinical perfection. His process is hands-on, where making and thinking happen together, and where concept matters as much as materiality.

Recently graduated, Oscar now works across event installations, exhibitions and commissions, including work for End of the Road Festival. Whether functional, interactive or conceptual, the pieces share a common instinct: to be finished by the person they are Infront of.

Ultimately, Oscar believes our lives are made up not just of relationships to other humans, but of relationships to the objects we live alongside, and more than that, of how those objects might relate back to us and to nature.