Contemporary Design 
11 January 2024
Contemporary Design 
112

Tejo Remy

You Can't Lay Down Your Memories

Droog
The Netherlands, 1991
found drawers, maple, jute, aluminum 52½ h × 53 w × 24 d in (133 × 135 × 61 cm)
estimate: $10,000–15,000
result: $18,900
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Comprised of 20 cases, each with a found drawer, all bound together with a commercial cinch strap. Measurements are approximate and vary with installation. Signed to reverse of one box 'Tejo Remy'. Stamped number and manufacturer's mark to interior of each box ‘No 089 Droog Design Atelier Schelling & Boraboom Den Haag’. This work is number 89 from the edition of 200.
provenance: Acquired from Droog, The Netherlands, Private Collection
literature: Simply Droog: 10 + 3 Years of Creating Innovation and Discussion, Bakker and Ramakers, pg. 27 Objects of Design from the Museum of Modern Art, Antonelli, pg. 276 A Human Touch, Droog Design exhibition catalog, ppg. 144-145 Design for Living: Furniture and Lighting 1950-2000, Hanks and Hoy, ppg. 210-211
A similar example of this design resides in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

This work will ship from Los Angeles, California.

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Memory & Method

Tejo Remy’s Iconic Drawers

Pulling together themes of memory and over-consumption, Tejo Remy’s critically acclaimed designs are boldly conceptual objects that collide and transform past and present. Remy allegedly named his iconic You Can't Lay Down Your Memories for a line in the 1985 song “Knockin’ On Joe” by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds. Of the design, Ingeborg de Roode notes for the Vitra Design Museum, “Remy attaches enormous significance to the storage of personal possessions. For him, the chest is a metaphor for the (sometimes chaotic) workings of memory. Naturally, it is easiest to remember which drawer an item is in if the drawers are all different. This is also a key aspect of the design.” Once Droog Design was founded in 1993, this design was offered as part of its collection. 



Watch Tejo Remy discuss You Can’t Lay Down Your Memory

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