Confession: I have never read Where the Wild Things Are. But after learning that the children’s book left such a lasting impression on Maastricht designer Lukas Cober — and influenced his most recent collection of resin-fiberglass works — I’ve added it to the top of my library list. Cober was so enchanted by American author and illustrator Maurice Sendak’s 1963 picture book, which follows a boy’s journey to a jungle inhabited by mischievous monsters, he decided to reconnect with his inner child and tap into a state of curiosity, naïveté, and sheer joy while crafting the body of work that’s currently on view at the Objects With Narratives gallery in Brussels.

Forming a solo show titled after the book, the work marks a shift away from the smooth and austere forms of his earlier work — informed by a teenage passion for hand-shaping surfboards — to a more crinkled, playful aesthetic. The evolution of the designer’s output is evident and demonstrates Cober’s maturity and skill with his chosen materials, even though the inspiration is intentionally juvenile. The exhibition primarily brings together two collections, in which the majority of designs are made by layering fiberglass cloth with resin, resulting in translucent sheets that resemble petrified fabric.

The first collection, New Wave, illustrates the designer’s fascination with the power of the ocean. Amongst the pieces in this set is the Arcane side table, which sees green glass-like combers draped over a thin, cast-bronze vertical stand that’s shaped and patinated to look like the spray of a crashing wave. Then there’s the Free Form series, a continuation of New Wave but even more expressive. Here the resin-fiberglass material takes on more rhythmic, abstract forms as benches, chairs, table bases, and chandeliers – each shaped entirely by hand. The standout? A sofa comprising a pale green, wrinkled vertical sheet that is curved inward at both ends to create rigidity, with a flat horizontal shelf inserted to form a seat, upon which thin cushions are placed and tucked into the fiberglass folds. “Wild” indeed.