If you look throughout the history, you will find that not many designers have challenged themselves with designing a bookshelf. Rather, they have taken on simpler tasks, associating their names with chairs or lamps, and it is fairly easy to understand why. Differently form a chair, a sofa or a lamp, a bookshelf is more often custom made then brought home from some branded shop. It needs to fit exact needs in terms of space and form, often growing with our personal collections of books, objects and various knick-knacks. In fact, bookshelves can often be seen almost as a metaphysic piece of furniture more than a merely functional object, containing our personal stories, passions, dreams and inspirations.
This is precisely the narrative about designed objects that a new exhibition opening tomorrow at Serpentine Sackler Gallery tries to pinpoint. Titled “Design is a State of Mind” and curated by Martino Gamper, the irreverent master of design and craft, this exhibition presents a landscape of shelving systems, telling the story of design objects and their impact on our lives. Besides an extensive survey of shelving systems produced from 1930 until today, ranging from pieces designed by Gaetano Pesce, Franco Albini, Ettore Sottsass, Ercol, Gio Ponti and IKEA, the exhibition will also display personal archives and collections of Gamper’s friends and colleagues, among which Enzo Mari, Paul Neale, Max Lamb & Gemma Holt, Jane Dillon, Michael Marriott, Sebastian Bergne, Fabien Cappello, Adam Hills, Michael Anastassiades, Andrew McDonagh & Andreas Schmid, Daniel Eatock and Martino Gamper himself.
Rather than an exhibition about material qualities, form and function of a designed object, “Design is a State of Mind” should be viewed as an exploration of memories, emotions and interests hidden in the form an object. As Martino Gamper states: “There is no perfect design and there is no über-design. Objects talk to us personally. Some might be more functional than others, and the emotional attachment is very individual. This exhibition will showcase a very personal way of collecting and gathering objects – these are pieces that tell a tale.”
“Design is a State of Mind” curated by Martino Gamper will run at Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London from 5th of March until 21st of April 2014.
