09/05/2014

Design of surfaces or superficial design?

The relationship between design and decoration is like the motion of a pendulum: sometimes it swings towards an intense complicity, sometimes towards rejection. Let’s think of all the major stages in design history: from Morris to Loos, from rationalism to Radicals, this tension has always been considered as a powerful indicator of any incoming weltanshaung.

Today, the interest in the potential of a surface seems to be increasing. Let’s think about wallpapers as a paradigmatic case study: more and more common in every imaginable interior, they are now the test bench of new collaborations between unsuspected designers and producers. Generally appreciated for its understated and conceptual touch, Maison Margiela has recently launched a new collection for the Belgian brand Omexco with the aim of reinterpreting the genre through uninhibited experimentations with colors and images. Studio Job chose wallpapers as well, as a way to magnify surfaces and marginalize furniture. Worldwide known for an original decorative attitude which spans from cartoon-like language to surrealism, for the latest Salone del Mobile, the Flemish duo has opened up its own archives of drawings, icons, and patterns in order to recreate a hypnotic wallpaper limbo for the Dutch company NLXL.

However, even sophisticated research couldn’t resist to take on the issue of surfaces and coverings. “La Casa Morbida”, an exhibition curated by Beppe Finessi in the Milanese Pezzoli Poldi palace, has explored the ways furniture is transforming our domestic environments into a soft cocoon. But couldn’t the show be renamed as “La Casa Rivestita” [“the upholstered house”]? In fact, the common thread among the pieces has nothing to do with a concept, a function or an expected final user, but with the shared use of textiles as a way of recreating a private, reassuring universe.

At the same time, the Rijksmuseum by Droog exhibition – on show during the Salone del Mobile days, too – produced similar results starting from different premises: the final result of a research undertaken within the vast visual universe of a major Dutch museum was once again a project examining appealing, decorative surfaces, and not an investigation into new, unpredicted areas and ideas.

Nevertheless, the true apotheosis of this return to surface is a mania for Nathalie Du Pasquier’s textile designs from the ‘80s. Former member of the Memphis group now devoted to painting, Du Pasquier has recently been transformed into a hype phenomenon from both fashion and design companies. American Apparel and Hay, in fact, have sensed the renewed appeal of her geometric patterns and didn’t hesitate to recover its design with very little effort put in their transformation or restyling.

It is impossible not to wonder, then, if the comparison with the ideological fervour of the radical movement isn’t to harsh for our current design world. Isn’t the current Memphis revival an unconscious attempt to anaesthetize ideas and ideologies from that time? Surface, in the ‘80s, was definitively a way to go beyond conventions and bourgeois “good taste”. Nowadays, it just seems transformed into a vintage convention: with no strong beliefs, no challenge or claim, but just as way to reassure a trendy status quo.

Giulia Zappa 
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08/05/2014

Library in the Aisle

On the quiet island of San Giorgio Maggiore, in front of San Marco square in Venice sits the Giorgio Cini Foundation, an institution whose mission is to promote the redevelopment of the monumental complex on San Giorgio and encourage the creation of educational, social, cultural and artistic institutions in its surrounding territory. In the last decade, the foundation has transformed the old Benedictine dormitory, known as “Manica Lunga” and originally built by Giovanni Buora at the end of ’400, into a modern and functional library that houses more than 150,000 volumes. The “long wing” is an extraordinary space: in the course of time it has housed monks’ cells, military accommodation, public dormitories and classrooms.

The restorative intervention was developed by architect Michele De Lucchi, who won an international design competition in 2005, transforming the old cells in reading and working areas. The restoration project of the long wing involved the creation of shelving systems both on the ground floor and an added balcony, with reception, workstations for multimedia material, lounge areas, meeting and conference rooms all placed on the ground floor, together with a recovered treasure room, office of the curator and cells used for archival purposes. With over 1400 meters of shelving, including 1000 open shelves, the new long wing is now the heart of the History of Art library complex at Giorgio Cini Foundation.

“What used to be a large living room was transformed into a library taking inspiration from Longhena – explains Michele De Lucchi – with open shelving covering the whole extent of long walls, while tables for consultation occupy the room’s the centre. A second level was added to the space with a balcony easily accessed by stairs placed on northern and southern sides of the central transept. The supporting structure and the shelves are made of metal. The perspective effect is amplified by adding a second line leading to the horizon, without further charging the visual impact of the room.”

The small doors of the monastery cells were additionally framed with wooden portals, which both support the balcony of the second level and add a curious visual appearance to the portals, where a smaller door seems to be inscribed within a larger one. The central space is thus left empty and plain, with only a few long tables left for consultation: other reading space, together with meeting, conference and event rooms can be found inside the cells.

The cells oriented towards Bacino di San Marco host the library’s service functions: librarian’s offices and consultation tables are placed in the central area for obvious reasons of safety and control. The cells are all similarly conceived, leaving the original monastic effect intact, even though they are variously connected according to different needs. Many walls of the cells are covered with shelving as well, leaving only doors and passages bare. The shelves arranged around each room aid a feeling of historical continuity and environmental unity to the space, while also maintaining the architecture’s static balance, since all the weight is placed against the walls.

The lighting of the new long wing was designed following the criteria of “territoriality” – adding light only where needed and avoiding direct light that precludes the concentration and study. The LED lighting adopted for the shelving is integrated directly into furnishings, concealing the fire extinguishing system, leaving a comfortable solution for consultation and reading. The restoration of the “Manica Lunga” is a particularly correct project in all of its aspects, respecting both the monastic history of the space, as well as calibrating functional and architectural additions with maniacal attention to details. Starting from an existing space of extreme quality, De Lucchi has succeeded in giving a new functional and cultural life to an architecture that otherwise would not be easily accessible.

Words and photos by Giulio Ghirardi 

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05/05/2014

Serpentine Pavilion by Smiljan Radic

After Sou Fujimoto, Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei, Peter Zumthor, Jean Nouvel, SANAA, Frank Gehry, Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen, Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond, Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura, MVRDV, Oscar Niemeyer, Toyo Ito, Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid, Serpentine Galleries Pavilion programme returns to its original aim of endorsing younger and lesser known architects by commissioning this year’s project to Smiljan Radic.

Smiljan Radic (Santiago de Chile, 1965) earned his architectural degree from the School of Architecture at the Pontificie Universidad Católica de Chile in 1989 and later studied at the IUAV University in Venice (1990-1992). One of the youngest and least-known in the Serpentine’s programme, Radic is known for developing buildings which merge elements of natural and artificial, offering a sort of a metaphorical escape from urban reality and civilization. Among his most challenging, yet widely appreciated, projects are the Mestizo Restaurant in Santiago, Chile, the Copper House in Talca, Chile, and the renovation of the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art in Santiago, Chile.

Radic described the pavilion commission as a leap of faith: “They are taking a big risk by choosing me. I’m not inside the common place of the architect, and it is really hard for me to do something so fast. But risks can be exciting.” In fact, his project appears to be one of the most exciting in the programme’s 14-year history. Resembling a primitive structure (one critic even described it as a sort of an alien cow bladder), Radic’s pavilion is structured as a circular, semi-transparent shell made of fibreglass suspended on large quarry stones which give the impression of a floating volume. In line with his previous projects and fascination with temporary, fragile constructions, the pavilion is “part of the history of small romantic constructions seen in parks or large gardens, the so-called follies, which were hugely popular from the end of the 16th century to the start of the 19th”.

Smiljan Radic’s Serpentine Pavilion will open to the public on 26th of June 2014 and will remain in Kensington Gardens in London until 19th of October, hosting a series of eight site-specific events which bring together art, poetry, music, film, literature and theory and three new commissions by emerging artists – Lina Lapelyte, Hannah Perry and Heather Phillipson.

Rujana Rebernjak 
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24/04/2014

From Salone to Expo: A Green Mimesis

Is there something more artificial than a booth set up? We hardly imagine that these temporary architectures, a fortunate result at the crossroad of contingency and marketing, could be perceived otherwise than the capsizing of a natural, primordial status. Thus, the impulse to integrate green simulacrums into trade shows, with the aim to fulfil, at least at a symbolic level, our desire for a more sustainable environment, is both unlikely and surprising.

The latest edition of Salone del Mobile offered many examples of this trend. Elica, worldwide leader in the production of kitchen hoods, commissioned to architectural studio stARTT the design of an innovative outfitting at the Rho Fair. Their design is a hybrid platform, where trees space out these hyper-technological intake devices and thus induce an implicit, reassuring effect. On the other hand, both the office furniture brand Tecno and Kinnarps have recurred to vegetation in their catalogues proposing an inedited hortus conclusus where furniture is surrounded by “spontaneous” vegetation.

Nevertheless, the “Giardino Geometrico” presented by Laminam and Living Divani in Brera’s botanical garden is by far the apotheosis of this green revenge. Surrounded by buildings and walls and thus protected by indiscreet looks, the garden offers to the unaware visitor a true epiphany: outdoor furniture and ceramic coverings are just an excuse, at most a facilitator to favour new points of view in enjoying the space. Therefore, the undisputed protagonist is the garden itself and its precious balance between natural state and human intervention in the selection and care of plants.

This scenario cannot but anticipate, by analogy, what the 2015 Expo in Milan forecasts to satisfy. What are its future visitors really wishing to get back to? If the Salone is a reliable indicator, the Expo is expected not only to give answers on the issues of food production, but also to offer an erratic contemplation in new green spaces: more precisely, a green mimesis into innovative living solutions.

Giulia Zappa – Images courtesy of Living Divani 
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22/04/2014

Ray Eames: In the Spotlight

The charm of Charles and Ray Eames, the design power-couple, appears to reside as much in their undeniable wit, intelligence and research, as in the fact that their work and life seemed to co-exist in a particularly seamless flow. Thus, even though the title of a new exhibition at Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery seems to suggest otherwise, Ray is inextricable from Charles, as Charles is from Ray.

The exhibition dedicated to Ray Eames, titled “In the Spotlight”, is as much an ode to Ray and her incredible creativity as it is an ode to her deep relationship with Charles: a celebration of an artistic union which brought to life some of the most classic and magic pieces of modern furniture. With apparent focus on Ray, the exhibition displays some of the most recognizable Eames’ projects – from their plywood furniture to wall hangers, from their playing cards to their movies – together with sketches, books, drawings and photographs, revealing how Ray’s delicate hand and sensibility complemented Charles’ possibly more ‘technical’ approach.

Other than showcasing the richness of their design production, this exhibition, in fact, traces their personal relationship through a series of letters, photos, personal artefacts, typically hidden in secret drawers, away from the public eye. Displaying this secret treasure appears to be a way of revealing a more human picture of the Eames’ and demonstrating “how that humanness bled into comfortable, optimistic, functional, still-relevant design” that we come to adore.

Ray Eames: In the Spotlight will run until the 4th of May 2014 at Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, 
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena.

Rujana Rebernjak 
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17/04/2014

Salone del Mobile: are schools the last reserve of ideas?

According to statistics and editorials, growing participation and increasing optimism are the two cornerstones of the last Salone del Mobile. This rosy vision encounters, nevertheless, a few cynical but grounded critics: the products on stage at the fair and the Fuorisalone’s events are more and more marketing and communication oriented, and thus design risks to lose its major role as technological evangelist and social innovator.

However, it was still possible to find here and there among Milanese design districts, a reserve full of insights and unbiased calling, browsing in what could be easily perceived as a parallel world: that of universities’ showcases. Voted by definition to research and open-mindedness, the best international design institutes have offered fresh points of view in rethinking functions, materials and needs according to a true social perspective.

“Delirious Home”, an exhibition promoted by ÉCAL in the Brera Design District, has chosen to take on the issue of smart home and develop it through weapons of irony and grotesque. The results of this investigation are very funny indeed: a spoon follows slavishly the change of position of its small cup, twin armchairs replicate what’s happening to the other one, clock hands respond to the arms movements of those who stand in front to watch the hour. The projects succeed to make us think: at this stage of technology development, the functionalities that interactive furniture should fulfil are still unclear, and thus, being able to identify a wide range of opportunities, even through a sarcastic approach, is very important.

At Ventura Lambrate, the competition among many school showcases is pretty tough. Design Academy Eindhoven has been the leader in the field since a decade: its method, based on a “design in context” approach, is declined this year along the perspective of “Self Unself”, the unselfish vision of design that arises from students’ self-initiated projects. Smart intuitions are not rare, as in the case of “The Importance of the Obvious” by Matthias Borowski investigating materials as false friends, terracotta aired walls and their nice finishings (“Cool Shelter” by Franciska Meijers), or a web platform that transforms information overloading into an artwork (“News from Eternity” by Ward Goes). Nevertheless, when compared to the previous editions this one fails to engage the visitor: the works are less cohesive, and their inspiration is often too close to a pretext than a significant intuition.

A different approach is that of the Royal Academy of Art – The Hague and its speculative proposal, hanging in between an in-depth analysis and performance. Design, clearly seen as an innovative force, focuses on materials and their new applications: we are not in a R&D of a chemical corporation and thus the profile is necessarily low-tech, but the projects on show – like “Coexist” by Nynke Koster – identify a new aesthetics for the informal living, and the performative way students keep on consuming material surfaces – as in the Morphlab Growth by Morphlab – surpasses a mere communication activity. In the end, it is thanks to fantasy that design is able to open new scenarios: the idea of investigating what would happen if men shrunk to 50 cm is unlikely, but we shouldn’t underplay its imaginative power.

Giulia Zappa 
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15/04/2014

Fashion loves design: Nathalie Du Pasquier for AA

The relationship between fashion and design is often a difficult and tormented one. It is probably the usual love-hate romance that you’d advise your best friend to stay out of: a type of relationship where one is desperately in love and the other keeps changing their mind. And yet, there is something painfully irresistible and lovely about it, transforming even the worst experiences into well cherished memories.

It should not come as a surprise then, than one of the most unconditionally adored, yet often cringeworthy, contemporary brands, American Apparel, has recently teamed up with a protagonist of post-modern design scene, Nathalie Du Pasquier. Nathalie Du Pasquier was one of the original members of Memphis group back in the Eighties, where she designed numerous ‘decorated surfaces’ – textiles, carpets, plastic laminates, together with some furniture and objects. Even though she is often associated only with the Memphis experience, Du Pasquier gave a sharp cut to her ‘designer’ past in 1987, dedicating herself entirely to painting.

Nevertheless, when American Apparel approached her, she eagerly returned to the type of work she hadn’t engaged with in more than twenty years. The collection presents a series of colourful, iconic patterns designed for a series of American Apparel’s new womenswear and menswear silhouettes, as well as accessories. Reminiscent of the classic Memphis-style graphics, these patterns give a fresh and ironic twist to the brand’s basic, often single-colour staples, that we have somehow learned to love through time.

Rujana Rebernjak 
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14/04/2014

Saying Goodbye to Salone del Mobile 2014

A sofa with an integrated blanket resembling Little Red Riding Hood’s cape, a series of tables reminscing leaves and stems, moiré effect-inspired jewellery, a ‘modern’ interpretation of a classic Tyrolean chair, a chubby foam armchair, a set of furniture customizable through a simple app: these are just a tiny part of an endless and almost entirely senseless list of products presented during last week’s Salone del Mobile. And yet, official figures show more than 360,000 people have visited the fair alone, a number which probably doubles for all the Fuorisalone dwellers, making us wonder what does the Salone actually mean for design practice. Other than spending a fun week trying to source a few clever projects and seeing a few amusing exhibitions, what does it bring to design research? Is the prime event of the design sphere still something we should look forward to?

Some designers, like Martino Gamper, have decided to test a new approach. While his furniture was shown at Nilufar gallery and his repair-shop was set up in front of La Rinascente, Gamper has also presented a new project, aimed directly at potential buyers and producers. The aim of “From-To”, developed as part of “Valore Artigiano” project, was to focus on the interaction between designers and artisans of the Veneto region. By choosing to leave the media out of the event, “From-To” wanted to create an environment for possible future collaborations between designers, artisans and their clients: be it a one-time buyer, an industrial reality or a gallery.

While “From-To” explored the relationship with market logics, other interesting projects were developed on the other part of the spectrum. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), is a project by Joseph Grima, founder of Space Caviar, which works as a mobile newspaper unit developing content through an algorithmic journalism machine using software that combines voice recognition technology, extracted from a series of conferences held at Palazzo Clerici, and social media content posted using the #OnTheFlyMilan hashtag.

Seeing projects like “From-To” and “FOMO” in Milan is a rarity, an almost extinct breed of design research, which raises questions about market systems, means of distribution, interaction, production and consumption. And yet, possibly we have got it all wrong, and design is supposed to be just pure fun.

Rujana Rebernjak 
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09/04/2014

Italian Renaissance Theaters: Teatro Farnese

Teatro Farnese (Farnese Theatre) is one of the most breath-taking sites in all of Parma and Italy. Built in 1618 by order of Ranuccio I, duke of Parma and Piacenza, and designed by the ferrarese architect, Giovan Battista Aleotti, the theatre was built to celebrate the passing of Cosimo II de’ Medici through Parma on his way to Milan to visit the tomb of San Carlo Borromeo.

However, Cosimo II de’ Medici cancelled the trip to Milano due to health problems, and the theatre would be inaugurated only 10 years later in the occasion of Margherita de’ Medici’s marriage with Duke Odoardo. For the occasion, the theatre hosted the “Mercurio and Marte” (Mercury and Mars) regal tournament written by Claudio Achillini with music by Claudio Monteverdi. The peak of the spectacle was an extraordinary “naumachia” (naval battle) for which the entire parterre was flooded with pumps located underneath the stage. The theatre also featured a special balcony for the Dukes, a precursor of what would become the royal booth in greatest theatres around the world.

Teatro Farnese was built entirely out of painted wood and plaster, in order to resemble more expensive marble. During the Second World War, the theatre was subject to bombing and almost completely destroyed; a restoration underway during the 50s brought the theatre to its original splendour. The restructured sections were nevertheless left bare in order to highlight the extent of the damage. Some consider Teatro Farnese to be the first theatre with a proscenium arch, that is, a theatre in which the audience views the action through a single frame. The age of Baroque took off from Teatro Farnese with its spectacular stage effects, while its auditorium recalled that of an ancient theatre.

Due to its complicated nature and extremely high costs of show production, the theatre was only used nine times from its inauguration, mostly for ducal marriages or important state visits. The last show dates back to 1732, after which it was left to ruin until the bombardment of 1944. In the meantime, many well-known artists came to visit the theatre, expressing their complete astonishment both by its beauty and state of decay, among them Montesquieu, de Brosses and Dickens, who even mentioned it in his “Pictures from Italy”.

Dickens wrote: “There is the Farnese Palace, too; and in it one of the dreariest spectacles of decay that ever was seen—a grand, old, gloomy theatre, mouldering away. It is a large wooden structure, of the horse-shoe shape; the lower seats arranged upon the Roman plan, but above them, great heavy chambers; rather than boxes, where the Nobles sat, remote in their proud state. Such desolation as has fallen on this theatre, enhanced in the spectator’s fancy by its gay intention and design, none but worms can be familiar with. A hundred and ten years have passed, since any play was acted here. […] The desolation and decay impress themselves on all the senses. The air has a mouldering smell, and an earthy taste; any stray outer sounds that straggle in with some lost sunbeam, are muffled and heavy; and the worm, the maggot, and the rot have changed the surface of the wood beneath the touch, as time will seam and roughen a smooth hand. If ever Ghosts act plays, they act them on this ghostly stage.”

Giulio Ghirardi 
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08/04/2014

Salone del Mobile 2014

Milan furniture fair was founded back in 1961, a historical period when, due to the economic growth and extensive reconstruction after the Second World War, the local public showed a growing need for quality products necessary to furnish their newly built homes. The fair was conceived, in fact, as a meeting point between the manufacturers, many of them artisans working with wood, and their consumers. Even though the fair has grown exponentially through the years, becoming the most significant event in the design world, its initial aim appears to be lost.

This year’s Salone del Mobile opens its doors today and many of its visitors probably won’t even set foot at the central fair. In fact, the city centre itself hosts hundreds of events, shows, exhibitions and talks: an entire universe of contemporary design that is often difficult to grasp. From the prominent, historically traditional, venues such as Triennale di Milano, to more experimental settings such as Ventura Lambrate, the city is overflown with design projects – so much more than you could actually see in a week.

Thus, if you are looking for glimpses of what design is all about at the moment, here is a short selection of highlights of this year’s Salone. Starting from the Triennale is actually not a bad beginning. Even though the famous ‘design museum’ has through the years transformed itself into a fair more than a temple of design, you can nevertheless check the 7th edition of Triennale Design Museum, together with exhibitions about sustainable design, cooking tools, Mark Newson’s eyewear, and domestic landscapes. While Tom Dixon has abandoned its scenic setting at the Science Museum and set-up his English club-inspired stand at the fair, there are still a few gems around town where you can wonder. Moving to the heart of the city, you should stop by Martino Gamper’s “In a State of Repair” workshop at La Rinascente, developed as a twin project of his exhibition at Serpentine Gallery in London. Walking towards the central station, you can stop by Via San Gregorio, where you will find Droog, Kvadrat and Wallpaper magazine.

Fabrica design studio’s Hot and Cold exhibition at Garage Milano, Formafantasma’s “De Natura Fossilium” at Palazzo Clerici, Foscarini and Inventario’s textile exhibition at Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Kartell’s new tableware collection or Molteni&C’s re-edition of Gio Ponti’s chairs, are just a few things you might see before moving on to Ventura Lambrate, zona Tortona or even Brera design district. And if your head actually stops spinning and you manage to discern ‘novelty’ from ‘quality’, you will find out that Salone del Mobile might even not be that exhausting.

Rujana Rebernjak 
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