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ARTFORUM, MARCH 2016 Enzo Mari “Discarding the superfluous to get back to the essence” at Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia Mousse Magazine, December 2015 NPR Berlin, April 2015 11/25/2014 11/25/2014 Is Ikea The End Of Design? See The Italian Counterattack At This Powerful Milan Design Exhibit Is Ikea The End Of Design? See The Italian Counterattack At This Powerful Milan Design Exhibit (/) (/) 11/25/2014 (/) Is Ikea The End Of Design? See The Italian Counterattack At This Powerful Milan Design Exhibit Jonathon Keats (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathonkeats/) Contributor I comment on art exhibitions around the world. (/) Jonathon Keats (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathonkeats/) Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I comment on art exhibitions around the world. Jonathon Keats (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathonkeats/) Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. 11/24/2014 @ 12:06PM 220 views I comment on art exhibitions around the world. Is Ikea The End Of Design? See Is Ikea The Counterattack End Of Design?AtSee The Italian This Is Ikea The End Design Of Design? The Italian Counterattack AtSee This Powerful Milan Exhibit The Italian Counterattack At ThisSee Powerful Milan Is Ikea TheDesign End OfExhibit Design? Powerful Milan Design Exhibit Future archeologists the material culture of austerity need look no Thestudying Italian Counterattack At This further than the Ikea catalogue. Even in Milan, the design capital of Europe, Future under archeologists culture of austerity needExhibit no Powerful Milan Design people forty arestudying likely tothe eatmaterial on a Tärendö table and to sleep inlook a Fjelsse Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Jonathon Keats (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathonkeats/) 11/24/2014 @ 12:06PM 220 views 11/24/2014 @ 12:06PM 220 views Contributor I comment on art exhibitions around the world. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. 11/24/2014 @ 12:06PM 220 views Comment Now Follow Comments Comment Now Follow Comments Comment Now Follow Comments further thenot Ikea catalogue. Even in Milan, the sofa design of Europe, bed – if than they’re couch-surfing on the Knislinge of acapital temporarilyComment Now Follow Comments Future archeologists studying the material culture of austerity need nofor people under forty are likely to eat on a Tärendö table and to sleep inlook a Fjelsse employed friend. They’ll blame it on economics – a legitimate justification further thenot Ikea catalogue. Even in Milan, the design Europe, bed –lapsed ifthan they’re couch-surfing on the Knislinge sofa of acapital temporarilytheir Italian taste – yet one that’s hardly encouraging for anofeconomy Future archeologists studying the material culture of austerity need look no people under forty are likely to eat on a Tärendö table and to sleep in a Fjelsse employedbyfriend. They’ll blame it an on alternative? economics –That’s a legitimate justification for powered good design. Is there the question posed by further than the Ikea catalogue. Even in Milan, the design capital of bed –lapsed if they’re not couch-surfing the hardly Knislinge sofa of a temporarilytheir Italian tasteat – Milan’s yet oneon that’s encouraging for an economy Europe, an important exhibition Triennale Design Museum people underblame forty are likely to eat on a Tärendö table andposed to sleep employed friend. They’ll it an on economics –That’s legitimate justification for powered by good design. Is there alternative? the question by in a Fjelsse (http://www.triennale.org/en/exhibitions/present/3428-vii-triennale-designbed – iftaste they’re notone couch-surfing onencouraging the Knislinge a temporarilytheir lapsed Italian – yet that’s hardly an of economy an important exhibition at Milan’s Triennale Design Museumforsofa museum-auto-da-se-il-design-italiano-tra-autosufficienza-austerita-eemployed friend. They’ll blame it on economics – a legitimate for powered by good design. Is there an alternative? That’s the question posedjustification by (http://www.triennale.org/en/exhibitions/present/3428-vii-triennale-designautoproduzione-en). lapsed at Italian taste – yet oneDesign that’s hardly encouraging for an economy an importanttheir exhibition Milan’s Triennale Museum museum-auto-da-se-il-design-italiano-tra-autosufficienza-austerita-epowered by good design. Is there an alternative? That’s the posed by (http://www.triennale.org/en/exhibitions/present/3428-vii-triennale-designThis is not the first time Italians have faced austerity. In the 1930s, withquestion the autoproduzione-en). an important exhibition at Milan’s Triennaleimposed Design Museum museum-auto-da-se-il-design-italiano-tra-autosufficienza-austerita-erise of Fascism, Italy endured crippling trade sanctions by the League (http://www.triennale.org/en/exhibitions/present/3428-vii-triennale-designThis is not the first time Italians have faced austerity. In the 1930s, with the autoproduzione-en). of Nations. And in the 1970s, the Italian economy was derailed by the OPEC museum-auto-da-se-il-design-italiano-tra-autosufficienza-austerita-eriseembargo. of Fascism, endured crippling trade sanctions imposed by the League oil (ToItaly manage the energy shortage, the government outlawed autoproduzione-en). This is not the first time Italians have faced austerity. In the 1930s, with the of Nations. And in the 1970s, the Italian economy was derailed by OPEC Sunday driving and late-night television.) As the Triennale exhibit the shows, rise of Fascism, Italy endured crippling trade sanctions imposed by the League oil embargo. (To manage the energyby shortage, the government Italian designers were either have crisis. In fact, bothoutlawed episodes Thisin isthe notnot thedeterred first time Italians faced austerity. the 1930s, with the of Nations. And 1970s, the Italian economy was derailed byIn the OPEC Sunday driving anddesign. late-night television.) As the Triennale exhibit shows, invigorated Italian rise of Fascism, Italy endured crippling trade sanctions imposed by the League oil embargo. (To manage energyby shortage, the government Italian designers were notthe deterred either crisis. In fact, bothoutlawed episodes of Nations. And intelevision.) the 1970s, the economy was derailed Sunday driving anddesign. late-night As Italian the Triennale exhibit shows, by the OPEC invigorated Italian oil embargo. (To manage the energy shortage, the government outlawed Italian designers were not deterred by either crisis. In fact, both episodes Sunday driving and late-night television.) As the Triennale exhibit shows, invigorated Italian design. Italian designers were not deterred by either crisis. In fact, both episodes invigorated Italian design. Enzo Mari, Proposta per un’autoprogettazione, tavolo 1123 XI, 1974. Courtesy Galleria Luisa Delle Piane. Forbes, November 2014 The central problem faced by Italian designers in the ’30s was access to raw Enzo Mari, Proposta per un’autoprogettazione, tavolo 1123 XI, 1974. Courtesy Galleria Luisa Delle Piane. materials. Deprived of imported iron ore, Italian industry needed alternatives. Themanufacturers central problem faced byaItalian designers in the ’30s was accesstaking to raw So developed veritable encyclopedia of substitutes, Enzo Mari, Proposta per un’autoprogettazione, tavolo 1123 XI, 1974. Courtesy Galleria Luisa Delle Piane. Enzo Mari, Proposta per un’autoprogettazione, tavolo 1123 XI, 1974. Courtesy Galleria Luisa Delle Piane. 11/25/2014 The central problem faced by Italian designers in the ’30s was access to raw materials. Deprived of imported iron ore, Italian industry needed alternatives. So manufacturers developed a veritable encyclopedia of substitutes, taking advantage of native aluminum and newly-developed plastics. Exoticallynamed substances such as Buxus and Lautal and Zoolite inspired designers to reshape familiar household products. They also took up old materials in new Is Ikea The End Of Design? See The Italian Counterattack At This Powerful Milan Design Exhibit ways. For instance, the Turin manufacturer Vianzone designed a stylish bentwood bicycle. The 1970s crisis also had a material side, since plastics were made from petroleum. Yet the end of the oil embargo was only the beginning of economic struggle, an enduring period of austerity with more than a passing resemblance to the present. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathonkeats/2014/11/24/is-ikea-the-end-of-design-see-the-italian-counterattack-at-this-powerful-milan-design-exhibit/ The hardship radicalized design. In Naples, the designer Riccardo Dalisi experimented with what he called “poor technology”, creating architecture and furnishings from trash. Even more extreme, Enzo Mari – who was already celebrated for his stylish consumer goods – designed a range of furniture that could be made by anyone using nothing more than rough-hewn planks of wood. He made his plans freely available to anybody who contacted his Milan studio, and encouraged people to modify what they made, sending him photos. Mari’s DIY tables and chairs and wardrobes and beds anticipated Ikea in terms of their simplicity, but philosophically they were Ikea’s antithesis. Making design participatory and leaving manufacturing to the consumer, Mari offered an alternative to industrialized standardization. He presented austerity as an opportunity for every Italian to become a designer: to exercise creativity and develop self-sufficiency. Over the ensuing decades, Mari has become notoriously misanthropic, cursing the success of architects and designers ranging from Rem Koolhaas (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/style/03iht-design3.1.17414904.html) to Ron Arad (http://www.iconeye.com/404/item/4245-enzo-mari), not to mention the hegemony of Ikea (which he’s hyperbolically accused of “genocide” (http://www.iconeye.com/404/item/4245-enzo-mari)). These days he likes to say that “design is dead”. Just maybe he’s right, but it’s a cruel irony coming from the man who brought out the best in austerity, making design a source of life. Follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/jonathonkeats), purchase my latest book, Forged: Why Fakes Are The Great Art Of Our Age (http://global.oup.com/academic/product/forged-9780199928354), from Oxford University Press, and listen to a Central Coast Public Radio interview about my recent art projects (http://7thavenueproject.com/post/100513326855/jonathan-keats-radio- interview). Comment Now Follow Comments Promoted Stories ! ! ! ! It’s nice that, September 2011 designtransfer, 07/2008 - 06/2012 3.07.2012 Enzo Mari – The Intellectual Work | We Celebrate ! Home About Say Hello! Search ! ! Enzo Mari – The Intellectual Work ? By: Maria Nogueira 06-09-2011 We celebrate things good enoug waste our time. We share it with they can equally waste theirs. (No designer procrastinates less hours a day — no need to feel gu Art, Berlin, Design Like 6 We Celebrate on Twitter To use Facebook's social you must enable platform Facebook social plugin applications. We Like Manystuff It's Nice That OneBea Qualité Graphique Garantie Mag Delectable Categories Last night I had the privilege of seeing and hearing Enzo Mari with my own eyes and ears. Born in the 1930′s and considered one of the greatest italian and worldwide design theorists, Mari spoke about the exhibition The Intellectual Work: Enzo Mari with Pavel Bütcher, Jason Dodge, Tim Rollins + K.O.S., opening today at Tanya Leighton gallery. He described us his exhibited work, but very briefly in fact. Instead, what he did, was a provocation, from start to end of the talk, but one that filled the room and our chests with questions, but also with an intense will to go out there and smash the banal with our voice. And say NO, NO, NO. No matter how vague this post seemed – I am indeed still trying to digest all the intensity of those powerful and wise and white-bearded words – sometimes screamed, but nevertheless always with a subtle smile that revealed the true provocative intention behind them – make sure you don’t miss the exhibition or, ultimately, his work. www.tanyaleighton.com art berlin design history enzo mari Industrial Design italian designer ! ! ! Italy opening ! Architecture Art Berlin Design Events Fashion Film Illustration Magazines Music Photography Portugal Product Projects Publishing Studio Technology Recently Celebrated Screens Kris Sowersby Joseph Churchward The Contributor Series #4 | Nell M Zoo in My Hand Archives We celebrate, 2011 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 122-141_Reviews4#7:Layout 1 30.09.2011 11:13 Uhr Seite 136 Ausstellungsansicht »The Intellectual Work: Enzo Mari« matisieren. Vor allem deshalb wie auch aufgrund ihres leicht verdaulichen illustrativen Stils haben Museen vom Centre Pompidou in Paris bis zum MoMA in New York den Künstler für Wandarbeiten beauftragt. In dieser präzisen Galerieausstellung untersucht Perjovschi die Möglichkeit, Linien in skulpturale Dimensionen zu übersetzen und so die Wahrnehmung des Besuchers auf komplexere Weise einzubinden. Auch wenn die skulpturale Qualität dieser Arbeiten beschränkt ist und auch deren formale Nuancen nicht so ausgearbeitet sind wie die der eigentlichen Thematik des Künstlers, ist die jüngste Arbeit, »Wire Drawing (Sibiu)« (2011), besonders vielversprechend. Sie ist ein Gewebe aus Draht, das am Boden liegt und dessen lockere Maschen hunderte von Figuren zeichnen. In dieser Übersetzung von Linien (inspiriert von der Zeichnung »Urzeala« (1986–1988)) in Maschengewebe verändert sich die Bedeutung. Die gewobenen und aufgrund der Unregelmäßigkeiten des Webens und nicht aufgrund der Geste des Künstlers idiosynkratischen Figuren kommunizieren auf eine neue Art: durch Drehungen und Faltungen des sich nach außen, herum- und zurückbiegenden Gewebes. —— JOHN BEESON Aus dem Amerikanischen von der Redaktion E N ZO MAR I »The Intellectual Work« Tanya Leighton, Berlin 7.9.–19.11.2011 KOPF UND HAND Die Berliner Galerie Tanya Leighton zeigt Enzo Maris Sammlung von Briefbeschwerern. Der Kern der Ausstellung, der zuvor im Kaleidoscope Project Space in Mailand zu sehen war, wird hier in Kooperation mit der Kuratorin Barbara Casavecchia von einem Beiprogramm flankiert: Talks und Interventionen der Künstler Jason Dodge, Tim Rollins + K.O.S. und Pavel Büchler. Enzo Mari ist 79 Jahre alt und eine entscheidende Figur des italienischen Nachkriegsdesigns. Seine Möbel sehen aus, als meinten sie es gut mit einem, wohlwollend, human(istisch) und passen in den Zeitgeist der 60er/70er Jahre, als sich die Industrie wieder dem Menschen annäherte. In diesen Jahren hat er immer auch als Künstler, nie nur als Designer denkend und handelnd seine robuste Formensprache entwickelt. Maris Briefbeschwerer, in der Galerie auf großflächigen Sockeln gruppiert, sind Bruchstücke seines beruflichen, häuslichen und Courtesy the artist and Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin, Photo: Hans-Georg Gaul künstlerischen Alltags. Ein Türknopf, ein mechanisches Teil, Überbleibsel aus Werkstätten und auch sehr komplette Dinge wie Multiples und ein Bildhauerknüpfel. Das sieht besonders in der Summe verführerisch aus, und dass sie von ihm über viele Jahrzehnte gesammelt wurden, ist ein schöner Gedanke. Die Briefbeschwerer haben etwas von Handschmeichlern und bieten dem Sammler die Möglichkeit intuitiver Entscheidung. Einen Moment der Zuneigung. In solchen Augenblicken wird nicht zwingend intellektuelle Arbeit geleistet, sondern Geschmack und Lust dürfen kurz ans Steuer. Man erfährt etwas über Enzo Mari auf einer anderen Ebene als der des präzisen Designers. Der Hinweis auf die intellektuelle Arbeit liegt in Form kopierter Arbeitsblätter großer Köpfe wie J. S. Bachs, Michelangelos oder Galileo Galileis beispielhaft unter den kleinen massiven Stücken. Bei so großen Referenzen schwingt etwas Kulturkitsch mit. Doch in seinem Vortrag an der Berliner Universität der Künste erlebt man Mari als agilen Kulturkritiker. Er ist enttäuscht, fast zornig über die heutige Hektik und mangelnde Sinnlichkeit. Auch ist Mari sehr skeptisch gegenüber der gängigen Idee des Intellektuellen, denn seiner Meinung nach ist dies eine sehr seltene Spezies. Er selbst zählt sich dazu. Der Geniebegriff liegt bei all den alten, bedeutenden Namen unter Gewicht nahe, wird von Mari aber differenziert und im Titel der Ausstellung und dem Katalog als »intellectual« angesprochen. Die intellektuelle Arbeit hat eher mit Konsequenz in Ausführung und Lebensweise zu tun als mit dem in die Wiege gelegten Plus an Grips. Die Kom- bination von Hand und Kopf. Außen herum wimmelt es allerorts von Halbwissen, so sieht es Mari. Tatsächlich wird ja gegenwärtig sehr gleichmäßig viel nützliche und unnütze Information verbreitet. Ein nostalgisches Bild also von arbeitsamen Papierstapeln im Studio, die beschwert sind, damit sie nicht verwehen. Im September zeigte als erste Intervention der in Berlin lebende Künstler Jason Dodge spärlich verteilt im zweiten Raum der Galerie Stapel von Kissen und Bettbezügen aus dem Krankenhauskontext. Sauber gefaltet und mit Bedeutung befüllt. Ob Mari, Dodge und nachfolgende Künstler sich brauchen, ist nicht sicher, aber man könnte eine Linie ziehen von den beschwerten Papierblättern zu Dodges auratisch beladenen Stapeln und schließlich zum Ausstellungsprogramm mit dem einen Anker: Enzo Mari. —— B E N JA M I N H I RT E Bill Bollinger ZKM Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe 28.5.–25.9.2011 THE TRANSCENDENCE OF THE HARDWARE STORE The late Noughties wave of Flatpack Conceptualism owes a bow of gratitude to the forgotten Post-Minimalist Bill Bollinger. An alumnus of Harald Szeemann’s seminal When Attitudes Become Form, his retrospective at ZKM presents a streamlined use of storebought products arranged in rigorous alchemical networks. The practice is a plundering of hardware aesthetics exploring inherent 136 SPIKE 29 — 2011 Spike Art Quarterly, Autumn 2011 Reviews INTERVIEW Herr Mari, Sie gehören seit Jahrzehnten zu den profiliertesten Gestaltern in Europa. Was halten Sie vom Design der Gegenwart? Nicht viel. Mir fehlt dabei das Utopische. Als ich in den 50er-Jahren anfing, wollten die Designer die Welt verändern. Das ist nicht mehr so. Die Konservativen sagen, die Welt ist schön, wie sie ist. Aber das stimmt nicht. Wenn wir so weitermachen, wird sie untergehen. Kann das Design von der Kunst lernen? Selbstverständlich. Aber wenn ich Kunst sage, meine ich nicht die Masse, die heute produziert wird. 99 Prozent davon sind völlig überflüssig und illustrieren in erster Linie individuelle Befindlichkeiten, Träume und Gefühle. Aber große Kunst, die Kunst der Renaissance zum Beispiel oder auch die von Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg oder Keith Haring, ist in der Lage, zu allen zu sprechen. Sie reflektiert gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse, und jeder versteht sie. aus Anleitungen, mit denen man eine komplette Wohnungseinrichtung selbst bauen konnte. Mich erinnert das an Concept-Art. Damit hat es aber nicht viel zu tun. Die „Autoprogettazione“-Serie war eine Art Übung, ein Exerzitium, damit man versteht, was es heißt, ein Möbel zu bauen, ohne es tatsächlich zu tun. Viele meiner Projekte sind im Grunde als Kritik an den Verhältnissen gedacht. Ich gebe Ihnen ein Beispiel: Was macht die Kunst, Enzo Mari? Und was kann die Kunst vom Design lernen? Was die Kunst vom Design lernen kann? Gar nichts! Gibt es einen Designer, den Sie besonders schätzen? Schwierige Frage, aber ich kann ihnen sagen, was einen guten Designer ausmacht. Für mich ist ein guter Designer ein alter Bauer, der beschließt, einen Kastanienbaum zu pflanzen. Dabei weiß er genau, dass er die Kastanien nicht essen wird, er wird sie nicht einmal wachsen sehen. Er wird auch nicht im Schatten des Baumes sitzen, wenn es heiß ist. Aber er weiß, dass seine Nichten und Neffen das tun werden. Deshalb pflanzt er den Baum. Sie waren 1968 Teilnehmer der Documenta IV in Kassel. Was haben Sie damals dort gezeigt? Abstrakte Werke, Arbeiten der Arte programmata, aus dem Umfeld der Künstlergruppe Zero. Ich nannte sie „Strukturen“. Es ging mir in jenen Jahren um Phänomene der visuellen Wahrnehmung. Aber ich war nie richtig zufrieden damit. Eines Ihrer berühmtesten Designprojekte hieß „Proposta per un’autoprogettazione“. Es bestand Radikal sein, Utopien wagen, Nein sagen: Der streitlustige Designer und DocumentaTeilnehmer zeigt in Berlin seine Sammlung von Briefbeschwerern Während der Studentenproteste von 1968 kam einmal ein Student zu mir und sah da mein Bett stehen, ein einfaches, rohes Bett. Das hat er überhaupt nicht kapiert. Wie haben Sie reagiert? Ich fragte ihn, wie er sich denn ein so richtig schönes Bett vorstellte. Er sagte, es sollte groß und rund sein, ein Wasserbett mit einem Marmorsockel und einem kristallenen Kronleuchter darüber. Das war der Sinn des „Autoprogettazione“-Projekts: den Leuten zu zeigen, wie konservativ ihr Geschmack in Wirklichkeit war. Meine Kollegen an der Hochschule nannten mich deshalb einen Faschisten. Und haben Sie auch Geld damit verdient? Keinen Cent. Ich schätze, es existieren so um die 500 000 Möbel, die im Zuge der „Autoprogettazione“-Serie gebaut wurden. Inzwischen sind es Sammlerobjekte geworden. Und ich hätte nichts dagegen, wenn diejenigen, die diese Stücke jetzt verkaufen, sich an mich erinnerten und mich am Erlös beteiligten. Sie legen großen Wert auf ethisches Design. Was darf man sich darunter vorstellen? Wenn ich mich heute mit Designern unterhalte, drängt sich mir oft der Eindruck auf, dass sie zwar hochfliegende Pläne haben, aber rein gar nichts über die Produktion wissen. Meine Idee war, in die Fabriken zu gehen und dafür das nötige Bewusstsein zu schaffen. Man sagt, Design sei dazu da, ein Bedürfnis zu befriedigen. Mir ging es aber um die Bedürfnisse der Arbeiter, die mit ihrer Tätigkeit nicht glücklich waren, weil sie sie nicht verstanden. Das hört sich nach Marxismus der alten Schule an. Nicht alles, was neu ist, ist auch gut. Im Gegenteil: Es ist eine Sucht, die die Menschen zu Zombies macht. Denn das Neue ist meist nur dazu da, so schnell wie möglich wieder weggeworfen zu werden, weil die meisten Fabrikanten Ignoranten sind und die meisten Konsumenten auch. Es ist wichtig, dass man ein Gespür für die Zusammenhänge entwickelt. Und das erfordert bisweilen eine gewisse Radikalität. Momentan präsentieren Sie in der Galerie Tanya Leighton in Berlin Ihre Sammlung von Briefbeschwerern. Was hat es damit auf sich? Ich sammle Briefbeschwerer nicht nur, ich benutze sie auch. Sie halten die Papierstapel, die Sie hier sehen. Der größte Teil davon ist Ausschuss. Die Ausstellung ist also ein Manifest meiner intellektuellen Arbeit. Und die besteht vor allem darin, Ideen zu verwerfen. Ich denke, wir sagen heutzutage viel zu selten Nein. Interview: Ulrich Clewing „The Intellectual Work: Enzo Mari with Pavel Büchler, Jason Dodge, Tim Rollins + K.O.S.“, Galerie Tanya Leighton, Berlin, bis 19. November Die nächste Ausgabe von Monopol erscheint am 20. Oktober 2011 146 Das Jahresabonnement (12 Ausgaben für 90,00 Euro) können Sie ganz einfach bestellen unter: www.monopol-magazin.de The Intellectual Work. Enzo Mari @ Tanya Leighton Gallery Until November 19th the Tanya Leighton Gallery in the Berliner Kurfürstenstrasse is hosting an exhibition of objects collected by the Italian designer and theorist Enzo Mari. In a similar vein to Achille is Watching Us, the point of the exhibition is however not necessarily the objects themselves. But their meaning. The collection has arisen organically over the years, as Enzo Mari has come accross discarded objects that have caught his attention, picked them up, brought them home and kept them. On his rare forays into commercial product design Mari, by his own admission, invariably ends up with several thousand sketches of possible solutions. However he doesn’t throw away the rejected designs; rather, piles them up on his desk. Eventually he needs something to stop the piles of paper flying off his desk; and the once outcast objects return to their intended job as industrial objects. Albeit in a different context to that of their creation. To Enzo Mari however they are just paperweights. “The Intellectual Work Enzo Mari” is a display of 60 such accidental paperweights, each atop a pile of A4 sheets representing the work of a designer/artist/musician admired by Mari, for example Bach or Stephenson. Individuals not necessarily admired by Mari because of their output, but because of their striving for perfection in their work. Juxtapositioning as it were the reason he has so many piles of paper in his studio with the works of those he strives to emulate. In addition to the Enzo Mari paperweight collection “The Intellectual Work….” features new projects by three young artists; Jason Dodge, Tim Rollins and K.O.S, Pavel Büchler. www.minimumblog.com, 9 September 2011 Enzo Mari. Designer. And Barman 23.07.2012 The Intellectual Work: Enzo Mari a Berlino casa24 motori24 plus24 Notizie Impresa&Territori Norme e Tributi Finanza Commenti&Inchieste Tecnologie moda24 luxury24 viaggi24 salute24 job24 Cultura-Domenica multimedia blog diritto24 altri shopping24 tools Facebook login: email altri entra Twitter registrati newsletter ! ! ! CERCA in Living24 Progetti Contract Tendenze Like Sostenibilità Ambiente Cucina Le riviste del mondo Living24 3 Tweet 1 Mercati Area Retail Bagno e accessori Share Eventi Prodotti Casastile Personaggi Cucina us Ufficio Bagno Oggetti Habitat Invia Stampa Invia un commento questo articolo Facebook Seguici: 1Twitter mostre The Intellectual Work: Enzo Mari a Berlino La vasta collezione di fermacarte, raccolta da Enzo Mari nel corso della sua prolifica avventura creativa, viene esposta per la prima volta a Berlino, facendo della mostra l’allegoria della stessa pratica progettuale del designer italiano e l’occasione per dialogare con artisti e universitari Caterina Porcellini arredo urbano e spazi pubblici ecodesign colors education eventi e mostre design exhibit design food design fuori salone italian style high-tech icons materiali progettare il futuro della cucina recupero e riutilizzo salone del mobile flip mags 04 Ottobre 2011 Enzo Mari è andato raccogliendo fermacarte – o creandoli, all’occasione – per decenni, lungo tutto il corso della sua carriera di artista, designer, insegnante, teorico: intellettuale, in una parola. E proprio “The Intellectual Work” s’intitola la mostra in corso a Berlino, presso la Tanya Leighton Gallery, che sotto la curatela della stessa gallerista e di Barbara Casavecchia offre al pubblico una selezione – esteticamente eterogenea, concettualmente compatta – di quelli che sono in buona sostanza object trouvés e sculture ready-made. Spesso entrambe le cose, perché Mari utilizza regolarmente fossili e scarti della produzione industriale, campioni per le verifiche e frammenti di sculture per tenere al loro posto – a bada, verrebbe da dire – le centinaia di pagine appuntate e disegnate che altrimenti svolazzerebbero per il suo studio. Ma non si tratta soltanto di una mostra di fermacarte, per quanto ingegnosi e persino poetici possano risultare alcuni – penso per esempio al surrealista battente del portone d’ingresso dello studio in piazzale Baracca, che Enzo Mari ha “salvato” dalla discarica smontandolo di frodo dopo che ne era stata decisa la sostituzione. Allo stesso modo di questo nuovo “vecchio oggetto”, sono molti gli spunti progettuali di cui il designer non si è ancora liberato, che anzi ha isolato dal proprio “flusso interiore” riconoscendone una qualche qualità; quella “perfetta compiutezza formale” che ravvisa nei readymade di Duchamp e che ne fanno il contrario di un “prelievo a caso dal serbatoio della realtà”. Racconta Enzo Mari a Barbara Casavecchia, nel saggio riportato sul catalogo che Kaleidoskope Press aveva già pubblicato per l’edizione milanese della mostra (13-30 aprile 2010, presso il Kaleidoskope project space) e che ora accompagna l’evento in corso a Berlino: “Ho raccolte di appunti che girano per tavoli e cartelle ormai da cinquant’anni: solo i progetti conclusi hanno i loro dossier. Dovrei gettarli e non li getto, perché ogni volta c’è la memoria di qualche pensiero giusto e letterale, che sfrutto per il mio mettere i puntini sulle i. Per evitare che si disperdano, la cosa più semplice è metterci un peso sopra, scegliendo tra quelli a disposizione. Se la raccolta ha una componente ludica, il fatto di usarla così non è più un gioco”. Ecco, dunque, che gli stessi fermacarte si fanno allegoria materiale del lavoro intellettuale rispetto al quale sono incaricati, non tanto di “porre un freno”, quanto di trovare la giusta collocazione; allegoria delle possibili trasformazioni virtuose a cui pensieri – e, dunque, strumenti e oggetti – possono essere sottoposti. the intellectual work scheda evento titolo: Enzo Mari: The Intellectual Work a cura di: Barbara Casavecchia con Tanya Leighton inaugurazione: 7 settembre 2011 durata: fino al 19 novembre città: Berlino (Germania) luogo: Tanya Leighton Gallery, Kurfürstenstrasse 156 catalogo: Kaleidoskope Press e-mail: [email protected] sito web: www.tanyaleighton.com Le newsletter di Living24 link Compasso d’Oro 2011: verso un nuovo design Enzo Mari a proposito di design, Cersaie 2010 “C’è dell’altro”, avverte Barbara Casavecchia nel suo saggio. E spiega, quindi, che in questo prendere tempo (“un lusso sovversivo”), sottraendosi alle tempistiche del sistema produttivo; in questo “grado infimo di elaborazione di un oggetto già esistente” – quanto basta perché possa assolvere alla nuova funzione –, Enzo Mari “individua un antidoto salutare a ciò che stigmatizza, arrabbiandosi moltissimo, come il profluvio di art pompier e il traboccante ‘ebefrenismo della creatività’ del design contemporaneo”. Termine che, derivando dal nome di una grave forma di schizofrenia – l’ebefrenia, appunto –, Mari utilizza per sottintendere (e neppure troppo in fondo) che la “psicosi della giovinezza” di cui sono affetti oggi i creativi li obblighi a cercare il nuovo per il www.living24.it/the-intellectual-work-enzo-mari-a-berlino/0,1254,58_ART_4740,00.html Living 24, October 2011 Iscriviti Archivio newsletter Casastile e-mag ! 1/3 designboom web search enzo mari - the art of design enzo mari the art of design october 29, 2008 - january 6, 2009 GAM museum of modern and contemporary art turin, italy enzo mari is perceived as 'the critical conscience of design', his work has contributed to the world-wide debate on the contemporary design profession. on the occasion of the city of turin's nomination as world design capital 2008, GAM museum dedicates an extensive retrospective show to the work of the italian master designer enzo mari. 250 works are on show, created in over 50 years, from contemporary art pieces to design objects and urban re-design projects --in the ‘80ies designboom's editor-in-chief birgit lohmann has studied industrial design under enzo mari and after graduation she has collaborated with enzo mari on multiple design projects over the last 20 years. and together they run several university courses and design laboratories in europe. form and formalism ’mari has taught me to distinguish ‘proper’ and ‘improper’ design and projects. proper projects start from refusal of ‘the existing’ because of their technical, expressive or social inadequacy. we traveled in europe and hosted design conferences on how the alchemy of proper design can be taught and this capacity can be exercised. while mari closes up to himself, nuturing anger about ‘the state of things in general’ and the way it remains exactly what it is, our desire for change collide with obstacles that seem insurmountable. since I know him, mari moves within a variety of linguistic contexts but has never changed his attitudes or tamed his projects and ideological proposals. mari is a highly scrupulous researcher, but still he adopts and maintains a series of schemes as parameters. at first he created logical models that subtract the practice of art from caprice and tells us that a project is ‘the whole of the set of operations performed for the actualization of what seems useful in the light of the necessities to be recognized as having priority’, which are undoubtedly the ethical necessities and this while accepting the constant conflict with the economicistic logic of industrial production. enzo mari portrait © designboom me running after mari, two days before the exhibition opened. ‘dear birgit, as you know, the problem today is the only possible project (and young people should complete an active effort now) is working to ‘decondition’ people from the god of merchandise. this seems to be an exaggeration, therefore I will give a clear example of the current situation: there are two illnesses that are widely diffused, prevalent in the bourgeois society people don't often talk about them cancer and AIDS. neither illness has a secure cure, but there are doctors and researchers which are constantly working, fighting, studying to develop antidotes and medicines. twenty years ago, when cancer was diagnosed, the patient died after six months. today, people probably survive twenty-five years. but nobody ever says 'HOW NICE IS CANCER!' and ‘what a positive vision for society’. for design which is actually waste ... well, the design of today 'in future memories' is the wasteland of ignorance and horror. it's true that design only touches minor sectors of production, but the activity of designing is perceived as resulting in projects of quality. meanwhile, almost all design projects lack quality. it's pure mannerism and the merchandise needs to die quickly in order to create the need of a new production. drawing by enzo mari The Art of Design, 2009 this means it's a non-project and I'm embarrassed to be categorized as a designer. ... one can sometimes desire a playful object (gadget)... it's the entire mental system where merchandise is perceived, not only as objects, but people (including their professions, their brains).’ E.M. in the last number of years, I was forced to buy a few computers, and in my studio I see how they are used. I am three times faster. rather than looking for data, uploading something, reconnecting to different programs, moving folders to the archive... yes, the computer creates perfect things. if I need to send somebody a drawing or a photo - it's fine. when a project is in its final stages, then it is useful to use the computer to document it. but it's very wrong to use it as a machine for project making! --‘introduction to drawing’ / ‘premessa al disegnare’, 2008 (translation of illustration) if you want to become an architect, you have to learn how to draw freehand... the computer is a useful tool ... you can use it when you finally understood what you want to do... (this is when the project in itself is concluded). perhaps something needs to be said regarding the myths sourrounding the computer you just bought. as you know, it’s made of two parts 1° the powerful and misterious ‘HARD’ and 2° the ‘SOFT’ ... instructions sold to the oblivious who think they are able to create form by ignoring the concrete reasons behind it. HOWEVER, there is another type of computer which is a thousands time more efficient... at no cost, you already have one and it’s still new as you don’t imagine to own it. 1° the infinitely powerful ‘HARD’. in fact it’s so powerful that a newborn baby (who still hasn’t worked out space, sound, it’s own limbs... in just 1 year will have understood it, and on its own). HARD turns it into a concious beeing through acts of interpreting each random movement or sensation. 2° there is no ‘SOFT’. you’ve lost it at age of 6. at school...... but you can rediscover it ... it’s knowledge that comes from personal practise, the only possibility of real comprehension. --modulo 856, 1967 is a work of which a great deal has been said and written, but in terms that strikes me as unsatisfying. mari refers to this work as ‘a somehow hierartic space’, and surely that’s the case for the viewer who enters it and sees a narcissistic reflection of himself. hieratic and uncomfortable. lea vergine, mari’s wife, is one of italy’s most acclaimed art critics. she says ‘his central intention is to arouse the viewer’s faculties for reflection and critical reaction with respect to his own modes of being and behaviour.’ the visitor is invited to consider the figure of his bust ‘study celebrating an anniversary’, 1954 (studio per l’anniversario) painting by enzo mari as though it were a painting? I guess he is invited to accept an emptiness in the place where he ordinarily expects to find the fullness of a work of art. it is a sort of what musil defiened a ‘concave sensation’, which is an experience of emptiness and absence, where the mind encounters the possibility of the difficult exercise of reflecting upon itself. drawing of ‘modulo 856’ by enzo mari, 1967 the work is presented like a large minimal sculpture, but in truth it is a dwelling place inside which the visitor is astonished to unexpectedly discover his own image reflected in a mirror. the idea behind it is that the visitor can ask the question why he is there ... well, me ... --‘allegory of dignity’/ ‘allegoria della dignità’, 1988 we are invited to look on ourselves with dignity. this is to say that we have to find - without the aid of churches and avoiding banalizations on the respect that human beings have to show to one another - is a good reason for facing up a mirror and looking at our reflections within it. .. there you are, always the very same imbecile, rendered an object by the institutions that sourround you. ‘allegory of dignity’, 1988 --‘fourty-four evaluations’ / ‘quarantaquattro valutazioni’, 1976 mari’s contribution to the 1976 venice art biennale, 44 marble pieces sculpted into different fluid shapes that slot together to form a giant hammer and sickle symbol. the human individually alienates himself from his own particular powers and convince ourselves that there is no other or beter way of being a human being. ... a participatory project... ‘44 evaluations’, 1976 a giant hammer and sickle, deconstructed into 44 art sculptures. individual formal expressions form a common point of referment... every single sculpture is of the same quality as the composed symbol. a well known symbol. EYEOUT berlin -70% auf all you can eat The mobile art guide app with infos on over 170 galleries & museums Essen gehen und nur 30% zahlen. Hol dir den Mega-Rabatt & spare Bares. keep up to date with recent articles and upcoming events by subscribing to our free monthly newsletter enter your e-mail here subscribe © copyrights designboom, all rights reserved. all material published remains the exclusive copyright of designboom. no contents, including text, photographs, videos, etc. may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of designboom. in addition, no material or contents may be reproduced on the world wide web by techniques of mirroring, framing, posting, etc. without the written consent of designboom. October 22, 2010 MIUCCIA PRADA Milan’s burden to maintain dominance in the world of high fashion falls partly on the slim, often fox-covered shoulders of Miuccia Prada, who, together with her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, transformed her grandfather’s leather-goods company into one of the rare birds of fashion: a brand that is as acclaimed on the critical circuit as it is with consumers. Editors, buyers, bloggers, live streamers and gate-crashers alike anticipate her shows. “I don’t think about it,” she says of her unofficial designation as one of the city’s leading designers. “I think about doing my work well.” That work also includes the Prada Foundation, whose exhibitions of art, architecture, film and philosophy give as much of a kick to the city of Milan as they do to the designer. “I use my work for doing all of the things I like,” she says. “It’s the perfect instrument, so I will never leave it.” DAVIDE OLDANI A taste of Milan’s most exciting culinary offerings requires a trip outside the city center to D’O, a spartan trattoria with 36 seats and bad lighting. What the establishment lacks in decorating, it makes up for in pleasures of the palate, thanks to Davide Oldani, its 43-year-old Milan-born owner and chef. Though his training took place in the kitchens of Albert Roux, Alain Ducasse and the pastry chef Pierre Hermé, Oldani is committed to bringing sophisticated food down to earth and into the stomachs of regular people. “I call it ‘pop cucina,’ ” he says. “It’s for the people, and we have pop prices.” Dishes like caramelized onion with hot and cold grana Padano cheese, or rice with cinnamon, capers, olives and watermelon, are sure to please the masses. The eight-month waiting list for reservations, however, is another story. MARTINA MONDADORI SARTOGO The amount of killer art on the walls of Martina Mondadori Sartogo’s home — Robert Rauschenberg, Julian Schnabel, William Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer and Alighiero Boetti — would seem like booty suited to a collector twice her age. But at 29, the scion of Italy’s most famous publishing family is bulldozing through Milan’s normally sedate contemporary-art scene at breakneck speed. Since 2006, she has run the marketing firm Memoria, which links brands with art and culture. Her side gigs include editorial New York Times, October 2010 director (and artist wrangler) at Tar magazine and partner in the Cardi Black Box gallery in Milan with Nicolò Cardi and Barbara Berlusconi — the daughter of Silvio, who, ironically, snapped up Mondadori Publishing in the 1980s. “We were criticized about all of the media attention,” she says of the press tizzy over her unlikely partner. But the glitter has settled: “We’re there to work.” GIORGIO ARMANI It’s no wonder the Italian papers name-check him as “Re Giorgio” (King Giorgio). A deity among mere mortal fashionistas, Armani began as a determined window dresser at La Rinascente and single-handedly flipped the pages of fashion history in the 1980s with his deconstructed suits and beautifully muted palette. Armed with a global vision and a D.I.Y. mentality, Armani has meticulously built a multibillion-dollar empire, seamlessly annexing couture, furniture, restaurants and, most recently, hotels. Mention his name today and even Mom knows you’re talking good taste. Armani says his legacy is “bringing high fashion down to the normal people on the streets.” But his biggest ccomplishment may end up on the financial page: his privately owned company is debt-free and controlled by the 76-year-old designer himself — a model of restraint, responsibility and, of course, egomania. THE BUSINESSMEN Milan’s biggest deals get signed in the office, but they’re hatched a tavola, over a civilized lunch. “We have good food,” says Marco Tronchetti Provera (center), the chairman and C.E.O. of Pirelli, “so we try to leverage it.” Provera, who also serves on countless boards and international advisory councils, has made tires sexy — an unusual feat that’s in keeping with the country’s inspired thinkers. Similarly, Remo Ruffini (left), the president of Moncler, has wrestled the world’s chicest women out of their fur coats and into his cult-status puffer jackets. Boffi, the design shrine helmed by the C.E.O. Roberto Gavazzi (foreground), has put kitchens and bathrooms on par with couture, while B&B Italia, the pioneer of high-end designer furniture, produced 75,000 sofas for Saudi Arabia in the ’70s and hasn’t stopped since. “We are slaves to our own success,” says Giorgio Busnelli (right), the company’s chairman. The same could be said for his tablemates. But at least they get a civilized lunch. ROBERTO BOLLE Roberto Bolle’s first ballet class, at age 6, wasn’t a triumph. “I was a little annoyed because there were all these little girls and no boys,” says La Scala’s pre-eminent étoile (or principal) dancer, who grew up in Casale Monferrato, a tiny town in northern Italy. His tolerance paid off: at 11, he was selected by La Scala and shipped off (alone) to Milan, where he studied and danced up to nine hours a day. Now, at 35, he has twirled for every major ballet company in the world, performing as beautifully for Queen Elizabeth II and Pope John Paul II as he does for thousands of screaming plebes in Piazza del Duomo. His profession leaves little time for parties or dancing in nightclubs, but Bolle doesn’t like them anyway. “There’s not enough space, and the music is too loud,” he says. Well, when you’re used to Tchaikovsky and your own spotlight, who can blame you? ENZO MARI In his 50-year career, Enzo Mari has been an influential industrial designer, an inspired artist and a passionate teacher — all without a high school diploma. Now 78 and living without the spoils of celebrity-designer-dom, Mari is gloomy about his profession’s current craze for marketing: “Design is a stupid thing!” he thunders. He’s happier holding forth on the topics of essential form and functionality, concepts to which he has been resolute. The practical genius of his designs — including reversible plastic vases, wooden children’s puzzles and chairs that can be self-assembled (the latter two are still in production with Danese and Artek) — has earned him 26 spots in the Museum of Modern Art collection. None of it came without a fight. “I never obeyed,” he says of the nearly 2,000 projects he has completed. “I made the object like Michelangelo would’ve done it.” FRANCA SOZZANI On the top step of Milan’s fashion ziggurat stands Franca Sozzani. Beginning as an assistant at Vogue Bambini, she has risen to editor in chief at L’Uomo Vogue and Vogue Italia, where she has commissioned controversial and game-changing fashion photography from the likes of Steven Meisel, Herb Ritts, Peter Lindbergh and Bruce Weber. The influence of her work ripples across fashion runways, ad campaigns and designers’ futures (a thumbs-up from her and you’re in), yet her signature is always changing. “A magazine can’t stand still, or it will get old,” she says, revealing her earlyadapter approach. That explains the popularity of vogue.it, where the petite, highbrow Sozzani is photographed each day in a new outfit to accompany her name-packed blog posts. Produced by Carolina Neri. Grooming by Augusto Picerni at Victoria’s. MASSIMILIANO GIONI As the artistic director of the Nicola Trussardi Foundation, Massimiliano Gioni is focused not just on coaxing artists like Paul McCarthy and Maurizio Cattelan to create large-scale works but also on unearthing buried jewels in the city of Milan. Since 2003, the foundation has transformed public piazzas, defunct palazzos and even the city’s oldest oak tree into a public stage for high-concept contemporary art. As Gioni notes a little incredulously, “Milan doesn’t have a contemporary-art museum, so our concept is a nomadic museum.” A life-size camper sunk into the earth by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, an animal farm by Paola Pivi and McCarthy’s (literal) “Pig Island” are just some of the foundation’s original fare. Gioni credits Beatrice Trussardi — the president and C.E.O. of Trussardi Group, whose father, Nicola, nurtured the idea of an art-based foundation in 1996 — with its success. “If I had a traditional Italian boss, I definitely would not have been able to put a giant blow-up ketchup bottle in the center of an 18th-century palazzo.” CARLA SOZZANI The idea that you might like to admire a Louise Dahl-Wolfe photograph, buy a Jean Prouvé book, sit down for a Caprese salad and then scoop up some Azzedine Alaïa shoes — all in one place — was radical in the retail world when Carla Sozzani opened the doors to 10 Corso Como in 1991. Conceived as a three-dimensional magazine, the Corso Como concept has lit fire to a string of copies around the world. “It’s a compliment,” says Sozzani, a former magazine editor whose mission is to coddle anything young and cool (and good). From debut collections of unknown designers to luxe sex toys, the only thing she won’t tolerate is fast fashion. “Oh. My. God.” is her frank assessment of the cheap copies snowballing through the industry. “Fast fashion isn’t fashion. It’s counterintuitive. I like slow fashion.” LETIZIA MORATTI Letizia Moratti, the mayor of Milan since 2006, is frequently photographed in sleek suits by Giorgio Armani and shiny dresses by Dolce & Gabbana. But underneath this public servant’s cool exterior is serious political muscle, which she flexed most famously for Milan’s bid — and win — for Expo 2015, an ambitious project that is expected to generate up to $75 billion in revenue and 70,000 jobs for the Lombardy region. Moratti fixes the city’s potholes and prostitution problem with equal gusto and embraces unorthodox (even quirky) measures to boost her city’s image, like her successful campaign to get Milan included in the Italian anniversary edition of Monopoly. She’s currently crusading to rename the ill-reputed Malpensa airport after Caravaggio and to create a designer fragrance named after her city. She is giddiest, however, when discussing the recent discovery of Leonardo da Vinci’s personal vineyard in the city center: “We’re trying to reproduce the same grapes,” she reveals. “We’d love to make Leonardo wine.” Reprints This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. You can order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers here or use the "Reprints" tool that appears next to any article. Visit www.nytreprints.com for samples and additional information. Order a reprint of this article now. September 15, 2010 Furniture Takes a Manly Turn By PENELOPE GREEN JOOST VAN BLEISWIJK, a 34-year-old Dutch designer, makes domestic objects like clocks and candlesticks, chessboards and china cabinets out of Cor-Ten (otherwise known as “weathering”) steel that he sets outside his Eindhoven studio for a month or so, until it accrues a nice coat of rust. He used to make shiny, highly polished pieces that gleamed like prerecession bling, or a Manhattan skyscraper built before the crash. Then he became interested in tougher, grittier finishes, and he’s been playing with the weather ever since. “Small raindrops and lots of wind looks best — who knows why?” Mr. van Bleiswijk said recently, speaking by cellphone outside a restaurant in his hometown. Soon, he said, he’ll be working his pieces over with a blowtorch. His goal, he said, is to “do even heavier metal, and do it even more rough. I think, in this time, people are bored with too-perfect things.” Thwack! So much for lacy Tyvek garlands, corseted velvet chairs and Swarovski crystal chandeliers. Or delicate Black Forest woodland imagery — indeed, anything that smacks of embroidery or the gentle arts is for sissies. So are teddy bear chairs, or even high-tech chairs designed with computer software and in materials hatched in a test tube. Rough-looking furniture that carries a whiff of shop class, handmade by guys who have their own power saws — and know how to use them — is design’s new tack. Art is a many-gendered thing, but right now it is emphasizing the influence of the Y chromosome. “Butch craft” is how Murray Moss, the canny marketer and former fashion entrepreneur, describes the work of Mr. van Bleiswijk and others, which he has collected in an enticing show that opened Wednesday night at Moss, his SoHo store. It has a “rough-hewn, virile and heavy-lifting aesthetic,” Mr. Moss said, albeit one that is sensitively rendered or considered, a nod to the history and semiotics of the word “butch.” (“Make Me,” reads the invitation, illustrated by a photo of a shirtless and ambiguously gendered individual wielding an ax. We’ll get to the queer-studies stuff later.) New York Times, September 2010 There are boiled-leather vases cinched with wing nuts and riven by brutalist steel shafts made by Simon Hasan, a British designer. The undulating shapes look like the bubbling lines of an R. Crumb drawing. Mr. Hasan uses a technique once deployed to soften and shape the thick hides for medieval body armor; in a photo on his Web site, he wears a smithy’s apron. The “keel tables” by Oscar Magnus Narud, a Norwegian designer, have gutsy iron legs you whack in yourself with a mallet provided by Mr. Narud. He said he liked the idea of making furniture that was resilient and utilitarian; furniture you could fix yourself, and even if it was chipped wouldn’t be ruined. “I’d been looking at old Norwegian pieces that are put together with little fixings,” said Mr. Narud, who works in London, sharing studio space with his Royal College of Art pal, Peter Marigold. “A lot of pegs and wedges and things like that that are very simple but make a very sturdy piece of furniture.” It is in contrast, he noted, to super-modern, super-slick furniture whose value would plummet if its precious veneer were to be nicked. Mr. Narud, who was speaking by cellphone, passed the phone to his studio mate, Mr. Marigold, whose stunning, blood-red tables and benches dominate the show at Mr. Moss’s store. Made during a two-month residency in Norway, they were inspired by the electricity pylons dotted about the woods. Mr. Marigold used a circular saw and a single piece of wood to put together the tough-looking, archly artless pieces, which resemble the objects in a Philip Guston painting: the wood grain has been punched up with a sand blaster; brass screws are lined up, sort of. “I think today people are very suspicious of a certain kind of ornament,” he said. “Like when I see laser cut, I think that’s just lazy design. This kind of restraint” — restraint being the quality he was assigning his own and other semi-tough pieces — “is important because you try to focus on the idea rather than the form. I think things that are well finished should come from industry. For me to make something that’s smooth and shiny would take a lot of unnecessary effort that I think would distract from the content. The ‘butchness’ is a focusing of my effort rather than a lack of focus.” Mr. Marigold is no mere art school theorist, however. He has serious craft cred and can wield a power saw with the best of them. Tellingly, he recalled a conversation he had recently in a pub about English schools and how, he said, “If you’re creative and vaguely intelligent, you’re pushed into doing art, but if you are — how can I put this? — a bit thick, you’re pushed into doing craft.” You mean, like shop? “Yeah, basically,” he said. “That’s what the troublemaking kids ended up doing, and that’s what I wanted to do. But I got pushed into doing art.” Butch craft, as imagined by Mr. Moss, can also include nonfunctional work: four-foot tall, broken-plane pieces made from Sheetrock by Aaron Raymer, a soft-spoken sculptor from Louisville, Ky. Drywall is pretty butch. Certainly, handling the utility knife to slice it up is. Mr. Raymer, who used to make mechanical, machine-driven pieces, had been installing Sheetrock for years before he realized he could use the stuff for his own work. Last May, he was part of a team putting up drywall in Mr. Moss’s store when he caught the eye of the boss: “I said, ‘That guy is really good,’ ” Mr. Moss recalled. Mr. Raymer let him know that was no stranger to Sheetrock. “It’s kind of strange to think of this,” he said the other day. “But it always seems like I apply a blue-collar trade approach to the art world. A lot of that comes from being in the labor force for a long time.” (Mr. Raymer, a stay-at-home dad, is 32; he received his M.F.A. from N.Y.U. in 2008.) When Mr. Moss showed Mr. Raymer’s work to a reporter, he said, “Doesn’t it just put you right in the construction site, and there’s dust all over and everyone is wearing hard hats?” DO tough times call for tough work? “Do people want to be reminded of tough times?” asked David McFadden, chief curator and vice president of the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan. “A real collector might want pieces that carry the voice of right now.” But he added, “If you are looking for a functional piece of furniture, you may not want to see rough screws.” Butchness, he continued, is in the eye of the beholder. “One man’s butch is another man’s femme. We attribute certain characteristics to design objects — they are clues to personality, but not the whole Freudian session. Marigold’s work is an example of the juxtaposition of the extremely refined with the extremely crude. It’s the design version of the raw and the cooked.” The fathers of butch furniture could be said to be makers like Paul Evans, fomenters of the studio craft movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Or Tom Dixon in the 1980s. Mr. Moss draws a line back to a “bowl” made with a slice of an iron I-beam by Enzo Mari around 1957. (Mr. Moss’s own I-beam bowl is in his shop this week.) “The toughness is there in the material,” he said. “And in the banality, the humbleness of the material. And yet the elegance is truly evident.” For the last 10 years, said Paul Johnson, a gallerist in New York who represents Mr. Hasan, the boiled-leather man, as well as vintage work by Mr. Evans and other ’70s-era craft types, “design has been very futuristic, very flashy. I think what’s happened in the world has allowed the artists who make more affordable things with their hands to gain market share over someone who has to spend a ton of money to get their work produced.” He continued: “It’s sweat equity. Some of these things take months to make. The first couple can take a year. That’s what I’ve always liked about this kind of work: it’s time and the hand, plus you get something that can’t be made again.” As Mr. McFadden observed: “People are really eager to experience process, and something tangible. We live inside our heads so much. There’s a sensuality to these designs, and it’s not in terms of comfort, but in a more basic, instinctive sense. The other part of marketing contemporary design is that everyone is looking for a younger audience of collectors. I think the butch craft design definitely has a resonance with a younger person. There’s a humor or a whimsy to the phrase — it sounds cool.” Andrew Wagner, editor of ReadyMade magazine and a former editor of American Craft magazine, put out by the American Craft Council, described Mr. Moss as “a master marketer.” He added, ruefully: “What the old school craft world needs is a Murray Moss. It needs a Moss to step up and come up with the language. Murray has an amazing knack of taking stuff that’s pretty far out there and making it come to life. What he’s showing now, and what these guys are doing, is nothing new, it’s been happening for decades. But people got caught up in production furniture, and this idea of making it yourself kind of got lost and kind of stale.” In an era defined by an appetite for “conspicuous authenticity,” to borrow a phrase from Andrew Potter, author of “The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves,” out this year from HarperCollins, it’s easy to be cynical. Butch Craft could be an arts collective in Bushwick, or maybe a Viking metal band, the phrase peppered with umlauts, or a reclaimed-wood furniture collection produced by bearded hipsters. Feh, Mr. Moss swatted the idea away. “This isn’t an inelegant going back to the rough gesture,” he said. “It’s not a guy going out and making a bed of antlers. It’s a progression toward a very elegant gesture. It’s just that the materials have this toughness and are an alternative means of giving an art content form and expression in a functional object.” What he means is that his artists have thought hard to present rough. Which leads us back to “butch,” a term hatched years ago by the lesbian community to describe a kind of hyper-maleness: a woman’s performance of masculinity, as queer theorists like Judith Halberstam, a professor of gender studies at the University of Southern California, and author of “Female Masculinity,” will point out. “It’s an old term, but it’s still brimming with meaning,” Ms. Halberstam said recently. “Today, I would define it as a counter-gender identity.” Mr. Moss would agree. “I thought about this a lot,” he said. “I used the term ‘butch,’ versus ‘masculine’ or ‘tough’ or ‘manly,’ because what I mean by this is work that is stereotypically considered manly, but expressed by a personality that is stereotypically considered sensitive or feminine.” In other words, an artist. Reprints This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. You can order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers here or use the "Reprints" tool that appears next to any article. Visit www.nytreprints.com for samples and additional information. Order a reprint of this article now. August 29, 2010 An Italian Designer’s Homage to His Native Country By ALICE RAWSTHORN MILAN — When Alessandro Mendini was a student he conducted an experiment by challenging himself to live with no more than 40 objects. How did it go? He failed. “It was impossible,” he recalled. “I’d calculated the minimum number of things I thought I needed to get by so carefully, but hadn’t realized how many pens, pencils and other drawing instruments I used in my studies.” Despite that flop, Mr Mendini, now 79, has been obsessed by objects ever since. He has devoted much of his work, as one of Italy’s leading designers, architects, editors, critics and curators, to exploring how the things we choose to live with reflect our characters. In a dazzlingly ambitious exhibition at La Triennale Design Museum in Milan, he has assembled a collection of objects to illustrate, not his own character, but his country’s. Entitled “Quali Cose Siamo,” or “The Things We Are,” it presents Mr. Mendini’s choice of the things that make Italy, well, Italian. What are they? There are 800 objects in the show, jumbled together as if at a yard sale on very simple, very elegant plinths made by the French designer Pierre Charpin. To give you some idea of what you’ll find there, the first group includes: a replica of Michelangelo’s David; a giant Campari bottle; a car; a grand piano; a giant Ferragamo sandal (which Mr. Mendini spotted years ago in a photograph of Judy Garland); a sofa by his fellow Italian designer Gaetano Pesce; and a nude portrait of another, the late Ettore Sottsass. That’s for starters. Among the hundreds of other exhibits are: a suit of armor; pieces of pasta; the original models of E.T. (yes, he was designed by an Italian, too); musical instruments; a giant cactus; porcelain figurines; one jacket that belonged to (yet another) national design treasure, Achille Castiglioni, and one worn by the Italian comedian Totò; debris from the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake; a Giorgio Morandi painting; and a replica of a white shirt made for the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta. New York Times, August 2010 It is baffling, thrilling, eccentric, intriguing, thoughtful, mischievous and seductive. So much so that I have lost count of how many designers have hailed “Quali Cose Siamo” as one of the best design exhibitions they have ever seen. I have been to the show, which opened in March and runs through Feb. 27, three times, and felt just as baffled, yet thrilled on the second and third visits as on the first. What does it all mean? Unsurprisingly, there have been lots of interpretations. One is that “Quali Cose Siamo” is Mr. Mendini’s riposte to the textbook history of modern Italian design, which is dominated by famous pieces by famous designers. Another is that he is critiquing the celebrification of contemporary design culture. A third is that by reminding us of the subtlety and vitality of Italy’s recent history, the exhibition is an implicit attack on Silvio Berlusconi’s prime ministership and his impact on the country. Mr. Mendini agrees with the first and second interpretations, but laughs off the third. “A lot of people, especially young people, have suggested that there is a political message,” he said. “That’s their interpretation, not mine.” A fourth suggestion (my personal favorite) came from one of his friends, who sees “Quali Cose Siamo” as Mr. Mendini’s love letter to design and to Italy. Few people are better equipped to write it. After working for Marcello Nizzoli, one of the design maestri who helped to revitalize postwar Italian industry, Mr. Mendini became involved with the Radical Design movement in the late 1960s. He championed that movement as editor of Casabella in the 1970s, and did the same for post-Modernism at Domus in the 1980s. As a designer, he is best known for his dizzily ornate products for Alessi and Swatch, but his most influential pieces are the conceptual projects he developed in the mid-1970s and, later, with the post-Modernist group Studio Alchymia. His greatest influence, though, has been in celebrating his vision of design as a humane, empathetic, expressive medium in essays, books and exhibitions. He has done this since returning to Domus, where he is guest editor for a year, and again in “Quali Cose Siamo.” Spectacularly diverse though the exhibits are, they have one thing in common. “They come from different eras and different typologies, and are cheap, expensive, big, small, or whatever, but they all have a certain dignity,” explained Mr. Mendini. “And it comes from being intimately connected to people’s lives.” This intimacy is the defining theme of the show. Mr. Mendini has based his selection on the emotional bond that individual objects have fused with him and fellow Italians, rather than on the conventional design criteria of whether they are exemplars of form, function, innovation or eco-responsibility. That’s why he has included personal mementos of designers he admires, such as Mr. Sottsass’s portrait, Mr. Castiglioni’s jacket and a painting by Domus’s founder, Gio Ponti, rather than acclaimed examples of their work. There are a few exceptions, but most have another story to tell, rather than coasting on their “classic” status. One is an Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, which was designed by Mr. Mendini’s old boss, Mr. Nizzoli, but belonged to the eminent Italian journalist Indro Montanelli. Then there is a concrete traffic cone, which was designed by Enzo Mari to keep the Milanese traffic at bay. Mr. Mendini chose one, which has been painted to resemble a watermelon. The emphasis on intimacy also explains the references to the sentimental side of Italian life, in objects such as the kitschy porcelain figurines and replica David, which are hugely popular, but routinely ignored by the design establishment. The nod to Totò, in the form of his jacket, achieves the same end by acknowledging that a much-loved comedian can make an important contribution to national life, alongside great scientists and artists. The same could be said of the giant Ferragamo sandal, although Mr. Mendini has a different explanation. “I chose it for a very simple reason,” he said. “It’s fantastic!” Reprints This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. You can order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers here or use the "Reprints" tool that appears next to any article. Visit www.nytreprints.com for samples and additional information. Order a reprint of this article now. April 21, 2010 At the Milan Furniture Fair, a Fluid Design Emerges By ALICE RAWSTHORN MILAN THERE was only one topic of conversation during the final days of the furniture fair last week: How do we get out of here? Those dystopian clouds of volcanic ash drifted over Europe at the worst possible time for fairgoers, preventing thousands from flying in or out of Milan during the city’s busiest week of the year. No sooner had the first trans-Atlantic flights been grounded than the talk turned from tables and chairs to who was or wasn’t stranded; whether there really was one last seat to be bagged on a flight out of Rome or Madrid; and what kind of stratospheric sums the local car services were charging for the 500-plus-mile drive to Paris. To judge just how bad the volcano’s timing was, one has to consider how immensely important the Salone del Mobile, which ran from April 14 to 19, is to the global furniture trade. “Milan,” as the furniture industry calls it, is the event of the year — something akin to the Detroit, Geneva and Tokyo auto shows, or the New York, Paris and Milan fashion weeks, rolled into one. Last year, the recession cast a dark cloud over the fair. The number of visitors to the cavernous Rho complex fell for the first time in years, to 313,385 from a record 348,452 in 2008. Economic conditions have eased since then, and this year manufacturers seemed, if not more confident, at least less nervous. The visitor count rose to 335,354, according to the fair’s organizer, Cosmit, and many exhibitors acknowledged with relief that business was better than it had been a year ago. “There were signs of improvement,” said Rolf Fehlbaum, the chairman of Vitra, the Swiss furniture group. “And dealers were willing to order.” That said, the recovery is precarious and patchy. Patrizia Moroso, the creative director of New York Times, April 2010 Moroso, the Italian furniture company, noted: “It’s still a negative situation. Some markets have huge growth potential, and there are signs of recovery in others, but it will be a slow process because there is a more cautious approach to spending.” Hundreds of dinners, lunches, brunches and other liquor-drenched bashes were held in Milan last week, when the city was at its loveliest in the spring sunshine. But the splashiest parties were given by fashion houses and carmakers eager to capture the attention of the news media that had flocked to the city. Furniture manufacturers were cutting costs ruthlessly. Fewer companies showed at the fair this year — 2,499, compared with 2,723 in 2009 — and those that were here introduced fewer new products than usual, most of them less technically ambitious, to reduce development costs. “Most manufacturers had clearly made significant cuts and were happy just to be present,” said Alasdhair Willis, the chief executive of the British furniture company Established & Sons. “They’ve pulled right back on investment in tooling, with very few new products requiring any real significant tooling setup.” Not surprisingly, there weren’t many clear trends or stellar products. The most interesting development was the emergence of what could be called superleggera — super light — style. Fluid, lithe and angular, these pieces looked like technocratic takes on the 1950s work of Italian designers like Franco Albini and Gio Ponti, one of whose chairs was called Superleggera. Typical were the chairs by Martino Gamper, Konstantin Grcic and Jerszy Seymour for Magis, as well as one by Industrial Facility for Mattiazzi, and the elegant copper objects by Aldo Bakker for Thomas Eyck. Other examples included Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s spindly aluminum tables for Magis and their Lighthouse light for Established & Sons. “We felt it was time for something gentler and quieter,” Ronan Bouroullec explained. “I heard a French perfumier talking about how 30 years ago, women wanted powerful scents to announce their entrance to a room, but now they prefer them to be subtler. I feel the same way about furniture.” Another area of innovation was lighting, where advances in energy-efficient LED and OLED technology are enabling manufacturers and designers to invent new products. (Traditional LEDs produce a small, intense point of light, but OLEDs, or organic lightemitting diodes, can be fashioned into thin — even flexible — panels.) Ingo Maurer, the veteran German designer, dedicated his presentation to a love of old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, but also unveiled several stunning OLED pieces. Flos, the Italian lighting manufacturer, showed how LEDs can be integrated into walls and ceilings. The standout was the Israeli Ron Gilad’s beautifully sculptured Wallpiercing. The company also unveiled a series of OLED lights by Philippe Starck, which the retailer Murray Moss said he plans to show in his SoHo store, among his “picks” from the fair. Piero Gandini, the president of Flos, said: “We’re only just beginning to realize the potential of these technologies. The results are already very exciting.” There were intriguing presentations on ways to integrate digital technology into the home. Sony and Matsushita, the Japanese electronics companies, presented experimental projects — from sound systems to a kitchen — developed with BarberOsgerby, the British design group, and Naoto Fukasawa, the Japanese designer, respectively. But the young Dutch designer Maarten Baas scored the marketing coup of the week with a less extravagant digital venture — an iPhone app based on his Real Time project, in which actors physically indicate the time in hours and minutes. By the end of the fair’s first day, the streets were papered with fly posters advertising “The newest Maarten Baas for only 99 cents.” The patchiness of the commercial fair was countered by independent shows of young designers’ work staged in the industrial suburb of Lambrate by institutions like Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, the Z33 design gallery in Belgium and the IN Residence project in Italy. These exhibits used design as a conceptual tool to celebrate simple pleasures and explore issues like waste, social change and technological overload. The title of the Eindhoven exhibition — “?” — said it all. The British designer Ilse Crawford, who is a department head at Eindhoven and co-curated the show, explained: “We thought it would be interesting to show how designers take an idea and make it real by asking questions, because that’s how they make sense of change. Design needs to be seen more as a critical process and less about making things look good.” The hero of the “?” generation is the irascible Italian design veteran Enzo Mari, whose work is increasingly influential. At this year’s fair, he saw a chair he designed in 1974 reissued by Artek, the Finnish company, and staged a wonderful exhibition of 60 paperweights he had collected over the years: chunks of concrete, wood and marble, bits of machinery, old ink bottles and crystal shards perched on musical scores, with drawings and notes scrawled in Mr. Mari’s spidery handwriting. Another septuagenarian Italian designer, Alessandro Mendini, put on what many considered to be the most memorable event in Milan last week: “Quali Cose Siamo,” a magical exhibition at La Triennale Design Museum, with some 700 objects — from a replica of Michelangelo’s David to corkscrews, espresso machines, pieces of pasta and a giant Campari bottle — jumbled together as if at a flea market. Shamelessly kitschy and often puzzling, it was also thoughtful, witty and poetic. Fortunately for design buffs who weren’t in Milan last week, there is still plenty of time to catch Mr. Mendini’s show, which runs through February of next year — that is, if the mighty Eyjafjallajokull allows them to get there. APRIL 16, 2010, 4:22 PM Milan Report | Rossana Orlandi Presents By ANDREAS KOKKINO Over the last few years Spazio Rossana Orlandi has become a must on the the Milan design circuit. The eight-year-old charmingly ramshackle former factory is not only a showcase for everything from high-end sofas to plastic forks but also a laboratory for emerging designers. This time around, the Finnish company Artek showed a new shelf system by Naoto Fukasawa and a D.I.Y. pine chair by the Italian master Enzo Mari. And the Dutch design star Piet Hein Eek showed his signature repurposed wood and metal furniture and a floor-to-ceiling chandelier made of parts of old lighting fixtures. Meanwhile, in the warren of tiny basement rooms where young designers show their work, the T favorites Boaz Cohen and Sayaka Yamamoto of BCXSY presented elegant wooden screens made of Japanese cypress, which were realized in collaboration with a master Japanese wood joiner. The Belgian designer Maarten de Ceulaer exhibited a a trio of blown glass flasks that incorporated water, food coloring and a single L.E.D. to create mysterious glowing lights. The French designer Constance Guisset, an alumna of the Bouroullec studio, showed, among other things, a whimsical fishbowl-cum-bird cage. Formafantasma, a team of two Design Academy Eindhoven graduates, in partnership with the French bakery Poilane and the broom manufacturer Giuseppe Brunello, created delicately colored bowls made from a mixture of flour, agricultural waste and limestone. In the Orlandi’s central courtyard — a feast of foliage, objects and good food — sits an old Volkswagen that was transformed by the design studio Bokja with an international patchwork of brightly colored fabrics. And the French artist Frederique Morrel hung the courtyard’s entire back wall with taxidermy forms (not made with dead animals) covered in old embroideries in an effort to highlight the dying art of needlework. This riot of color and texture perfectly embodies Rossana Orlandi’s unprecious more-is-more philosophy. Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company Privacy Policy NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 New York Times, April 2010 April 12, 2010 DESIGN Furniture Designers Are Shifting Focus By ALICE RAWSTHORN LONDON — There is one question that everyone should sensibly ask before designing or making something to show at the Milan Furniture Fair. Does the world need another chair? The sensible answer is “no.” The world is already stuffed with chairs, many of which made their debuts at past Milan fairs. We don’t need more of them, just as we don’t need more tables, lamps, vases, closets, or any of the other objects that will be exhibited at the 2010 fair opening Wednesday. Unless, of course, they’re gobstoppingly innovative, beautiful, sustainable, expressive, useful or whatever. That’s the strength and weakness of “Milan,” as the design world calls it. There won’t be anything special about most of the stuff that’s shown there. (It will be mediocre at best; a pointless waste of resources, at worst.) Though there will be a few exceptions, and several hundred thousand people will flock to see them. Producing something special is getting tougher for the furniture industry. One reason is, of course, the recession, which cast a cloud over the 2009 fair, when attendance at the cavernous Rho fairground fell for the first time in years, to 313,385 from a record 348,452 in 2008. Tellingly there will be fewer exhibitors there this week, just 2,499, compared with 2,723 last year. The economic pressure is now easing slightly, as the industry’s new markets in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe return to growth. But demand remains weak in the established markets of North America and Western Europe. “It’s still a negative situation,” said Patrizia Moroso, creative director of Moroso, the Italian furniture company. “Some markets have huge growth potential, and there are signs of recovery in others, but it will be a slow process, because there is a more cautious approach to spending.” The industry is being cautious, too. Hundreds of cocktail parties, dinners, previews and press conferences will be thrown in Milan this week, but beneath the hullabaloo, manufacturers are quietly presenting fewer new products, and have pruned their existing ranges, by dropping anything that isn’t selling well. Even the shiniest design stars have seen their royalties fall sharply. That said, the furniture industry has weathered recessions before, and will do so again. A knottier problem is that (and there’s no euphemistic way of saying this) the sort of stuff on show at the fair just isn’t as interesting as it once was, at least not in terms of design. First, technology is now more important than furniture in product design. (Odds are that the most drooled-over objects in Milan this week will be shiny new Apple iPads, not chairs.) Second, design’s intellectual focus has swung away from producing tangible things, like furniture, toward the abstract process of applying design thinking to ethical issues, such as social, environmental or humanitarian problems, and developing sexy new technologies, like data visualization. The title of the exhibition to be staged by the hot Dutch design school, Design Academy Eindhoven, says it New York Times, April 2010 all – “?” (It isn’t alone. The Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York has named its forthcoming Design Triennial, “Why Design Now?”) “We thought it would be interesting to show how designers take an idea and make it real by asking questions, because that’s how they make sense of change,” explained Ilse Crawford, the British designer who co-curated the Eindhoven show as a department head there. “Design needs to be seen more as a critical process, and less about making things look good.” The hitch is that “making things look good” has traditionally been the Milan fair’s forte, but designers are expected to deliver more these days. For furniture designers, that means: a) championing sustainability; b) inventing new ways to use digital technology; and c) producing objects that strike an emotional chord with the people who will use them. Some of the most promising projects on show in Milan this week will wrestle with those challenges. Sustainability has been an embarrassing aspect of past fairs. (Cue cringey memories of woefully unsustainable products amid splashes of green paint, cheesy eco-slogans and tinkling New Age muzak.) More manufacturers are now investing in it seriously, including Flos, the Italian lighting company, whose new products focus on energy-efficient LED and OLED designs. On the technological front, both Sony and Matsushita, the Japanese consumer electronic companies, are to present the experimental products they have developed with BarberOsgerby, a British design group, and Naoto Fukasawa, a Japanese designer, respectively. Design Miami/, the American “design-art” fair, is showing digital pieces by young designers including rAndom International in London and Beta Tank in Berlin at Spazio Fendi. As for tackling the emotional challenge, one approach is to design products that are unique, or seem to be so. Tokujin Yoshioka, a Japanese designer, has done this in the Memory Chair for Moroso, by developing a new fabric from recycled aluminum that changes shape whenever anyone sits on or touches it. Z33, the edgy Belgian design gallery, is to exhibit a series of objects, whose form alters according to where they are and how they are treated. Other designers try to make their work appear meaningful through association, by loading it up with symbolism to make a political point or tell a story. A few years ago, that symbolism tended to be grandiose and fantastical, now it is bleaker and earthier, even dystopian. Konstantin Grcic, Front, Martino Gamper and the Bouroullec brothers have all designed new products in the Spartan style of the irascible Italian design veteran Enzo Mari, as have newcomers like 5.5, Michel Charlot, Nacho Carbonell, Studio Glithero and Peter Marigold. Other designers have been inspired by vernacular objects: Formafantasma by rustic Sicilian ceramics; Liliana Ovalle by discarded clothing; and Alejandro Aravena by the bundles of cloth that the Ayoreo Indians in Paraguay turn into makeshift seats. Though the (unofficial prize) for the timeliest theme goes to Droog, the Dutch design group. It has challenged 14 designers to make new objects from stools, towels, dog baskets, flowerpots and other bargains salvaged from liquidation sales. Copyright 2010 Privacy Policy Terms of Service Search Corrections RSS First Look Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map April 6, 2010 There are lots of things I miss about the late, great graphic designer Alan Fletcher, but the thing I miss the most is arguing with him about design. Some of our most enjoyable arguments involved how to explain design to the 99 percent of the population that Alan pityingly described as “civilians” — in other words, those of us who aren’t lucky enough to be designers. Alan claimed that design only made sense when it was explained visually, because that was how the designer would have conceived it. I argued that words and a few facts, like dates and design movements, could be helpful, too. Wrong, wrong, wrong, Alan snorted. I’d snort back at him, but leafing through a book on the design collection of the Museum für Gestaltung (the Museum of Design) in Zurich makes me wonder whether he was right. It must be said that such books are often rather dull. You know the drill: an introductory essay from the museum’s director, followed by pages of neatly captioned photographs of pieces in the collection, arranged by type, date, whatever. But “Every Thing Design,” as this book is called, is different. At five inches wide, six inches long and two and a half inches deep, it is smaller and chunkier than most books, and looks more like a box. Rather than kicking off with a directorial essay or some other explanatory text, it begins with a “visual prologue,” in which some 190 disparate objects are shown, each in a photograph occupying its own page. After that come a couple of essays, followed by more than 300 pages of objects, then another essay with a catalog of all 700 pieces in the book and an index, before a “visual epilogue” of another 190 things. The book is bound in matte black with the simple outline, in white, of the Rex vegetable peeler — an archetypal Swiss object — on the cover. All the objects — chairs, computers, musical instruments, vases, posters, clothing, corporate logos, cans of food and the rest — were chosen by the museum’s curators and Irma Boom, the book’s designer. Now, Boom, who is based in Amsterdam, wins my vote as the finest book designer of our time. Each of her books is a treasure trove of colors, shapes, textures and even smells. Over the years she has experimented with everything from scented bindings and inventing her own paper to sculpturing page edges with a circular saw. She once spent five years working on one book, stopping only New York Times, April 2010 for an annual month of teaching at Yale. It weighed in at 2,136 pages and included such intricate detailing as page edges that reveal the words of a Dutch poem when read from right to left, and the image of a tulip field from left to right. That book was a private commission from a super-rich Dutch industrialist who loved books nearly as much as Boom does, but she is equally obsessive when creating mass-produced books that the rest of us can afford. Among them is “Every Thing Design,” which costs $45 for 864 pages. Working with the curators, Boom put the book together by scouring the museum’s archive and poring over photographs of pieces in the collection. She examined each image in isolation without seeing any of the information that a museum curator would usually consider when assessing its significance: what it was; who designed it; when and how it was made; and from what. Without this information, Boom could decide which of the collection’s more than 500,000 objects to include based solely on how they looked. She then paired pieces that bore some sort of relationship to each other in terms of color, shape or symbolism on adjacent pages, and on sequential ones. The result is a whistle-stop tour of design history told through intriguing — and often surprising — juxtapositions. A 1973 Edouard Chapallaz vase and 1961 Electrolux logo share the same rounded shape. A 1968 Cristóbal Balenciaga cocktail dress and a pair of 1903 Baccarat vases are decorated with similar floral patterns. Even such seemingly dissimilar objects as Apple’s 1989 Macintosh Classic computer and Enzo Mari’s 1971 Sof-Sof chair turn out to be similar in composition. “You’re never sure what you’ll see when you turn the pages of this book,” Boom said. “And that makes you look much more closely at its contents.” Just as Alan Fletcher would have wanted. April 6, 2010 In the hippest new design publications, life is, well, messy. Mark Rozzo explores a new world of interiors. On a recent Monday afternoon in the East Village, the 32-year-old upstart photographer Todd Selby — more commonly known as the Selby — was entertaining a guest in his modest ground-floor studio. One of the two monitors on which he creates his teeming online gallery, The Selby Is in Your Place, was tuned to a Web site called Unhappy Hipsters. The idea behind the site — which that week was reaching something of a viral mass — is pretty straightforward: cut and paste a selection of those placid, sparsely populated house shots from magazines like Dwell and run the snarkiest captions imaginable beneath them. “He’d become a caricature of what it meant to be a young, monied follower” is a typical entry. “Oh, my God,” Selby said, scrolling through the site with what appeared to be a mixture of astonishment and appreciation, as if meeting a fellow traveler. After all, Selby’s vérité approach to photographing personal spaces is precisely in tune with the urge to skewer those magazines that celebrate sleek minimalism while scorning clutter like the long-suffering mother of a teenage son. “I guess I’ve always been a maximalist,” Selby cheerfully proclaimed as he began a tour of the unabashed accumulation around him, the kind of inspired pile-up often encountered in his own photo essays: a pink plastic phonograph, a baseball bat inscribed with the words do it my way (“my security system”), an image of a funky mirrored polka-dot cellphone by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, an array of his own childlike watercolors (including one of a cat named Potato) and a hoard of LaCie hard drives containing the shoots he has been doing around the world since June 2008, some of which are now included in “The Selby Is in Your Place” — the book — to be published this month by Abrams. Selby (who has also photographed for T) is among a new breed of chroniclers less interested in meticulously composed, Architectural Digest-worthy studies of how people decorate than on-the-fly snapshots of how people actually live. There are lingering peeks into closets and under beds. (“I have a license to nose, like 007,” he said.) Cardboard boxes, dusty paperbacks and remote controls have not been cleared away by persnickety stylists. Electronic cables snake around floors, as if they were design features in and of themselves. “I try to focus on humanity and people’s New York Times, April 2010 creativity, and on spaces that reflect that,” Selby said of his run-and-gun mission. “So no antiseptic, modern spaces that tell you nothing about the people who live there.” Those people can be anyone from Karl Lagerfeld or Michael Stipe to the cute bohemian couple down the street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But despite the hand-scrawled questionnaire that accompanies each shoot (“Who’s your favorite Garbage Pail Kid?”), Selby provides scant information about his quietly fabulous subjects. You wouldn’t necessarily know that the French actress Lou Doillon is the daughter of Jane Birkin, or that the filmmaking Neistat Brothers have a show in the works with HBO. “I never want to shoot someone just because they’re famous,” Selby said. “That’s so boring to me.” Instead, the focus is on style — in private space, in clothes, in tchotchkes, in the great drifts of stuff that spill out of closets — and how it an express a person’s substance. There are considerable voyeuristic pleasures, too: check out that narwhal tusk in the living room! Wow, a paisley Ping-Pong table! Look who collects prosthetic limbs! If The Selby Is in Your Place is all about real people (or, at least, real people who like to decorate with stuffed albino peacocks), Apartamento, the self-described “everyday life interiors magazine” that premiered during Milan’s 2008 Design Week, is the burgeoning indie design movement’s official international look book. Published out of Milan and Barcelona, Spain, on matte paper in an attractively compact format, Apartamento is how The Paris Review might have turned out had Sottsass been its guiding light instead of Hemingway. The magazine’s three 20-something founders — Nacho Alegre, Omar Sosa and Marco Velardi — communicate mostly via Skype and e-mail, but unlike Selby’s project, the biannual Apartamento (Issue 5 appears this month) has scant Web presence. The priority is the magazine itself, a humble yet luminous print object that perfectly embodies the editors’ grass-roots aesthetic. “Photography is not my main job,” Velardi, who writes and shoots for Apartamento in addition to being its editor in chief, said from the office of his small design-consulting business in Milan. “I just do this for fun.” Indeed, the magazine brims over with youthful brio and mischief, from amusing dossiers on beloved house plants to accounts of the editors having wild all-night adventures in Basel, Switzerland, to Interview-like Q & A’s about domestic life. (Interview’s editor at large, Christopher Bollen, pops up in the second issue.) Sample question, to an Argentine photographer: “You’re 40 years old. Does it bother you living with your mum?” There are overlaps between The Selby and Apartamento; both have a fascination with the artist Terence Koh and the editors of the French underground magazine Purple. Cult fashion and design zines like Pin-Up, Fantastic Man, Butt and Ether would seem to be Apartamento’s inspiration, but Velardi has nothing against the envy-inducing, rich interiors depicted in Casa Vogue: “Yes, we wish we had a castle in the backyard, too. But this is our reality. We might not have Louis XIV furniture or an Eames white leather lounger, but we still want to give inspiration.” That inspiration takes abundant forms. There are first-person essays, recipes, cameos by the artists Anri Sala and Grillo Demo, arresting still lifes shot by Alegre, chats with design legends like Enzo Mari and lots of what Velardi calls “random people we fell in love with.” In a given issue you might find Chloë Sevigny waxing rhapsodic about her circa 1862 wide-plank floors or Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth showing off their Peavey amps. A-list designers like Bertjan Pot and Max Lamb show up to offer D.I.Y. projects for the particularly ambitious reader. “It’s not really a D.I.Y. magazine,” said the Netherlands-based Pot, who created Xeroxable potato-patterned wallpaper for Issue 4. “But it says, ‘Be happy with what you have, and if you can’t buy it, you can make it yourself. It’s all in your hands.’ ” The designer will contribute pillows fashioned to look like moldy tomatoes for an Apartamento installation during Milan’s Design Week later this month. The interiors blog Homebodies might not offer hands-on home-improvement instruction, but it is itself the do-it-yourself project of the New York-based design writer Liz Arnold. Frustrated with writing house features for glossies based on fact sheets and JPEGs, she wanted to linger longer in personal spaces “to show how people are really living.” Her subjects — shot on an iPhone or Lumix — tend to be underthe-radar designers, artists and chefs, living in Brooklyn or Echo Park, Los Angeles, with forays to Iceland and Italy. Copies of Apartamento can sometimes be seen on their coffee tables, and Arnold is not above snooping her way into armoires or even R.V.’s to sniff out the ways in which the most private environments can tell universal stories. “To me, truth is always stranger than fiction,” she said over a glass of Gran Sangre de Toro at SoHo’s Boqueria restaurant (whose chef, Seamus Mullen, appears on Homebodies), “and the way most magazines shoot these places is like fiction.” Arnold’s descriptions of domestic effluvia read like captions for an interiors magazine that she believes could never exist in a world that encourages aspirational “selfimprovement through objects”: “An iPod is hooked up to a Tivoli near the nub of a mostly eaten carrot”; “This is where the ambiguously employed trio keeps a breast implant on the counter to use as a paperweight.” In an unanticipated twist, Arnold — whose approach is so rough-and-tumble that she’s been referred to as the “anti-Selby” — has been approached by suitors interested in acquiring the rights to Homebodies, which she started in February 2009. Similarly, Apartamento — which is planning a pop-up restaurant during New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair next month — has had success on the advertising front. Velardi says pages from the likes of Vitra, Iittala and André Balazs Hotels have helped them scrape by from issue to issue. Selby, meanwhile, has found himself collaborating with Nike, Habitat and Louis Vuitton, proving that these slice-of-life passion projects have the potential to make commercial waves. Back at his East Village studio, the bespectacled photographer kept scrolling through Unhappy Hipsters. “I guess it’s only a matter of time before someone does this to me,” he said. After all, Dwell was once the new kid on the block, too. “Mine won’t be ‘unhappy,’ though. Hopefully it’ll be something else.” April 19, 2010 DESIGN Erupting Beauty at Furniture Show By ALICE RAWSTHORN MILAN — Little did I know when I began this column a week ago by suggesting that the most sensible question for anyone to ask at the Milan Furniture Fair — “Does the world need another chair?” — was that it would soon be ousted by something more urgent: “How can we get out of here?” Those dystopian clouds of volcanic dust stopped thousands of people from flying in or out of Milan at the worst possible time — the busiest week of the city’s year. No sooner had the first flights been grounded than the talk at the fair turned from furniture to who was or wasn’t stranded; whether so-and-so had managed to nab the last seat on that flight from Rome; and the going rate to be driven to Paris. What a party pooper that volcano turned out to be, because until it erupted, things were going rather well (give or take the lingering effects of recession). The Milanese weather gods often greet the 300,000-plus people who flock to the fair with relentless rain, but this time they were kinder and the weather was glorious. The city was at its loveliest in the spring sunshine, with budding leaves and blossoms softening the gnarled stonework. There were some great things to see. One Italian design grandee, Alessandro Mendini, co-curated a magical exhibition of his personal take on Italian design at La Triennale Design Museum. Some 700 objects ranging from a replica of Michelangelo’s “David” to corkscrews, espresso machines, pieces of pasta, original models of E.T. and a giant bottle of Campari were jumbled on plinths as if at a flea market. Shamelessly kitschy and often puzzling, the results were also thoughtful, witty and poetic. Another maestro, Enzo Mari, achieved a similar effect on a smaller scale with a wonderful show of 60 paperweights he has collected over the years at Kaleidoscope, an indie publishing house. Chunks of concrete, wood and marble, bits of machinery, old ink bottles and crystal shards perched on musical scores, notes scrawled in Mr. Mari’s spidery handwriting and his drawings. The young Dutch designer Maarten Baas scored the public relations coup of the week by introducing an iPhone app based on his Real Time project, an alternative clock for which actors “tell the time” by physically indicating the number of hours and minutes. By the end of the opening day, the Milan streets were papered with fly posters advertising “The newest Maarten Baas for only 99 cents.” There was even a successful geographic addition to the fair in the industrial suburb of Lambrate, where lots of young designers showed. Some were a tad pretentious. (One urged us to rediscover the “sensual pleasure” of washing up. Excuse me?) But Design Academy Eindhoven, the hot Dutch design school, staged a compelling exhibition of its graduates’ conceptual projects — titled “?” (An apt title at a time when design is in flux.) Z33, the Belgian contemporary design gallery, put on a “pop-up” version of its current show, New York Times, April 2010 “Design by Performance.” And the IN Residence project in Turin presented the fruits of its workshops with intriguing pieces by Pieke Bergmans, Formafantasma, Julia Lohmann and other rising stars. Back to business, which is, of course, what the Milan Furniture Fair is all about. The global recession has softened since last year’s fair, and the industry was, if not more confident, at least less nervous about the outcome this year. Thankfully they were right. The market is still considerably weaker than in its glory days before the credit crunch, but as Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of Vitra, the Swiss furniture group, confirmed, there has been an improvement. When the recession struck, there were fears that manufacturers would do what they had done in past downturns, and play it safe by commissioning conservative pieces from established designers, rather than experiment with new names. Happily this hasn’t happened, although the new names masked the fact that many companies introduced fewer new products than usual and made them less technically ambitious, thereby reducing development costs. An exception was lighting, where advances in energy-efficient LED and OLED technology (apologies to techie readers, but to be super-simplistic, LED is a tiny, intense spot of light, and OLED a fine layer of light) are enabling manufacturers and designers to invent new types of products. Ingo Maurer, the veteran German designer, dedicated his show to the beauty of the old-fashioned incandescent light bulb, while unveiling some stunning OLED pieces. Flos, the Italian manufacturer, showed how LEDs could replace individual lights by integrating them into walls and ceilings. The standout was the Israeli designer Ron Gilad’s beautifully sculpted “Wallpiercing.” “We’re only just beginning to realize the potential of these technologies,” said Piero Gandini, president of Flos. “The results are already very exciting.” An intriguing development in furniture was the emergence of what we’ll call the superleggera (literally, “super-light”) style of lithe, angular pieces that look like subtly technocratic takes on the 1950s work of Italian designers like Franco Albini, the Castiglioni brothers and Gio Ponti, one of whose chairs was named the Superleggera. This was evident in the new chairs developed by Martino Gamper, Konstantin Grcic and Jerszy Seymour for Magis, as well as the elegant copper objects made by Aldo Bakker for Thomas Eyck. Among the most accomplished examples were the slender aluminum Central tables designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Magis and their Lighthouse light for Established & Sons. “We felt it was time for something gentler and quieter,” Ronan Bouroullec explained. “I heard a French perfumier talking about how 30 years ago, women wanted powerful scents to announce their entrance to a room, but now they prefer them to be subtler. I feel the same way about furniture. I’m so bored with the showoff stuff.” But enticing though those superleggera pieces shows are, the 2010 Milan Furniture Fair will be remembered for one thing — the after-effects of that volcano, and how everyone finally managed to get away. Copyright 2010 Privacy Policy Terms of Service Search Corrections RSS First Look Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map « In Here, for This by Krijn de Koning Het Entreehuis by Bureau B+B » Sedia 1 – Chair by Enzo Mari for Artek April 16th, 2010 1 Gefällt mir Milan 2010: a self-assembly chair designed in 1974 by Italian designer Enzo Mari has been put into production by Finnish furniture brand Artek. Dezeen, April 2010 Customers purchase pre-cut pine boards, nails and instructions and construct the chair themselves using just a hammer. The chair is part of Mari’s 1974 project called Autoprogettazione, a collection of furniture to be made from the most basic and affordable materials. Sedia 1 – Chair can be seen on the Artek stand at Spazio Rosana Orlandi in Milan this week. Artek have also produced a short documentary called Enzo Mari for Artek: Homage to Autoprogettazione, premiered yesterday at La Triennale di Milano design museum. See all our stories about Milan 2010 in our special category. Here’s more info from Artek: Enzo Mari for Artek: SEDIA 1 – Chair Homage to Autoprogettazione Sedia 1 – Chair is the rst object from the famous and thought-provoking project “Autoprogettazione” (1974) to go into production with Artek. In line with the original idea of the project, customers will purchase a set of pre cut pinewood boards, nails and instructions for the chair. ”Design is always education,” sums up Mari. Artek has also produced a 20-minute documentary “Enzo Mari for Artek: Homage to Autoprogettazione” in which Mari explains the idea behind the concept. The lm will receive its world premiere at the Triennale Museum during Abitare Talks on Wednesday, April 14, at 6 pm, in the presence of Enzo Mari. Enzo Mari is a designer, thinker and provocateur. Determined to develop mass-produced objects without compromising his belief that the outcome should always be beautiful to look at and feel while being functional. Mari developed “16 Animali” (Danese, 1957), “3087 Vase” (Danese, 1969), the chairs “Sof Sof” and “Box” (Driade, 1971 and Castelli, 1975) and “Smith & Smith” kitchen tools (Zani & Zani, 1987). These are just some of his more than 2000 projects that have marked design history. See also: More: Design, Furniture, Milan 2010, all Email this • Subscribe to this feed • Digg This! • Stumble It! • Share on Facebook Posted on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 7:22 am by Brad Turner. See our copyright policy. Follow comments through the feed. enzo mari sixty paperweights 18,673 articles view articles in brief submit a project in full today yesterday subscribe via email most popular this week RSS facebook this month twitter all time enzo mari sixty paperweights a view into 'the intellectual work' exhibition image © designboom share and promote your work! the intellectual work exhibition curated by barbara casavecchia kaleidoscope project space april 13 - 30, 2010 everyone collects something. it is official now - enzo mari collects paperweights. they serve as anchors in the ocean of sketches. preventing the flow of ideas from being blown away. a few times he bought pieces, but it hardly ever happened. usually walking in the streets or wandering in factories he finds them. designboom's editor in chief (birgit lohmann) studied industrial design under his mentorship and later collaborated over many years with mari. during their frequent travels, he picked up little heavy things which he saw as having an extraordinary inner quality. these very common objects to him are formally perfect samples of our reality. over the years he gathered them in various places, identifying them especially among the rejected industrial products, and then restoring their essential requisites as objects: function and beauty. Sixty Paperweights, April 2010 with 4 million people reading us monthly, we are the most popular art, architecture and design destination - a perfect target audience for all creative businesses. we welcome readers to submit projects you have a better chance of being featured if the work hasn’t been published before. more info browse a specific topic in depth timepieces 73 articles frank gehry 21 articles mobile phones 42 articles street art 35 articles matali crasset 16 articles istanbul design biennial 2012 2 articles a view into the exhibition image © designboom each of the paperweights has a story and a date. they're ponderous, from one hectogram to four kilos. in his milan office, there are lots of piles of notepads and loose sheets of paper placed on tables, shelves, methodically overflowing onto the floor... sometimes only a short phrase of four or five words is written on a single sheet - variations of a theme. all of them are kept together, juxtaposed on the same surface by a different paperweight. mecanoo architects 9 articles PET bottles 13 articles asymptote 15 articles ipod watches 3 articles scott wilson 3 articles metous studio 2 articles cardboard 34 articles ernesto oroza 4 articles design miami 2010 7 articles gean moreno 2 articles saint etienne biennale 2010 9 articles doorknocker from the front door of enzo mari's office, 1980s, milan image © designboom to mari the paperweights are not a simple collection of mirabilia, nor they are divértissement. mari has always investigated the role of the intellectual, the cooperation of thinking and doing, heads and hands. words and things. in fact the title of this exhibition which features his collection is 'intellectual work'. the expression 'intellectual work' refers to the marxian-engelsian opposition of 'kopfarbeit' and 'handarbeit' (intellectual and manual labor) as well as to the 1918 esay of the same title by max weber. leg of flamingo sculpture, completed with an old drawer knob, 1970s anacapri, naples, italy image © designboom analysis is an irrepressible instinct for mari. to any question one might ask him, he replies with a problem. he systematizes, divides, draws up diagrams, calculates modules. he seeks out a solution and verifies it. discarding, cutting. starting over. an exercise, the criticism mobile units 21 articles assistive technology 7 articles LED 23 articles of variations. the paperweights are rather thinking tools. latest comments balls lekki phones: the older mobile phones are more ... John oyler wu collaborative: the hyperion project: There has been a pretty lively d ... Bross frank gehry: UTS building - dr chau chak wing: Ok now, I’m not a fan of gehry b ... dhc kaylene kau: prosthetic arm: this is completely fascinating. ... MS konstantin grcic: black2: I think comments should be disab ... beejay one tenth: PET bottle humidifier: Hello. Love the design of 'Hollo ... inox steel sheet , sample by CMF in cinisello balsamo, milan, gift by birgit lohmann and fragment of the 'pigna' bowl designed by enzo mari for daum image © designboom Scudwerth kaylene kau: prosthetic arm: This is a fantastic piece of des ... 'I became very interested in the paradigm of science, where you affirm something and want to prove it, and your only chance is to provide your listeners with the tools of your research so that they can verify your hypothesis.' - enzo mari g1nchy frank gehry: UTS building - dr chau chak wing: The building's exterior maybe la ... dissapointed frank gehry: UTS building - dr chau chak wing: its a shocker. maybe some one sa ... cos matali crasset: le bateau curiosity cabinet: this is terrible. ... designboom ' articles unique random visualization michael jackson scholten and baijings a view on one of the tables in the exhibition image © designboom in half a century, mari worked on ca. 2000 projects, but the realized ones are just a 1000 odd. 'in the field of artistic expression - where art, being open to the infinite, is on the top level - what is lacking is the paradigmatic elements that you need in order to communicate your message to other people. I think the paradigm, the general reference of culture and the source for the theoretical framework that defines creativity, has to be the masterpiece. the possibilities expressed by the most brilliant minds are at the very core of my self-education.' - enzo mari paperweight designed by enzo mari for danese, end of 1980s, milan, italy bikes sneakers sebastian errazuriz baqueratta lab[au] andras rigler canon meat image © designboom bulb, 2000s, milan, italy, gift by francesco faccin image © designboom 'answers are always manifold and need to be meticulously verified. I have attempted to verify them all. and still, verification doesn't put an end to further questions.' - enzo mari olivetti multiple, 1960s ivrea, italy, gift by giorgio soavi image © designboom mari refers to lévi-strauss in his 'the savage mind': 'he who executes a work with his own hands, using different means from those used by the professional,' namely the engineer, the symbol of scientific thought. 'the 'bricoleur' is adept at performing a large number of diverse tasks; but, unlike the engineer, he does not subordinate each of them to the availability of raw materials and tools conceived and procured for the purpose of the project. his universe of instruments is closed and the rules of his game are always to make do with 'whatever is at hand', that is to say with a set of tools and materials which is always finite and is also heterogeneous because what it contains bears no relation to the current project, or indeed to any particular project, but is the contingent result of all the occasions there have been to renew or enrich the stock or to maintain it with the remains of previous constructions and destructions. the set of the 'bricoleur's' means cannot therefore be defined in terms of a project (which would presuppose besides, that, as in the case of the engineer, there were, at least in theory, as many sets of tools and materials or 'instrumental sets', as there are different kinds of projects). it is to be defined only by its potential use or, putting this another way and in the language of the 'bricoleur' himself, because the elements are collected or retained on the principle that 'they may always come in handy'. sporaarchitects office: fovam ter - underground station, budapest visiondivision: nature's choice jun igarashi architects: layered house view index a view of the exhibition image © designboom but there is more. granting the papers months and years to mature, to form geological layers of meditation, also means escaping the oppressive mechanisms of the productive system, the compulsive logic of efficiency at all costs. it means affording oneself the subversive luxury of taking all the required time to develop a good project. it means extending the range of research in order to get an overall picture, acting against the increasing hyper-specialization that restrains creative expression nowadays. konstantin grcic: black2 studio ve: manifold clock yiran qian: eye of the storm view index chris burden: metropolis II paola pivi: vitra mini chair chandelier di liu: animal regulation series view index a view on one of the tables in the exhibition image © designboom in order to get these existing objects to function properly as paperweights, mari makes only the slightest changes, and in doing so, he suggests a positive alternative to what he calls ' the current flood of art pompier and hebephrenic creativity' in contemporary design. junya ishigami winy maas - MVRDV ball nogues view index Buenos Aires Luxury Condo New Condo-Tel project in Palermo Great investment opportunity www.4955ba.com a view on one of the tables in the exhibition image © designboom mari's piles of sheets, his unfinished projects and his obsession for the unachievable, imperfectible final version. perhaps the paperweights and the notes are ultimately talismans, there to exercise the risk of being complacent and giving up the search. ADVERTISE WITH US CONTACT US YOUR SUBMISSIONS COMMENTS PRIVACY STATEMENTS ABOUT DESIGNBOOM counterbalance of achille castiglioni's 'parentesi' floor lamp, 1990s milan, italy, gift of a technician image © designboom 'I could affirm that the intellectual work lies in saying NO. negation is addressed not only to others, but also to your own goal, because the final aim is getting to the essence.' - enzo mari on a blackboard in mari's office he wrote, time ago, 'I must not speak in vein.' KPM - koenigliche porzellan manufaktur, mid-1990s, berlin, germany, gift by birgit lohmann image © designboom collections are infectious. the paperweight collection was shared by mari's friends and collaborators. this handle is a gift from birgit to mari. she dismantled it from an old mechanical lathe, during their collaboration and artistic direction of KPM, the german manufacture of porcelain in berlin, from 1993 to 1998. water tap fixed to an iron pulley, 1960s, milan, italy terracotta and concrete brick, 2008, milan italy image © designboom the objets trouvés paperweights correspond perfectly with mari's poetics, his non-stop search for the essence of form. not in theory, but in practice. pair of 'boccia', beginning of the 2000s, mariano commense, italy, gift by alessandro marelli image © designboom perhaps the paperweights and the notes are ultimately talismans, there to exorcise the risk of being complacent and giving up the search. a view into the exhibition image © designboom consistently the group of paperweights places on the table looks like a miniaturized sculpture park. a catalogue of the exhibition is available via the publishers kaleidoscope ridhika db 04.19.10 comments: he is the best, we are very proud and enjoy his work. mil 04.19.10 milan design week 2010 view also tokujin yoshioka for kartell: the invisibles ett la benn: malva claesson koivisto sebastian massimo iosa rune: portico errazuriz: sinapsi ghini : lens for for HORM iguzzini junya ishigami: family chairs tokujin yoshioka: formafantasma: 'flex vase' by vij5 'stellar' for bio-baked swarovski crystal 'autarchy' design palace carlotta de bevilacqua & paolo dell'ecle for artemide Home Duende Contact Duende PR The “Duende” DUENDE PR Press Relations Agency for Design, Architecture and Contemporary Art « Chic Dessin, a new fair for contemporary drawings Tamawa new products 2010 at Maison & Objet » « Che Fare » text by Enzo Mari and Gabriele Pezzini January 11, 2010 // 0 Responsible design is the big issue right now, and Enzo Mari and Gabriele Pezzini have come in Duende PR, January 2010 strong with the exhibition ‘Che fare’ (what to do) at the Gutharc Gallery (Paris), their search for the standard as the one creative stance that is aware and civic-minded. What they seek is perfect balance between constraints of marketing, production and manufacturer’s culture, in an attempt to evolve a form that is efcient and durable – a standard that survives passing fads and decorative caprices to impose a reference. The line they take is direct, unassuming and exacting, moving counter to the constant clamouring for ‘something new’. Let us invite you to an exclusive preview, put together by the designers themselves (also available in italiano and japanese). Che Fare Enzo Mari and Gabriele Pezzini This small exhibit stems from the idea of comparing the work of two authors who agree upon several aspects of their working practices in spite of having been formed in very different periods of time. Design was originally conceived by a dozen authors (architects, artists, entrepreneurs) in the ‘30s in Germany, and by the same amount of people in the ‘50s in Italy. All were permeated by the utopian ideology of Socialism and humanistic culture, like the public, that understood and appreciated their works. It was a small avant-garde group, horried by the “art pompier” and in pursuit of the utopia of labour as a means for the transformation of man. Thus, each design was meant to convey the idea of standard (from the French “etandard”), as an allegory of the values of a society still to be transformed. And they naively thought that the honest intelligence of a product could positively affect the needs and therefore the market. This utopian stance was in line with the material and ideal post-war atmosphere of reconstruction, shared by all Europeans. By the mid ‘60s, the rst signs appeared of mismatch with a society which was barbarized by weak thinking and made obtuse by the “global exploitation” of the domination of commodities. By the ‘70s, that kind of poetics was almost incomprehensible. All those who are proximate to the essence of design today are aware of the unstoppable decay of what is produced. However, even in non-market driven contexts, such as the realization of museums, essays, ambitious exhibitions, objective criticism does not emerge. This is also due to the excessive proliferation of radical or traditional mannerism, contaminated by unconscious individual precepts or by cynicism. Things are still being produced and they are still being called “design” even when they should be called “art pompier” instead, or, more generously, “decorative art”. Things don’t have to be, they should only appear to be, thus corresponding to the innite induced needs imposed by the domination of goods. Design entails the contemporary presence of three entities: the author, the entrepreneur, the public. But, where are Mart Stam and Achille Castiglioni today? Where are Adriano Olivetti and Bruno Danese? And the people? Most of them watch “big brother”. One may object that this is notorious, that others have already described it better and that I should restrict myself to carrying out my job as a designer…but nowadays this is almost impossible if I refuse to produce “art pompier”. So, I know of around a million realized “designs” per type (of chair or lamp, it doesn’t matter). Each “design” had to be or appear different. This implied different project approaches (“well-to-do”, “radical”, “protesting”, for interiors, for exteriors, ofce, home, cheap, luxury, etcetera). Each of these approaches was realized with alternative technologies (iron, plastic type A, B, C, D, E, F, etc., wood, lamellar, bamboo, etc., forging, deep-drawing, presswork, etc., aluminium, carbon, titanium, etc….That’s enough. Every single choice was only put in place to achieve a different appearance….This obsession explains, with no rhetoric on the poetics, the reason for art pompier and decorative art. A part of the products seems to be almost decent, but it is only a mannerist reproduction of pre-existing projects….I’m often asked to come up with a new project. Yet, if it has to be new, how can it be done? I know thousands of pre-existing examples for each approach and relatively to each technique. It is impossible to do it! When someone asks me for a new project, I always reply that I accept so long as I’m not paid with an unlikely 1% rights on the sales price (in Italy). I ask to be acknowledged an hourly fee, like any technician or consultant, and have always been denied this. I have often proposed to dedicate 10% of the yearly investments companies spend on their foolish experimentations to a strategic project entailing a decent realization time, not limited to just a few weeks. I’ve always been denied this. I have often proposed …That’s enough. So, whoever calls me appreciates my competence but I can only work if I give that up … Does this emptiness refer to my person only? What are the other million “designers”, most of them young, doing? Those that schools are incessantly graduating, with the same industrial methods as goods are constantly produced? All of them, maybe unclearly, wanted a non-alienated job but the majority doesn’t nd one…Some think that ”art pompier” is the avant-garde of a new culture…Others, on the contrary, dream of a possible transformation, working on essential simplicity, but everything has already been projected and those specialized in “Big Brother” are not fond of simplicity. Gabriele Pezzini is also permeated by the idea of “standard” (unfashionable today) and hard-headedly intends operating in that direction. In our conversations, we have agreed upon the fact that a product comes to life in the dialogue between a “designer” and an entrepreneur. The “designer” is responsible for the shape, and the quality of this always emerges from a global project which, particularly today, corresponds to Utopia. Entrepreneurs are not just responsible for the economic aspects of the product’s realization, but also of how to impose it on a ercely competitive market. A good product can be realized when a practical and efcient entrepreneur embraces at least 20% of Utopia….Gabriele Pezzini knows well that this happens very rarely so…But we have reached such a state of abjection that some kind of change, at least behavioural at rst, may seem possible. Enzo Mari, August 2009 Enzo Mari used to hold the Planning/design course when I attended ISIA in Florence, but he wasn’t one of my professors, so I was only able to follow some of his lessons secretly, by sneaking out of other courses. We met in 2006 when we were both members of a jury in a competition for young designers and, facing the void we were both ascertaining, we started considering what to do. We said goodbye with the commitment to try and do something. What drew us together is undoubtedly the determination to defend the principles we believe in, at all costs. We are both drastic in our vision of the projects but in the two cases it structures on deeply differing premises. Enzo Mari, to whom very few can be compared, is he who exactly dened the perimeter of what is called Design, an abused term today that justies all sorts of mannerism. He has been a radical and coherent self-educated person since the beginnings; I belong to that new generation of designers which, as Enzo Mari says, has been unlucky enough to go to Design school. In my way, I have followed my own self-made education, away from courses, trying to understand the justness of the project through the most diverse experiences. This approach has lead me to become radical through subtraction. The parallelism that we trace in this small exhibit goes beyond the exposed products. These represent us and are a pretext to compare two generations that share a vision and discuss over the same issues. CHE FARE (WHAT TO DO), the title of the exhibition, poses a clear question, although it does so without using the question mark, as we probably know there is no answer. The uncertainty on what the project will be and on the drift of society, on the future of many young people who are facing this profession/passion today, is evident enough and cannot be hidden away any more. Gabriele Pezzini, September 2009 “Che fare” Enzo Mari / Gabriele Pezzini from 9 january 9th to 20th february 2010 Galerie Alain Gutharc 7 rue Saint-Claude 75003 PARIS +33 (0)1 47 00 32 10. www.alaingutharc.com www.gabriele-pezzini.com Interviews, High Res and captions on request December 23, 2009 ON LOCATION Old Country Aesthetic in Germany By GISELA WILLIAMS CAPUTH, Germany — Ten years ago, in his first few weeks in Berlin, Jett Rodgers, a New Zealander who at the time was working in video set production, found love and his dream home. Hans-Peter Jochum, a midcentury-modern furniture dealer, was his love, and the home was here in this lakeside village about 30 minutes west of Berlin. The property, which is actually two tiny one-bedroom houses of wood and glass, separated by a courtyard, is next door to what was Albert Einstein’s summer home. But the journey to buying the home took almost a decade, as Mr. Rodgers and Mr. Jochum had to deal with very nostalgic owners who had become attached to the place. The 180-square-meter (2,000-square-foot) home and terrace on 2,000 square meters (22,000 square feet) of property was built in 1968 by Heinz Böhme and Gerhardt Böhme, two brothers. But a few years after they built the houses, the brothers escaped what was then Eastern Germany to the West and the property was taken over by high-ranking Stasi officers as a sort of holiday getaway. In 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down, the Böhmes successfully reclaimed their home and soon afterward put the property on the market for 800,000 Deutsche marks (around 600,000 dollars). “They wanted a lot of money,” Mr. Jochum said. “They had a very emotional attachment to the house.” But the inflated price, a handwritten for-sale sign and jungle-like overgrowth managed to keep the house on the market for 18 years. Finally in 2007, Mr. Jochum, Mr. Rodgers and the brothers’ real estate agent, managed to convince the brothers to reduce the asking price. Once they closed on the home, Mr. Jochum and Mr. Rodgers were hesitant to bring in an architect because they knew that anyone with any architectural training would tell them to tear them down and rebuild, thanks to the outdated power and heating systems. “We know it might not be rational,” said Mr. Jochum, wearing several layers to keep warm (they keep the house at around 50 degrees so that the walls won’t sweat), “but we want to keep this as a sort of memorial. Something that still exists from the GDR,” or German Democratic Republic, he added, referring to the what was Eastern Germany. It makes sense that a couple that deals in 20th-century objects would value such a property. “The aesthetic of living in something perfect doesn’t appeal to us,” Mr. Rodgers said. The only things they changed was to update the electrics, add hot running water and take down a wall in the house they use in the winter, which they refer to as no. 11, its street address number. The other house (No. 9), which they use as their bedroom in the summer, they shut down for the season because it would be too expensive to heat. The couple also added a small custom kitchen, designed by the Berlin-based architect Thomas Kroeger who created compact wooden drawers, a wooden covering for the refrigerator blue-and-white checkered New York Times, December 2009 shelving. When he first saw it, Mr. Jochun said, “I was totally shocked. It looked like a Barbie kitchen.” But he was appeased when the architect explained that the blue-and-white scheme was inspired by a wall decorated with blue-and-white paper in one of the tea houses at the Katsura Imperial Villa in Japan. The blue color was also derived from the blue tiles used for Communist-era bathrooms. (East Germany only used blue and green colored tiles for its public bathrooms). “I like it now,” Mr. Jochum said. “A lot of our guests think it belongs to the original house.” The furniture, too, looks like it was always there. The couple managed to move in and arrange all the furniture in less than a day. In No. 11, the showpiece is a simple wooden table designed by Enzo Mari in 1972. The chairs don’t match and there’s a small Danish fireplace that hangs on the wall. “We put it on the wall instead of a television,” Mr. Rodgers said. Even the iconic and extremely rare sideboard designed by the Swiss architect Hans Gugelot has a Stasi look to it within the space. But step outside onto the courtyard that overlooks a steeply terraced garden, and you think you’re somewhere in California. “Visitors from the U.S. always say the garden looks like it belongs in Los Angeles,” Mr. Jochum said. That might be because Mr. Rodgers brought in as many exotic plants as possible, especially those that reminded him of New Zealand. Even in the garden, though, one can’t escape the former Eastern-bloc references. Hidden in the foliage are two boxy-looking cameras. “They’re birdhouses,” Mr. Jochun said, “made from Stassi spy cameras.” Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map designboom web search enzo mari - the art of design enzo mari the art of design october 29, 2008 - january 6, 2009 GAM museum of modern and contemporary art turin, italy enzo mari is perceived as 'the critical conscience of design', his work has contributed to the world-wide debate on the contemporary design profession. on the occasion of the city of turin's nomination as world design capital 2008, GAM museum dedicates an extensive retrospective show to the work of the italian master designer enzo mari. 250 works are on show, created in over 50 years, from contemporary art pieces to design objects and urban re-design projects --in the ‘80ies designboom's editor-in-chief birgit lohmann has studied industrial design under enzo mari and after graduation she has collaborated with enzo mari on multiple design projects over the last 20 years. and together they run several university courses and design laboratories in europe. form and formalism ’mari has taught me to distinguish ‘proper’ and ‘improper’ design and projects. proper projects start from refusal of ‘the existing’ because of their technical, expressive or social inadequacy. we traveled in europe and hosted design conferences on how the alchemy of proper design can be taught and this capacity can be exercised. while mari closes up to himself, nuturing anger about ‘the state of things in general’ and the way it remains exactly what it is, our desire for change collide with obstacles that seem insurmountable. since I know him, mari moves within a variety of linguistic contexts but has never changed his attitudes or tamed his projects and ideological proposals. mari is a highly scrupulous researcher, but still he adopts and maintains a series of schemes as parameters. at first he created logical models that subtract the practice of art from caprice and tells us that a project is ‘the whole of the set of operations performed for the actualization of what seems useful in the light of the necessities to be recognized as having priority’, which are undoubtedly the ethical necessities and this while accepting the constant conflict with the economicistic logic of industrial production. enzo mari portrait © designboom me running after mari, two days before the exhibition opened. ‘dear birgit, as you know, the problem today is the only possible project (and young people should complete an active effort now) is working to ‘decondition’ people from the god of merchandise. this seems to be an exaggeration, therefore I will give a clear example of the current situation: there are two illnesses that are widely diffused, prevalent in the bourgeois society people don't often talk about them cancer and AIDS. neither illness has a secure cure, but there are doctors and researchers which are constantly working, fighting, studying to develop antidotes and medicines. twenty years ago, when cancer was diagnosed, the patient died after six months. today, people probably survive twenty-five years. but nobody ever says 'HOW NICE IS CANCER!' and ‘what a positive vision for society’. for design which is actually waste ... well, the design of today 'in future memories' is the wasteland of ignorance and horror. it's true that design only touches minor sectors of production, but the activity of designing is perceived as resulting in projects of quality. meanwhile, almost all design projects lack quality. it's pure mannerism and the merchandise needs to die quickly in order to create the need of a new production. drawing by enzo mari The Art of Design, 2009 this means it's a non-project and I'm embarrassed to be categorized as a designer. ... one can sometimes desire a playful object (gadget)... it's the entire mental system where merchandise is perceived, not only as objects, but people (including their professions, their brains).’ E.M. in the last number of years, I was forced to buy a few computers, and in my studio I see how they are used. I am three times faster. rather than looking for data, uploading something, reconnecting to different programs, moving folders to the archive... yes, the computer creates perfect things. if I need to send somebody a drawing or a photo - it's fine. when a project is in its final stages, then it is useful to use the computer to document it. but it's very wrong to use it as a machine for project making! --‘introduction to drawing’ / ‘premessa al disegnare’, 2008 (translation of illustration) if you want to become an architect, you have to learn how to draw freehand... the computer is a useful tool ... you can use it when you finally understood what you want to do... (this is when the project in itself is concluded). perhaps something needs to be said regarding the myths sourrounding the computer you just bought. as you know, it’s made of two parts 1° the powerful and misterious ‘HARD’ and 2° the ‘SOFT’ ... instructions sold to the oblivious who think they are able to create form by ignoring the concrete reasons behind it. HOWEVER, there is another type of computer which is a thousands time more efficient... at no cost, you already have one and it’s still new as you don’t imagine to own it. 1° the infinitely powerful ‘HARD’. in fact it’s so powerful that a newborn baby (who still hasn’t worked out space, sound, it’s own limbs... in just 1 year will have understood it, and on its own). HARD turns it into a concious beeing through acts of interpreting each random movement or sensation. 2° there is no ‘SOFT’. you’ve lost it at age of 6. at school...... but you can rediscover it ... it’s knowledge that comes from personal practise, the only possibility of real comprehension. --modulo 856, 1967 is a work of which a great deal has been said and written, but in terms that strikes me as unsatisfying. mari refers to this work as ‘a somehow hierartic space’, and surely that’s the case for the viewer who enters it and sees a narcissistic reflection of himself. hieratic and uncomfortable. lea vergine, mari’s wife, is one of italy’s most acclaimed art critics. she says ‘his central intention is to arouse the viewer’s faculties for reflection and critical reaction with respect to his own modes of being and behaviour.’ the visitor is invited to consider the figure of his bust ‘study celebrating an anniversary’, 1954 (studio per l’anniversario) painting by enzo mari as though it were a painting? I guess he is invited to accept an emptiness in the place where he ordinarily expects to find the fullness of a work of art. it is a sort of what musil defiened a ‘concave sensation’, which is an experience of emptiness and absence, where the mind encounters the possibility of the difficult exercise of reflecting upon itself. drawing of ‘modulo 856’ by enzo mari, 1967 the work is presented like a large minimal sculpture, but in truth it is a dwelling place inside which the visitor is astonished to unexpectedly discover his own image reflected in a mirror. the idea behind it is that the visitor can ask the question why he is there ... well, me ... --‘allegory of dignity’/ ‘allegoria della dignità’, 1988 we are invited to look on ourselves with dignity. this is to say that we have to find - without the aid of churches and avoiding banalizations on the respect that human beings have to show to one another - is a good reason for facing up a mirror and looking at our reflections within it. .. there you are, always the very same imbecile, rendered an object by the institutions that sourround you. ‘allegory of dignity’, 1988 --‘fourty-four evaluations’ / ‘quarantaquattro valutazioni’, 1976 mari’s contribution to the 1976 venice art biennale, 44 marble pieces sculpted into different fluid shapes that slot together to form a giant hammer and sickle symbol. the human individually alienates himself from his own particular powers and convince ourselves that there is no other or beter way of being a human being. ... a participatory project... ‘44 evaluations’, 1976 a giant hammer and sickle, deconstructed into 44 art sculptures. individual formal expressions form a common point of referment... every single sculpture is of the same quality as the composed symbol. a well known symbol. EYEOUT berlin -70% auf all you can eat The mobile art guide app with infos on over 170 galleries & museums Essen gehen und nur 30% zahlen. Hol dir den Mega-Rabatt & spare Bares. keep up to date with recent articles and upcoming events by subscribing to our free monthly newsletter enter your e-mail here subscribe © copyrights designboom, all rights reserved. all material published remains the exclusive copyright of designboom. no contents, including text, photographs, videos, etc. may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of designboom. in addition, no material or contents may be reproduced on the world wide web by techniques of mirroring, framing, posting, etc. without the written consent of designboom. Subscriber Servic Friday 17 December 2010 Interiors Subscribe to Wa Enzo Mari's original table plans, which date back to the mid 1950s, the era of mass production which so fueled Mari's project Enzo Mari's Autoprogettazione Revisited, London INTERIORS Autoprogettazione (translated as self-made) is a concept, thought up by Italian design godfather Enzo Mari in the 1950s, of producing superior quality, functional furniture from ubiquitous materials in your own home. Conceived in reaction to the glut of mass produced furniture around at the time, Mari formulated a free catalogue explaining in intricate detail how best to produce 19 pieces of furniture from scratch. Originally he encouraged his followers to send in photos of the nished articles to his studio, and the latest exhibition to take residence in London s Architectural Association pays homage to Mari s autonomous take on his craft. INFORMATION Event dates 3 October 2009 to 27 October 2009 Website http://aaschool.ac.uk Telephone 44.20 7887 4031 Address Architectural Association 36 Bedford Square London WC1B 3ES Bookmark Digg Delicious Reddit Facebook Stumbleupon Print this item Subscribe to Wallpaper* Wallpaper* News feed Add Wallpaper* Widget See more from when Mari revisited his Autoprogettazione concept with contemporary designers/a> Wallpaper, Autoprogettazione Revisited, October 2009 Pulled together by furniture gallerist Philip Sharatt in collaboration with Mari himself, Autoprogettazione Revisted has invited a host of contemporary artists and designers to produce their own pieces of self-made furniture in adherence with Mari s exacting agenda. In J With disjointed, hybrid work from the likes of sculptor Phyllida Barlow, furniture designerJoe Pipal, product designer Travis Broussard and artist Graham Hudson, the work traces Mari s philosophical approach to design whilst exposing some exciting new takes on the form. Il H V 7 A s s From Pipal s indolent bookshelf, leaning up against a wall, to the heady range of chairs on show – including Ryan Gander s take on Konstantin Grcic s One Chair (featuring an Ikea foam pad and a attened cardboard box) and Martino Gamper s simple crate chair – each piece comes imbued with a sense of creative intimacy – an accolade of which Mari is undoubtedly proud. T W S s 'S C 7 October 2009 | Interiors LATEST VIDEOS Inside artist Ben Johnson's studio Il Girasole: A House Near Verona 77th Heaven: Aston Martin's superstar One-77 supercar The Making of W*140's Switzerland cover shoot 'Smallest shortest lm' by Anton Corbijn 'The Coiling Collection' by Raw-Edges, Paris 'Hella Jongerius: Mist', Rotterdam 'Freak Show', Berlin LATEST INTERIORS GALLERIES The ?Temporium pop-up shop, London Our highlights from Design Miami, 2010 LATEST INTERIORS ARTICLES Im Gespräch Enzo Mari 03.12.2008 Autor: Norman Kietzmann Enzo Mari hat die italienische Designszene grundlegend geprägt. Geboren 1932 im norditalienischen Novara studiert er von 1952 bis 1956 Kunst und Literatur an der Mailänder Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. 1963 schließt er sich der freien Künstlergruppe „Nuove Tendenze“ an und beginnt seine Forschungen über die Psychologie der visuellen Wahrnehmung. Dem Design wendet sich Enzo Mari Ende der Fünfziger Jahre zu und beginnt als Autodidakt für das Unternehmen Danese zahlreiche Vasen, Kalender, Schalen und andere Gegenstände zu entwerfen. Was seine Entwürfe verbindet, ist das Gespür für einfache, praktische Lösungen, die jedoch über einen reinen Funktionalismus stets hinauseichen. Insgesamt dreimal wird Enzo Mari mit dem italienischen Design-Oscar „Compasso d‘Oro“ geehrt und entwirft weit mehr als 1.600 Produkte für Unternehmen wie Zanotta, Olivetti, Artemide, Alessi, Rosenthal, KPM und Driade. Im November 2008 wird sein Werk mit einer umfassenden Retrospektive in der Galleria Civica d‘Arte Moderna in Turin gewürdigt. Wir trafen Enzo Mari in seiner Mailänder Wohnung und sprachen mit ihm – umgeben von seinen Zeichnungen, Skulpturen, Büchern und Produkten – über das Design als Symbol, die Seele der Objekte und das Genie von Kindern. Herr Mari, Sie gelten als einer der einflussreichsten Gestalter des 20. Jahrhunderts und Mitbegründer der italienische Designszene. Ein berühmter Ausspruch von Ihnen lautet, dass „jeder Designer sein Bild einer idealen Welt zeichnen solle.“ Wie würden Sie Ihre ideale Welt beschreiben? Ich denke, dass die Objekte, die mir gelungen sind, nicht die waren, die ich für Unternehmen entworfen habe, sondern für eine Gesellschaft, die noch gar nicht existiert. Das Problem des Design ist, das alle Welt glaubt, mit dem Begriff verbände sich automatisch das Maximum an industrieller Qualität. Dabei ist es das genaue Gegenteil. Für mich ist es offensichtlich, dass die Objekte des Designs nicht real, sondern rein symbolisch sind. Sie stellen die Würde des Menschen und die Arbeit DesignLine, December 2008 dar. Können Sie das ein wenig genauer erklären? Wenn ich ein Produkt entwerfe, bin ich nicht so professionell in dem Sinne, dass ich einfach nur ausführe. Ich habe die Dinge immer nur dann gemacht, wenn ich das Gefühl hatte, dass es notwendig war. Was mich stört an der Industrie, ist die Idee, dass die Dinge möglichst schnell altern und sterben müssen, damit sich die Menschen etwas Neues kaufen. Die alten Griechen hatten einst die Idee einer Kontinuität der Dinge, bei der es darum ging, für die Unendlichkeit zu leben. Eine möglichst einfache und perfekte Form muss man nicht mehr verändern. Viele der von ihnen entwickelten geometrischen Körper sind bis heute aktuell. Ich denke, wir sollten in diese Richtung arbeiten. Darum habe ich nun schon seit 50 Jahren versucht, Objekte zu machen, die nicht sterben, sondern bleiben. Produkte sollten nicht nur aus rein kommerziellen Ideen heraus entstehen. Wie würden Sie die von Ihnen entworfenen Produkte beschreiben? Sie sind kleine, einfache Dinge, die ich zumeist bei mir auf meinem Schreibtisch stehen habe. Nicht alle Objekte, die ich gemacht habe, sind besonders bedeutend. In den vergangenen 55 Jahren habe ich eine – wie man im Französischen sagt – „recherche totale“ unternommen – ob in der Schule, an der Universität oder später im Leben. Ich kann vielleicht sagen, dass die Skulpturen von Brancusi so oder so gemacht sind. Und ich kann sagen, dass er womöglich der größte Bildhauer des 20. Jahrhunderts ist. Aber über mich selbst kann ich das nicht sagen, denn wie soll ich mir auch sicher sein? Ich versuche, gut zu arbeiten. Aber ich kann nicht über mich behaupten, dass meine Entwürfe große Werke seien. Worin liegt die Herausforderung, wenn Sie ein neues Produkt entwerfen? Die richtige Form zu finden, ist keine einfache Angelegenheit, denn sie bedeutet alles andere als Formalismus. Dafür braucht man sich nur aus einem Katalog von Millionen von Formen zu bedienen, und fertig ist das Objekt. Alle Dummköpfe dieser Welt arbeiten auf diese Weise. Doch eine Form ist eine essentielle Angelegenheit. Sie ist die Seele der Objekte. Anders als für die Künstler der Renaissance, die vollkommen frei und lösgelost von der Gesellschaft gearbeitet haben, spielen heute auch soziale Faktoren eine Rolle. Ich denke, um eine Form zu schaffen, muss man vor allem lernen, die Welt zu verstehen. Wie gehen Sie an Ihre Projekte heran? Natürlich frage ich mich immer bei einem Projekt, was man Neues machen soll. Was will das Objekt sagen, dass ich entwerfe? Ich fange also an, zu experimentieren und kleine Modelle mit meinen Händen zu entwickeln. Dann beginne ich, all die Dinge wieder zu zerstören. Ich habe der Industrie nie vorgeschlagen, bestimmte Produkte zu entwickeln. Denn wenn ich ihnen gewisse Dinge vorschlagen würde, müsste ich mich auch darum kümmern, sie zu verkaufen. Als die Industrie auf mich zugekommen ist, habe ich gesagt: „In Ordnung, es seid ihr, die die Idee habt. Es seid ihr, die festlegt, ob die Dinge aus Holz oder Metall gearbeitet werden sollen oder für die Reichen oder die Armen sind." In Italien nennt man das: den Punkt auf das „i“ setzen. Ich habe versucht, die Dinge ein wenig zu verbessern. Noch bevor Sie sich dem Design gewidmet haben, haben Sie an der Mailänder Accademia di Brera Kunst studiert... Als ich sehr jung war, ging ich nur auf eine einfache Schule. Meine Familie war sehr arm und so musste ich mit 13 Jahren anfangen zu arbeiten – nicht für mich, sondern für meine ganze Familie. Auf die Universität zu gehen, war mir nicht möglich, da ich keinen Abschluss hatte. Ich habe dann herausgefunden, dass ich an einer Kunstschule trotzdem aufgenommen werden konnte. Also musste ich Künstler werden. (lacht) Mit dem Design kam ich in Berührung, als ich bemerkte, wie banal die Produkte waren, die im Italien der Fünfziger Jahre oder noch während des Krieges hergestellt wurden. Ich habe mich gefragt, warum die Industrie nicht dazu in der Lage war, den Dingen die richtige Form zu geben, wo ihr doch all die Technologien und das Wissen zur Verfügung standen. Als Sie in den Fünfziger und Sechziger Jahren begonnen haben, für die Industrie zu entwerfen, war vielen der Begriff Design noch weitestgehend unbekannt... Ja, und ich selbst war noch sehr jung. Mein Glück war, dass ich zu diesem Zeitpunkt fast alleine war. Also kamen die Unternehmer zu mir, was einem natürlich sehr schmeichelt, wenn man Mitte Zwanzig ist. Bezahlt haben sie mich deswegen aber noch nicht. Das war schon damals die Regel. Bei Schriftstellern oder Musikern sind es normalerweise zehn Prozent des Verkaufspreises für ein Buch oder eine Schallplatte, wie er im Laden bezahlt wird. Mir wollten sie aber nur ein einziges Prozent geben. Das fand ich schon damals ungerecht. Lässt sich über Design streiten? Über die Form zu reden ist, wie über Religion zu reden. Es gibt eine Menge verschiedener Wahrheiten. Die Katholiken sagen, ihr Gott sei besser als der der Moslems. Die Moslems sagen, Allah sei größer als der Gott der Katholiken. Darin liegt das Problem der Form. Die Form ist ein Modell. In der Architektur gab es bis ins frühe 20. Jahrhundert eine klar erkennbare Ordnung von Stütze und Last. Natürlich sind die Variationen dessen unendlich und auch die Qualität der jeweiligen Gebäude. Doch es war möglich, über die Architektur zu sprechen, da es in jeder Sprache einen Begriff für denselben Gegenstand gab, seinen es Säulen, Träger oder Pfeiler. Heute gibt es keine kollektiven Regeln mehr sondern nur noch Redundanz, die vor allem dem Ego ihrer Entwerfer geschuldet ist. Für das Design gilt das umso mehr. Es gibt keine verbindlichen Regeln mehr, nach denen man die Dinge beurteilen könnte. Sie sind über die Kunst zum Design gekommen. Wie sehen Sie das Verhältnis zwischen diesen beiden Disziplinen? Ein Widerspruch oder doch auch getragen von Gemeinsamkeiten? Ich weiß mittlerweile sehr gut, was Kunst ist. Aber ich denke schon mein ganzes Leben darüber nach, was das Design ist, und ich weiß es bis heute immer noch nicht. Das ist sehr widersprüchlich. Viele meiner Kollegen sind der Meinung, sie müssten Kunst machen. Aber was sie machen, sind höchstens Kopien des Art-Déco. Die Kunst des Designs ist etwas vollkommen anderes: nämlich keine Dekoration. Ich bin nicht prinzipiell gegen dekorative Kunst – in der Geschichte nimmt sie schließlich einen wichtigen Platz ein. Aber sie ist etwas vollkommen anderes als das Design. Denn das Design wird nicht wie ein Kunstwerk von einer einzelnen Person gemacht. In einem Unternehmen gibt es interdisziplinären Gruppen von bis zu 40 Personen, die miteinander arbeiten müssen. Mit der Freiheit der Kunst hat dies nichts gemeinsam. Neben Ihren zahlreichen Lehraufträgen an internationalen Hochschulen haben Sie immer wieder auch zahlreiche Ausstellungen zum Thema Design kuratiert. Eine davon in der Galleria Danese in Mailand war ausschließlich Werkzeugen wie Sicheln oder Sensen gewidmet. Was fasziniert Sie an diesen Objekten? Ich habe sie ausgewählt, um zu zeigen, welche Intelligenz in der Arbeit mit der Hand steckt. Es sind sehr nützliche Werkzeuge, die auf der ganzen Welt in der Landwirtschaft zum Einsatz kamen. Heute gibt es kaum noch Orte, an denen sie produziert werden. Eine Fabrik ist in Österreich, eine in Italien im Piemont – diese wurde gerade geschlossen – und eine dritte in Brasilien. Die Art und Weise, wie die Klingen hergestellt werden, ist überaus faszinierend. Sie werden in einem Stück aus Eisen gegossen und anschließend von einem einzelnen Mann in nur fünf Minuten in ihre spätere Form geschlagen. Perfekt. Die Arbeiter folgen allein ihrem Wissen und ihrer Intuition und brauchen keine Kataloge, die ihnen von Ingenieuren geschrieben wurden. Ich wollte mit dieser Ausstellung zeigen, dass es nicht stimmt, dass Menschen, die mit ihrer Hand arbeiten, nicht denken müssen. Das Schmieden von Klingen erfordert eine besondere Intelligenz. Doch genau darin liegt auch das Problem: Die, die es machen könnten, sitzen heute viel lieber vor dem Computer. Das Wissen über die Herstellung solcher Werkzeuge geht Stück für Stück verloren. Von archaischer Wirkung ist auch die aus einer Eisenbahnschiene geformte Schale „la putrella“, die Sie 1958 entworfen haben. Ich habe dieses Objekt gemacht, weil mich Schienen schon immer fasziniert haben. Sie entspringen einer reellen Technologie und nicht der Technologie des Designs. Sie sind ein Objekt, das zudem die Geschichte der Menschen perfekt wiedergibt. Ich finde es immer ein wenig seltsam, wenn in den Bildern für die Kataloge Birnen oder irgendwelches anderes Obst in diese Schale gelegt wird. Denn darum ging es nicht. Der Entwurf ist vor allem eine Idee, die in den Jahren entstand, als ich mich mit der Technologie moderner Maschinen auseinandergesetzt habe. Zur selben Zeit habe ich auch mit Marmor gearbeitet, da mir verschiedene Architekten damals gesagt hatten, dass diese oder jene Formen nicht aus Marmor herzustellen wären. Also habe ich sehr einfache Objekte gemacht, die mit den gängigen Maschinen produziert wurden, nur um ihnen zu zeigen, dass es dennoch geht. Diese Entwürfe sind für mich vor allem Objekte der Demonstration. Lehrstücke. Sie haben auch zahlreiche Bücher und Spiele für Kinder verfasst, in denen Sie zum Beispiel die Verwandlung einer Raupe in einen Schmetterling zeigen... Ja, es ist gar nicht so einfach, etwas für Kinder zu entwerfen. Denn die meisten Spielsachen schauen sie sich vielleicht eine halbe Stunde an und danach in ihr Interesse vorbei. Aber das ist normal. Denn Kinder spielen keine Spiele. Sie machen wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen. Sie wollen durch das Spielen die Welt verstehen. Ich glaube, man müsste all die Nobelpreise dieser Welt den Kindern verleihen, da sie intelligenter sind als Einstein. Ohne Nachzudenken verstehen sie selbst die komplizierten Dinge. Ich habe auch einen kleinen Neffen, er ist heute eineinhalb Jahre alt. Er kann noch nicht sprechen und doch interessiert er sich für all die Dinge, die um ihn herum passieren. Er schaut, ob etwas leicht zu greifen, zu öffnen oder zu demontieren ist. Das ist seine Form der Recherche. Ich denke, dass in gewisser Weise auch meine Arbeit das Spielen ist – aus absoluter Leidenschaft. Etwas anderes habe ich nie gemacht. (lächelt) Vielleicht bin ich selbst noch ein kleines Kind, weil ich noch immer meine Spiele spiele. Ich denke, Spielen ist die intelligenteste Aufgabe, die Menschen machen können. Vielen Dank für das Gespräch. TURIN — with an obsession for form and beauty The first time I met Enzo Mari, he was giving a talk at the Serpentine Gallery in London. It turned out to be more of a rant, as the great Italian designer railed scornfully against his pet hates. Design - dead. Architecture - dead too. Western civilization - ditto. Spotting the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas among the audience, he denounced him as "a pornographic window dresser." Afterward I asked Mari if there was any aspect of contemporary life that pleased him. A lengthy silence followed, until he said: "Bread and terrorism." Why terrorism? "Why not?" snorted Mari. "People think it's bad, but if they thought about it, they'd realize it isn't all bad. It changes things." Now 76, Mari is hardly a household name, even in Italy, but he and his volcanic rages are infamous in design circles. Designers enjoy swapping (possibly apocryphal) stories of how he's hurled insults or obscenities, sometimes both, at would-be clients. Former students recall Mari's very long, very loud, unrelentingly nihilistic lectures, and his eerie ability to spot whatever was wrong with their work after the briefest of glances. A cruel irony of Mari's career, not least as he reserves special scorn for what he calls "publicity whores" - the designers who have allowed their public images to overshadow their work - is that the extremes of his personality often threaten to dwarf his. An exhibition that opened last week at Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin as part of the city's World Design Capital celebrations offers a timely reminder of what a gifted designer he is, as does a book of interviews with Mari conducted by the Swiss curator and co-director of the Serpentine, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, which is to be published later this month. "Many of Mari's works are masterpieces - rare combinations of intellectual puzzles and beautiful lines," said the British product designer Jasper Morrison. "Most designers who analyze problems to the extent that he does end up with rather dry, systemized solutions. His works are highly original and uncompromising, with a kind of poetic and heroically human touch." All of these qualities are evident in the Turin retrospective, which features some 250 examples of Mari's work in design and art, chosen by 20 of his friends. It begins with the New York Times, October 2008 experimental paintings he produced in the early 1950s after leaving art school, and is dominated visually by his spectacular contribution to the 1976 Venice Art Biennale, some 44 marble pieces sculpted into seductively fluid shapes that slot together to form a giant hammer and sickle (Mari is a veteran communist) like a children's puzzle. But, whether or not he likes it, Mari's work as an artist looks like a rarefied warm-up for the beautifully resolved furniture, objects, ceramics, books and games he has designed for Danese and other manufacturers in the last 50 years. To Mari, design is all about creating forms, or shapes. "Form is everything" comes a close second to "design is dead" in his top two sayings, and he is exceptionally good at it. Object after object in the show, whether it's a chair, table, glass, vase, teapot or paper knife is stripped down to the simplest possible shape, yet perfectly proportioned and detailed. It's a cheesy cliché to describe design as sculptural, but Mari's is. It also seems so tactile, that you long to pick up each object and use it, rather than simply looking at it. The objective, as Mari explained to Obrist, is less about pleasing the user, than the factory workers who make his products. One of his pet theories (a typically idiosyncratic conflation of the Communist Manifesto and Arts and Crafts Movement idealism) is that designers have a responsibility to liberate workers from the drudgery of what Mari calls their "alienated labor" by creating inspiring products for them to make in "transformative work." Laudable though this is, it seems rather quaint in a post-industrial era when the European factory workers whom Mari seeks to liberate are already an endangered species. The same can be said for his obsession with form at a time when combating environmental crisis is the overwhelming challenge in design and our perceptions of form have been transformed by the emergence of digital products like laptops and cellphones, whose appearance bears no relation to their multifarious functions. But Mari has no truck with technology, which he sees as a potentially dangerous diversion from the manual skills that are essential to a designer. (While the snowyhaired designer was inspecting his exhibition last week, a sharpened pencil peeped up from his jacket pocket as if ready for action.) Yet other aspects of his approach to design seem strikingly contemporary. One is Mari's refusal to discriminate between his work in art and design. (The exhibition is entitled "The Art of Design.") Another is a fascination, shared with his contemporary, the late Achille Castiglioni, for everyday objects, like tools, whose beauty is often neglected. Among the loveliest pieces in the exhibition are some scythes that Mari found and framed. He also pioneered many now-fashionable concepts in furniture design, such as multifunctionality. One of his pet rants is the failure of the original manufacturer to put his 1970 design for a sofa-cum-bed into production. The following year he designed guidelines for wooden furniture that consumers could assemble themselves and customize to suit their needs. Mari believed that they would be more appreciative of something they had made. The only disappointment with the Turin show is that its design is rather conventional, especially compared to the ingenious exhibition concepts that Mari dreamt up for Danese in the 1960s, including one built in cardboard. His chief indulgence is the recreation of an installation originally made for a 1987 exhibition in San Marino consisting of three gravestones. One bears the symbol of a cross, another a hammer and sickle, and the third a swastika. "The cross symbolizes the promise of paradise after death and the hammer and sickle paradise in this life," explained Mari. "The swastika represents reality." July 23, 2006 POSSESSED The Wood Menagerie By DAVID COLMAN WHEN you think about it, isn’t the vaunted search for meaning a bit overrated? Heaven knows, there is plenty around. To a child, for example, a stop sign means little more than a pretty red octagon to admire. To an adult, it has layers of meaning: warning, direction, authority, history, memory, impatience. Even a stop sign comes with baggage. The industrial designer Yves Behar appreciates the process by which a thing acquires meaning, having worked for companies like Apple and Hewlett-Packard, transforming the beige plastic machines into intriguing objects emitting status, ease and, above all else, the future. His work is a strong reflection of the fact that when it comes to design, that mighty 20th-century line between home and office has eroded so much as to be almost meaningless. Consider his new Leaf task lamp for Herman Miller: it is two hinged pieces of twisted metal tipped with a cluster of light-emitting diodes that change from a high-intensity work light to romantic mood light, from coffee to Chianti with the adman’s touch of a finger. The lamp underscores how that line has eroded between not just home and office but also work and play. That is certainly true of one of Mr. Behar’s favorite possessions, a children’s puzzle designed in solid oak in 1960 by the Italian modernist Enzo Mari. “I’ve been collecting products and cartoon books that the Italians were making for kids in the 1950’s,” Mr. Behar said, noting how thoughtfully designed many of the toys are. “They really celebrate the intelligence of kids.” If not adults. The Enzo Mari zoo-nigma, still in production 46 years later, is made up of 16 individual animals — hippo, python, giraffe, pig — that interlock in what appears to be a kindergarten-simple puzzle. Once freed, however, the animals are difficult to put neatly back in the box. Even after 10 years of play, Mr. Behar frequently finds himself bested. “I don’t always succeed in getting it together,” he said. “It’s beautiful as a zoo. You have all these possibilities, playing with the animals. It’s different than playing with something and having a single purpose.” As a youngster, Mr. Behar was “completely a Lego fanatic, building entire landscapes,” he said, but the puzzle is not something he plays with for hours. Rather, it is a plaything and object of contemplation, sitting out onday. a coffee table hiskinds houseofinwork Oakland Hills, easy Calif., to toy with For hispart beach house even of his “There areattwo in design, and hard,” heabsently. said. “The easy has to dohe with bought the companion puzzle — all fish — that Mr. Mari designed in 1974. styling and form.” Unlike Mr.simple, Behar’sthe work, which for all into its imagination involves weighing any number mind-numbing Naïve and puzzle lulls him a childlike world in which pure form takes of over and more driving practical concerns and details, the zoo puzzle, $478 at Design Within Reach, represents an escape at the end concerns slip away. “That’s why I like it,” he said. “It’s never stuck in being one thing.” So why look for meaning when it’s so good at finding you? Far better to find a way to let your search engine idle. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us New York Times, July 2006 Site Map Ettore Sottsass, Enzo Mari, Andrea Branzi, Alessandro Mendini, Vico Magistretti. Il mondo degli oggetti, voi, lo conoscete bene. Conoscete l Ettore Sottsass, Enzo Mari, Andrea Branzi, Alessandro Mendini, Vico Magistretti. The world of objects is very familiar to you. You are familiar with Periodico mensile/Spedizione in abbonamento postale 45%/art.2/comma 20/B, legge 662/96 Filiale di Milano 869 giocare. Siete stati capaci di pensarne di sublimi e ironici. Utili e scomod in migliaia di copie o solo disegnati. E conoscete bene anche il mondo c realizza gli oggetti dell’industrial design. Una moltitudine di aziende, d e scambi internazionali, macchine a controllo numerico e manodopera i o in India. Un mondo molecolare che oggi sembra in difficoltà, in un me che è invaso da copie a basso costo e da utensili “in stile”. E che tuttavi ad attirare capitali e finanziamenti da tutto il mondo, portatori di regol nuovi; a volte dinamici, a volte dirompenti, distruttivi. Cosa sta succede Cosa accadrà a quella piccola porzione di oggetti disegnati che in questi ci ha accompagnato: ammiccanti, geniali, seducenti? Che utilità sociale il vostro lavoro? E cosa ne sarà delle migliaia di studenti che in tutto il m cercano di seguire il vostro esempio? Insomma: c’è ancora un destino – in Italia e nel mondo – per quella strana sfera di cose, macchine e simb che abbiamo chiamato “industrial design”? Fateci capire, per favore. Rivista mensile di Architettura, Design, Arte e Informazione Monthly review of Architecture, Design, Art and Information Aprile / April 2004 € 8.50 Italy only - www.domusweb.it Domus, April 2004 gistretti. Il mondo degli oggetti, voi, lo conoscete bene. Conoscete la loro ambigua natura – il loro essere sia cose che simboli – e sapete come controllarla. Con gli oggetti sapete retti. The world of objects is very familiar to you. You are familiar with their ambiguous nature – their way of being ‘things’ as well as symbols; and you know how to manipulate them, re. Siete stati capaci di pensarne di sublimi e ironici. Utili e scomodi. Venduti gliaia di copie o solo disegnati. E conoscete bene anche il mondo che produce, za gli oggetti dell’industrial design. Una moltitudine di aziende, dinastie locali mbi internazionali, macchine a controllo numerico e manodopera in Cina ndia. Un mondo molecolare che oggi sembra in difficoltà, in un mercato invaso da copie a basso costo e da utensili “in stile”. E che tuttavia continua tirare capitali e finanziamenti da tutto il mondo, portatori di regole e principi ; a volte dinamici, a volte dirompenti, distruttivi. Cosa sta succedendo? accadrà a quella piccola porzione di oggetti disegnati che in questi anni accompagnato: ammiccanti, geniali, seducenti? Che utilità sociale ha oggi tro lavoro? E cosa ne sarà delle migliaia di studenti che in tutto il mondo no di seguire il vostro esempio? Insomma: c’è ancora un destino – a Milano, lia e nel mondo – per quella strana sfera di cose, macchine e simboli bbiamo chiamato “industrial design”? Fateci capire, per favore. how to play with them. You dream them up, sublime and ironic, useful and awkward. Simply sketched or sold by the thousand they have the potential to be icons of our daily existence. You are also very familiar with the world of industrial design production. A multitude of companies; local dynasties and international trade; CNC machinery and Chinese or Indian labour. A molecular world that today seems to be in difficulty in a marketplace flooded by cheap copies and ‘period’ production, but nevertheless it continues to attract investment from all around the world, bringing new rules and principles, at times invigorating, at times crushing and destructive. What is happening? What lies in store for that small cluster of design objects that has accompanied us over the years, enticing us with their genius and charm? What social utility does your work have these days? And what will become of the legions of students that try to follow in your footsteps? In short: Is there still a future (in Milan, in Italy, and in the world) for that strange realm of things, of machines and of symbols we call Industrial Design? Please help us to understand. Nel mondo degli oggetti Andrea Branzi Ettore Sottsass Alessandro Mendini Hans Ulrich Obrist In the Stefan In the World of Objects Stefano Boeri Enzo Mari Diagrammi, allievi, ricordi, schizzi, pettegolezzi, ironie, progetti, perplessità, incazzature, silenzi e alcune fulminanti idee da cinque grandi esploratori del mondo degli oggetti Diagrams, students, memories, sketches, gossip, sarcasm, projects, perplexities, wrath, silence and a few fierce ideas from five great explorers of the world of objects A cura di / Edited by Maria Cristina Tommasini Fotografia di/Photography by Ramak Fazel Vico Magistretti domus Il settore dell’industrial design è in crisi, eppure mai come oggi sembra attrarre grandi gruppi finanziari e industriali – come le grandi aziende della moda – che comprano, accorpano, chiamano nuovi amministratori. Cosa sta succedendo? Vico Magistretti È uno sfascio totale. Oggi non esiste nulla di paragonabile a quello che è successo in Italia dalla metà degli anni Cinquanta in avanti. L’Italian design è nato per la produzione di qualità. I mobilieri come Cesare Cassina ci chiedevano idee: uniche, nuove, strepitose... Ettore Sottsass Quel periodo felice di cui un sogno... ma quando è possibile va comunque perseguito. ES C’è una sorta di destino antropologico nella cosiddetta "cultura industriale". Dal momento in cui hai una macchina che produce molti prodotti, per vendere devi saper gestire altre sfere oltre alla produzione: la seduzione, la pubblicità e il mercato. L’ingresso delle finanziarie nel mondo del design è un cataclisma… Andrea Branzi Succede quello che è già accaduto nella moda. I gruppi finanziari sono entrati nel settore con lo stesso criterio con cui una volta si entrava nelle industrie di tondini: si investe tanto per ricavare tanto… Ma le perduto. Io sono nato nel ‘controdesign’, non in quel "bel design", che negli anni Sessanta ha vissuto un momento negativo di iper-consumismo e che infatti ha poi prodotto la reazione del contro-design. Oggi c’è una situazione dove l’economia e il tecnicismo si mangiano tutto. I problemi del design per me non sono il fatto che Charme (la finanziaria che possiede in parte, tra l’altro, Poltrona Frau, e che fa riferimento a Luca Cordero di Montezemolo) compri o meno Cappellini, ma che ormai quasi tutti i prodotti che ci capita di disegnare siano fatti in Cina. Il baricentro si è spostato là. edonistica. Dunque, tipi di qualità: quella (a destra del diagram acquista (a sinistra). di divisione verticale voti da 1 (qualità bas Preciso che mi riferis La Cina è oggi il vero luogo della produzione, e quindi del design e della tecnologia. È così e basta: non ha senso piangerci sopra…. Sarebbe magari auspicabile una nuova stagione di radicalismo… ES Sono pazzeschi i cinesi. Abbiamo mandato un disegno di posate con un prototipo e nel giro di due giorni avevamo indietro le posate in acciaio inossidabile, perfette. Non è la tecnologia che permette questa velocità: sono la voglia, l’entusiasmo, il fanatismo e la voglia di rivincita. Quando cade un regime autoritario o finisce una guerra, c’è sempre una grande speranza esistenziale, perché è finito il pericolo, è finita la paura. È successo in Italia, in Spagna dopo la caduta di Franco, e adesso in Cina, dove sperano di poter ridisegnare tutto quanto in fretta. Al fondo del design c’è sempre un mood generale. È un’intera società a volere qualche cosa di nuovo. di circa 40 milioni di (inventando i numer livello di qualità dell design scopro che: la di Brunellesch è oggi pari a z riguardare un solo p La qualità 8 è ricond la qualità 7 a 22, la q a 99, la qualità 4 a 19 la 2 a 39.000. Infine, produttori. parla Magistretti non aveva designer ma architetti, architetti intellettualizzati come Franco Albini e lo stesso Magistretti – io allora ero piccolo (ride)…. Ma eravamo tutti architetti. Oggi ci sono le scuole di design, che non offrono più la preparazione vasta e articolata di cui noi disponevamo. Ma anche i produttori erano diversi; erano giovani industriali – quasi tutti antifascisti, entrati nell’industria dei padri appena finita la guerra – che speravano che l’Italia potesse dire qualcosa di nuovo, socialmente ed eticamente. Ci hanno seguito con grande passione etica, ma non erano veri industriali; domus E la qualità d erano artigiani meccanizzati. Enzo Mari Industriali che non conoscevano l’orrore della produzione industriale e rischiavano ingenuamente in attrezzature. Qualche volta andava bene, spesso fallivano. Non dobbiamo dimenticare che il design italiano è stato fatto da quel 51 per cento di appassionati che – di fronte ad una Milano e a un Paese distrutti dalla guerra – sognavano di costruire un mondo nuovo. Nella mia esperienza di cinquant’anni di professione e 2.000 progetti, ho visto che ogni volta che un imprenditore muore, l’azienda fallisce. Insomma, il design è entrato in crisi quando è diventato una macchina per i furbetti della pianura padana… Il sogno che il design possa diventare un prodotto industriale continua a rimanere 24 domus Aprile April 2004 aziende dell’industrial design sono organismi delicati, strutture improvvisate, fragili, e quando li fai saltare di dimensione o di assetto, rischiano di crollare. Le industrie dell’arredamento ruotano intorno al loro proprietario, spesso anche fondatore. Se lo esautori, rischi di svuotare la realtà imprenditoriale che hai comprato. Alessandro Mendini Davvero non mi interessa il paragone nostalgico tra i guai dell’oggi ed un passato felice e EM Vi disegno un diagramma che parte del presupposto che l’industrial design sia ‘qualità’. Come sappiamo, la qualità è una definizione relativa, che si può definire solo per comparazione (un cavallo corre più veloce di un altro cavallo, ecc.). AB Il tuo punto di vista della qualità è estremamente limitato. EM No. Per me l’unica cosa che conta è la qualità, e non parlo di qualità EM È una qualità rif milioni di persone. A troviamo un signore Platone, Adamo Smit ascolta Monteverdi. in tutta Italia è propr persone. La qualità 9 riconoscere a 87 pers qualità 8 a 290, la 7 a 2.320, la 5 a 15.000, l 3 a 153.000 e più, la 2 livello 1 ci sono 38 m utilizzatori. La cosa impressionante di qu diagramma è che no mai relazioni incroci produzione di qualtà mercato: chi mai produrrebbe u oggetto di qua eccelsa se i suo ipotetici comp sono solo 22? D chi sta al livello 1 del tutti; ma questo non che si trova in ES Io ho lavorato co o nato nel ‘contro- quel "bel design", che negli issuto un momento negativo mo e che infatti ha poi ne del contro-design. Oggi c’è ve l’economia e il tecnicismo . I problemi del design per me he Charme (la finanziaria che tra l’altro, Poltrona Frau, e a Luca Cordero di mpri o meno Cappellini, si tutti i prodotti che ci capita fatti in Cina. Il baricentro edonistica. Dunque, dobbiamo distinguere due tipi di qualità: quella di chi produce (a destra del diagramma) e quella di chi acquista (a sinistra). Tra le due traccio una linea di divisione verticale e quindi attribuisco dei voti da 1 (qualità bassa) a 10 (massima). Preciso che mi riferisco all’Italia e a un bacino nello schema di Mari si porrebbe nei livelli più alti. In Olivetti si discutevano non tanto le vendite quanto le culture della produzione. Ma le condizioni della produzione sono diventate, col tempo, sempre più feroci. Però io credo che la corrispondenza tra i livelli (di produzione e uso), che Mari ha ipotizzato nel AB La verità è che il design non è mai stato per davvero industriale. È un mondo che produce una sorta di semio- sfera. Montezemolo crede di comprare con Cappellini una fabbrica, invece si trova in mano una griffe, carta intestata, negozi, degli art director, immagini, icone… Compra seduzione. hi i cinesi. Abbiamo mandato ate con un prototipo e nel giro amo indietro le posate in e, perfette. Non è la mette questa velocità: sono la mo, il fanatismo e la voglia di cade un regime autoritario o , c’è sempre una grande ale, perché è finito il pericolo, successo in Italia, in Spagna Franco, e adesso in Cina, dove disegnare tutto quanto in unica cosa che conta e non parlo di qualità domus Memphis è stato un affare? abbia cominciato a pensare come vendere i suoi quadri. Quando provo a disegnare cose da vendere, va sempre a finire male. Se invece penso che un’oliera vada fatta in un certo modo e la disegno così, allora si vende. Sarebbe magari una nuova stagione mo… i vista della qualità è itato. contano molto, a volte più delle leggi della finanza. ES Io ho una teoria che mi ha seguito nella e quindi del design e della e basta: non ha senso diagramma che parte del industrial design sia ppiamo, la qualità è una a, che si può definire solo per cavallo corre più veloce di un . qualcosa di irraggiungibile, uno status… A conferma che gli stati psichici vita: se tu ti disinteressi del denaro lui si ingelosisce e ti corre dietro. Io non credo che Picasso gi il vero luogo della o del design n mood generale. società a volere a di nuovo. impiegati di Messina, che cercavano AM Sì, ma l’acquisto di Cappellini da parte di di circa 40 milioni di persone. Se assegno (inventando i numeri) una quantità a ciascun livello di qualità della produzione di industrial design scopro che: la qualità 10 (quella di Brunelleschi e Michelangelo) è oggi pari a zero, la qualità 9 può riguardare un solo produttore. La qualità 8 è riconducibile a 7 produttori, la qualità 7 a 22, la qualità 6 a 58, la qualità 5 a 99, la qualità 4 a 198, la qualità 3 a 2.170, la 2 a 39.000. Infine, al livello 1 ci sono 159.231 produttori. domus E la qualità di chi compra? EM È una qualità riferita a 40 milioni di persone. Al livello 10 troviamo un signore che ha letto Platone, Adamo Smith, Carlo Marx, ascolta Monteverdi. La qualità 10 in tutta Italia è propria di 22 persone. La qualità 9 si può riconoscere a 87 persone, la qualità 8 a 290, la 7 a 700, la 6 a 2.320, la 5 a 15.000, la 4 a 29.312, la 3 a 153.000 e più, la 2 a 930.000. Al livello 1 ci sono 38 milioni di utilizzatori. La cosa impressionante di questo diagramma è che non si registrano mai relazioni incrociate. Perché la produzione di qualtà non ha mercato: chi mai produrrebbe un oggetto di qualità eccelsa se i suoi ipotetici compratori sono solo 22? D’altro canto chi sta al livello 1 della produzione produce per tutti; ma questo non è design, è la fuffa che si trova in giro. ES Io ho lavorato con Olivetti, un’azienda che Poltrona Frau (e quindi di Charme) va visto con attenzione, perché Cappellini non è certo un’industria. È un interessante fenomeno sperimentale, che spesso ha reso vacui gli oggetti. I suoi prodotti sono privi di motivazione sociale: propongono una sorta di circolo di forme belle come la cipria ma vuote, che imitano lo stilismo della moda ma non ne hanno la forza sostanziale e strutturale… ES Ma questo è il grande rischio della nostra professione, perché noi non conosciamo il cliente: è solo una nebbia che viene esaminata dai professori suo diagramma, sia sbagliata. Quando abbiamo fatto Memphis – che in quanto a qualità (almeno nelle nostre pretese) era in fondo al diagramma – i nostri mobili non erano comprati dalla borghesia milanese, ma dagli del marketing, che si affidano alle statistiche (adesso va il blu, le donne si vogliono vestire di chiaro ecc.). La vita del cliente non c’è; è lontana, inaccessibile. Io cerco di frequentare il più possibile i miei clienti, ci vado a cena, ci chiacchiero. Alla fine so cosa progettare, senza che loro me lo dicano. EM Il design era nato per produrre degli oggetti che non fossero alla moda, che durassero nel tempo. La moda è invece un Aprile April 2004 domus 25 26 domus Aprile April 2004 Aprile April 2004 domus 27 meccanismo fondamentale della merce, che se non si cambia di continuo, non si vende. Il design è stato costretto in questi ultimi anni a diventare moda, perché ha prodotto un’eccessiva quantità di seggiole, lampade… Tutto è già stato fatto... Il problema del design è piuttosto che non produce abbastanza visioni, non ha strategie complessive, invenzioni. AB Ecco il malinteso: sembra che il design industriale sia effettivamente una macchina con delle logiche dure, rigide, mentre in verità produce una sorta di sonorità ambientale, di sottofondo immateriale – si pensi a quello che succede a Milano durante il Salone del Mobile. ES Se sappiamo che tutto è relativo diventiamo di una modestia pazzesca. Ma tu non credi che tutto sia relativo, piuttosto credi di uscire dalla relatività e ti arrabbi. EM Io mi arrabbio perché sono appassionato, come voi del resto, perché amo profondamente il mio lavoro. AM Anche io sono appassionato, ma gioco e non mi arrabbio. Pur facendo dei giochi seri, col fuoco. HUO Quali sono oggi i luoghi di produzione del sapere a Milano? AM Non sono tanto le scuole, ma alcuni studi professionali, o alcune riviste… Ettore, anche l’industrializzazione, ma piuttosto l’inaridimento di certe strutture che dovrebbero stimolare riflessioni più vaste: la cultura del progetto è sempre stata una branca – anche se autonoma, non integrata – della cultura di sinistra. Ed è questa cultura che oggi è in profonda crisi… ES Quando disegno non cerco di salvare il mondo, cerco di salvare me stesso. Faccio il mio disegnino, lo metto una ragazza irlandese e strano senso della scult ES La domanda è fuorv che il designer sia un pe un artista, un pittore… non c’è oggi questa situ per fare un esempio, in interna di design dove s disegnare, a volte il più sul tavolo e poi quello che succede, succede. Non sono un rivoluzionario né un missionario. Il progettista ind deve avere per fo personalità ecce quando andavo in una latteria alla mattina, dove due vecchi vendevano biscotti e latte. Tutto era fatto di laminato ed era così pieno di innocenza e di grazia che ho pensato si AB È vero. La scuola no funzione di formare i pr ma piuttosto i quadri in Domus Academy ricor Memphis mi è venuta in mente Hans Ulrich Obrist In questo stesso momento, migliaia di direttori di centri di ricerca francesi si stanno dimettendo dai loro incarichi. La situazione in Europa è drammatica; i ricercatori scappano negli Stati Uniti o in Asia. E a proposito di crisi delle istituzioni di produzione della conoscenza, sarebbe interessante parlare di Olivetti, dove l’idea di Gyorgi Kepes di superare i timori di mettere insieme conoscenze diverse fu realizzata all’interno di un’industria. figure ecceziona un elenco di tan designer. Tuttavia, rilevanti oggi è la cresci progettisti di qualità no ad altri meccanismi. Al possono vedere tantissi molti dei quali probabi mai nel mercato, e forse neppure come obiettivo vera e propria m progettisti: una ES Olivetti non era solo un luogo di conoscenza. Realizzava istituzioni per la conoscenza: gli asili nido, le scuole dei bambini, la biblioteca, l’ospedale vicino alle case. potesse fare poesia anche con il laminato, non solo con il noce. HUO Chi sono oggi i giovani designer più promettenti? EM L’unica speranza per cambiare la parte centrale del mio diagramma sarebbe proprio la scuola, se la scuola aspirasse alla qualità vera. Ma oggi non è così. domus Ma non è un po’ qualunquista dire che la scuola non insegna nulla? EM Qualunquista io? Se parliamo di qualità... si può proprio dire che la scuola di design non la insegna. Parlo dopo averlo verificato concretamente cento volte... AB Ma potresti sempre sbagliare. EM Certo posso sbagliare. È tutto relativo. 28 domus Aprile April 2004 la tua Memphis è stato un luogo del sapere. ES La nostra Memphis. Eravamo sempre ubriachi… Avevamo il problema di rompere il nodo culturale della borghesia. La Memphis è venuta dopo dieci anni di discorsi attorno all’utilità sociale della nostra professione. La Memphis e il contro-design erano delle urla che invocavano un cambiamento… AB I primi laboratori autonomi come Memphis e Alchimia, iniziative al di fuori da committenze industriali precise, sono nati in Italia. L’idea era che dentro il design ci dovesse essere la ricerca, la sperimentazione. Oggi il problema non è EM Non ricordo alcun giovane progettista italiano emerso negli ultimi quindici anni. Li importiamo dalla Francia, dalla Spagna, dalla Germania, dal Brasile. Ho fatto un calcolo empirico. In Europa i giovani trentacinquenni appena diplomati in design sono circa tre milioni. In Lituania ci sono sei scuole di design, in Liechtenstein due, l’Andorra ne ha due. Io penso che la qualità sia un bene molto raro e che uno su mille ha il sangue rosso della qualità (anche se il vero rapporto sarebbe di 1 su 10.000): su un campione di tre milioni, sarebbero quindi 3.000. Invece, non ne emerge nemmeno uno. Ecco il degrado della scuola! Un tempo il design italiano era fatto da umanisti e non da tecnici. Il design muore quando si pretende che diventi una scuola tecnica. VM Io insegno da 20-22 anni al Royal College of Arts di Londra e ricordo al massimo cinque o sei designer di qualità, tra i quali Jasper Morrison e Konstantin Grcic. Alcuni sono andato a cercarli in seguito a scuola, perché mi avevano colpito. Tra questi Kazuhiko Tomita, un giapponese, che ho anche ospitato nel mio studio a Milano. Progettava un pianoforte con la tastiera verticale… Ricordo poi progettante… AM È quello che accad anche in quelle dei geo diplomati e i laureati br tanti, ma di eccellenti i ogni tanto. Io ho studia Università che e totale, molto peggio quando io frequentavo esterno esisteva una at che offriva dei contenu suggestioni, idee. Usc avevi di che ragi situazione che ti spinge all’autodidattism complessità e gli studen di formalismo. Il design qualità alta, ma spesso EM Quando Branzi par , ma piuttosto te strutture che dovrebbero più vaste: la cultura sempre stata una e autonoma, non integrata di sinistra. Ed è ggi è in profonda crisi… segno non cerco di do, cerco di salvare una ragazza irlandese e un australiano con uno strano senso della scultura. ES La domanda è fuorviante, perché implica che il designer sia un personaggio eccezionale, un artista, un pittore… Ma nell’industrial design non c’è oggi questa situazione. Al punto che, per fare un esempio, in Sony c’è una scuola interna di design dove si impara solo a disegnare, a volte il più minuto dei componenti. o il mio disegnino, lo metto o che succede, succede. onario né un missionario. Il progettista industriale non deve avere per forza una personalità eccezionale… o in una latteria alla ecchi vendevano biscotti e di laminato ed era così di grazia che ho pensato si AB È vero. La scuola non ha mai avuto la funzione di formare i protagonisti del design, ma piuttosto i quadri intermedi. In vent’anni di Domus Academy ricordo pochissime venuta in mente prepara quadri per l’industria si contraddice. I ragazzi di oggi non sanno che cosa sono le viti, non sanno niente, non sanno nemmeno respirare. AB Infatti quella sarebbe una scuola per metalmeccanici… ES Gli studenti non sanno spesso cosa fare. Sono davanti a un computer aspettando che dallo schermo arrivi qualche cosa… Avevo un collaboratore inglese. Un giovanotto, mi sembrava bravo. Un giorno chiacchierando ho fatto il nome di Dioniso. Lui mi ha guardato e ha chiesto: "Cos’è Dioniso?". 0-22 anni al Royal College of ordo al massimo esigner di qualità, rison e Konstantin Grcic. cercarli in seguito a scuola, olpito. Tra questi Kazuhiko se, che ho anche ospitato no. Progettava un tiera verticale… Ricordo poi non solo cose che si guardano e si usano, magari distrattamente. Bere acqua in un bicchiere di carta oleata sull’autostrada e berla in un bicchiere di cristallo sono gesti diversi. Nel primo caso, mentre bevi, quasi ti dimentichi di rilevanti oggi è la crescita del numero di progettisti di qualità non legato alle scuole, ma ad altri meccanismi. Al Salone del Mobile, si possono vedere tantissimi progetti di qualità, molti dei quali probabilmente non entreranno mai nel mercato, e forse non se lo propongono neppure come obiettivo. Ma oggi c’è una vera e propria massa di progettisti: una società esistere; nel secondo caso – per il peso, per la fragilità, per la trasparenza, per il non-sapore – sai di avere in mano uno strumento che ti porta a riflettere su quello che in quel momento stai vivendo. Cogli queste differenze e ti poni questi problemi solo se conosci bene la vita, le vite, le storie antiche, i fantasmi del passato e quelli del futuro… giovani designer nti? esign muore tende che diventi nica. Un designer dovrebbe sapere che gli oggetti possono diventare lo strumento di un rito esistenziale, e figure eccezionali, ma potrei fare un elenco di tanti bravi giovani designer. Tuttavia, uno dei fenomeni anche con il laminato, non un giovane progettista i ultimi quindici anni. Li ancia, dalla Spagna, dalla e. Ho fatto un calcolo giovani trentacinquenni design sono circa tre i sono sei scuole di design, , l’Andorra ne ha due. Io sia un bene molto raro e l sangue rosso della qualità porto sarebbe di 1 su one di tre milioni, 00. Invece, non ne emerge il degrado della scuola! Un ano era fatto da umanisti e una foglia di banano, per vestito hanno un quadrato di tela, si siedono per terra quindi non hanno tavoli o sedie. L’unico oggetto che tutti hanno è una ciotola per i liquidi, che assume nella loro vita un vero, alto, senso di sacralità. Perché è tutto quello che posseggono per sopravvivere. domus È questo l’industrial design? ES No, questo non è industrial design: è design. progettante… AM È quello che accade in tutte le scuole, anche in quelle dei geometri e degli ingegneri. I diplomati e i laureati bravi e responsabili sono tanti, ma di eccellenti ingegneri ne nasce uno ogni tanto. Io ho studiato in una Università che era un disastro totale, molto peggio di quella odierna. Ma quando io frequentavo quella scuola, al suo esterno esisteva una attività sociale e politica che offriva dei contenuti importanti: conflitti, suggestioni, idee. Uscivi dalle aule e avevi di che ragionare. Una situazione che ti spingeva all’autodidattismo. Adesso c’è troppa complessità e gli studenti possono giocare solo di formalismo. Il design è vuoto e vacuo. C’è una qualità alta, ma spesso solo pseudo-scultorea. EM Quando Branzi parla di una scuola che Gli ho detto: "Senti, se non sai chi è Dioniso, esci da questa porta…" domus Davvero Dioniso è così importante? ES Se un designer inglese non sa che tipo di divinità era Dioniso – feroce, felice, ubriaca, sessualmente attiva – non sa che cosa disegna. Dioniso rappresenta il Mediterraneo, che è già in sé un catalogo esistenziale: profumi, colori, vegetazione speciale, antichi fantasmi… Quando disegno penso a questo mondo, perché è nella mia testa. Naturalmente non tutti devono sapere che cosa è il Mediterraneo, la stessa attenzione può riguardare altri luoghi, ad esempio l’India, dove le persone non hanno niente: mangiano con le mani, mettono il cibo su Aprile April 2004 domus 29 L’idea Una sera d’inverno, a Milano, a discutere di design. Gli invitati I grandi maestri del design italiano. Il luogo Un ristorante, meglio una saletta privata, forse è preferibile una casa… La casa del direttore di Domus. L’organizzazione Una settimana per individuare partecipanti e spettatori attivi, definire i dettagli tecnici, scegliere il menù… 10 marzo 2004, ore 20,30 La tavola è apparecchiata, i microfoni ben mimetizzati, i cavalletti piazzati nei punti strategici, le lampade accese… Gli invitati arrivano alla spicciolata. Bicchieri di vino, stuzzichini e qualche chiacchiera per superare piccoli imbarazzi e ingannare l’attesa. Ci sono tutti. Il ritratto Nello studio professionale del direttore. Stesso pianerottolo. Come sfondo, una parete dipinta per l’occasione di grigio. Due ‘maestri’ disegnano con un gessetto sulla lavagna improvvisata. Gli altri tre fanno gruppo a sé. Ridono, si raccontano aneddoti. “Non mi sono mai divertito tanto come quella volta…” (Quando?). Flash e sorrisi. L’unico teso, ma non troppo, sembra essere il fotografo. O forse il cuoco. Il risotto è pronto… Una piccola folla di spettatori assiste alla recita dei cinque. Tutti hanno la percezione che il ritratto sarà fantastico. A tavola Il direttore distribuisce i posti a tavola. Più del previsto! Qualcuno si rifiuta di cominciare. “Se siamo in 13, io non posso mangiare!”. Si trova un altro commensale e subito il problema cessa di esistere. Parole Una forchettata di risotto e il direttore lancia il sasso. “Cosa ne pensate della nuova Domus?”. “Mi piace moltissimo”. “Grafica pornografica”. “È molto coraggiosa!”. “Non capisco il fotoromanzo”. “È fluida, ma i testi sono poco leggibili, il corpo è troppo piccolo…”. La passione cresce, l’argomento infervora tutti. La discussione si allarga a temi più generali. Design e disegno industriale. L’Italian design è opera degli architetti e di pochi imprenditori appassionati. Tutto è design, niente lo è. I prodotti reali del design italiano sono le scuole e le riviste. Il design non è moda. Certi oggetti di design sono diventati forme vacue. Imitano la moda senza averne la forza. Il design è un mood. Il design non è industriale. La Cina sarà in futuro il luogo del design e dell’alta tecnologia. I luoghi del sapere? Gli studi professionali… Il cartoncino segnaposto con gli schizzi di Enzo Mari / Enzo Mari’s cardboard place-names Disegni I fogli di cartoncino usati come segnaposto e le matite messe a tavola insieme alle posate servono a spiegare meglio i concetti. Si improvvisa un diagramma della qualità. I numeri spiegano perché la qualità non possa essere un fenomeno di massa. D’accordo, ma… Ricordi Giunti al filetto, la discussione è avviata e accesa. Un po’ di polemica, qualche ricordo, illuminanti parole, svaporati silenzi. “A me piace incontrare i miei clienti, conoscerli. Prenderne le misure. Come fa un sarto quando deve cucire un abito”. “Frequentavo una latteria. C’era poesia in quelle pareti, in quei semplici tavoli in laminato plastico…”. “Di tutti i miei alunni in ventidue anni d’insegnamento, ne ricordo solo cinque o sei. Uno di questi era un giapponese. Aveva progettato un pianoforte con la tastiera in verticale. Gli ho dato ospitalità nel mio studio per qualche tempo”. Riflessioni “Non si deve dare peso al denaro. Se non ci pensi, il denaro si ingelosisce e ti corre dietro”. “Il futuro dell’uomo sarà determinato dalla fisica e dalla biologia”. “Ci sono tante risposte e nessuna domanda”. “In India la gente è poverissima. Per mangiare si usano le mani, il vestito è un rettangolo di tessuto. Le foglie di banano servono da piatto. L’unico oggetto a cui nessuno può rinunciare è la ciotola”. Convitato di pietra Al dessert, una ciotola di crema bianca guarnita di un solo lampone, la discussione si catalizza nuovamente su Domus. “Viviamo sotto un continuo bombardamento d’immagini. Che ci invitano ad acquistare merci. È necessario frenare il ritmo delle immagini”. “I lettori si aspettano di vedere i progetti con piante e sezioni”. “Riportare l’arte sullo stesso piano dell’architettura significa continuare la tradizione originaria di Domus”. Commiato Dopo che i commensali si sono spontaneamente suddivisi in gruppi più ristretti, alcuni continuano infervorati a discutere, altri se ne vanno. Non ha più senso tenere accesi i registratori e scattare fotografie. È stata una bella serata. Grazie a tutti 11 marzo, ore 0,45 Schizzi di Andrea Branzi sul cartoncino segnaposto / Sketches by Andrea Branzi on his cardboard place-names 30 domus Aprile April 2004 Hans Ulrich Obrist: u names is cardboard place-names The idea On a winter’s evening in Milan to discuss design. The guests The great masters of Italian design. The place A restaurant, better a private room, or preferably maybe somebody’s house… The editor of Domus’s house. Organisation A week to pick active participants and spectators, work out technical details, choose the menu … 10 March 2004, 8.30 pm The table is laid, the microphones carefully concealed, the tripods placed at strategic points, the lamps switched on… The guests trickle in. Glasses of wine, tidbits and chit-chat to get over any minor embarrassments and to pass the time while waiting. Everybody is here. The portrait At the editor’s firm. Same landing. As a backcloth, a wall painted grey for the occasion. Two ‘masters’ draw with chalk on the improvised blackboard. The other three form a separate group, laughing and telling each other stories. “I never enjoyed myself so much as that time…” (when?). Flashes and smiles. The only tense one, though not excessively, seems to be the photographer. Or the cook perhaps. The risotto is ready… A small crowd of spectators watches the five perform. Everybody feels the portrait is going to be fantastic. At table The editor shows the guests to their places. More than expected! Someone refuses to start. “If we are 13, I can’t eat!”. An extra guest is found and the problem ceases to exist. I disegni di Ettore Sottsass durante la cena / Ettore Sottsass’s drawings made during the dinner Words A forkful of risotto and the editor casts his stone. “What do you think of the new Domus?” “I think it’s great”. “Pornographic graphics”. “It has guts!” “I don’t understand the photo-story”. “It’s fluent, but you can hardly read the text, the type size is too small…” The passion surges, the topic excites everybody. The discussion widens to more general matters. Design and industrial design. Italian design was created by architects and a few enthusiastic industrialists. Everything is design, nothing is. The real products of Italian design are the schools and the magazines. Design is not fashion. Certain design objects have become vacuous forms. They imitate fashion without having its impact. Design is a mood. Design is not industrial. China is going to be the place of design and high tech. The places of knowledge? The designers’ offices… Drawings The pieces of cardboard used as place-names and the pencils laid on the table next to the cutlery explain the concepts better. A quality diagram is improvised. Numbers explain why quality cannot be a mass phenomenon. Right, but… Memories By the time the fillet appears, the discussion has warmed up. A bit of controversy, a few recollections, enlightening words, fading silences. “I like to meet my clients, get to know them: size ‘em up. Like a tailor when he has to make a suit.” “I used to frequent one of those latterie, where you could also have lunch. There was poetry in those walls, in those plain plastic laminate tables…” “Of all my students in twenty-twos years’ teaching, I only remember five or six. One of these was Japanese. He had designed a piano with a vartical keyboard. A nutcase! I gave him hospitality in my office for a while.” Reflections “Don’t attach importance to money. If you don’t think about it, money gets jealous and runs after you.” “Man’s future will be decided by physics and biology.” “There are many answers and no question.” In India, people are extremely poor. They eat with their hands, their clothes are a rectangle of fabric. Banana leaves serve as plates. The only object no one can do without is the bowl.” Stone guest When the dessert comes, a bowl of white cream garnished with a single raspberry, the discussion again catalyses on Domus. “We live under a constant bombardment of images. Urging us to buy goods. The pace of these images needs to be slowed down.” “Readers expect to see projects with plans and sections”. “Putting art back on the same level as architecture means carrying on the original Domus tradition.” Leave-taking After the guests have spontaneously split into smaller groups, some continue to argue excitedly, others go home. No point in keeping the recorders on and taking any more photographs. It’s been a lovely evening. Hans Ulrich Obrist: un’architettura di parole e concetti / Hans Ulrich Obrist: architecture made of words and concepts Thanks to everyone. 11 March, 0.45 am Aprile April 2004 domus 31 AB What is happening now is like what happened to fashion. Financial groups entered the business with the same attitude with which one used to enter the iron rod business: you invest so much in order for profit to be so much. But industrial design companies are delicate organisms, improvised and fragile structures, and when you upset their dimensions or their working order, they risk collapsing. Furniture factories revolve around their owner, who is often also the founder. If you deprive him of authority, you risk emptying the entrepreneurial undertaking you just bought. AM I am really uninterested by the nostalgic comparison between today’s problems and EM They were industrialists who were not familiar with the horrors of industrial production and naively took risks in equipping their factories. Sometimes all went well, often they went bankrupt. We must not forget that for 51% of Italian design was made up of aficionados who dreamt of building a new world in the face of a city (Milan) and a country shattered by war. In my experience of 50 years in the profession and 2000 projects, when the entrepreneur dies, his company goes down the tubes. In a word, design fell ill when it became a machine for the parvenus of the Pianura Padana. The dream that design may become an industrial product continues to remain but 32 domus Aprile April 2004 to commence a n radicalism… ES The Chinese are incr silverware design and a days later we received t perfect, in stainless stee that is behind this spee enthusiasm, it’s fanatic revenge. When a dictato ends, there is a welling hope, because the dang has abated. It happene Franco fell, and now in to redesign everything i AB Your view of quality EM No. To me, the on matters is qualit VM It’s a complete breakdown. Today there is nothing that compares with what happened in Italy from the mid-fifties onward. What we call Italian design came forth from quality production. Furniture real industrialists. They were mechanized artisans. and thus of design and way things are, and the about it. It just mig EM I’ll draw you a diag presupposition that Ind As we know, quality is a can only be defined by c runs faster than anothe domus The industrial design field is in trouble, but it seems to be attracting larger financial and industrial groups (like the big fashion houses) than ever before. They are buying, incorporating and calling in new CEOs. What is this all about? ES The happy period that Magistretti is talking about had no designers, but architects. They were intellectualized architects like Franco Albini and Magistretti here. As for myself, I was little then… (laughs) But all of us were architects. Now there are design schools that do not offer the vast and articulate preparation that we had at our disposal. And manufacturers were different too. They were young industrialists, almost all of them antifascists that had entered their fathers’ businesses right after the war. They hoped that Italy could come up with something new, both socially and ethically. They followed us with great ethical passion, but they were not is the real locatio heart of design o find a general m society wanting In the World of Objects manufacturers like Cesare Cassina started asking us for ideas that were unique, new, striking. Cappellini, but that alm happen to design are m epicenter has moved th a dream. But when possible, it should definitely be pursued. ES There is a kind of anthropological destiny in the so-called “industrial culture”. As soon as you have a machine that produces many products, you need to be able to master other domains besides production, meaning: seduction, advertising and the marketplace. Financial groups entering the design world represent cataclysm. yesterday’s lost happiness. I was born in the “counter-design” period, not in the “beautiful design” period which experienced a dip in the ‘60s because of hyperconsumerism, and which then went on to produce the reaction of counter-design. Today there is a situation where the economy and the technical focus eat everything up. For me, the trouble in design is not the fact that Charme (the financial group that owns partially Poltrona Frau, among others, and reports to Luca Cordero di Montezemolo) is or is not buying out about hedonistic qualit distinguish two types of manufacturers (on the r persons buying (on the I’ll draw a vertical line, numbers of points for q quality) to 10 (the maxim Italy and a base of roug by inventing the numbe users to each level of qu production, we see that quality (represe Brunelleschi an is equal to zero t attributed to one single level 8 can be recognize quality level 7 has 22, qu has 99, quality 4 has 198 quality 2 has 39.000, an 159.231 manufacturers o domus And what abou people buying? EM The quality refers t level 10 there are person Adam Smith, Karl Marx a Quality 10 in Italy can be Quality 9 can be attribu to 290, 7 to 700, 6 to 2.3 29.312, 3 to 153.000 and 930.000. At level 1 there buying. The shocking th is that there are no cros because there is no mar production. Who wo an object of exce its hypothetical only 22? On the oth production produces fo not design, that’ see everywhere o ning now is like what n. Financial groups entered he same attitude with which he iron rod business: you rder for profit to be so much. l design companies rganisms, improvised es, and when you upset their working order, they risk e factories revolve around often also the founder. If authority, you risk emptying undertaking you just nterested by the nostalgic n today’s problems and piness. I was born in design” period, not in gn” period which n the ‘60s because of hyperwhich then went on to n of counter-design. Today where the economy and the everything up. For me, the not the fact that Charme that owns partially Poltrona , and reports to Luca Cordero or is not buying out Cappellini, but that almost all the products we happen to design are made in China. The epicenter has moved there. Today, China is the real location of production, and thus of design and technology. That’s the way things are, and there’s no sense crying about it. It just might be desirable to commence a new season of radicalism… ES The Chinese are incredible. We sent over a silverware design and a prototype, and two days later we received the full service back, all perfect, in stainless steel. It is not technology that is behind this speed, it’s will, it’s enthusiasm, it’s fanaticism and the need for revenge. When a dictatorship falls or a war ends, there is a welling up of great existential hope, because the danger has passed, the fear has abated. It happened in Italy, in Spain after Franco fell, and now in China, where they hope to redesign everything in a hurry. At the heart of design one can always find a general mood. It is a whole society wanting something new. EM I’ll draw you a diagram that starts with the presupposition that Industrial Design is quality. As we know, quality is a relative definition that can only be defined by comparison: a horse that runs faster than another horse, etc. AB Your view of quality is extremely limited. EM No. To me, the only thing that matters is quality, and I’m not talking about hedonistic quality. So, we have to distinguish two types of quality: quality of the manufacturers (on the right) and quality of the persons buying (on the left). Between the two, I’ll draw a vertical line, dividing them. Then I list numbers of points for quality, from 1 (low quality) to 10 (the maximum). I am talking about Italy and a base of roughly 40 million users. If, by inventing the numbers, I assign a quantity of users to each level of quality in industrial design production, we see that a 10 value in ES I used to work with Olivetti, a manufacturer that would be attributed to one of the highest quality levels in Mari’s diagram. At Olivetti, there was not so much discussion about sales as there was about production cultures. But production conditions have become quite ferocious over time. But I think that the correspondence between the levels of production and use that Mari describes in his diagram is wrong. When we did Memphis, we aspired for it to be at a high quality level. But the furniture was not bought by the Milanese bourgeoisie. It was bought by 9to-5 workers in Messina looking for something unobtainable, a status… And that confirms the fact that psychological factors are very important, sometimes more than financial factors. domus Was Memphis good business? ES I have a theory that has followed me throughout my life: If you are uninterested in money, it gets jealous and runs after you. I do not are without social motivation; they propose a kind of club for beautiful forms like face powder, but empty, imitating styles in fashion but devoid of substance and structural strength of their own. ES But that’s the great risk of our profession, because we do not know who the customers are. They are just a blur that is examined by marketing professors who go along with the statistics (blue is “in”, women want to wear light colors now, etc.). The customer’s life isn’t there; it’s far away, inaccessible. I try to visit with my clients as much as I can – I dine with them, I chat with them. In the end, I know what to design without them telling me. EM Design was born not to produce fashionable items, but durable ones. Fashion is a fundamental mechanism for merchandise, however, if it’s not continually changed, it doesn’t sell. Design has been forced in recent years to become think that Picasso so much as started to think about how to sell his paintings. When I try to design things for selling, they always fail. But if I think that an oil cruet should be made in a certain way, and then I design it, it sells. AB The truth is that design has never really been industrial. It is a field that produces spheres quality (represented by Brunelleschi and Michelangelo) is equal to zero today, so a 9 is attributed to one single manufacturer. Quality level 8 can be recognized in 7 manufacturers, quality level 7 has 22, quality 6 has 58, quality 5 has 99, quality 4 has 198, quality 3 has 2170, quality 2 has 39.000, and at level 1 there are 159.231 manufacturers of industrial design. domus And what about the quality of the people buying? EM The quality refers to 40 million people. At level 10 there are persons who have read Plato, Adam Smith, Karl Marx and listen to Monteverdi. Quality 10 in Italy can be found in 22 persons. Quality 9 can be attributed to 87 persons, level 8 to 290, 7 to 700, 6 to 2.320, 5 to 15.000, 4 to 29.312, 3 to 153.000 and more, level 2 to 930.000. At level 1 there are 38 million persons buying. The shocking thing about this diagram is that there are no crossed scale values, because there is no market for quality production. Who would ever produce an object of excellent quality if its hypothetical buyers were only 22? On the other side, who is at level 1 production produces for everyone. But that’s not design, that’s the junk you see everywhere out there. of signs. Montezemolo thinks he’s buying the Cappellini factory, but he’s really going to have a brand name, with designed letterheads, stores, art directors, images, icons… He’s buying seduction. AM Yes, but Charme’s buyout of Cappellini must be looked at with circumspection, because Cappellini is certainly not a factory. It is an interesting experimental phenomenon that has often rendered its objects vacuous. Its products fashion, because it produced such an excess of chairs and lamps. Everything has already been made… AB Design’s problem is that it doesn’t produce enough visions, it has no overall strategies or inventions. That’s where the misunderstanding resides: it seems as if industrial design is effectively a machine with hard, rigid logic, when in fact it produces a kind of ambient Aprile April 2004 domus 33 laboratories like Memphis and Achimia were born in Italy. They were initiatives outside commissions from any particular manufacturers. The idea was that design needed to contain research, experimentation. Today’s problem is not industrialization, but the drying up of certain structures that are needed to stimulate thought in a broad way. Design designers at the Jasper Morrison and Kon them I looked up after t because they had impre Kazuhiko Tomita, a Japa my Milan studio for a w piano with a vertical ke culture always had an oxygen exchange with leftist culture, although it was autonomous and unintegrated. And that’s a culture that’s having profound difficulties today. ES When I make my drawings, I’m not trying to save the world; I’m trying to save myself. I make my little drawing, I put it on the table, and whatever happens, happens. I am no revolutionary, nor am I a missionary. sonority, an immaterial background. Just think of what happens to Milan during the Furniture Fair. HUO At this very moment, thousands of directors of French research centers are resigning. The situation in Europe is dramatic – researchers are running away to the United States and Asia. And speaking of the crisis in institutions that produce knowledge, it would be interesting to talk about Olivetti, where Gyorgi Kepes’ idea to overcome our fear of uniting different kinds of knowledge, was realized inside a manufacturing company. EM Of course I could be wrong. It’s all relative. ES If we take into account that everything is relative, we’d soon be outrageously mediocre. But you do not think everything is relative, rather you think you can get away from it and then you get angry. EM I get angry because these matters are close to my heart, like they are to yours, too, and because I so deeply love my profession. AM I am impassioned, too, but it’s a game and I don’t get angry. Even though I play at serious fun, with ES Olivetti was not just a place of knowledge. It made institutions for knowledge: nursery schools, children’s schools, a library, and a hospital close to the homes. fire. EM The only hope for changing the central part of my diagram is precisely the school, if that AM There are not many schools, but some architectural/design offices, and some magazines… Ettore, your Memphis was school would aspire to true quality. But that’s not the case right now. domus Isn’t it a bit simplistic to say that the schools are not teaching anything? EM Simplistic? Me? If we’re talking about quality, I must say that design schools don’t teach it. I speak from the experience of having verified this in practice a hundred times over… AB But you could still be wrong. HUO What are today’s centers of knowledge in Milan? Memphis came up in me when I went to go get milk one morning in a shop where an elderly couple sold biscuits and milk. The whole place was made of laminate, and it was so full of innocence and grace, that it crossed my mind that poetry could be written with laminate too, not just with walnut. HUO Who are the most promising designers of today? a young Irish woman, a strange sense for sculpt EM I do not remember a single young Italian designer that has emerged in the past fifteen years. We import them from France, Spain, Germany and Brazil. I made an empirical calculation. In Europe, there are roughly 3 million 35 year-old design graduates. In Lithuania, there are 6 design schools, in Liechtenstein there are 2, and Andorra has 2. I think that quality is a rare gift and only one in a thousand has the red blood of quality (even if the real ratio is probably more like 1 in 10.000). ES The question is mis implies that a designer person, an artist, a pain the situation nowadays Sony, to illustrate this w there is an internal desi people learn only how t even the smallest of com industrial desig necessarily have exceptional pers AB That’s true. Schools the function of shaping design, but more the in In 20 years at the Domu also a place of knowledge. remember very f exceptional talen could compile a who are capable designers. Howeve ES Our Memphis. We were always drunk. We had the problem of breaking the cultural knot of the middle class. Memphis started off after ten years of talking about the social utility of our profession. Memphis and counter-design were relevant phenomena of increment of the numb designers that are not li but to different mechan Furniture Fair, there is a quality projects, but ma enter the marketplace, even their aim. But no shouts invoking change. AB The first autonomous masses of design whole designing That means 3000 in our sample of 3 million graduates. But not even one emerges! That’s what I mean with degradation of the schools! Before, Italian design was represented by humanists and not technical engineers. Design dies off when people start thinking it’s a technical skill. VM I have been teaching for 20 or 22 years at the Royal College of Arts in London, and I remember 5 or 6 quality AM That’s what happe the ones for surveyors a many competent and re holders, but excellent e between. I studied university, much w today. But when I went were extracurricular soc activities that offered im conflict, suggestion, ide walked out of th you had someth about. It was a situat become an autodida mphis and Achimia were ere initiatives outside ny particular idea was that design esearch, experimentation. not industrialization, but the structures that are needed t in a broad way. Design designers at the most, among them Jasper Morrison and Konstantin Grcic. Some of them I looked up after their years at school, because they had impressed me. One was Kazuhiko Tomita, a Japanese man who stayed in my Milan studio for a while. He was designing a piano with a vertical keyboard. I also remember much complexity and the students are only able to play with formalism. Design is empty and vacuous. There is high quality, but often of a pseudo-sculptural type. EM When Branzi was talking about preparing people for the industry, he was contradicting ES If a British designer does not know what type of divinity Dionysos was – ferocious, happy, drunk, sexually active – he cannot know what he’s designing. Dionysos represents the Mediterranean, which is already in itself an existential catalogue of smells, colors, special vegetation, ancient ghosts… When I design I think of that world, because it’s in my head. Naturally, not everyone needs s had an oxygen h leftist culture, to know what the Mediterranean is; one could have the same attention for other places, for example India, where people have nothing: they eat with their hands, they put food on a banana leaf, for clothes they have a square of onomous and unt’s a culture that’s having s today. ke my drawings, g to save the world; save myself. I make my it on the table, and happens. I am no m I a missionary. me up in me when I t milk one morning an elderly couple sold he whole place was made of s so full of innocence and d my mind that poetry could inate too, not just with most promising oday? ber a single young Italian merged in the past fifteen em from France, Spain, . I made an empirical pe, there are roughly 3 design graduates. In 6 design schools, in are 2, and Andorra has 2. I a rare gift and only one in a d blood of quality (even if ably more like 1 in 10.000). a young Irish woman, and an Australian with a strange sense for sculpture. ES The question is misleading, because it implies that a designer is an exceptional person, an artist, a painter. But that’s just not the situation nowadays. So much so that at Sony, to illustrate this with an example, there is an internal design school where people learn only how to draw, sometimes even the smallest of components. The industrial designer does not necessarily have to have an exceptional personality. cloth, they sit on the ground, so they don’t have tables and chairs. The only object everyone has is a bowl for liquids, and that bowl takes on a true, AB That’s true. Schools have never had the function of shaping the protagonists of design, but more the intermediate figures. In 20 years at the Domus Academy I can high sense of sacredness in their remember very few exceptional talents, but I could compile a list of those who are capable young designers. However, one of the relevant phenomena of today is the increment of the number of quality designers that are not linked to any school, but to different mechanisms. At the Furniture Fair, there is an enormous amount of quality projects, but many will probably never enter the marketplace, and maybe that isn’t even their aim. But now there are masses of designers, there’s a whole designing society… n our sample of 3 million t even one emerges! That’s degradation of the schools! sign was represented by t technical engineers. off when people ng it’s a technical eaching for 20 or 22 years at of Arts in London, and I or 6 quality AM That’s what happens in all schools, even the ones for surveyors and engineers. There are many competent and responsible degreeholders, but excellent engineers are few and far between. I studied at a disastrous university, much worse than anything today. But when I went to that school, there were extracurricular social and political activities that offered important experience: conflict, suggestion, ideas. When you walked out of the lecture hall you had something to think about. It was a situation that pushed you to become an autodidact. Now there is too lives. Because it’s all they have to survive. himself. Youngsters these days don’t know what a screw is, they don’t know anything, they don’t even know how to breathe. AB That’s right – that would be a school for metalworkers… ES Students often don’t know what to do. They sit in front of a computer waiting A designer needs to know that objects can become instruments for existential rites, and not only things that are looked at and sometimes distractedly used. To drink water from a waxed paper cup on the highway and to drink it from a crystal goblet are different gestures. In the first case, you almost forget that you exist as you drink; in the second, for the goblet’s weight, fragility, transparency and non-taste, you realize that you have in your hand an instrument that makes you reflect upon how you are living at that moment. for the screen to make You register these differences and you make an issue of these things only if you know life well: the lives, the ancient stories, the ghosts of the past and those of the future… don’t know who Dionysos is, out the door with you!” domus Is that what Industrial Design is? something happen. I once had a British collaborator. He was young, he seemed bright. One day, while chatting, I mentioned the name of Dionysos. He looked at me and said, “What’s that?” I told him: “Listen here, if you domus Is Dionysos really so important? ES No, that’s not Industrial Design, it’s Design. Aprile April 2004 domus 35 36 domus Aprile April 2004 Aprile April 2004 domus 37 Enzo Mari Inserzione a pagamento Enzo Paid (Ringrazio l’Editore per avermi fatto uno sconto straordinario) (With thanks to the p Progettista di grande esperienza e di riconosciutà qualità cerca disperatamente 1 non solo per sé 2 G IOVAN E I M PR E N D ITOR E 3 s i r i ch i e d o n o : IL CORAGGIO di realizzare progetti strategici 4 quale unica salvezza dalla profonda crisi economica che coinvolge tutti. L’UMILTÀ Di non voler progettare anche la forma 5 DI CONOSCERE LA DIFFERENZA: • tra design e moda 6 • tra design, prodotto industriale, arte applicata e karaoke • tra lavoro alienato e lavoro di trasformazione. 7 Note Notes 1) Un buon progetto richiede l’alleanza appassionata di due persone: un soldato dell’utopia (il progettista) e una tigre del mondo reale (l’imprenditore). È sempre la tigre, se vuole, che consente la realizzazione di almeno un frammento di utopia. Oggi le tigri sembrano estinte. 2) Ma anche per consentire un futuro di lavoro dignitoso almeno a qualcuno dei giovani. 3) Indipendentemente dall’età. 4) Tra questi, non è di secondaria importanza l’affermazione di uno standard (da ‘etandard’, bandiera). È il valore primo di una azienda, è ciò che fa la differenza. 5) Corrisponde ad una scelta ideale che si manifesta con una rigorosa coerenza formale. In mancanza di questa le Aziende muoiono. Un buon imprenditore è un ottimo progettista. Dell’organizzazione e del consenso e ha la capacità di valutare la forma. È però impossibile che sia anche in possesso delle tecniche raffinate e della tensione utopizzante necessaria a realizzare una forma dignitosa. 6) Tra durata ed effimero. 7) Dal karaoke si passa al Pacinko e quest’ultimo è l’allegoria del Salone del Mobile 1) a design world (the e Today tiger 2) but also 3) irrespec 4) not of se value of an it correspo 5) a good e of organisa possess the 6) between 7) karaoke 38 domus Aprile April 2004 to Enzo Mari Paid advertisement (With thanks to the publisher for allowing me a special discount) Highly experienced and qualified designer seeks desperately 1 not only for himself 2 YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR E 3 re di utopia. cità e 3 applicants must possess: THE COURAGE to implement strategic projects 4 as the only salvation from a deep economic crisis affecting all. THE UMILITY Not to try to design form too 5 THE KNOW THE DIFFERENCE: • between design and fashion 6 • between design, industrial products, applied art and karaoke • between alienated work and transformation. 7 Notes 1) a design entails a passionate alliance between two persons: a soldier of utopia (the designer) and a tiger from the real world (the entrepreneur). it is always the tiger, if he wishes, who can allow at least a fragment of utopia to be attained. Today tigers seem to be extinct. 2) but also to offer a future of dignified work to at least a few young people. 3) irrespective of age. 4) not of secondary importance among these is the assertion of a standard (from étendard”, flag). that is the prime value of an enterprise, and it is what makes the difference. it corresponds to an ideal choice, manifested by rigorous formal consistency. without this, an enterprise will die. 5) a good entrepreneur is an excellent designer. of organisation and consensus, with the capacity to evaluate form. the entrepreneur cannot however possibly also possess the subtle techniques and the utopian inspiration necessary to accomplish a dignified form. 6) between the lasting and the fleeting. 7) karaoke leads to pacinko, and that is the allegory of the Milan Furniture Fair. Aprile April 2004 domus 39