Molteni Museum invitations designers to suppose radically

‘The principle query that I used to be asking myself is, what’s the function of a design museum?’ says the Israeli designer Ron Gilad, standing in entrance of his newly reimagined ‘Teorema’ drawer models on the Molteni Museum on the model’s campus in Giussano, a glass-walled tea house-like construction in the course of a sprawling discipline, the place for the previous seven years he has served as curator. ‘I realised that at a sure level we’ve the identical rhythm and the identical strategy, which is all the time digging within the archive, attempting to mud off the previous and spotlight it otherwise, and I wished to be a little bit bit extra radical this time.’

Gilad is describing the premise of his newly opened exhibition, ‘Materialized: Concepts in Matter’, for which he invited ten designers and studios to revisit a few of their best-known items for the Molteni Group, typically to playfully surreal impact. ‘This transient was despatched to the individuals with the particular piece that they already designed,’ says Gilad. ‘Because the task, we selected the items that present quite a lot of typologies that the corporate is producing, from a wardrobe to a chest of drawers to a desk to a settee.’

Among the many individuals are Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola, who remade her ‘Diamond’ desk in cedar from an old-growth tree within the Molteni household’s backyard that had died naturally a number of years in the past; Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa, who reworked his ‘Cinnamon’ armchair in finely woven rattan; and Molteni&C artistic director Vincent Van Duysen, who recast the tender contours of his upholstered ‘Paul’ couch in reflective, folded sheet metallic.

For the Swiss structure group at Herzog & de Meuron, reimagining its ‘Porta Volta’ armchair meant searching for out suppliers past the realm of furnishings. The architects changed the leather-based seat cushion and backrest of the wooden-framed chair with clear inflatable cushions in brilliant purple and blue. Working with a producer that specialises in inflatable pool toys, they have been in a position to adapt the development of an air mattress to the body of an armchair.

‘The concept of doing it inflatable and clear, you’d see extra of the construction. It might nonetheless have a little bit of a playful character and take away the seriousness of it,’ says Ascan Mergenthaler, a senior companion at Herzog & de Meuron. ‘It’s attention-grabbing since you suppose it’s such a easy concept, however then translating it was not really easy.’

‘We shifted the museum from a didactic, instructional establishment into some form of up to date artwork gallery,’ says Gilad, who was struck by how far among the architects had departed from their authentic designs. ‘It looks like kids who’re presenting experimental artwork fairly than merchandise.’