So here some of the stuff I found in Milan and thought was worth sharing with you.
Polish design. Material experiment.
These stools by Oskar Zieta were already presented in 2007 but I thought they are worth sharing again. I was so surprised about their stiffness and how they look in real life. The "plopp stool" is made from steel sheets that are blown up and therefor very strong. Great invention I think, also in combination with the weird and supposedly uncontrollable shapes it creates.
Inspiration picture on the right: folded bag of felt fabric. 1 flat shape creates function and firmness.
Below, a Swarovski Chair. Great heavy shape, though light because it looks very thin. Also the part below the seat-shell is quite light. I like this contrast a lot. The glitters are a bit much, but whatever it's Swarovski. It made me think a bit retro, but retro-ok I would say.
Yii project. Now THIS is real craftsmanship. This chair is made from a braided wooden structure with a paper top.
I find the shape very pure in a way, how the backrest is connected to the seat-part. It looks like one can use it in many different way's. It looks very light and I think it is: completely hollow inside. The white color and the way the wood comes through in the paper, also contributes to the pureness of this object.
Only thing; it must have been super rigid, but I didn't dare to sit on it.
You can't really see it properly but there was this whole installation with different aquariums where goldfishes were held. It were some 10 pieces, all the fishes were coping with some sort of extra restriction other then the aquarium.
Inside this aquarium for example, was another, pipe-shaped, aquarium in which the small goldfish was held. around the inner aquarium glass stones were continuously tapping to the glass. It must have been true torture for the fish, the sound. The spectator sees that the fish is restricted twice, but does the fish itself "realize" that he is being tortured in this way?
Another fish was held in a small plastic bubble. If the fish would swim, the bubble rolled in that direction.
For me this installation was all about how the fish is captured in it's own world, restricted by some rules or boundary's. Wherever it swims, it never really goes anywhere, it never escapes the tortures. Did this designer/artist had a very pessimistic view of life/the world?
Below you can see some space design (I don't know how to call this differently). This exhibition, in my opinion, was a lot bout light, patterns and repetition of the ordinary. It was all very well displayed which made me wonder how these objects/installations work "in real life" or in ordinary spaces.
I was surprised how intrigued I was about these objects. I got so inspired! Not only did I see how well executed the whole thing was but I also noticed peoples behavior changed with each different room/installation. How amazing is it for a designer to influence the spectator/consumer/participator's mood!
More Milan in the near future.
