Let’s have a look back to the early 80s and the New Romantics, also known as the Blitz kids. Originally a pop culture movement in the UK, which emerged from night clubs such as The Blitz and Billy’s and other flamboyant fashion boutiques. The eccentric, eclectic fashion style of this time was centered around the “new wave” music scene. Certain bands and musicians, that epitomized the new romantics movement were Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Boy George of Culture Club and David Bowie with his “Ashes to Ashes” hit.
Typical early styling and trends of this movement included frilly fop shirts inspired by the English romantic period, Russian constructivism, clowns and puritans and 1930s cabaret. The New Romantics were a reaction and rejection to punk and the anti-fashion stance, they were a group of young people who wanted to escape the tough economic downturn and find a new way to have fun and create drama and theatre through synthesized pop music and costume.
As with most fashion trends, they come and go and re-emerge in a new way, often only years or decades later. We can see now the re-emergence of the New Romantic style appearing in current fashion trends, made more contemporary by colour and cut, but creating an interesting and more fluid silhouette. So, depending on your style, stepping out of your door Boy George style could be one option or alternatively if you’re less extrovert you could add a frill or draped knot or a pair of peg trousers to your outfit to add the new romantic twist to your day.
Giorgia Zanellato is a storyteller. Her projects tell stories about our history, our relationship with objects that surround us, how they should be used, looked at and loved. Her projects teach us about beauty, honesty and diversity. Giorgia was born in Venice not so long ago, and this makes us appreciate her work even more. In a country that doesn’t offer much to younger generations, more so if they happen to be industrial designers, Giorgia has managed to find her spot under the sun through dedication, passion and unconditional love for her work.
Where did you study and how has this influenced your work? I studied Industrial Design at IUAV University, in Venice, and later did a master in Product Design at ECAL, Lausanne. Both schools have taught me fundamentally different things: at IUAV I have learned more about design history, how design should be functional and formally ‘appropriate’, following the traditional notion of “form follows function”. On the other hand, ECAL was more about getting my hands dirty, making stuff and learning how to effectively communicate it. Combined, both approaches gave me the basis for developing my current design process.
If you hadn’t studied design, what do you think you’d be doing today? I always say that if, for any reason, I should quit working as a designer, I would love to open a flower shop. That is, if I should ever be able to wake up that early in the morning.
What would you say is the most important characteristic of your work? I am not sure what is the most important characteristic. I do know that I always try to give shape to a story, not only an object. I love to experiment with unconventional materials and finishings, with the idea of creating associations that can tell a story about the object itself, not only about how it should be used.
How would you describe your design process? Is there a ‘recipe’ you always follow? My inspiration often changes – I can start from images, materials or stories which guide the creation of a narrative, further developed through extensive research. Only at this point I start working on the actual form, a process which could basically last forever, so I really have to find a compromise and learn when and where to stop. The material is a really important part of my process and I never choose it at the end. It is what guides the design process, but I wouldn’t say I always follow the same recipe.
Which one of your projects do you like the most and which one the least and why? The project I like the most is Stock Collection, developed thanks to Luisa Delle Piane, who invited me to create a collection to exhibit in her gallery during Salone del Mobile 2013. I was totally free and I could experiment with unconventional colours and materials. Luisa gave me the freedom to try something risky and at the same time to be able to use precious materials (such as marble) that I have never used before. The first time I saw the collection was during the opening of the exhibition and I remember that was one of the happiest moments in my work so far. The one I like the least is a project I did before developing Narciso, my collection of mirror vases. It’s called Useful Ornaments and it has the same starting point as Narciso: creating a series of functional vases. I was trying to work with Murano glass blower without knowing exactly what I wanted to obtain so the result was a disaster. But without that project I could never have done Narciso.
You are currently working at Fabrica, could you tell us a bit more about the design studio there, what projects are you working on? Fabrica Design studio, which is now called “Design Dialogues” is a team of around 12 young designers, coming from different countries, from Japan to Portugal, that work together under the art direction of French designer Sam Baron. I am working there as a consultant and the best part for my work is to constantly have the possibility to share ideas with so many different perspectives and cultures.
What would be your dream project that you haven’t yet had the chance to design? More than creating a project for someone, it would be creating it with someone. My dream would have been to work with Ettore Sottsass. To work with a ‘master’ would surely be a dream come true, as I consider it the best way to continue learning. I strongly believe in confrontation between people as the best way to improve one’s work.
How do you envision the future development of design? What do you think is the role of design and designers in today’s society? Design is much wider than only industrial design and design is currently being developed in so many different ways. Smaller companies are being born and designers are also working not only on creating objects, but also on developing new kinds of needs and new kinds of users. Design is becoming much more accessible. I wish there would be a more productive collaboration between companies and young designers where smaller companies would believe more in the role of a designer, especially in Italy.
What is your favourite and what is your least favourite book? One of my favourite books is “Q” by Luther Blissett, but I also love “Little Prince“, I still like to read it a lot. I don’t actually have a least favourite book, cause if I don’t like a book, I am not able to read it until the end.
As winter approaches, we see the return of the patterned sweater to keep us warm and fashionable. But there is no room for subtle: this season it’s all about the statement knit. We suggest you have a little fun during the cold months, we certainly did while choosing our favorite pieces.
Artissima, the most prominent italian art fair, has just closed its doors after three intense days full of activities impeccably orchestrated for the second time by Sarah Cosulich Canarutto. To celebrate its 20th birthday, the event focused on the importance of experimentation and internationalization, following and accentuating a path already taken in the previous editions.
Among the New Entries, we cannot avoid mentioning M+B, Los Angeles – before we said leader, now we can say hipsters’ art king -, BWA Warszawa, Podbielski, On the Move; Present future, the curatorial section dedicated to emerging talents presented by their galleries, with artists such as Josh Faught at Lisa Cooley gallery, Nora Schultz at Isabella Bortolozzi, the french artist Caroline Achaintre (Arcade) and Fatma Bucak (Alberto Peola), who won “ex aequo” the illy Present Future award respectively displaying playful and sinister pot pieces and a humorous video inspired by the Beckett’s theatre; last but not least, Art editions and Back to the Future, the section committed to show artists active during the ‘60s, ‘70s and, from this year, ‘80s that seems to prove itself as one of the most interesting part of the whole fair.
As we started off, Artissima has just ended and in order to make a review, what we can say is that it was neither good nor bad. Yes, it was a clear, perfectly set up edition with a beautiful, super contemporary graphic design that has fully satisfied our aesthetic expectations, but honestly didn’t really thrill us and left a little disappointed. Before leaving Torino, we slipped down the GAM where, from the works by Renoir, to the Vitrine by the young and talented Driant Zeneli, passing through the Ideal Standard Forms curated by Anna Colin and the significant works of the permanent collection, we eventually felt saturated and fulfill; just the time for a glass of wine and then back to Milan. See you next year… maybe!
Monica Lombardi. Pictures courtesy of Piotr Niepsuj
Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with today? You are speaking with Andrea. I play the guitar, sing and dance in the band Green Like July.
Where are you from? We come from different parts of Italy, but we all are curretnly living in Milan. I was born and grew up in Alessandria, Paolo is from Voghera, while Marco and Roberto are from Lama dei Peligni, in Abruzzo.
You were born as a band in November 2003, but your name is Green Like July, why? The reason is purely phonetic. It could have been the E Street Band, Hawkwind or Judas Priest, but those names had already been taken.
Three hashtags to describe Green Like July. # Rock #and #roll
On September 17th, your latest album, Build a Fire, has been released. Do you like it? I mean, was your goal creating an album like this or you imagined it in a different way? We are very happy with the way that it sounds and we are proud of the work that we have done. We were certainly conscious of the potential of our songs. Build a Fire was conceived after three long years, in which we managed to define the structure of each song and we worked very hard to give the right sound to the album. Then, the contribution of A.J. Mogis and Enrico Gabrielli has been essential. We imagined an album like this, but then things went better than what we expected.
Build a Fire arrives two years after Four – Legged Fortune. Why so long? What did it happen in the meanwhile? I am a very picky musician and I need the time to write. Sometimes the creative process evolves immediately and in an spontaneous way, but other times it means days of effort and hard work.
The album has been recorded at the Arc Studios in Omaha, Nebraska. Something unusual for an Italian band. Why did you decide to do it there? At that time, we were working with A.J. Mogis in the recording of Four – Legged Fortune. In that moment we realized the potential of ARC Studios. The choice to return in Omaha has been essentially driven by the fact of working again with AJ. He is a person with a great sensitivity, wisdom and patience. He is not only a musician with a boundless talent, but a great sound engineer.
Do you think you have been influenced by Omaha in the recording of this album? The place where you record an album, influences significantly the creative process. Now, I can not tell you exactly how much of Omaha and Nebraska is in Build a Fire. Writing an album takes months or even years, but the recording process usually takes a shorter period of time. If i think about the places linked to Build a Fire, Park Slope, Viale Argonne surrounded by the fog or Torino-Piacenza highway come straight through my mind.
Did you read a lot during that period? When we were recording Build a Fire, the books that were on my bedside table were The conspiracy of doves, by Vincenzo Latronico and The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster.
How did you meet Mike Mogis, from Bright Eyes? We have been living together in his house!
Olimpia Zagnoli is the responsible of translating the Green Like July into images. How did you have the idea for the video and the artworks? I tried to transmit Olimpia the ideas, images and colours of Build a Fire. Olimpia has patiently developed and tidied them all, giving it a shape to my somehow confusing suggestions.
One last question. Why are you always so serious in the pictures? As Tom Waits said, “sane, sane, they’re all insane, the fireman’s blind, the conductor’s lame, in Cincinatti jacket and a sack luck dame, hanging out the window with a bottle full of rain”.
Enrico Chinellato. Image courtesy of Claudia Zalla
Let’s play a game. Its aim is to look for affinities and variations between designers and their disciples, and to establish a common thread that may highlight cultural roots, common backgrounds and shades of the identities. How do we start? For example, we could try to write down an equation like the following one:
Tom Dixon : Faye Toogood = Konstantin Grcic : Pauline Deltour
Who are the protagonists? Dixon and Grcic are perhaps among the most famous designers of the early fifty-year-old generation. The first is English, the second is German. In more detail, they both stand out for the consistent development of their projects, always capable to fulfill the needs of the end users without renouncing to innovate with originality and wit the interiors they contribute to furnish.
Nevertheless, it’s not only their personality to divide them – anarchic for Dixon, functionalist for Grcic -, but a cultural background which reminds us of a crucial chapter in European history of ideas: the dialectics between English and German philosophical traditions, empiricism and rationalism. Dixon, ethereally self-taught by his own intuitions, keeps on reinventing himself when he designs his beloved, iconic lamps, as well as when he founds a new design showcase (as it’s the case with Most). Grcic, instead, has an undisputed talent to synthesize a problem solving attitude with a rigorous aesthetics, as for Achille Castiglioni’s Parentesi restyling in 2013, or for his most venerated product, iconic Magis’ Chair One.
And what about Toogood and Deltour? They both worked side by side with the other two designers in their own studios, getting acquainted with their masters’ methodologies and approaches. Then, they both chose to work as freelancers, emerging on the European scene as two of the most innovative young voices in the design field.
In her installations (La Cura, The Batch Room, Natura Morta), Faye Toogood privileges the spontaneity of a rough, impulsive taste: the experiences she’s used to offer to her customers, or to her public, are developed every time according to the specific context she’s involved in, always in the quest to reshape her objects through an immanent approach. The process is always refocused, and self-expression can’t be but an inescapable requirement. Pauline Deltour, on the contrary, doesn’t overstep the physical boundaries of her products, neither she reconsiders their terms of usage. Instead, she prefers to provide cost-effective yet fit-for-purpose solutions for everyday living needs (Alessi’s “A Tempo” collection, Discipline’s “Roulé” collection), designing affordances with an emphatic, familiar touch and working with materials through a clear-cut resolution.
Have you ever wondered how many examples of exceptional design pass unnoticed? When we think about design, we usually search for the unusual, the extravagant, the shocking, the decorative or stylish. We almost never look for the ordinary, the simple, the practical or the useful. We expect from design to amaze us, to leave us wide-eyed and with our mouth open, and, thus, we miss all those silent, everyday objects of extraordinary poetics. Designed through years of extensive use, or through hours of intense engineering work and laboratory tests, those everyday objects have become so ubiquitous and so essential that we don’t even consider them as objects of design.
Nevertheless, history has taught us that some of the greatest design masters have turned to those simple, plain objects and transformed them into some of the greatest masterpieces of contemporary design. In fact, Achille Castiglioni’s studio bares witness to this kind of practice, as does Jasper Morrison‘s research about wooden spoons, or Franco Clivio‘s incredible cabinet of curiosities. Made up of everyday objects, usually considered commonplace and hardly spectacular, Clivio’s extensive collection is currently the subject of an exhibition at Mudac – Musée de Design et d’Arts Appliqués Contemporains, in Lausanne.
Titled “No Name Design”, the exhibition is entirely drawn from Clivio’s collection and was devised by functions, or into system typologies, materials or formal families, each of which tells a particular story about the ingenuity of craftsmen and engineers who provided solutions to a variety of problems. From hammers to spoons, from nails to scissors, each of these objects builds a particular narrative about our relationship with these objects, how they were made, produced and even copied, about how lost we would feel if we were to live without any of them, even though we usually don’t consider them meaningful enough to be ‘designed’.
“No Name Design, The cabinet of curiosities of Franco Clivio” runs until February 9, 2014 at Mudac – Musée de Design et d’Arts Appliqués Contemporains, Lausanne.
A man wearing heels and a colorful “skort” was, during the 1700s, the norm in fashionable countries. How come today’s male fashion icons are wearing more somber colors and not even Jean Paul Gaultier has been able to put “the skort” back on the map?
The answer can be found in what fashion theorist J.C Flügel has named The Great Male Renunciation, a historical event that took place around 1800. This event meant men renouncing their interest in fashion and consumption claiming this to be “a woman thing”, a thought that until recent generations seemed to have been a heritage.
The departing of fashion within the gentleman’s wardrobe still found a way during the 1800s, but instead, this was made in a more stylish way through somber colours and simple silhouettes such as the one of the suit. Some argue that these changes occurred due to men stepping out into everyday work-life and the practicality of high heels and expensive light fabrics were minimal, so instead a dimmed style was invented. Adornment was however still connected with status. And therefore, quality and purchasing things from the finest tailor were essential for a gentleman.
Even though subcultures such as dandies and other extravagant dressers made stylistic changes to the male apparel, the streets of Savile Row and the influence of clean and simplistic lines and colors were/are still dominating men’s wardrobe. But has, in doing so, created a gateway between style and fashion, so that the tolerance for men having an interest in fashion have grown during the past decades and are today a normal assumption, at least for younger generations.
Today society has evolved. We are no longer a one celled organism at dawn of time, but we have evolved into a multi-organism where individualistic style can be found for both women and men and is more and more incorporated into the changing ways of fashion.
Hangar Bicocca in Milan is opening tomorrow a huge exhibition dedicated to the career of Dieter Roth (Hannover, 1930 – Basel, 1998), one of the most versatile artists of the 20th century, entitled Islands and realized thanks to the collaboration of his son and close collaborator Björn and with the curatorship of Vicente Todolì. The retrospective, conceived with the support of a group of Icelandic friends and artists – he got married with an Icelandic student and his two primary bases of activity were Iceland and Basel –, will present more than 100 works of the Swiss-German emblematic figure, retracing his main paths of research.
The multidisciplinary creative practice of Dieter Roth consists of poetry, design, painting, drawings, sculpture, assemblages, film and video, the most famous prints, books and multiples. His experiments include the use of different tools, furniture elements, monitors, and above all organic materials, which contributed to creating unusual works such as the multiples of plastic toys covered with chocolate or sugar, the variations on printed postcards, as well as the series of artists’ books culminated in Literaturwurst (Literature Sausage), a book filled with paper in place of meat.
This show will present Roth’s original studio, The Studio of Dieter and Björn Roth, rebuilt exactly as it was with all the objects that made it: lights, ashtrays, paint cans, brushes…; the Economy bar, a real café that will be open to all visitors, changing according to its exploitation during the show; the well-known Selbstturm (Self tower), 5-meter towers with shelves full of myriads of self portrait sculptures made of chocolate (4.000 kg of dark chocolate); and the memorable Solo Scenes, a film created in the final years of the artist’s life, of himself going about his daily activities, more than 100 monitors recording every single moment of his dailiness.
After representing Switzerland at the Venice Biennale in 1982, and reaching numerous international contemporary art temples worldwide – his works were displayed at some editions of Documenta Kassel, at the MACBA Barcelona, the Ludwig Museum, the Schaulager in Basel and MoMA in New York –, at last Dieter Roth’s art gets to Milan and, no matter what, Islands is worth a visit!
