Belgian Henry van de Velde is an extremely modern figure since he represents the transdisciplinary approach that currently informs the world of art and design. An articulate spokesman and supporter of the revitalisation of the arts, the Belgian architect, artist, interior designer and educator contributed with his ideas to the later development of the Bauhaus movement.
Belgium will celebrate later on this year his 100th birth anniversary with a large exhibition at the Cinquantenaire Museum, but, if you're in Milan for the Design Week, you can start the celebrations by visiting the Belgium is Design showcase inspired by Henry van de Velde and entitled "The Toolbox" at La Triennale or the collective stand at the SaloneSatellite.
Curated by the indefatigable Giovanna Massoni, since 2011 Belgium is Design has reunited the best projects by talented designers from the three different Belgian regions - Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia - cohesively and coherently presenting them together during Milan Design Week in showcases that transcend cultural, linguistic and sociological differences.
The great variety of designers included perfectly hints at van de Velde's transdisciplinary approach, conceiving this figure as a symbol of creativity, research and innovation in design.
Massoni opted to tackle through her selection also another key aspect of our times – the concept of "making", but not from the trendy perspective we have grown accustomed to consider it from. The curator analyses indeed this term in conjunction with other concepts like production or manufacturing and therefore with labour.
The Toolbox is structured as a dual installation: a honeycomb-like cabinet including objects made with different materials and techniques (such as woodbending, weaving, glass casting and so on), patterns, samples, prototypes and tools accompanied by the "Opalis" website designed by Rotor (a guide to salvaged building materials dealers in Belgium); and a living room space in which visitors will be able to admire a variety of objects and products designed and made in Belgium.
The first part of the installation is an attempt at representing a physical database of design in Belgium, showcasing not only the final products, but the processes behind them and revealing the skills of local manufacturing companies, while also hinting at the problems behind the production and at the impact of the financial crisis on many companies, especially small ones.
The 55 selected participants represent indeed not only their studios and ateliers but also the workshops, companies, factories and external contractors gravitating around them.
The choice when it comes to design pieces is wide and includes textile (A + Z Design) and loom-woven paper panels (Un-Fore-Seen by MgDesign); tableware designed using computer tools like Freehand and Illustrator (Alfred by Maison Marie Mees and Cathérine Biasino); wallpaper made with advanced technologies (Arte International and Maison Marie Mees and Cathérine Biasino); linear chairs (Michaël Bihain's "Lalinea"); blankets and rugs in contrasting colours ("Fleecy" and "Molleton" by Chevalier-Masson; and "Tokio" by Pauline Gorelov); modular tables ("T3/4" by Nrayr Khachatryan) and kitchen cabinets; lamps inspired by shapes borrowed from nature ("Kino" by Krizalidstudio and "Veiled Lady" by Damien Gernay) and ceramics that become functional objects only when they are broken ("Throwing Sculptures" by Hugo Meert Ceramics).
A series of pieces by Xavier Lust, from mirrors in stainless steel to cabinets in painted and satin-finish anodized aluminium sheet, complete "The Toolbox" showcase. If you get the chance, have a look at the "Belgium is Design" collective stand at the SaloneSatellite as well to spot asymmetrical room divider screens inspired by the Japanese art of origami and looking like a sci-fi installation ("Landscape" by Patrick Beyaert) and ingeniuos objects that, playing with transparency and reflection, have a dual purpose and hide a clock behind a mirror ("Blink" by Twodesigners).
Can you re-introduce to our readers "Belgium is Design" and to your work?
Gioanna Massoni: "Belgium is Design" is a label created to showcase abroad a series of events presented by different governmental organisations in Belgium. The main aim is promoting and sustaining design in Belgium, while also developing links with financial and economic organisations on a regional basis. When we started and I first suggested to present a showcase under a national rather than regional umbrella group, I translated in a way a desire that was probably already there. As you may guess, it was harded at the beginning, but, little by little, we managed to structure the organisation in a much more cohesive way. As a curator I always have to maintain a very objective attitude and. while I can stir things towards a theme, I always have to take into account other limits and regulations. When we are in Belgium each region has its own protocol and follows its aims and goals, but "Belgium is Design" has managed to reunite in a coherent way different forces and stir them towards one main aim, promoting design from a cultural, but also financial point of view.
What about the political point of view instead - do political entities still have problems in accepting projects that merge culture and design as valid promoters that can have an impact on the economy as well?
Giovanna Massoni: Yes, they still have some problems. In the past there was a lot of excitement about Belgian design, even though at times, because of quality issues, certain pieces couldn't really stand up to comparison with others in the context of international showcases at European level. Yet, while there are at times products that are still at the raw stage, design is generating a clearer identity at the moment and this also has a natural impact on local businesses and manufacturing companies and influences educational institutions as well. All these entities start creating design projects and start taking part in Belgian design, so at the moment rather than being a phenomenon at raw stage that must still be investigated, Belgian design should be considered by people at different levels - also politicians - as a boost to prompt us all to be more responsible and do our best.
The main inspiration behind this year's showcase - Henry van de Velde - is an extremely modern artist and designer reuniting in himself different disciplines. Could we consider him as a sort of figure that anticipates the times we're living in?
Giovanna Massoni: As you said van de Velde was a really polyhedric personality and, by choosing him, I wanted to highlight his transdisciplinarity that moving from him pervaded not only Belgium, but also other countries. Belgium is much more flexible and less rational when it comes to categories: a creative person is just a creative person and nobody is shocked if an interior designer starts working also in fashion or if an artist starts designing objects and so on. Henry van de Velde remains the founder of a school characterised by a genuine and original spirit that thinks an artist's creation can evolve towards an architect's project and viceversa, without any problems or prejudices involved.
Which aspects of van de Velde were then applied to this year's showcase?
Giovanna Massoni: A very specific aspect that maybe wasn't as clear in his times as it is today, even though we often tend to forget about it: design is the result of a precise alliance. A designer must be a sort of hinge between different realities, such as craftspeople, manufacturing plants and also educational institutions. Design and designers only exist within this collaborative frame. This is exactly the key concept we want to highlight with "The Toolbox".
What kind of criteria did you follow while selecting the pieces that had to be included in the showcase?
Giovanna Massoni: All the products had to be made in Belgium representing in this way an alliance and a human exchange between a Belgium-based designer and a Belgian manufacturer. There is actually an exception, Xavier Lust, but he's a unique case. Lust mainly works with companies abroad, but he agreed with them that the first prototype of his designs must always be made in Belgium and in particular that the folding and deforming of metal surfaces must always be carried out by the same company, Ateliers Georis, a metallurgy company going through a crisis caused by the closings at ArcelorMittal in Liège. This is an exclusive between Xavier Lust and Ateliers Georis and we dedicated to Lust a bit more space not just because he represents Belgian design on an international level more than other people, but also as a sort of tribute to this collaboration.
The title of the showcase also mentions the "art of making". Making is a very fashionable concept at the moment, in which way did you interpret it?
Giovanna Massoni: I'm actually very critical about the use of this term. A lot of people talk about the act of "making" and have turned this term into a trend, but the concept of making always existed in design. Fom my point of view "making" means "labour": nowadays you get a lot of designers who, for one reason or another, are obliged to reabsorb and substitude a series of manufacturing stages into their own workshops and ateliers. While this can be understood especially in our financially unstable times, there are maybe 2 designers out of 100 who earn a living in this way and this has obviously got an impact on youth unemployment rates. In Belgium there were two strong industrial plants, Ford in Genk and ArcelorMittal in Liège: the former closed down completely, the latter closed the cold phase production units. But the key point is that these big companies are linked to smaller companies that are bound to suffer the most when a multinational closes down. The small companies working for larger industries are also the companies producing for independent designers, so the act of making as you can see is strongly connected with labour issues.
Visitors at La Triennale will get to know some of these smaller businesses since The Toolbox is also a database of companies working in Belgian design. Was it difficult to create this database?
Giovanna Massoni: In Belgium but also in Italy and in other countries as well there are no databases of all the manufacturing companies where designers can go to when they want to make their prototypes. We decided to try and come up with a database to give a sort of human and productive value to projects. This was a hard job since quite a few designers were reluctant to reveal who makes their pieces as they thought that if they had done so, other designers would have gone to these companies. This is a bad attitude since designers must understand they are not creating a work of art but a piece of social work. They are instigating indeed a sort of social chain reaction because they give work to somebody, and this also implies that being a designer is not a solitary job. It is exactly like that W. B. Yeats' quote, "In dreams begins responsibility": design is an individual dream, but it is a dream that implies the act of sharing and communicating.
Belgium is Design, until 14th April 2013, La Triennale, Viale Alemagna 6, Milan, Italy
All images courtesy of Belgium is Design
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