MILAN DESIGN WEEK – German vs Spain, organic vs linear, craftsmanship vs industrial, Jaime Hayon vs Kostantin Grcic. The double face of conceiving design all enclosed in bd Barcelona booth in Milan. I met the two famous designers and I talked to them about the two main tendencies of design emerging during the Milan Design Week 2013
“I chose the name Gardenias for two reasons" explain Jaime Hayón"The first one is the word Garden that is inside the word, the second one it's a really nice flower and announces a [Spanish] song called “Dos gardenias para ti”, a song that talks about the glamour of gardens”
The collection includes sculptural vases and planters made of fine terracotta, chairs with or without a pergola, benches and even a watering can. One of the most outstanding characteristics of the collection is the way it translated the generally rigid and square-shaped image of outdoor metallic furniture to a language that is more romantically informal.
“We re-elaborate traditional ceramic craftsmanship. We understand that we need to re-use traditional techniques but keeping it up. We enjoyed elaborating different shapes, giving a new charm. Everybody is thinking just about the opportunity of using new technologies, but there are traditional processes that we risk to losing”
Spanish artist-designer Jaime Hayon was included Time magazine as one of the 100 most relevant creators. Many exhibitions and installations set up in major galleries and museums worldwide. His concern for the conservation of craft skills and his way of challenging design has led him to develop renowned work.
“This project is born from the idea to make outdoor complements more “passionate”, because for some reason we are in a moment where the design for outdoor is conceive as really minimal, less expressive”
Konstantin Grcic presented a new masterpiece for the Extrusions collection: “Bench B is made by aluminum extrusion. Extrusion is like making pasta!”
After he graduated at the Royal College of Art in London the German designer set up his own practice in Munich in 1991. He has developed furniture, products and lighting for some of the leading companies in the design field. Most recently Medici Chair was awarded one of the Designs of the Year Awards 2013 by the Design Museum of London.
Formally the module of bench B, recalls the famous chair design by Mies Van Der Rohe: “We didn't start with Barcelona chair by Mies Van der Rohe. It was through the process working into the bench, somehow we came near to the Barcelona chair, but in terms of construction we are very different. Barcelona Chair is kind of a hand made structure made by flat pieces of metal and our bench is a system of parts each one optimized in its own way to answer to certain situations”.
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