{"id":3077,"date":"2014-09-12T08:57:16","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T08:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/12\/panorama-sullopera-di-konstantin-grcic\/"},"modified":"2019-06-14T13:16:55","modified_gmt":"2019-06-14T13:16:55","slug":"panorama-sullopera-di-konstantin-grcic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/panorama-sullopera-di-konstantin-grcic\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"\u201cPANORAMA\u201d OF THE WORKS OF KONSTANTIN GRCIC"},"content":{"rendered":"

he future is here. Or rather, it\u2019s at the\u00a0Vitra Design Museum<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in Weil am Rhein, near Basel, where the German designer\u00a0Konstantin Grcic<\/a>\u00a0who, in 2004, designed the\u00a0Meta<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0handle for Colombo Design\u00a0presents his individual exhibition, with a preview of how we will inhabit the homes, cities and offices of the future. A dreamlike panorama which is open to free interpretation until September 14th.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Vitra<\/a>
Vitra Design Museum \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Meta<\/a>
Meta a Miami – Foto \u00a9 Designboom<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Konstantin Grcic is without doubt one of the most important designers of our time.
\nHis projects amalgamate industrial aesthetics with experimental and artistic elements; they are intellectual and functional, voluminous and, at times, rather irritating. \u201cChair-ONE\u201d (2004) and the \u201cMayday\u201d lamp (1999) are already regarded as icon classic design objects.<\/p>\n

\"3B\"<\/a>
Chair-ONE, Magis, Konstantin Grcic (2004). Chair_ONE is constructed just like a football: a number of flat planes assembled at angles to each other, creating the three-dimensional form. \u201cWhat began as a simple sketch, a series of cardboard models, prototypes, is now a real chair\u201d.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"4B\"<\/a>
Mayday, lamp, Flos, Konstantin Grcic (1999). May Day is a lamp suitable for multiple uses and locations: it can be positioned on a table, placed on the floor, or suspended, thanks to the practical handle, which also acts as a cord reel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Classic displays of his works have never appealed to Grcic, and this is why this exhibition is presented like a design project.
\nThe exhibition title \u201cKonstantin Grcic \u2013 Panorama\u201d gives a clear hint on the scenario that has been created with three installations specifically designed for the event, and a clear indication of his personal vision of life in the future:\u00a0 the interiors of a home, the atelier of a designer and an urban area.
\nThe exhibition flows from the present to the future, from fantasy to reality narrating a comprehensive story of the history of design, enhanced by a range of futuristic images.<\/p>\n

\"V\"<\/a>
Vitra Design Museum \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum. The Vitra Design Museum is among the world\u2019s leading museums of design. It is dedicated to the research and presentation of design, past and present, and examines design\u2019s relationship to architecture, art and everyday culture. In the main museum building by Frank Gehry, the museum annually mounts two major temporary exhibitions. Smaller parallel shows are presented in the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, a neighbouring exhibition space. Often developed with renowned designers, many of the museum\u2019s exhibitions cover highly relevant contemporary themes, such as future technologies, sustainability or questions like mobility and social awareness.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first section of the \u201cPanorama\u201d exhibition simulates a huge window that overlooks an airport, where Grcic has intentionally included a most unusual glimpse of domestic life.
\nAs Grcic explains: \u201cIn our cities which are increasingly gentrified, with sky-high prices in the central areas, living in the vicinity of the so-called\u00a0non places,<\/em>\u00a0or more simply places like airports, could become a common if not everyday reality. Or, if one wants to see the glass half-full rather than half-empty, one could imagine that the vicinity to an airport could be an exceptionally practical choice, in a world where people are travelling more and more, rather than an imposed condition\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>
\u201cKonstantin Grcic \u2013 Panorama\u201d \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\u201cKonstantin<\/a>
\u201cKonstantin Grcic \u2013 Panorama\u201d \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second section of the exhibition presents the reconstruction of a design studio which is half-way between a futuristic laboratory and a cave. A long metal table hosts some prototypes designed by Grcic, whilst the scenes of a typical working day in his studio in Munich are projected onto a screen; the film clip illustrates how new technologies are now commonly exploited in the work of the designer.
\nThe contrast between the cave and hi-tech devices highlight the futuristic vision that dominates the design sector and poses a number of questions to visitors concerning the role that designers have in today\u2019s society.<\/p>\n

\"11B\"<\/a>
\u201cKonstantin Grcic \u2013 Panorama\u201d \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"13B\"<\/a>
\u201cKonstantin Grcic \u2013 Panorama\u201d \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The third area, bearing the name \u201cPublic Area\u201d, displays what many consider to be the most important part of the exhibition, the 30 metre long panoramic image of a futuristic architectonic landscape with countryside fields, cities full of traffic, coastal areas, sea shores, slum areas and the reconstruction of imaginary buildings.
\nThe futuristic atmosphere is rendered even more lifelike by a collage of natural sounds and metropolitan hubbub.
\nA number of interior design objects are also displayed in this section such as, for instance, some models of the \u201cChair-ONE\u201d and a large lamp.
\nThe impression is that, in this environment, the visitor feels more like an actor as he plays the part of a designer.<\/p>\n

\"15B\"<\/a>
Konstantin Grcic \u2013 Panorama\u201d \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The final area of the exhibition is dedicated to providing a glimpse of the everyday work of Konstantin Grcic. Among his most renowned works, there is \u201cMeta\u201d by Colombo Design, the sleek and streamline door handle, available with a chrome or chromate plated finish.\u00a0 This is what Grcic has to say about the handle:\u00a0\u201c<\/em>I believe that no object ever exists purely on its own. this way of looking at the world turns even the simplest little thing into part of a hugely complex system. it would be strange to speak of a doorhandle without talking about the door. in turn, the door relates to space \u2013 or rather, to two kinds of spaces: inside and outside. every space has its own sound and light. than there are all the things, the objects and furniture, that are part of the space. and of course there are the people who inhabit it. we can never speak about objects without imagining people using them.\u201d<\/em>A handle viewed as a small piece of architecture, in addition to an object of industrial design; a small scale project expressing the detail inherent to the construction of space, and not as a secondary element.<\/p>\n

\"16B\"<\/a>
\u201cKonstantin Grcic \u2013 Panorama\u201d \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"18B\"<\/a>
\u201cKonstantin Grcic \u2013 Panorama\u201d \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are also other products, prototypes, designs and various objects, including works of art of other designers that have in some way inspired Grcic, such as an old tea pot and the first Apple computer, and the works of Marcel Duchamp, Gerrit Rietveld or Enzo Mari.
\nWith a change in perspectives, from the smallest to the widest of contexts, the exhibition highlights that, for Grcic, design is not simply a solution to a problem, but also an associational relationship with images, randomness, discontinuity and exploration.<\/p>\n

\"21B\"
\u201cKonstantin Grcic \u2013 Panorama\u201d \u2013 Image \u00a9 Vitra Design Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"22B\"<\/a>
Konstantin Grcic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Konstantin Grcic was born in Munich, Germany in 1965. After training as a cabinet maker at Parnham College in England he studied Design at the Royal College of Art in London from 1988-1990. Since setting up his own design practice Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design in Munich in 1991 he has developed furniture, products and lighting for some of Europe\u00b4s leading design companies such as Agape, Authentics, ClassiCon, Driade, Flos, Iittala, Krups, Lamy, Magis, Moormann, Moroso, Muji, Whirlpool. Konstantin Grcic creates industrial products widely described as pared down, simple, minimalist. What sets him apart from the minimalsm in fashionalble currency today is that he defines function in human terms, combining maximum formal strictness with considerable mental acuity and humor.<\/em><\/p>\n

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he future is here. Or rather, it\u2019s at the\u00a0Vitra Design Museum\u00a0in Weil am Rhein, near Basel, where the German designer\u00a0Konstantin Grcic\u00a0who, in 2004, designed the\u00a0Meta\u00a0handle for Colombo Design\u00a0presents his individual exhibition, with a preview of how we will inhabit the homes, cities and offices of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[639],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-designer-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3079,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions\/3079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombodesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}