Design Shanghai 2021, puts fun first

作者: Y A S P A C E
发布于: 2021-05-29 16:12
阅读: 129

"When I was younger, everyone said it
Functionalism, functionalism, functionalism.
Functionality alone is not enough.
Design should be sensual and exciting."

"-- Eto Sottsass, co-founder of Memphis


One day 40 years ago, designer Ettore Sottsass, 63, was partying with a group of eccentric young designers. They were tired of the internationalist design world of the Bauhaus, and wanted something dramatic, abstract, quirky and lively. In Sottsass's words, "We want our products to make life better and society happier." The party was playing a Bob Dylan song on loop, so Sottsass named the design group after the song's title, "Memphis."
Memphis advocated the geometric beauty of Art Deco and emphasized bold color schemes. Taking direction from Pop Art and the radical design movement, Memphis rebuilt furniture with geometric elements such as wavy points, broken lines, triangles and arches. Although the Memphis Group has only existed for seven or eight years, its influence has been profound, including Karl Lagerfield and David Bowie. Now, with the rise of the "Internet aesthetic," Memphis is making a comeback, looking both retro and new.


And Ya Space is at the vanguard of this wave.


As a design brand focused on art design and niche collectible home products, YA Space is dedicated to sharing the inspiration of Memphis design masters and artists, as well as interesting, collectible postmodernist design works.
"Ya Space" gets its name from the nickname "Ya City" which connects the American city of Memphis, and also implies the sense of surprise expressed by "Ya". Ya Space's showroom in Hangzhou continues the playful, with an exclamation point in a bland street scene.


The geometric textures and free-form compositions that are typical of Memphis are found throughout the exhibition. The "cliff" opening, stacked with stainless steel corrugated panels, uses a huge exclamation point to guide one into the interior and explore the unknown. The first floor is brightly colored and symmetrically laid out, with striking, continuous geometric doorframes filling the space, and a "building block" game-like scene breaking down the hierarchy. These "building blocks" are made of the same material as the wall, and serve as both the decorative body and the viewfinder frame.


Ceiling light boxes are like sky light, and the symmetrical layout creates a solemn atmosphere of the space, but the bright colors, slim and eerie gold chairs break this atmosphere. The bar-by-cylinder bar, with its separate metal cylinder banister, loudly rebels against pragmatism, reminding people that these everyday objects constitute a stage for value display and novel experience.


The "building blocks" in the exhibition hall on the second floor are all movable geometric screens, which are consistent with the ground material and seem to grow directly from the ground. The shapes and holes of the "blocks" can become frames for eerie, exaggerated, fun and unconformable Memphis furniture -- panoramic or partial, tip-toe or bent, the images constantly cut and reassembled, making it more interesting and intriguing to observe.


In June this year, YA Space will bring Memphis classics and the latest collaboration between Meta Memphis and the artist, with Aldo Cibic, the world class architect of the same name, to the design of the limited edition museum in Shanghai.


The design concept of the limited edition museum takes the urban jungle of modern society as the background, and explores the secret and bold surprise in the white world. Ya Space, which advocates fun first, will completely break the boundary between design and art here.


In addition, there will be Casablanca cabinetry, the whimsical Max bookcase, the playful Greene Street chair and so on. It is hard to imagine that these furniture are nearly 50 years old and still have a contemporary drama -- this is the "new world style" that Memphis emphasizes.


As the head of YA Space puts it: "There is beauty that lasts, but it comes decades too late."


Q: Design Shanghai

A: Ya Space is the Managing Director

 

Q: What works will be brought to Shanghai for this design? What is the concept of the whole?
A: In addition to our old friend Memphis, we are collaborating with world-class architect Aldo Cibic to bring his eponymous collection, which uses slightly playful language to illustrate his understanding of the relationship between design and people. At the same time, it will also present for the first time Corsidesign, a funny, lovely, and beyond popular recognition handmade art furniture designed by artist Gaetano Pesce. Cliff space has been committed to find and collect those after the precipitation of time, still vivid art furniture -- because of the story behind them, they can maintain a high circulation value in the market.

In fact, this design will present two pavilions, namely the contemporary design pavilion C337 and the whole limited design pavilion. For cliff space, the most wanted expression is always "interesting". In my personal mind, "fun" is a very high evaluation of people and things. It is not a superficial show MOE, exaggeration and eye-catching. It is an empowered spiritual word. "Interesting" from inside to outside requires the designer to tolerate and create with a great mind, which is a very high level.

 

Q: Which of the works on display do you prefer the most, and what is the story behind it?
A: I really like the one Dan Friedman designed in 1992, three years before he died. For me personally, Dan Friedman is a very special idol. For most of his life, he has been immersed in the exploration and practice of design and art. It is also his fantastic apartment, which makes me know that design not only has an impact on commercial institutions or fields, but also is a way for people to express their ideas in the current living environment. It wasn't until I saw that screen and learned about his life that I realized how "fun" it was to live and work with passion and responsibility, with a sense of humor and fantasy.

 

Q: What do you think is the contemporary significance of the Memphis revival?
A: I thought this was going to happen A few years ago, and it actually represents the revival of "postmodernist" aesthetics in A broad sense. Venturi proposed "Less is a bore" not only to elaborate the contradiction and complexity of architecture, but also to outline the rudiment of post-modern design from the aesthetic attitude. So-called Nordic style has been in the air for a long time in our daily lives -- all we hear is Dietrahm's "Ten Commandments of Design" and the oft-repeated phrase "Less is more." I do not deny that the beauty of modernism is eternal, but by the same token, in today's increasingly individualized expression, the diversity of aesthetics will certainly extend to every corner. Then, this kind of return tide is in the final analysis, the market tends to enrich the choice of aesthetic.

 

Q: Please summarize the connotation of products presented by Cliff Space in one sentence.
A: Functionalism alone is not enough. Design should be sensual and exciting.

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