analecta romana instituti danici xxxiv - Det Danske Institut i Rom
analecta romana instituti danici xxxiv - Det Danske Institut i Rom analecta romana instituti danici xxxiv - Det Danske Institut i Rom
30 Sisse TanderupFig. 10. Aldo Rossi, Coffepot 1989 (photo: Alessi).Fig. 11. Alessandro Mendini, Marcel Proust chair1978 (photo: author).Piazza” seems more stiff formally comparedto the “Theater of Science”. 29 The reasoncould be that the “Tea & Coffee Piazza”merely was thought as an experimentariumfor the development of ideas in the designprocess than as an object designed for production.The Alessi museum in Crusinalloin Italy, which holds the “Tea & Coffee Piazza”,is indeed intended to be a place fordesign innovation. The museum also exhibitsobjects that did not succeed because theymay serve as inspiration for future design.According to Gianni Braghieri, 30 design hasgreat potential of memory, as design is connectedto rituals. For example, many ritualsare involved in Italian coffee-drinking. ForItalians, coffee-drinking is about stoppingtime for a short while at cafés and bars. It isa sort of totem, 31 which, according to Mitchell,is a special thing:Special things can range, therefore, fromwhat we might call rather ordinary, secular,and modern “special things” likecommodities, souvenirs, family photos,and collections, to sacred, magical, uncannythings, symbolic things, associatedwith a ritual and narrative, prophecies anddivinations …Totems may have a historicalconnection with …the notion of the“found object” that comes to the beholderby chance. 32In a time where much changes and is con-
The Georg Jensen and Alessi Design 31Fig.13. Alessandro Mendini, Corkscrews (photo:Alessi).Fig.12. Alessandro Mendini, “Geo”drip coffeemaker 2007 (photo: Alessi).sumed so rapidly it is not surprising thatmany designers seek back in time for tracesof their own past. Perhaps the purpose is tocreate a critical consciousness of our ownhistory. 33 Alessandro Mendini is a designerwho, like Aldo Rossi, is in search of lost time.Mendini creates a chair in 1978 (Fig. 11) asa tribute to Marcel Proust’s novel “In Searchof Lost Time”. The novel is not structuredchronologically. The chain of events ratherfollows an associative, dreamlike structure,which occasionally is interrupted by poeticdescriptions and different philosophical reflections.To illustrate Proust, Mendini usesan original chair from the 18 th century andimitates the impressionistic painter PaulSignac (1863-1935), who was known forhis pointilism – small dots of pure colours,which are not mixed on the canvas but aremixed in the eyes of the spectator. Later,when Mendini works with design for Alessihe reminds us of the Proust chair by creatingcoffee pots (Fig. 12) and corkscrews wherethe dots still appear (Fig. 13). The repetitionof the dots has a memory-evoking effect ifthe viewer is familiar with the chair.Memory ornamentsOrnaments are decorative objects of differentmaterials worn on the body or on clothing.Memory, identity and rituals are oftenwoven together in the perception of ornaments,for example in connection with engagementsor weddings. In this way, ornamentsbecome an expression of a personalaffiliation. In an interview about ornaments,Carolina Vallejo explains that:…the reason that there is a strength in beingan ornament and not a painting or asculpture, is that, when we see something,
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The Georg Jensen and Alessi Design 31Fig.13. Alessandro Mendini, Corkscrews (photo:Alessi).Fig.12. Alessandro Mendini, “Geo”drip coffeemaker 2007 (photo: Alessi).sumed so rapidly it is not surprising thatmany designers seek back in time for tracesof their own past. Perhaps the purpose is tocreate a critical consciousness of our ownhistory. 33 Alessandro Mendini is a designerwho, like Aldo Rossi, is in search of lost time.Mendini creates a chair in 1978 (Fig. 11) asa tribute to Marcel Proust’s novel “In Searchof Lost Time”. The novel is not structuredchronologically. The chain of events ratherfollows an associative, dreamlike structure,which occasionally is interrupted by poeticdescriptions and different philosophical reflections.To illustrate Proust, Mendini usesan original chair from the 18 th century andimitates the impressionistic painter PaulSignac (1863-1935), who was known forhis pointilism – small dots of pure colours,which are not mixed on the canvas but aremixed in the eyes of the spectator. Later,when Mendini works with design for Alessihe reminds us of the Proust chair by creatingcoffee pots (Fig. 12) and corkscrews wherethe dots still appear (Fig. 13). The repetitionof the dots has a memory-evoking effect ifthe viewer is familiar with the chair.Memory ornamentsOrnaments are decorative objects of differentmaterials worn on the body or on clothing.Memory, identity and rituals are oftenwoven together in the perception of ornaments,for example in connection with engagementsor weddings. In this way, ornamentsbecome an expression of a personalaffiliation. In an interview about ornaments,Carolina Vallejo explains that:…the reason that there is a strength in beingan ornament and not a painting or asculpture, is that, when we see something,