News — Aug 26, 2011

from August 26, 2011 

The Stedelijk Museum presents a selection of work from its rich collection of industrial and applied design during Temporary Stedelijk 2. In August, the previous presentations on the first floor will make way for new displays, including acquisitions not exhibited previously. Works include pieces by designers such Václav Cigler, Charles & Ray Eames, Konstantin Grcic, Babs Haenen, Floris Hovers, Hella Jongerius, Geert Lap, Ted Noten, Eero Saarinen, Ettore Sottsass, Jan van der Vaart and Tapio Wirkkala.

Vases: A Cross Section from the Collection

This presentation highlights a selection of vases—from the hyper-functional series created by Bauhaus designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld in 1959 to the more conceptual Long Neck and Groove Bottles of 2000 by Hella Jongerius. All these designs offer a new interpretation of this universal form. Fulvio Bianconi rescued Venetian glass from an artistic impasse, while Ettore Sottsass was so frustrated by the uninspiring vases he saw on the market that he created his Lava series. The work of Jan van der Vaart(image) is notable for its abstract, geometric style and spare use of color. For Babs Haenen and Geert Lap, both trained by Van der Vaart, the vase functioned solely as the starting point for more autonomous work. 

Atelier Ted Noten house style by De Designpolitie

Designer Ted Noten has gained notoriety for his irreverent, humorous work. He has encased pistols in Plexiglas handbags and cast bits of chewed gum in gold to make brooches. De Designpolitie (Richard van der Laken and Pepijn Zurburg) created the graphic house style for Atelier Ted Noten, which includes stationary (image) printed with witty captions, tongue-in-cheek comments on the cult of personality surrounding famous architects and designers. With Noten fans in mind, the De Designpolitie came up with the Collector’s Box: Ted Noten for Eternity, where his aficionados can collect keepsakes specially created for events, such as the red arrows designed for Stedelijk Goes to Town in 2008 and 2009.

Jewelry: Acquisitions of Work Designed by Artists of the Rietveld Academie

The third gallery space of the design circuit is dedicated to acquisitions of work by artists who taught and/or trained at the Jewelry Department of the Rietveld Academie. Two distinctive features of the jewelry on view are that they are never subordinate to clothing and always tells a story. The presentation includes previously unexhibited pieced by Iris Eichenberg, Jantje Fleischhut (image), Suska Mackert, Evert Nijland, Lucy Sarneel and others. 

Archetypes: Vessels

In recent decades, various contemporary designers have reinterpreted archetypal forms such as vases, bowls and dishes to reflect the contemporary moment by giving them a new function or producing them using different techniques or materials. This presentation includes the Glove series by Konstantin Grcic (image), which he designed in 2002 for the Dutch ceramics company Cor Unum; Akasma and Kalpa bowls by Satyendra Pakhalé; and the bowls by Jørgen Møller, which echo the simplicity of the original form while the use of synthetic materials lends them a clean, modern feel. 

ArcheToys by Floris Hovers

Floris Hovers studied industrial design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and has since focused primarily on designing furniture and toys. He created the series ArcheToys between 2007 and 2009. Of the 60 models, 31 have since gone into production and are made out of simple, industrially manufactured components like wheels and rectangular steel profiles. Their shapes are archetypal—easily recognizable and ultimately timeless. The selection of ArcheToys (image) bought by the Stedelijk in 2010 spans different model vehicles, including a milk delivery van, a bus and a tractor—even a filling station and a caravan. The display also features a number of prototypes that are not yet in production. 

Plastic Furniture

The corner gallery of the design circuit is devoted to furnishings made from various plastics. From the 1940s on, designers experimented with new techniques and synthetic materials, which had enormous impact on postwar design. Furniture, household appliances and other consumer goods were produced using these new materials. Among the objects on display are a number of iconic designs. The molded shell ofEero Saarinen’s Womb Chair of 1948 is one of the first large fiberglass-reinforced furniture components. Helmut Bätzner’s Bofinger-Stuhl of 1966 is the first chair successfully manufactured from a single section of plastic. Gunter Beltzig’s Floris (image) followed a year later. Czech designer Václav Cigler even employed plastics in his three-dimensional posters. Work by Luigi Colani, Joe Colombo, Charles & Ray Eames and Verner Panton, among others, is also on display. 

New acquisitions of work by Tapio Wirkkala

The presentation of works by Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala, a key figure in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, features a selection from the oeuvre of one of the most acclaimed designers of the twentieth century. On display are decorative and functional objects in glass, ceramics and silver. In 2003 the Stedelijk Museum enriched its Wirkkala collection with the addition of 19 new objects from a private Finnish collection. The silver designs, especially, are a significant addition to the collection. The kayak bowl of 1954 (image), which was manufactured to order only, is a milestone in Scandinavian design.