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      Ten highlights from Design Doha exhibition Arab Design Now

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      A disaster-proof chandelier from Lebanon and a towering sand dune-style stone installation feature in Arab Design Now, the main exhibition at the inaugural Design Doha biennial.

      Arab Design Now was curated by Rana Beiruti to capture the spirit of contemporary design across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the curator told Dezeen ahead of the opening of the first Design Doha.
      Set within the Qatari capital’s M7 building, the design biennial draws together a range of collectible design and installations.
      Selected works from 74 participants paid homage to the MENA region’s “extremely harsh and unique geography” and investigated the “use of materials as a guiding principle,” explained Beiruti.
      Here are 10 of Dezeen’s highlights from Arab Design Now, which is on display in Doha until early August.

      Sites – New Sites by Studio Anne Holtrop
      Bahrain- and Amsterdam-based architect Anne Holtrop has designed a cluster of large-scale mobiles made from vast slabs of lumpy resin.
      Holtrop took casts of a series of manmade and natural sites that he found across Qatar to create the textured pieces, which hang from bearing mechanisms and can be manually rotated by visitors to produce continuously moving formations.

      Constellations 2.0: Object. Light. Consciousness by Abeer Seikaly
      Over 5,000 pieces of Murano glass were woven together by Jordanian-Palestinian designer Abeer Seikaly to create this chandelier, which combines Bedouin weaving practices from Jordan with traditional Venetian glassmaking techniques.
      Brass and stainless steel were also integrated into the lighting, made flexible by the glass mesh.
      Once illuminated, the sculptural piece creates dramatic light patterns that nod to a starry night sky seen from the Badia desert, according to Seikaly.

      House Between a Jujube Tree and a Palm Tree by Civil Architecture
      Kuwait and Bahrain-based office Civil Architecture has designed a looming fibreglass roof proposal for a majlis – the traditional term for an Arabic gathering space.
      “It’s a 1:1 model of a roof of an actual house that we designed in Bahrain,” studio co-founder Hamed Bukhamseen told Deezen.
      Supported by steel and suspended from tension cables, the majlis features openings designed to accommodate tall trees and was created to explore the “symbiotic but blurred” relationship between indoor and outdoor settings.
      Photo courtesy of Design DohaNubia, Hathor and Gros Guillaume Stool by Omar Chakil
      French-Egyptian-Lebanese designer Omar Chakil was informed by his father’s homeland of Egypt when he chose alabaster onyx to create this monolithic shelving, a bulbous coffee table and a stool that glides across the floor on wheels.
      Taking cues from ancient practices, Chakil carved the rounded furniture from raw blocks of the material, which was sanded down over time using water rather than covered in varnish – something that the designer said had became common in Egypt, especially when making “cheap” souvenirs.
      “The whole idea of the collection was to use Egyptian alabaster, which was a healing stone,” Chakil told Dezeen.
      “The pharaohs used [the material], then it transformed it over time. It lost its soul. So I tried to put it in the contemporary context by using the shapes that healing emotions would take – so they are round and soft, even though they are very heavy,” he added.
      “I see that people are afraid to, but I want them to touch the furniture.”

      Tiamat by AAU Anastas
      Palestinian architecture office AAU Anastas is presenting Tiamat, a dune-shaped installation that forms part of the studio’s ongoing project, Stone Matters, which explores the potential of combining historical stone building techniques with modern technologies to encourage the use of structural stone.
      Positioned for visitors to walk through, the installation is a towering structure made of stone sourced from Bethlehem and informed by the Gothic-style architecture found across Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
      According to AAU Anastas, the light, sound reverberations and climate control within Tiamat’s internal space is unique to stone construction.

      Clay in Context by Sama El Saket
      Jordan-born architect and ceramicist Sama El Saket took cues from her native landscape when creating this “taxonomy of Jordanian clays”.
      The result is a set of spindle bottle-style vessels, each made of a different natural clay found across Jordan. This gives the pieces their distinctive colours, textures and character.
      “These are all natural clays with no pigments added,” El Saket told Dezeen. “The colours are attributed to the different minerals that are found within the region. Some are sandier, some are rockier.”
      The designer noted that while Jordan features an abundance of clay deposits and a rich history of ceramic production, today most Jordanian clay is imported.
      Photo by Sabine SaadehLight Impact by Fabraca Studios
      Lebanese industrial design brand Fabraca Studios has created Light Impact, a solid aluminium lighting fixture that was designed as an alternative chandelier, resembling durable ropes.
      The piece was made to replace a glass chandelier that shattered in the aftermath of the 2020 Beiruit explosion, which destroyed a large part of Lebanon’s capital city.
      Light Impact is defined by “flexible characteristics designed to withstand another disaster,” studio founder Samer Saadeh told Dezeen. He added that the piece, which includes internal brass components, was designed as an ode to Beirut’s adaptability and resilience.

      Eleven by Sahel Alhiyari
      Eleven is a cluster of tall fluted terracotta columns by Jordanian architect Sahel Alhiyari that were made through moulding and forming rather than traditional cutting and carving.
      The architect handcrafted the segments, which are vertically stacked, using a similar technique to pottery-making,
      “As you twist and turn the material, it creates all of this stuff,” Alhiyari told Dezeen. The designer explained that the columns were deliberately created to celebrate imperfections, despite referencing classical architecture.

      Sediments by Talin Hazbar
      UAE-based Syrian designer Talin Hazbar is featuring her Sediments project, which previously gained recognition at Dubai Design Week.
      The work consists of blocky seating made from fishing ropes and fishing cage ropes extracted from the Persian Gulf with the assistance of the Dubai Voluntary Diving Team.
      Also made up of recycled rubber grains, the heavily textured seating was created to serve as a reminder of how we might attempt to clean up damaged coastlines, according to Hazbar.

      Whispers from the Deep by T Sakhi
      Lebanese-Polish sisters Tessa and Tara El Sakhi of the studio T Sakhi combined discarded metal salvaged from factories in Veneto, Italy, with Murano glass to create amorphous glassware that takes cues from underwater sea creatures.
      These pieces were arranged atop dramatic shelving inside the elevator connecting the first and second floors of the Arab Design Now exhibition.
      The result is a playful installation that draws together the Venetian lagoon and Lebanese glassblowing traditions.
      The photography is by Edmund Sumner unless stated otherwise.
      Arab Design Now takes place at Design Doha from 24 to 5 August 2024 in Doha, Qatar. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      Bijoy Jain creates bamboo hut and stone furniture for Paris exhibition

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      Bijoy Jain, founder of Indian architecture practice Studio Mumbai, has created a series of structures and furniture made from natural materials for the Breath of an Architect exhibition at Paris’s Fondation Cartier gallery.

      Most of the pieces on display in the Jean Nouvel-designed building were designed by Jain specifically for the exhibition and made in his studio in Mumbai.
      Bijoy Jain designed a bamboo hut for the exhibitionUniting them is a use of natural materials, including graphite, basalt, lime, sandstone, bamboo and fired clay.
      “No material was bought,” Jain told Dezeen. “It’s all been harvested from whatever was needed to be available.”
      Pieces in the exhibition were made from natural materialsOn display until 21 April, Breath of an Architect was spread across two exhibition spaces at ground floor level – with views of the Fondation Cartier gardens through the building’s glass facade – and two rooms in the basement.

      A bamboo hut with silk thread woven into the walls forms the centrepiece of one of the ground floor spaces.
      Jain created a large chalk floor slab painted with cadmium pigmentArchitectural models and furniture made from stone, asphalt and tar surround the hut. Inside, more furniture was displayed with a bamboo sphere coated in cow dung, string and turmeric.
      A large chalk floor slab decorated with stripes of cadmium pigment was placed at the centre of the adjacent ground floor space.

      Junya Ishigami’s architectural models feature in Fondation Cartier exhibition

      On the level below, stone animal sculptures were lined up in the middle of the room, and decorative woven bamboo mats coated with cow dung, lime, and pigments were displayed on the walls.
      Turkish-Danish ceramicist Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye created ceramic bowls for the exhibition, displayed on brick tables by Studio Mumbai.
      Stone animal statues were displayed in the basementIn the other basement room were graphite drawings by artist Hu Liu, and small stone sculptures by Jain were placed around the room’s edges.
      Jain told Dezeen that he expects different visitors to come to the exhibition with different perspectives, ultimately leading to different interpretations of the work.
      Many of the pieces were made by Jain in his Mumbai studio”[The purpose] is to evoke different viewpoints, so everyone will have a different response to the work,” Jain said.
      “There’s no singularity here. This is not about being exclusive to an idea, it’s about being inclusive to the possibility of many viewpoints, many different ideas.”
      The exhibition also includes works by ceramicist Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye and artist Hu LiuMany of the pieces in the Breath of an Architect exhibition were designed to evoke Jain’s memories or hold a personal connection for him.
      “I have a relationship with every piece in the exhibition,” he said. “My creations are about transmitting ideas. Architecture has the capacity to embed sentiment.”
      Previous exhibitions at Fondation Cartier include a collection of architectural models by Japanese architect Junya Ishigami and an installation on the impact of climate change on nature by Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker and scientist Stefano Mancuso.
      The photography is by Marc Domage.
      The Breath of an Architect exhibition is on display at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris, France, from 9 December 2023 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      IKEA unveils “powerful” first photos by artist-in-residence Annie Leibovitz

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      Swedish furniture brand IKEA has released two images from a series of photographs taken by Annie Leibovitz, its first-ever artist-in-residence, showing people in their homes across the world.

      The American photographer, who is best known for her portraits, travelled to twenty-five homes around the globe to take photos of people in their residences. She visited houses and apartments in Sweden, India, Italy, Japan, Germany, England and the US.
      “The home has always been important in my work,” Leibovitz said when appointed artist-in-residence in 2023.
      “I’ve been photographing people in their homes since I began,” she added. “It’s a way to understand who a person is. The advice I give to young photographers is to photograph their families. It’s one of the best ways to start.”
      Annie Leibovitz photographed 25 homes for IKEA, including this one in GermanyLeibovitz’s photos for IKEA show a variety of different interiors in seven different countries.

      “The result is a powerful photographic document that illuminates the nuances of life at home – across borders, ethnicities and professions,” the furniture brand said of the project.
      The series, which comprises 25 photos in total, was commissioned by IKEA after its IKEA Life at Home Report showed that 48 per cent of people globally don’t feel the media represents their home.
      The first two images released by IKEA, show the homes of Yusuke Onimaru in Japan and Maria Arrechea in Germany – specifically Onimaru’s ceramic workshop and Arrechea’s living space filled with friends.

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      Leibovitz’s photos will be shown as part of the IKEA+ exhibition in Paris, which will take place during Paris Fashion Week.
      It will also feature a collaboration with online radio station Rinse and showcase the Tesammans collection made by IKEA together with Eindhoven-basd design duo Raw Color.
      Six emerging designers from the Casa93 fashion education program are also taking part in the IKEA+ showcase. They worked with “home furnishing mentors” from IKEA to create designs that focus on upcycling and sustainable design.
      The photography is by Annie Leibovitz for IKEA.
      IKEA+ will take place on 28 Rue de Lappe, Paris, from 29 February to 3 March. For more worldwide events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design, visit Dezeen Events Guide. 

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      Folkform installs The Museum of Masonite at Stockholm Furniture Fair

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      Swedish design duo Folkform has presented a series of furniture pieces made using Masonite hardboard sourced from a factory that closed down over a decade ago.

      On show at Stockholm Furniture Fair, The Museum of Masonite centres around a patented type of engineered wood board that is made by steam-cooking and pressure-moulding wood fibres.
      Folkform founders Anna Holmquist and Chandra Ahlsell first started experimenting with this material 15 years ago, in collaboration with Sweden’s last remaining Masonite producer in Rundvik.
      The Museum of Masonite features furniture made from a patented type of wood boardWhen the factory closed in 2011, the pair took all the remaining stock.
      “I felt a responsibility to tell the story of what happened to this material,” explained Holmquist, who has since completed a PHD exploring the cultural significance of Masonite.

      “It created the Swedish welfare state in the 1930s, 40s and 50s,” she told Dezeen.
      “It was made from leftover wood from the Swedish sawmills so it became bigger here than anywhere else. Everyone was using it, for everything from boats and caravans to houses.”
      Works on show include the Masonite Chair, a collaboration with Åke AxelssonThe Museum of Masonite follows the release of the Production Novellas, a book published by Folkform detailing the results of Holmquist’s PHD research.
      Folkform is showcasing this book alongside some of their favourite Masonite designs created over the years.

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      Works on display include the Masonite Chair, a 2021 collaboration with Åke Axelsson based on an experimental design the Swedish interior architect produced in 1978.
      Older pieces include a chest of drawers and a bedside cabinet, both created in 2012, which feature different material samples arranged in geometric collages.
      “We combined materials with different ages, with this idea that the furniture becomes an archive,” said Holmquist.
      The exhibition follows the release of the book Production NovellasThe most recent designs in the show explore a more minimalist approach, suggesting how the material can create the suggestion of solid blocks.
      “I feel like the compositions will be never-ending because we still have more of this board,” added Holmquist.
      The works are presented alongside photographs, illustrations and artefacts that tell the story of the factory.
      The exhibition includes photos from the factory. Image by Amy FrearsonLater in the year, the exhibition will move to the Laurel Museum of Art in Mississippi, the city where Masonite was patented in 1924 by William H Mason.
      Masonite is distinct from other engineered wood fibre boards, such as MDF, because it is made without glue. Holmquist believes the material could have a future in manufacturing.
      Masonite is made from pressure-moulded wood fibres. Image by Amy Frearson”It’s a beautiful material and it’s very sustainable,” she concluded.
      “We are already seeing a shift in food, where people increasingly care where the things they eat come from, so maybe it will also happen for furniture and objects.”
      At Stockholm Furniture Fair this year, visitors could also enjoy the Wekino With exhibition by South Korean furniture designers and British designer Faye Toogood’s collaboration with Finnish company Vaarnii.
      The photography is by Erik Lefvander unless otherwise stated.
      The Museum of Masonite is on show at Stockholm Furniture Fair, which is open to the public from 7 to 11 February 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for more Stockholm Dezeen Week exhibitions in our dedicated event guide.

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      San Francisco exhibition features “off-center” Bay Area furniture design

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      Stools from local designer Caleb Ferris and design firm Prowl Studio were among the works displayed at a San Francisco exhibition centred around contemporary Bay Area design.

      The Works in Progress show displayed stools, chairs and other furniture from local designers to highlight the diversity in methods and backgrounds of an evolving Bay Area design scene.
      The recent Works in Progress exhibition held in San Francisco highlighted Bay Area designers”As the Bay Area creative scene evolves in real-time, there are boundless possibilities for how it might bloom,” said curators and designers Kate Greenberg, Kelley Perumbeti, and Sahra Jajarmikhayat in a statement. 
      “For now, we are here to acknowledge its depth and say: it’s a work in progress.”
      Caleb Ferris showed a duck-footed poplar stoolThe team distributed the exhibition’s pieces across metallic platforms supported by foundations of bricks.

      Pieces ranged from a curvacious, duck-footed poplar wood stool marked with paint and silver leaf by Caleb Ferris, to Prowl Studio’s cubic stainless steel stool wrapped in a 3D knit cover.
      Prowl Studio wrapped a stainless steel stool in a 3D knit cover”Across a range of materials, forms, and functions, the participants have found a groove in the original, the introspective, and the off-center,” said the team. 
      Designer Ido Yoshimoto displayed a sculptural side table made of old-growth redwood and finished in a dark red textured hue. The table consists of a geometric, curved corner that runs into a darkened raw edge.
      Designer Ido Yoshimoto showed a sculptural old-growth redwood side table with a raw edgeStudio Ahead created a fuzzy Merino wool stool informed by northern California rock formations, which contrasted with the smooth surface of a glass stool by curators Jajarmikhayat and Greenberg.
      Other works included a baltic plywood side table with grooved sides and small, chunky sky blue legs by NJ Roseti and a white oak chair topped with a wild fleece and suede cushion by Rafi Ajl of studio Long Confidence.

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      Office of Tangible Space showed a flat-legged chair designed in collaboration with CNC design studio Thirdkind Studio, while Duncan Oja of Oja Design displayed a charred white oak stool with an organic, rough-sawn profile.
      Fyrn Studio showed a charcoal-black hardwood stool with aluminium hardware created with replaceable parts and studio Medium Small and designer Yvonne Mouser both displayed chairs made of ash, one blackened and the other not, supported by bases of elegant, simple lines.
      Studio Ahead and Kate Greenberg and Sahra Jajarmikhayat made stools with rock-like forms”As simple as it sounds, the soul of this exhibition is in the representation of physical craft and the people behind it. It’s important to shine a light on this vibrant slice of the Bay Area that is not always as visible amidst a city focused on the digital realm,” said Perumbeti.
      “There’s something really exciting brewing in this community that is just beginning to get teased out,” said Greenberg.
      NJ Roseti created a baltic plywood side table supported by light blue cubic legsWorks in Progress was part of the wider San Francisco Art Week, which highlights art and design from the city and took place from 13-21 January.
      Other recent furniture exhibitions that highlighted California designers include INTRO/LA with pieces by Adi Goodrich and Sam Klemick and the first Miami edition from Milan-based design exhibition Alcova held in a motel during Miami’s art week.
      Works in Progress took place at the American Industrial Center in San Francisco from 18 to 23 January 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
      The photography is by Sahra Jajarmikhayat unless otherwise stated. 

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      Es Devlin reveals “miniature parallel practice” for New York exhibition

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      Student drawings, scale models, and a life-size recreation of set designer Es Devlin’s London studio are on display at an exhibition exploring the designer’s 30-year archive at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

      Presented in conjunction with her debut monograph, An Atlas of Es Devlin, both exhibition and publication showcased sketches, paintings, small-scale work and more behind 120 projects spanning Devlin’s career in set design.
      An exhibit exploring Es Devlin’s career is on display at the Cooper Hewitt. Photo and top photo by Jason West”My craft is to imagine worlds that don’t yet exist, to invite audiences to practice ‘interbeing’ within psychological architectures they have not previously inhabited, to remind viewers that they are not separate but connected to one another and to the biosphere,” said Devlin.
      “For this exhibition, I have gathered the drawings, fragile paper sculptures and small-scale revolving cardboard models that I and my studio team have been making over the past three decades, a miniature parallel practice at the root of the large-scale public performance and installation works.”
      It coincides with the publishing of a monograph of the set designer’s workVisitors entered the exhibit via a recreation of Devlin’s London office, where they could sit at a central table scattered with paper and art tools representative of works in progress.

      Devlin’s voice narrated thoughts about early school days, belonging, and the intersection of creative disciplines as projections animate the space, with scribbles and writings appearing on the table’s pages and along the walls.
      The exhibit combines projections and audio recordings with scale models, sketches and notes from the designer’s life”The first thing I wanted to do was to invite visitors into my studio,” said Devlin. “Many of the people coming into this exhibition will not have a clue what it is I do or what are the processes that go into it at all.”
      “You come into the studio and already I hope you get the sense I had when I first walked into a room full of people making work like this.”
      Visitors enter through a replica of Es Devlin’s London studio before entering rooms displaying her creative process. Photo by Elliot Goldstein | Smithsonian InstitutionA projection of Devlin’s hands pulled an entryway open to the adjoining room, where Devlin’s Iris installation displayed the names of her many collaborators on a series of rings, a motif the designer often uses to “express the overlaid perspectives of creative partners and audiences”.
      The next installation displayed a wall covered in early sketches, paintings, collages, and diaries Devlin produced during her years at a music school and in her early career, which she noted were delivered to her later in life in “four big black beanbags” by an old boyfriend who had kept them.
      Both the exhibit and monograph showcase the creative process behind some 120 showsWhite, scale models of set and production designs made by Es Devlin Studio were displayed throughout succeeding rooms, accompanied by process sketches, documents and notes that include mark-ups on song lyrics by musicians Miley Cyrus, U2, The Weeknd, Beyoncé and more.
      Devlin noted that her work often begins with analyzing a “primary text” like pop-song lyrics or play before delving into further research.
      Scale models of set and production design are on display”I have spent 30 years translating words into images and spaces – transforming texts on a page into kinetic sculptures that encompass viewers with light and song and use magic to alter their perspective,” Devlin said.
      Another room contained a model theatre with a screen on its stage that displayed films of previous performances, while another displayed short films from Devlin’s various installations.

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      The last had a large table in which a number of Devlin’s monographs were displayed for visitors to thumb through, with pages of the recent book pinned along the walls.
      “The biggest challenge was to make the book,” Devlin told Dezeen “The book and the exhibit are kind of continuous of one another. Normally, my practice is a small group of people in my studio, resonating out to wider groups.”
      Unseen student work by Devlin also features”But this was the opposite centripetal force of drawing everything into a really small series of rooms, and a small object, the book. It’s the inverse of what I normally do.”
      According to the designer, the book-making process took nearly seven years and was edited by Cooper Hewitt associate curator of contemporary design Andrea Lipps, who also curated Devlin’s exhibit.
      Dezeen recently spoke with Es Devlin on her career, her work on the Sphere and more in an exclusive interview.
      The photography is courtesy Es Devlin Studio unless otherwise noted.
      An Atlas of Es Devlin will take place at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York from 18 Nov to 11 August 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
      Project credits:Exhibition design: Es Devlin StudioCurator: Andrea LippsCuratorial assistant: Julie PastoCuratorial interns and fellows: Madelyn Colonna, Bailey de Vries, Barbara Kasomenakis and Sophie ScottDesigners of record and fabrication: Pink SparrowGraphic design: Morcos KeyProjection and video design: Luke Halls StudioComposition and sound design: PolyphoniaLighting design: Bruno Poet and John ViestaAudiovisual production and integration: AV&C

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      Medprostor stacks firewood for Ljubljana design biennial exhibition

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      Firewood logs were used as modular stackable elements for the scenography of the BIO27 Super Vernaculars design biennial in Ljubljana, Slovenia, which has been shortlisted for a 2023 Dezeen Award.

      Curated by Jane Withers, the 27th edition of the city’s design biennial took place at the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in the summer of 2022.
      Firewood was stacked in various ways to stage the BIO27 Super VernacularsThe four-month presentation explored how designers and architects are adapting vernacular traditions and value systems to respond to contemporary challenges like water scarcity, waste and declining biodiversity.
      Similarly, the brief for the exhibition design was to rethink classic parameters and consider sustainability in the context of a temporary show.
      The firewood bundles were used to display various design projects throughout MAOSlovenian architecture studio Medprostor chose to create the scenography from a readily available, locally sourced material that could be entirely reused at the end of the show.

      “Walls, planes, piles and lines of firewood are a part of the Slovenian visual landscape, as almost 59 per cent of the country is forested,” said Medprostor.
      “By only using the standard logs and non-invasive stacking and binding methods, all the material was returned to the supplier for further resale and use.”
      The logs were pre-cut to standard lengths so they could be reusedPre-cut to standard lengths, the logs were oriented vertically and bound together to create tables and platforms of varying heights and sizes throughout the exhibit areas.
      Some of the logs were notched in their tops to hold photographs and texts mounted on honeycomb cardboard sheets, which also formed flat horizontal surfaces for displaying items by participating designers.
      Photos mounted onto honeycomb cardboard were placed in notches on top of the logsBundles were also laid on their sides to act as low-lying display podiums for larger pieces.
      “The aim was to explore ways of stacking wood that are based in traditional techniques but can at the same time support new shapes and methods that evoke a sense of contemporaneity,” Medprostor said.
      Orange and grey straps recycled from the shipping industry were used to bind the logsThe grey and orange straps used to bind the wood and to hang cardboard panels from the ceiling were reused from the shipping industry.
      A few panels also incorporated video screens or served as a backdrop for projections, adding another medium through which the curated projects could be articulated.

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      Medprostor collaborated with graphic designers Studio Kruh and AA to continue the low-impact approach to the exhibition graphics and signage, which were primarily printed on-site at the museum.
      Additionally, the firewood was able to extend its drying process for the duration of the biennial, making it more energy-efficient when finally used as fuel, according to the studio.
      Hanging panels incorporated video screens and were used as projector backdrops”The drier the wood, the higher heating value and better environmental footprint it has,” Medprostor said. “While in the museum, logs can dry additionally and be returned to the supplier for further resale with a better ecological footprint.”
      “The museum becomes a part of the process of curing the wood.”
      All of the firewood was returned to the supplier when the exhibition endedThe BIO27 Super Vernaculars scenography has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category of the 2023 Dezeen Awards, along with a shrink-wrapped exhibition design by Didier Faustino and a showcase of recycled steel chairs by Daisuke Yamamoto.
      The awards will be presented during a ceremony and party in London on Tuesday 28 November 2023, with creative direction by The Unlimited Dream Company.
      The photography is by Ana Skobe and Klemen Ilovar.
      BIO27 Super Vernaculars took place at the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO), Ljubljana, Slovenia from 26 May to 29 September 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
      Project credits:
      Location: Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO), Ljubljana, SloveniaExhibition design: Medprostor: Rok Žnidaršič, Jerneja Fischer Knap, Katarina Čakš, Teja GorjupGraphic design: Studio Kruh + AACurator: Jane WithersAssistant curator: Ria HawthornBIO27 director: Anja Radović

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      Traditional design techniques are “alive and well” in Le Salon de Septembre exhibition

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      Old and new blurred together in this exhibition at Paris’ GSL Gallery, which celebrated contemporary creatives who observe design traditions of the past.

      Le Salon de Septembre was the inaugural exhibition to be held at GSL Gallery, a factory-turned-arts space in Paris’ Patin neighbourhood run by creative collective The Guild of Saint Luke.
      Guided by the motto “Remastering The Past”, the collective thought it fitting for the show to highlight the fact that traditional design techniques are “very much alive and well”.
      The exhibition showcases contemporary designers who observe design traditions of the past”These techniques are being adopted by young avant-garde artists and designers around the world to create new forms that can also be read in the context of decorative art history,” the collective’s founder, John Whelan, told Dezeen.
      “This is a subjective opinion but I think that artworks and design pieces that reference the past are drawing upon our roots, the very foundation and life force of our culture – works that attempt to break free from the past can often look ‘deracinated’ and meaningless despite their valiant effort to create a new language.”

      Pieces include this stainless steel daybed by Olivia BossyA mix of established and emerging creatives contributed pieces to the exhibition, which was curated by Whelan and interior architect Edgar Jayet.
      On the gallery’s ground floor, an ebonised blackwood and stainless steel daybed by Australian designer Olivia Bossy sat beside a lustrous aluminium lamp from designer Max Copolov.
      This drew on the work style of Weiner Werkstätte – a modernist Austrian design studio established in 1903 by painter Koloman Moser, the architect Josef Hoffmann and patron Fritz Waerndorfer.
      A glass vitrine contains a curule-style stool by Edgar Jayet and a 19th-century bento boxA glass vitrine in the same room contained an ornate bento box from 19th-century Japan and a raw aluminium stool by co-curator Jayet.
      This offered a reinterpretation of the curule seat, used in Ancient Rome by powerful magistrates.

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      Upstairs on the gallery’s mezzanine, a chair by Seoul-based designer Kim Byungsub was on display.
      While its seat was made from hairline-finish steel, its backrest featured najeonchilgi: a historic Korean handicraft technique in which mother-of-pearl motifs are inlaid into lacquered surfaces.
      The gallery’s mezzanine featured this najeonchilgi chair by Kim ByungsubOther items on this level included a walnut-veneer lounger by London-based artist EJR Barnes, designed to emulate “turn-of-the-century European grandeur”.
      There was also a blackened ash, steel, and felt-laminate suspension light by London-based designer Joe Armitage, which took its cues from a floor lamp created in 1952 by his grandfather, architect Edward Armitage.
      Nearby is a walnut-veneer lounger by EJR BarnesAn array of paintings, prints and reliefs served as a backdrop to the pieces in the gallery. These nodded to the exhibition design of the 1903 edition of Salon d’Automne, an art show that takes place in Paris every year.
      “My co-curator Edgar Jayet and I were particularly interested by the avant-garde spirit of the original Salon d’Automne, which was controversial in its day, showing the Fauvists, Cubists and Futurists, as well as Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier in design,” explained Whelan.
      “Archival images of the original exhibition in 1903 heavily influenced our scenography, with an ebonised oak vitrine and shelf above which artworks are hung in a ramshackle, fin-de-siecle style.”
      This suspension light by Joe Armitage also comes as part of the exhibitionLike Salon d’Automne, Le Salon de Septembre will now become an annual event at GSL Gallery.
      “We hope to provide an annual snapshot of the zeitgeist in art and design, showing artists and designers that explore heritage as a means of contemporary inspiration,” concluded Whelan.
      Prior to opening GSL Gallery at the beginning of 2023, The Guild of Saint Luke specialised in reviving historic interiors and designing new ones.
      Previous projects include Nolinski, an art deco-style eatery in the French capital, and Maison Francois, a chic brasserie in London that riffs on Ricardo Bofill’s architecture.
      The photography is by Celia Spenard-Ko. 
      Le Salon de Septembre took place at 27 Rue Jacques Cottin, Pantin, Paris, from 15 September to 6 October. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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