Styles
29 janvier 2021
Mimicry of nature, spatial inspiration, fascinating new materials and techniques… Aesthetic standards are changing thanks to a generation of designers who are inventing new standards in a world to be reinvented. Unperfect, irregular and organic shapes reverse the « normal » to embrace a new and more singular beauty.
Interiors flee the uniform, and furniture, lights and decorative objects transform the home into a private gallery. The prescribers of this aesthetics: ceramists, craftsmen, 3D printing studios, young fashion labels and publishers such as Cinna, which for more than 40 years has been distinguished by this anti-conformist spirit, lead the way to a creative renewal by encouraging young designers. Deciphering a current in which the strange is one with the beautiful…
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Beauty
Atypical
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Manufacturing
Local and sustainable
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Serie
Stranger Things
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Strange
is the new normal
A SINGULAR AESTHETICS FIRST SHAPED IN THE HANDS OF CERAMISTS
Born in a strange world, the new generation of designers responds to the need for comfort with creations with fluid curves and organic forms inspired by nature and especially by the marine world. The singular works of Simone Bodmer-Turner, Lisa Allegra or those of Danish designers Turi Heisselberg Pedersen and Layered stand out.
Ceramists who are mutually inspired by the nature in its most extravagant forms. Following the example of the names of sculptures given by the Dane Turi Heisselberg Pederson: « Stumps », « Bulbs », « Tubers ».
Offering carte blanche to emerging talents in contemporary design, Danish in particular. This is the whole purpose of the 3daysofdesign event that takes place in Copenhagen and is increasingly awaited every year. In 2019, the collaborations already reflected an extravagant aesthetic and far from the traditional Scandinavian image, like the scenography ‘The secret garden’.
For last September’s edition, the Ukurant exhibition was created by and for young designers: Ukurant which means something out of the ordinary. It is through a selection of 20 exclusive pieces that this newly formed design community tends to question the boundary between commercial and artistic design, between function and beauty.
An anti-conformism that has long been ingrained in some publishers
A world where preconceived ideas are made to be shaken up. This is the mantra of the publisher Cinna, who for over 40 years has been transmitting his passion for contemporary design through a resolutely singular state of mind. An avant-gardism asserted with : « Beauty will always be right ». The unusual and futuristic shapes of his pieces anchor his desire for anti-conformism in creation.
Space inspires new futuristic or even cosmic aesthetics.
In this vein, the Milanese duo of designers of Studiopepe narrates a retro-contemporary language with its new De-Siderio collection. A virtual universe that showcases creations straight out of the Space Odyssey. Already in 2018 the Milanese studio made a strong impression with its Club Unseen and its selection of singular objects such as the Mountains vases by Ferréol Babin for the publisher Pulpo, also known for its taste for the strange and singular.
50 years after the first human step on the Moon, the conquest of space is more than ever at the heart of the creative process. The Space Age aesthetics of the sixties colonized design in an approach that escapes any Cartesian representation.
Redefining beauty to the point of inventing new standards and standing out through the strange
A galactic euphoria also observed in fashion. Margiela and Yeezy democratize the bizarre through their atypical and cosmic collections. The shoes take on strange shapes and an unfailingly spatial allure, favoring comfort over aesthetics, and the unbelievable over the normal.
Like the creatures of a marine world fantasized in its depths
Recently, creation has also become impregnated with films and fictions set at sea, drawing on « monstrous » aesthetics and marine inspirations. Scaly aspect, coral colors… The creators adopt a kind of mimicry with nature to show curious and authentic creations.
ART AND DESIGN GALLERIES, A CATALYST FOR NEW AESTHETICS
Art and design galleries promote the emergence of these new aesthetics. The latest to date is the XIV Chapel which has just opened its doors in the 18th arrondissement in Paris. A singular place designed by the architect Delphine Sauvaget which presents the new guard of design and the artistic scene of tomorrow. Denis Macrez’s cultures are inspired by ‘elements found by the sea’ when Marion Flament’s Glassy stone freezes an unusual encounter between materials, juxtaposing the strength of stone and the delicacy of glass. An aesthetic of the hybrid already deciphered here.
NEW MATERIALS GIVE RISE TO NEW AESTHETICS
In tune with their generation and the innovations of their time, the new designers use the latest techniques to mark the design of their paw. The Wang & Söderström studio imagines nebulous vases printed in 3D, Gustaf Westman creates furniture in expansive foam and Erez Nevi Pana works with vegan and biodegradable materials. A focus on recycled and atypical materials also advocated by Cinna’s 14th Revealing Talent competition.
Blown glass, its irregularities and roughness are also more than ever celebrated by the designers of the moment. Helle Mardhal, Lætitia Jacquetton and Marie Christine Dorner bring out the natural curves of blown and melted glass, sometimes in color, sometimes with minimalism, but always with delicacy.
Round, bulging or even puffy curves are essential
Swollen, puffy, rounded… The ‘refined sensuality’ embodied by the smooth and emaciated shapes gives way to voluptuous and round curves, playing with the ambivalence between the beautiful and the ugly, and between the solid and the soft. A visual bias embodied as much by Jordan Dalah’s fashion as by Cinna‘s seating and Eny Lee Parker’s experimental furniture.
Collectible Curates marries sustainability with singularity
The Belgian fair trade Collectible Curates dedicated to the best in contemporary design highlights designers, galleries and their outstanding creations. During the exhibition where everything is for sale, the fair puts the emphasis on creativity and tends to appeal to both collector’s design and art lovers.
Design or ceramics exhibitions are like cabinets of curiosity
The art of the table and small decorative pieces are no exception to the ‘strange’ movement. Known for its sharp curation of singular vases made by designers from all over the world, 1000 VASES showcases an abundance of shapes, colors and materials. Cinna, offers a selection of unique accessories in their showrooms, which can be purchased on site.
