Alle Metalle / All Metal

“Alle Metalle / All Metal” exhibition, based on the homonymous book, showed at Imm Cologne 2014 classic products as well as contemporary design made of metal. Chairs, tables, trays and lights, mainly in copper or brass, become a material expression of a new design aesthetic.

The book series Objects – by Trademark Publishing – is designed as a reverence to noteworthy phenomena in product design. The second book All metal is dedicated to all the metal objects. Chairs, tables, trays, lights, mainly in copper or brass.

On the occasion of Imm Cologne 2014 the editor of the book Antonia Henschel and the designer Sebastian Herkner have collaborated to transfer the book into an exhibition.

“Alle Metalle / All Metal”, Imm Cologne 2014. View of the exhibition

In his essay Markus Frenzl writes: “This new enthusiasm for the old copper alloys is a material expression of a new design aesthetic: unlike their predecessors, young designers are not keen to invent the future, but rather to save the culture of real-world products from the threat of digitalisation and virtualisation. They are not trying to distance themselves from previous generations of designers at all costs, and are happy to be inspired by the elegant Fifties designs of Gio Ponti, Finn Juhl and Charles and Ray Eames. As a part of this process, they have re-discovered the cultural treasure of the modern era and its materials for themselves. After all, even in 20th century modern design, which we long believed to have focused entirely on cold, chrome-plated objects, designs still appeared from time to time based on materials that had a hand-made feel: brass, copper and bronze.”

Featured are products by Konstantin Grcic, Tomás Alonso, Mategot, Mark Holmes, Sebastian Herkner, Oskar Zieta, Stefan Diez, Kai Linke, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Poul Henningsen amongst others. The exhibition was initiated in cooperation with TØNDEL Interior Design.