Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted exactly three years ago and its ash grounded flights across half of Europe. This unpredictable occurrence had a global impact on the world’s economies and also on the design world. Those already in Milan for the Furniture Fair that took place at the time were stuck in the city for days, but those who had yet to set out never made it.
Three years later, the nature of Europe’s northernmost country is again the focus of a series of designs, produced by 17 ECAL students led by designer Brynjar Sigurðarson, who all went on a mission to Iceland. For one week, they worked with what the wild, local nature had to offer — mainly whale bones, a material never in short supply on the island as 10-15 whales beach and decompose every year. Demand for this material has, however, been falling in recent years.
The designs presented during this year’s Furniture Fair were inspired by an uncontaminated nature full of contrasts — from a collection of boats [Skipið means “boat” in Icelandic] designed by Thibault Penven who incorporated whale vertebrae combined with resin parts for the keel, to cutters [Hakarl] by Dominic Schlögel, who used super-sharp shark teeth. Luc Beaussart custom-designed a wooden pedestal [Stallur] that joins seamlessly to the whale bone it supports, and Charlotte Baverel created masks [Gríma] from primitive raw materials — seal, shark and whale — brought together in contemporary sculptures.
I loro progetti hanno trovato spunto in una natura incontaminata e ricca di contrasti: dalla collezione di barche (Skipid, barca in islandese) disegnata da Thibault Penven che della balena ha usato le vertebre unite a parte in resina per la chiglia, ai taglierini (Hakarl) di Dominic Schlögel che invece ha impiegato i superaffilati denti di squalo.
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Via dell’Orso 16, Milan
From 9 to 14 April 2013
10.30 – 20.30