florence design week: may 24-29, 2011 (italy)

The second edition of the Florence Design Week began today and runs through Sunday. Looking at their website, I’m not too impressed by the graphic design, but lets hope this annual event grows and improves.

Here is what they have to say about the festival:

FLORENCE DESIGN WEEK – DESIGN VILLAGE, edition 2.0
Florence, 24-29 May 2011

“From 24 to 29 May 2011 will host the second edition of the Florence Design Week – Design Village 2011, under the High Patronage of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, supported by the London Design Festival and in collaboration with the Municipality of Florence , Province of Florence, Calenzano.

A passion for design and art will lead visitors to discover the five senses, through an emotional journey in which the design will merge with the historic beauty of Florence, the festival will involve squares, art galleries, libraries and historic houses decorating the city with his works to see and admire the work of new generations of designers and companies, taste the food that the design can give and enjoy the smells of a city ​​at the height of his creative spring.

Spread in various locations all around the city of Florence, Graphic and Visual Design, Industrial Design, Fashion Design, Interior Design, Music and Food Design will be celebrated during the whole week.

Exhibitions, workshops, meetings, design-aperitifs and an innovative night-life will be organized to create a real network between designers and people, between past and future.

Taking part at the Florence Design Week is a great possibility to perceive the city designed on a new and contemporary light!”

Click to see the program.

And there is even a jewelry design event coordinated by Alchimia and 70m2:

ALCHIMIA presents LUMINIA
24 – 29 May from 10am-7pm

“For the exhibition Luminia, at the School of Contemporary Jewellery Alchimia, designers from Italy and test themselves in the realization of bright objects, unique, unusual pieces that embellish the house and not only the person. They are called for the reinterpretation of one of their jewels in a “bright creation.” The intersection of expertise and the coexistence of different disciplines are some of the interests of the architectural studio 70m2, which has decided to support their professional activity with the promotion of the new creativity.”

Info:
www.70m2.it
info@70m2.i

chi ha paura…? jewelry exhibition @ “vicenzaoro” (vicenza, italy)

“As part of Italy’s leading gold and jewellery fair ‘Vicenzaoro‘, 21 – 25 May 2011 in the city of Vicenza, an unprecedented retrospective of the chi ha paura…? collection will be on exhibit. For the occasion 3 naval containers located at Vicenza’s central city square will be turned into a special exhibition space presenting the entire CHP collection. Curated by architect and design critic Alba Capellieri, the exhibition will also feature all prototypes ever made for CHP and the complete Body Stories project. Moreover, as part of the exhibition, a pop-up shop sells the CHP collection and Electa will publish the accompanying catalogue. The presentation is on display from 21 May until 21 June. For more information email rita.gardin@vicenzafiera.it

Chi ha paura…?(CHP) Italian for ‘Who is afraid…?’ makes designer jewellery by international jewellery designers. CHP was established in 1996 by designer and co-founder of Droog Design Gijs Bakker (NL) and gallery owner Marijke Vallanzasca (IT).

By producing conceptual design jewellery CHP shows that a good piece of jewellery is more than a decorative accessory. In the jewellery made by CHP originality of the concept is central to the design and supported by a fitting choice of material and technology.

CHP asks well-established designers to invigorate the tradition of jewellery design, while paying particular attention to concept, play, new techniques and materials. By this concentrating more on the preciousness of the idea rather than on the material value of the object. By showing that jewellery design evolves just like any other design discipline CHP fills an existing void by making designer jewellery more widely accessible.”

currency of unified italy: from lira to euro – exhibition in rome

If you happen to be in Rome, there is a fascinating exhibition called “La Moneta dell’Italia Unita dalla lira all’euro,” until July 3, 2011. You actually don’t have to exchange any coins to see it because it’s free! Even I get nostalgic about the Lira because when I arrived in Italy, it was still in use. The US$ was seeing better days and with the extra zeros in the Lira value, one felt like a millionaire, literally! When Italy conformed to the Euro in January 2002, prices of almost everything (except salaries) pratically doubled in the conversion, almost as if those paying the doubled prices didn’t realize it – especially the elderly nonni. The new currency seemed like Monopoly money.

The Lira was formally adopted in 1860 after Vittorio Emanuele II signed for the unification of a monetary system. Previously, there were numerous systems depending on each territory and government. These monies included scudi, carlini, ducati, soldi, piastre, fiorini, baiocchi, grana, tornesi, quattrini, zecchini, and many others. In the territories that formed in 1861, there were 282 different coins in circulation! Imagine how confusing it must have been to decifer from city to city, borgo to borgo within the Regno d’Italia how prices calculated to each currency as if one was travelling between different countries – rather like traveling within Europe before the Euro. Italy as a country became unified in 1861 – this year celebrating the 150th anniversary. The use of paper banknotes grew only 8% of circulation in 1861 to over 40% by 1866.

In producion new coins, however, the Parliament was undecided between gold, silver, or bimetal materials. Gold discoveries in California and Australia actually lowered the price of gold in relation to silver, so it was decided to use the gold “aureo” measurement unit. None-the-less, in 1865, political ties with France pushed Italy to use the bimetal system. In 1873, the aureo system began to be used due to Germany’s decision to use it.

Coins and banknotes were initially fabricated by private and foreign producers. As technology advances, they need to be more difficult to falsify. Some of today’s systems are based on these antique machines. The graphic images and symbols seen on coins and banknotes from antiquity to today’s currency can be amazingly beautiful and intricately layered with graphics, textures, watermarks, and other anti-counterfeit devices.

The Currency of Unified Italy: From Lira to Euro
5 April – 3 July 2011 
Palazzo delle Esposizioni
Entry from the steps at Via Milano 9A – 00184 Rome

Admission FREE

Opening times 
Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: 10.00 – 20.00
Friday and Saturday: 10.00 – 22.30 – Closed on Mondays
Last admission is one hour before closing time

Information and bookings 
Individuals and groups: Tel. 06 39967500
Schools: Tel. 06 39967200
www.palazzoesposizioni.it - info.pde@palaexpo.it

Here are some pendants I have made using out-of-circulation vintage Lira coins, maps, and quartz.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I was in NYC last week and made a point to see this spectacular exhibition of work by the late British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen, who died in 2010 at the age of 40 by suicide. Not knowing quite, what to expect, I was drawn into the retrospective with curiosity, wonder, and admiration.

The first room featured a rather tame group of architecturally tailored suits deconstructed from the traditional to eloquently form to the female body, really showcasing McQueen’s ability to construct attire in a formal, yet avant-garde manner. Moving through the beautifully curated exhibition, one room houses floor to ceiling cubicles of sculptural details, accessories, corsets, headgear and other elements, thematic inspirations varying from the Victorian age, the grotesque, animalistic, diverse materials and concepts of fantasy. Here is where the theatrics of McQueen’s designs start revealing themselves. You can see his broad range of ideas and moments of expression – elements that seem to have poured from his complex (and tortured?) soul. It would be difficult not to find a few of your very own favorites in each room, even if the crowd visiting the exhibition seemed very main-stream non-fashionistas, but always full of wonder.

One of my favorite areas of the exhibition was the “Cabinet of Curiosities” with beautiful wall applications in the gallery including antiqued Victorian-inspired frames and speckled mica mirrors, creating the perfect dark yet elegant atmosphere for the mannequins clothed by McQueen’s drama. One after another, costumes of extravagance and contradiction. The true marriage of Beauty and the Beast.

Another installation was the “Highland Rape,” where McQueen celebrated and honored the British monarchy and his Scottish roots, to a level of sarcastic rebellion, but always in an elegant way, nothing like the previous British punk fashion scene.

McQueen’s complex deconstruction of Romanticism and his self-proclaimed goal to “empower women” albeit in their savage state can be seen not only in his forms and concepts, but also in his use of amazingly sensuous materials: feathers, intense beadwork, lace, organza, animal bones, and silk. His women may have been torn and tattered, but prevail none-the-less. His inspirations were not from specific women, but tragically doomed women from history such as Joan of Arc.

Although McQueen’s creations were extremely dramatic and the exhibition was aptly designed and curated to showcase his work, I was less impressed by the multi-media aspect of the installation which included a hologram and a couple of videos showing his work in action on the runways. I’m sure the experiences of seeing McQueen’s work being worn and activated must have been much more impressive seen live in person.

McQueen was truly an artist using fashion as his medium to express his concepts and passions in a perfectly controlled and skillfully executed representation of grotesque beauty in form and material.

Here are a couple of links for more information about the exhibit from the New York Times:

Alexander McQueen in All His Dark Glory Savage Beauty, a show at theMetropolitanMuseum of Art, celebrates the British fashion designer and his wildly imaginative vision. May 3, 2011 – By Suzy Menkes – Fashion & Style

Alexander McQueen Show at the Met – Review A Metropolitan Museum exhibition of work by Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide last year, surveys the career of a designer who used…. May 7, 2011 – By Holland Cotter – Arts / Art & Design

Slide show from the NY Times

Runs through July 31 @ The Metropolitan Musuem of Art (admission by suggested donation) – www.metmuseum.org

Metropolitan Museum of Art