The central project of Moscow Design Week 2012 and its trademark is the Architect's Eye - an art object by SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov, first presented in April this year at Milan Design Week. And if in Milan the "Eye" was hidden in the courtyard of the Milan State University, then in Moscow it is installed right on the street, or rather on the porch of the Central House of Artists. The "pupil" with a diameter of 2.5 meters, in which photographs of famous monuments of the Russian avant-garde, which are on the verge of destruction, are continuously replaced, is facing the Garden Ring, and from the reverse side, in a polished stainless steel sphere, the colonnade of the Central House of Artists is reflected. And although, according to Sergei Tchoban, in Moscow the object could be installed higher (the space in front of the House of Artists is constantly packed with parked cars, which partially cover the installation and do not allow you to admire it from afar), the dialogue between the past, present and future, conceived by the authors, is nevertheless took place, and this is perhaps the most important condition for creating a high-quality design.
Moscow Design Week celebrates its third anniversary with several innovations. Firstly, the venue has changed - having moved to the Central House of Artists, Design Week occupied it almost entirely, including new halls in the basement. Secondly, the Moscow International Biennale of Graphic Design "Golden Bee", which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, has become a part of MDW. The "Bees" exposition is located in the central hall of the second floor - here, during the show, a whole labyrinth with snow-white walls was built, on which posters and posters presented by artists and graphic artists from all over the world look the most advantageous. And, finally, thirdly, this year the Moscow Design Week exposition opens with a retrospective of the best projects of past years: the Organizing Committee of the Week considered that for such a rapidly developing sphere as design, three years is a very significant period, which means that we can already remember, what kind of masters came to Moscow in 2010-2011 and analyze which of the projects presented at that time eventually took off. An exhibition of the achievements of the past years has taken place in the DNA hall.
There, on the ground floor, according to the project of Angelina Askeri, the Altagamma VIP lounge design space was created, intended for friendly meetings, business negotiations and VIP events of Moscow Design Week. In terms of its functionality, this is a living room, and the furnishings in it are appropriate - comfortable sofas, ottomans, coffee tables and a bar counter. The black and white palette chosen by Askeri gives it a special atmosphere - geometric patterns forming spirals and dynamic vortices create the illusion of three-dimensionality. At first, entering this room, you even get lost, not understanding whether there is furniture in front of you or a giant graphic canvas. The boundaries of individual objects seem to blur here - according to the designer himself, in each of them Anglenia Askeri sought to open a new world.
The mezzanine floor of the House of Artists is set aside for a design market and a design library, and from the second floor begins the main exposition of Moscow Design Week 2012. The main hall houses the project of one of the main trendsetters in the world of furniture and home accessories design, Giulio Cappellini. The famous trendsetter called his project Made in Italy, collecting in one exhibition the most characteristic works of the CAPPELLINI factory. It is interesting that here, too, the black and white range is dominant: the floor is designed in the form of a checkerboard, on separate cells of which Giulio placed a variety of interior items - sofas, tables, bathtubs, flowerpots, chairs, shelves.
And OBJEKT magazine introduces visitors to the works of the young designer Andrey Dokuchaev, who specializes in creating ergonomic, easily transformable and not devoid of humor items. What are at least audio speakers for the iPod in the form of a large spool of thread, which cannot be fixed on a flat surface without an additional lamp shade cover. And the table lamp Aero fully justifies its name, as it looks like an airplane folded from a sheet of iron, under the wings of which tiny but bright lamps are hidden.
One of the most notable projects at the exhibition was the "Zoom In / Out" project of the Gantsev sisters. Sasha and Dasha, attending MDW for the second time, have assembled an international team of young designers this year to change the scale of everyday objects. There is a fork and a spoon, "growth" which is one and a half times the height of a human, a bird feeder, more reminiscent of the kennel of the Baskerville dog, a paper boat, on the deck of which a family of four can easily accommodate. As the curators themselves say, they came up with their project, inspired by the zoom option, which is available in any modern camera: according to the Gantsevs, such a game with a scale is the best way to change the functionality of objects, highlighting their aesthetic value.
And if the Gantsevs enlarge objects so much that they turn cutlery into furniture, then the Italian artist and designer Alessandro Gedda, on the contrary, is trying to turn furniture into art objects. At Moscow Design Week 2012, Jeddah shows two projects at once: Just One Piece is a story about how to assemble a “flower chair” from fragments of rare wood species and ancient velvet, and Yabloko is a series of installations in the form of giant wooden apples painted with MDW symbols … In the CHA itself, you can see only one such apple (by the way, Jeddah dedicated this project to Steve Jobs), but in fact the designer made as many as fifty of them! They are distributed in various parks, squares and restaurants in Moscow - those who find all five dozen "fruits" are promised a prize.
Another foreign guest of Moscow Design Week was the imposing Frenchman Ora Ito, who presents the Savvinskaya 23 cafe project. Its opening is scheduled for November this year in the eponymous modern design center, but it is no secret for MDW visitors what its main feature will be - a bright yellow bar, made of thin, streamlined plates.
And designer Alexander Kanygin ponders how the figure of a bear can be introduced into the interior of a home and office. The My bear project is a series of multi-colored masks, coffee and buffet tables, made in the shape of bears. To create these items, the designer was prompted by the desire to find an alternative to the classic hunting trophy and to give any city dweller an opportunity to have their own wild animal at home - either made of plastic or wood.
The Avocado group is showing a project to create interior items from old newspapers and wooden boxes. Designers literally give these materials a second life, turning paper into lampshades for lamps, and hammering together pretty pieces of furniture from wooden slats.
And finally, Serbian designer Ana Djordjevic, in turn, makes furniture from recycled industrial elements. These are cardboard boxes, and metal baskets from supermarkets, and much more. Her rocking chairs, adorned with wheels from shopping carts, are a constant success among the visitors of Moscow Design Week.
Of course, these are not all projects of Moscow Design Week 2012, which will last until October 14. In addition to installations and art initiatives, its program also includes lectures and master classes by Russian and foreign designers, which are free to attend.
