Caselli 11-12 curates a dialogue between furniture and sculpture with ‘Makers 2’

What is furniture, if not an ergonomic exploration of materiality, a carefully crafted augmentation of the user, an eloquent sculpture rendered with functionality, or perhaps, all of that in tandem? Deemed as a derivative of function and pragmatism, furniture designs often, or at least in common perceptions, tend to gravitate towards simple and clean forms catering to a predefined purpose. However, contemporary makers are increasingly approaching furniture inquisitively. As opposed to retracing traditional processes and materialities, they question— Is there a window for artistic commentary in the utilitarian? Through experimentation in silhouettes and materials, product and furniture designers reinterpret the semantics of furniture—reiterating how the ever-expanding sphere has unfathomable possibilities to offer.

In 2022, an old toll house in Milan, Italy, that flanked a monumental city gate, was transformed into an exhibition space for design gallery Caselli 11-12—its name corresponding to the numbering of the buildings. The historic spaces of the gallery have harboured research and experimentation through a carefully curated programme of partnerships and exhibitions. December 2022 marked the inception of a discourse surrounding the materials and techniques that forge contemporary design: Makers 1. The series advances in its second episode, Makers 2, taking the stage in the gallery’s majestic interiors. Restating the same hands-on, three-dimensional approach to design that defines the series, Makers 2 delves into a territory that unites furniture and sculpture-making. The show will remain on display from May 10 - June 30, 2023.

Caselli 11-12 specialises in contemporary design through the curation of cross-disciplinary projects. The gallery has hosted collaborations with national and international design studios, fostering emerging and established practices alike through a program of alliances and research-based exhibitions. For Makers 2, 39 international designers, artists, and architects present unique takes on the concept of creation or ‘making,’ and cultivate a repertoire that kindles ties between traditional and non-traditional materialities. The furniture design, lighting design and objects focus on historical materials such as ceramics, glass, stone and metal. These classic ingredients are then juxtaposed with hybrid and unconventional materials including milk, eggs, paper, cement, and wax. What ensues is a repository of functional assemblies that resonate much more with sculptural art than with industrial product design.

The thematic exhibition unfolds as an investigation of fragility and strength in furniture and sculpture—making realism and abstractions set dialogue under the same roof. Several designs fool the viewers into believing their deceptive appearances, perceiving an object to be soft when it is in fact, rigid, and vice versa. Dutch designers Tejo Remy and René Veenhuizen present 'Flexible Formwork,' a series that encompasses designs that appear inflated but are cast entirely in concrete. Coffee tables and stool designs by Berlin-based designer Illya Goldman Gubin are a blend of paper, fibreglass and resin. The table designs that emulate crumpled paper surprise the onlooker with their solidity and sturdiness. The pastel pink wax silhouettes by Robert Wallace sit in harmonious contrast with the metallic coldness of the 'Foil Mirror Cabinet' by Brussels and Antwerp-based design studio destroyers/ builders. Decorative objects such as 'Double Lines' by Maria Bang Espersen, 'Sketch of a Vase' by Danny Cremers and 'Candelabra With Ornament' by Alexander Kirkeby push the limits of their materiality through their eccentric forms. As the viewer meanders through the diverse spaces, they encounter a range of lighting designs donned in different expressions illuminating the way.

Makers 2 injects both curiosity and doubt into visitors’ minds. When they witness mundane materials used in disguise and with a trompe l’oeil effect, the perceptive memory of familiar objects and matter, is questioned—and altered. What one expects to be brittle unpredictably displays strength, and what one assumes is soft, is rigid. The anthology of approaches that unravels in the show at Caselli 11-12 transcends preconceived boundaries of each medium, inviting onlookers to reconsider their notions of furniture and sculpture—and if they are different at all.

‘Makers 2’ will remain on display from May 10 - June 30, 2023, at Caselli 11-12 in Milan, Italy.