Creativity : The Never Ending Pursue James Chu
Renowned innovative products are plenty in our World, “The Barcelona Chair” for example, first emerged out of the German exhibition booth in 1927 at the Barcelona World Expo, designers have been digging into the essence of the original prototype for eighty odd years now, trying to come up with another ground breaking chair. Well... let's just say great designs are not to be forgotten lightly. Those days at the University studying design, I came across some similar designs. Improvement or plagiarism? How does “Inspired Innovation” sound? I had my fair share of doubts. As experience grew, I got to the gist of the saying: Nothing New Under The Sun. Not giving green lights to those who copy others heart felt innovations, but acknowledging the source behind every piece of work which could be utterly different in terms of backgrounds, reasonings, and thought process. What perceived as similar on the surface could have derived from drastically diverse philosophical ideas, what counts more is the spirit and meaning carried with it. Manuel CS latest series of decorative lightings are certainly innovations triggered by the prototype of our common market red lamp shades. Integrated in many decorative lighting designs in recent years with blossoming colours, retro yet minimalist approach, the prototype is already getting the spotlights. Manuel's design goes for not just the metaphysical side of things, but rather the meanings as well as the connotations with respect to the possibility of altering the shape while preserving its inherent function. This goes back all the way to his “Double Lamps”. His quest for innovations and possibilities comes down to the materials he chooses, the narrative of the progression from pure plastic to the changing colours of pottery and metal support with that ring of hers, further conjuncts house hood decorative trendy items with an elegant piece of art. The natural variation of texture and colour in pottery in itself is already attractive enough, let alone that metallic firmness. Now we have a healthy balance of softness from clay and firmness from metals. Satin soft light reflected through tender clay. Works both aesthetically and functionally, this is what I call the breakthrough of the design. A fine design comes from creation and an innovative and daring mind, certainly the designer's never ending self-pursue. I doubt anyone would mind to see a brand new and more breath taking “The Barcelona Chair”, including its designer Mies Van Der Rohe ( 1886-1969).
A Hypothesis of Profanation Carlos Picassinos
1. The inventorying and classification of the multitude of objects that are part of everyday life in the modern culture requires an organizational effort along two fundamentals axes production and consumption. If, in a pre-modern stage, the continuum between these two axes, mediated by distribution, was prevalent, in contemporary societies the fall (appearance) of objects into the world means the rupturing of this continuum. Once in the market, the object is automatically consumed, destroyed, lay to waste. The pretext is, obviously, a democratic one and related to the legitimising of an individual sphere, in which the right to freedom of choice is considered an inalienable right. This is just a proposal for a political-economic reading of the contemporary material culture because, if in the objects systematization effort we assume an ethnographic perspective, its religious aspects will claim a conclusive centrality. The moment of the transcendence is distinct. In consumerist societies, the transcendence resides in the production act and in the production agent, which incorporate an ascetic made of an accumulation of knowledge and know-hows, of time, of resources, of a certain personal contemplation and rationality of means. On the other hand, the act of consumption projects itself as an excess, a desire, organized through fetishes and the erotization of merchandize. The counterpoint happens in the societies where the transcendence resides in exchange dynamics, in circulation, in the objects mediation capability and, mostly, in the social value of talent. In the first ones, the production agent summons a sacred aura; in the latter s/he gets emancipated through exchanges and talent. 2. One of the most significant processes in the history and adaptation of product’s design is related with the inspirational and modern recovering of traditional forms of handcrafted production. If we observe the first catalog Phaidon we will see among the very first objects, five models of 17th century Chinese kettles. Same observation applies to the design of objects identified with Nordic European countries, or with Japan, where it is not difficult to recognize in the contemporary designs updates of traditional formats from ancestral local cultures. It is indeed an ongoing process of conciliation between the ancient and the modern, the past and the future, which has incorporated a reflection on the original sources of the forms, functions, materials and usages of the objects. 3. The MIRAMICS lamps production processes fits in these two dimensions. They are born from an original idea (will) of intersecting know-hows and they materialize in a context of cultural exchanges and rapprochement sponsored by “This is My City� programme. Produced in a Montemor-o-Novo handcraft pottery using Chinese-inspired molds, the lamps absorb in their forms but also in the production process, the cultural and social values of mediation. They also mean a hypothesis of profanation of the figure of the enlightened creator and of the autonomization of the original and unique signification. What we can anticipate is to see how these objects will interrelate with one another, with the people and with other contexts and other values, and how they will be integrated in the relationships between people and objects. In brief, which new senses and (re)significations they will be able to project.
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General Coordination Margarida Jardim Production Coordinator Oficinas do Convento ( Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal ) Tiago Fróis Virgínia Fróis Glaze and Fire by Joaquim Pimentão Hand Made by Phoebe Eustance Inbal Czeizler Clara Brito Manuel Correia da Silva Joaquim Pimentão PaCkage Manufacturing Rui Curto Wiring and Electrical Accessories Hospital dos Candeeiros Product Photography Rui Dias Monteiro Graphic Design Nuno Luz Workshop Telheiro da Encosta do Castelo de Montemor-o-Novo Institutional Partner Macau Cultural Affair Bureau Oficinas do Convento ( Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal ) This project was developed under the event THIS IS MY CITY 2012 - Brick by Brick organized by +853 Cultural Association
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