The designers invited to take part in this collective exhibition were selected for their investigative approach to designing in the fields of furniture, jewellery and product design. Apart from Jeglińska, Lola Lely, Cat Potter, James Shaw, Sophie Thomas, Thor ter Kulve, and Kim Thome will also participate.
Maria Jeglińska studied in the prestigious ECAL in Lausanne, Switzerland, and gained experience under the supervision of world-renowned designers. Her first projects immediately received acclaim, and she has taken part in the most important international design exhibitions and trade shows (such as Salon del Mobile in Milan, London Design Festival and Design Biennale in St. Etienne). Her designs have been realised by producers such as Ligne Roset, Cinna and Design Marketo.
At the upcoming Future Stars? exhibition, Jeglińska is to present two of her projects: The Little Black, an industrially manufactured armchair, and Drawn Objects, a research project on hand-painted wooden vessels. 'A trait that characterises my practice is certainly the contrast of projects which I enjoy. The industrial context versus the research', says the designer.
The Little Black refers to the Warsaw cafés that were created between 1955 and 1965 - a period which saw a renaissance of socialising over a cup of coffee. ‘Mała czarna’ is a nickname for coffee, and translates as ‘little black’, hence the name of the collection, which also features a chair, a stool, a bar stool and a table. It was common to furnish these cafés and bars with metal wire furniture designed by either architects or designers – an example of creating something out of almost nothing due to the shortage of materials and technological capabilities in the communist era.
The aim of this collection is to recreate – in a utopian way – a disrupted continuity. To find the essence of what could have been a Polish design identity. The project tries to look into the future but with an understanding of the past - according to the leaflet accompanying the exhibition.
The Drawn Objects project is a collection of wooden vessels painted with acrylics. For the designer, wood was an obvious choice of material. As she says, “Wood is immediately recognizable, its tactile, visual and olfactive qualities cannot be denied.” And this is how she describes the idea behind her project:
My recent fascination for patterns, motifs was also one of the primary motive for this project. Here patterns are treated in two ways: inherent to the object’s form (3d) and applied onto the form (2d). I wanted to keep the object’s use extremely simple, so obvious that you almost stop looking at them through the function they are meant to perform. A simplicity that tries to transcend the objects function.
The Aram Gallery is an independently curated gallery in Covent Garden, London. The Future Stars? exhibition lasts from September 13 to October 24, and is curated by Héloïse Parke.
Source: press materials, ed. szm, 19.09.2014