Have you ever heard the phrase “good things come in small packages”? While Interieur is not exactly small, this design fair, held every two years in the city of Kortrijk, Belgium, owes its high quality and appeal to remaining a closely curated event.
Extremis designer and founder Dirk Wynants with Hopper outdoor furniture.
This year’s guest of honour was Junya Ishigami, who was fresh from winning the Golden Lion for best project at the Venice Architecture Biennale. His contribution to the biennale was the blindingly white installation Picnic, featuring three of his products for Living Divani: the Family chair in five different shapes, the transparent Drop table resembling a contact lens, and the Garden Plate, a low table or “plate” for the garden. Inserted into a white space with white pebbles, the furniture was arranged in small groupings, with the “family” members - the chairs - dressed in woolly jumpers, hats and scarves. These were hand-knitted on the spot during installation. “The final atmosphere I tried to create is a feeling that family members are having a picnic on the clouds,” says Ishigami.
Others were called in to help design the fair, including Belgian architect De Vylder Vinck Taillieu, which created the stands and stalls running the length of the central Rambla in plain timber clad with mirrored fabric. Belgian fashion designer Black Balloon was called on to design this year’s uniforms, with spectacular results - jumpsuits patterned with Pantone swatch colours. And Belgian furniture designer Bram Boo was named designer of the year, showing a range of his work at his own stand.
While the fair included a number of leading international brands, more interesting was the chance to revisit some well-known Belgian brands - and learn about some new ones. Extremis launched a new table called Hopper and a new beer to drink while sitting at it. Dark and Modular both had outstanding new lighting products (and if there were a prize for best stand, Modular would have won it for their pinball inspired stand, designed by Rotor Group). Meanwhile, Gallery Sofie Lachaert showcased jewellery and other objects from her gallery. Indera, Six Inch and Wildspirit impressed with their Belgian-designed and manufactured timber and upholstered furniture, Magnitude had a wonderful collection of minimalist beds, and Serax showed off the best of Belgian design in the form of ceramics and homewares. Also outstanding was Art of the Loom - a Belgian rug manufacturer - who collaborated with various contemporary artists on a series of art rugs. In the Underground, young designers got creative, but they were upstaged by the excellent Design Kasbah featuring small exhibits by talented individuals, such as leather designer Michaël Verheyden who has recently turned his skills to homewares.
The uniforms for interieur were designed by Belgian fashion designer Black Balloon.
Running parallel to the event was Superieur, an exhibition at Quinze & Milan’s factory and showroom. As well as displaying its own spray-painted foam furniture (sprayed on site at the factory by graffiti artists), Quinze & Milan shared its space with half a dozen others, including 3D-printed lighting from MGX by Materialise. But perhaps the highlight was a three-way collaboration in the form of an interactive couch. Quinze & Milan and bag brand Eastpak had already combined to create Built to Resi(s)t, a couch featuring bag pouches on the sides and back. Add to this the black and white, colour-in designs of Dutch fashion designer Antoine Peters and some coloured pens and you have a colour-in couch.
Interieur was started in 1968 by a non-profit Foundation with a commitment to design excellence, creative energy and a sense of the value of design. All the best things about this 1960s spirit have continued right up to the most recent edition, making Interieur one of the most highly concentrated creative design events in the world.
Two family chairs by Junya Ishigami for Living Divani as part of his installation Picnic.
Event
Interieur Design Biennale
15–24 October 2010
interieur.be
Brands
Extremis
Supplied by Corporate Culture
corporateculture.com.au
Living Divani
Supplied by Space Furniture
spacefurniture.com.au
Modular
Supplied by JSB Lighting
jsblighting.com.au
