Last visit to the emblematic Gante Design Museum
The Duo of designers of Gante Muller van Severen (formed by the couple Fien Muller and Hannes van Severen) turns ten years active and celebrates it with a retrospective in the Museum of Design of their hometown.The exhibition, entitled 10 Years Muller are severe, can be visited until March 6, 2022 and has been established as a dialogue between their creations and those of its inspiring teachers along with others from the permanent collection of the museum.This will be the last exhibition that will take place in the Gante Design Museum before the start of the expansion works that will be carried out next year.If Antwerp is the Fashion Capital (it has a fashion department at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and its famous final race parade, the show; from there they come those celebrated "six in shares", among which is Dries VanNotice, born there in 1958, have the Momu, fashion museum, an unpayable store route...etc), Ghent is the design.
That tradition dates back to the last century and, according to experts, the starting point was the universal exhibition of 1913, a year before World War I, in which this capital of Flanders, after the exhibitions of Brussels, Antwerp and Liege, sought to affirm its commercial and industrial importance inviting the world to discover its potential in decoration, fine arts, education, mechanics, electricity, carpentry.The Quence by the Arts and Crafts today manifests itself in the amount of busof fleas.
Muller van Severe began their collaboration in 2011.She came from photography and he from sculpture.Both come from artist families.Maarten Van Severen, Hannes's father, was already a renowned furniture designer and interior architect, son of the abstract painter Dan Vanres.For his part, Fien's father, Koen Muller, was a sculptor.In these ten years, based on a visual style based on the juxtaposition of color and material, they have developed a true language of design, which has led them to place between the most outstanding figures of the contemporary scene.
We start the visit one day before the inauguration.The artists themselves help to unpack some pieces and, when they can, accompany us for the exhibition with Biesssaert, director of communication of the museum.The artistic journey is especially exciting through the ten key characters that helped them define their style, hence their pieces (chairs, shelves, cabinets) share their pieces with creations of Alvar Aalto, Jean Prouvé, Harry Bertoia, Maarten van Severen, Ron Arad, Marcel Breuer and even Henry Van De Velde.The result is a new look at Muller's works are severe and the collection.The pieces have been selected by the duo to affirm that "related spirit" and make it clear that they are recognized in them, so the connections between modern designs and their creative attitude are evident at all times.
For the couple, the distinction between art and design is something diffuse.Their point of view changes in each project, but it is unquestionable that these pure creators have proposed to enrich life with notable objects that always seem to insinuate new and daring possibilities.Thus we see, for example, from its acquaintance and founding table + lamp, which they presented in La Valerie Troan Gallery de Antwerp, a work consisting of a polyethylene plate (one of its favorite materials), steel profiles and a built -in metal tubein one of the legs of the table, in which the arc of the lamp contrasts with the rectangular forms of the minimalist table;Even the great Sofa Cavrois, his first sofa, conceived exclusively for the exhibition that took place last year in the Villa Cavrois, the work of the architect Mallet-Stevens, where they presented a selection of their pieces in addition to this inspired by the style and style andThe volumetric games of the great and determining architect of the modern movement.The Cavrois couch invites people to sit close to each other, without invading the personal space of others.It is wrapped in a warm green flax fabric, which emphasizes its unusual shape.
The couple of designers, deeply Flemish (flamenco), lives in an idyllic environment on the outskirts of Ghent.From there they create their "timeless collages" that mix different aesthetics, designs that are located somewhere between the contemporary and the modern.Hannes says that they like to "create furniture that connect with architecture and always live in the present".
While we go through the historic halls of the withinck hotel, a 18 they can not be seen".We also discovered the beginnings of the duo separately: the sculptures of Hannes and the photographic work of Fien, as well as the new book Muller are severe: Dialogue, edited by Walther Koenig, the element that was missing to reveal all the secrets of the brand Muller vanSevere.
His work, at the intersection of art and design, is far from being routine.Its objective is the creation of decoration objects carried out sculptorically, and that involve the space in which they will be found.Each work is the result of a thorough investigation and the result of confidence in art, architecture and materials.One of its hallmarks is the use of simple industrial materials combined with its own chromatic sensitivity, a very particular colored palette that makes its designs recognizable.
In addition, Muller van Severen has added a unique approach to the color, shape and material in domestic objects such as cutlery, salt shakers, pepper, carpets, mirrors, cutting boards or shelves.And beyond that, the duo is also known for having designed with great success a set of kitchens for reform (the Danish Ikea), winner of the Best Domestic Design Award at the Wallpaper Design Awards 2020 and considered a hacking of the kitchen of the kitchen ofIKEA.
Match, the kitchen created for reform, combines unorthodox elements such as the characteristic material of the duo, the durable polyethylene, combined here with brass handle and a profuse marble countertop.Seeing it is impossible not to look back and think about the famous Frankfurt kitchen, of great relevance in the modern movement, the first modular kitchen, which allowed saving space and time and that represented a huge innovation in domestic architecture, being a precursorof modern custom kitchens.It was projected in 1926 by the Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotsky for a social housing complex by Erns May."We have always felt predilection for polyethylene, with its powerful colors, but in reality its true nature is a smooth and warm appearance," Muller thinks and Van Severn."It's a material that invites you to play.It is not a dead plastic with a cold and smooth surface, rather it has the appearance of candle wax or a skin ”.
Another of its captivating designs are the tables created for Hay and a sofa for Kassl Editions.Thus, its original creations, furniture and minimalist and color objects, in addition to evidencing their connection with the visual arts, do so with their commitment: “We want to do something affordable - they confess at the end of the visit, drinking coffee - that peopleI can take it home.Our production is expensive and small, and working with reform or there are the possibility of giving our pieces a longer and better route ”.
