【Review】“X－‘kros,ōver ”MIRKO TATTARINI Online Design ExhibitionTime：2020-11-21
X－ ˈkrôsˌōvər
Online Exhibition
Designer：
MIRKO TATTARINI
Organizers:
DoBe Group
Sino Italian Design Exchange Center
MRK Design Studios
In collaboration with:
Quartiere 4 Comune di Firenze
Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche Firenze
Shanghai Promotion Centre for city of design
Shanghai International Culture Association
Co-organizers
Associazione sì giovani artisti(ASGA)
House of Art&Artists
VR Technical Support:
HE CHAO ARTS & CULTURE
【Duration】
2020.11.21 -12.20
【Opening time】
2020.11.21
In China 19：00
In Italy 12：00
Organized by the Dobe Group, the Sino Italian Design Exchange Center and MRK Design Studios, the personal exhibition “X－ˈkrôsˌōvər ” of designer Mirko Tattarini inaugurated at 12.00 Italian time on Nov 21st. Co-organized by Associazione sì giovani artisti (ASGA) and House of Art & Artists, the exhibition is supported by Quartiere 4 Comune di Firenze, Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche Firenze, Shanghai Promotion Center for City of Design and Shanghai International Culture Association.
An off-course journey through the post-global village showcasing a short selection of works based on intersections, exactly those places and moments crossing the paths of life, culture and design. Not only commercialized products but also experiments and prototypes in search of a location. From Soviet resonances to Anatolian symbolism till the imaginary of exploration, of speed and slowness. Material culture in general. No specialization.
COVID-19 intersects everybody’s path as well as design pathways in relation to behaviors and maybe the works down here could be already historicized or just obsolete since conceived in the pre-Covid age. So these times can be interpreted as an opportunity for a rethinking of the value system first - from life-style to life-sense - till reaching a global rethinking of behaviors and goods. Of the nature of goods. Of the parable of our relationship with goods. We are still here, in the post-global village, the air is “serene and lashing in substance".
MIRKO TATTARINI
MRK Design Studios CEO
Professor of Strategic Design at MSc program of ISIA Florence
Mirko is a multidisciplinary (really) designer crossing any shade and sector of this discipline. He was born and raised on the Mount Amiata, a unique natural enclave in Southern Tuscany, Italy. Former professional alpine ski racer a sprint in athletics, he’s now a motorbike rally racer. MSc at ISIA Florence Mirko also studied at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has taught courses at ISIA in Florence since 1998 and he’s now professor of “Strategic Design” at the MSc program in Design.
He travelled over 50 countries, as MRK Studios CEO and as the expert of International Development for EU and World Bank (Western Europe, Americas, Middle East, Africa, Balkan region, China, Japan...) and worked for famous brand and institutions (European Space Agency, Aston Martin Interiors/Formitalia, ICE - Italian Trade Agency, Design Apparat, WYG Turkey, Amilcar Cabral Foundation, Serbian Import and Export Promotion Agency, IDI - International Development Ireland, Artemis Hali, Betamotor Dirt Racing, Consorzio Chianti Rufina, Ligna Group, Gilli International, Bianchini & Capponi, Egizia, British American Tobacco, Koncept, Nikas, Frantoio Franci, Viola…) His works have been awarded, broadcasted and published in several media worldwide and he frequently travels for lectures and symposiums throughout the world.
“SPUTNIK” Lamp
DESIGN APPARAT, 2010- 2013, Bulgaria
A brand and its collections of furniture taking inspiration from the Bulgarian design of the second half of the twentieth century, with a particular focus on the Soviet period. Rather than merely aiming for a vintage redesign or restyling, Design Apparat strives for a contemporary translation of a full range of cultural stimuli, with original proposals that share no common ground with the ostalgie revival. This object speaks for itself, we seem to hear the beep of that human object that was sailing for the first time beyond the sky of the world. Two telescopic legs to adjust the inclination, it can be used as floor, wall or suspension lamp.
“ DRUZBHA 4”，Table
DESIGN APPARAT, 2009-2013, Bulgaria
An unexpected pairing of materials: DRUZBHA 4 translates into the language of objects the dual presence of wood and concrete that characterizes Soviet architecture. The legs of the table are made of plywood finished with wax, while the tabletop features the solid presence of fibre-concrete. The severity of the mixing and matching of volumes provides a point of encounter between two conflicting motifs: that of the soft sweetness, however rationalist in the final analysis, of the table legs, inspired by the rounded forms of Ottoman architecture, and the brittle harshness of the tabletop, a metaphor for the coercive brutality of the regime architecture.
“ BANSKO-BOO” Chair series
DESIGN APPARAT, 2010, Bulgaria
50s were quite similar on both sides of the iron curtain. So he got inspired by an original chair I’ve found in Bansko to design the primigenial piece for Design Apparat. An obsessive modular repetition is the leitmotif of the design development of BANSKO BOO, a chair that draws its iconic force from the orthogonal series of boomerangs that determine the form of the seat, in a suspended relation between emptiness and matter. Made of plywood finished with wax, plus tubular steel, BANKO-BOO can be completed with a fabric cushion for added sitting comfort.
NIDO Showroom
2013, Sofia, Bulgaria
The evocation of an archetypical village, spontaneous and consolidated example of vernacular architecture. Designed as structures in the structure, in a continuous cross-reference with the wider horizon of the containing space, the little houses create, through their passages and intersections, a disarticulated space. The suspended lights lowered till penetrating the roofs windows, remember of mosques and Turkish baths, a mild concession to a significant moment in the architectural tradition of Bulgaria, once part of the Ottoman Empire.
“CALENDE”, Lamp
The Wild Crafts, 2013, Italy
A mirror finished folded aluminium body with cold cathodes lighting system and charging base in solid wood. Designers are investigating gestures and behaviours.
“FIORILE”, Lamp
The Wild Crafts, 2013, Italy
A varnished electrified vase with lighting flowers in methacrylate and LED lights. Simple atavic gestures – seeding, striking, or simply picking a flower – that unexpectedly sublimate in WildCrafts, enriched with a surprising functionality: lighting. The WildCrafts experiment is made possible thanks to the innovative application of the information and communication technologies to furnishing, and to the finishing of metal transforming plane surfaces in three-dimensional objects.
“MAPS” CARPETS
Artmemis Hali, 2018, Turkey
A step in bringing back carpets to the narration. “Waving a carpet is like waving a message”. This said a renowned Moroccan sociologist Fatema Mernissi in her book “Caravan, from the desert to the web”. “MAPS #1 - Migrations” represents the world map’s time zones hosting some motifs from traditional south-east Anatolia tradition together with some others designed in the same style but symbolizing contemporary scares. The anthropomorphic motifs are oriented to the north and occupy the southern part of the map symbolizing the pressure of migrations from the south. The more abstract motifs are at the opposite, symbolizing the resistance again migration of northern populations.
KUTNU-ALIENS
2018, Turkey
Kutnu is a fabric original of Antep made of silk and cotton mainly used historically for ceremonial clothes. Designers decided to bring symbolic values to their extreme consequences by designing the aliens. While preparing the archive of south-east Anatolia archive of motifs and models they had the chance of the list and analyse the many symbols of regional traditional carpets and decorations. They look like little lovely aliens, and we considered this fact perfectly matching with the aim of exploiting an additional symbolic value apart from the individual ones: in a place where migrations are determining huge contrasts, it’s good to have aliens you would like to hug. Dedicated to kids as a tool to invent their own new stories through their limitless imagination.
J-ALIENS
2018, Turkey
In the domain of symbolism. The research on south-east Anatolia motifs and models brought the designer to a new application: jewellery. Every ring and pendant are a different symbol. Every symbol has a different meaning.
“ANNEANNA” TABLE
FUARS Mobilya, 2018, Turkey
A material cultural heritage of such a complexity forced to create the terms of dialogue. A dialogue with present time, with new technics, between cultures, dialogue between East and West. We scanned an embroidered table cloth, transformed the image into a 3d file then remodelled the NURBS till obtaining a bas-relief version of it. The CNC machine has carved the table cloth directly on the wooden (oak) tabletop. Hosting other and new layers of culture on its polished surface.
PKU008, Table
Aston Martin Interiors - Formitalia Luxury Group
2010 UK, Italy
Triangles and extreme quality materials for a table which well represents the Aston Martin’s “power, beauty and Soul”. The central structure is produced through the milling of a single block of primary aluminium, as in the extreme manufacturing of special automotive parts.
PKU007，Chaise longue
Aston Martin Interiors - Formitalia Luxury Group
2010 UK, Italy
V007 is a monocoque carbon fibre chaise longue covered with resin-coated linen fibre and with a nabuk leather or wool fabric cushion. Given the three Aston Martin values of Power, Beauty and Soul, his research has mainly gone through the imaginary, particularly in relation with cinema, with James Bond movies, capable of summarizing the principles of certain modernism as in a moving museum. And then a reflection on the performance. It was about replacing Power with Comfort while maintaining Beauty and Soul. To add a long-lasting iconicity, rustless over time. The materials are innovative, extreme, of excellent quality: from composites to the best leathers, from wood essences to metals machined from solid.
PKU001，Armchair, sofa, lamps, various
Aston Martin Interiors - Formitalia Luxury Group
2010 UK, Italy
This composition hosts the first made piece he designed for Aston Martin Interiors, the twisted aluminium structure chair. A single uninterrupted line, fluid like the wind deflected at times by human actions. The dynamic stasis of an object ready for symbolic action. The lamps are inspired by the bedside lamp from 007's famous "Goldfinger" bedroom scene and produced with aerospace-grade composites. The reversal of the inclination of the lampshade alone is enough to give meaning to the existence of this object.
BETA-VERSION，Armchair, sofa, lamps, various
Betamotor Dirt Racing, 2020, Italy
30 years after the great CAGIVAS, A new Italian rally bike at the final stage of development, it’s a BETA DIRT RACING: she is called Beta-Version. Because she’s experimental, in an eternal development, looking at the future and so never completely done. 450 cc engine prepared by Beta Factory and Rally Kit built up in hybrid manufacturing, with parts produced in additive processes and other parts moulded, welded or crafted in any classical technology. This is an agile vehicle, therefore flexible for adapting to different situations and quite powerful. It is a smart “i-Bike, equipped with its own SIM and distributed modules, sensors and memories. The vehicle will be released in the next months during the team presentation event in agreement with partners. Ready for Dakar.
Concept： MOONRIDE
Brand：MRK
20-21-22年 Place: Moon
You see? Impossible is nothing, and in case there is always someone to ask for information.
Ciao.
Mrk
www.mrkk.it
As a creative designer, where does your inspiration come from?
I cannot stand the term “creative”. In whatever way it is understood it has congenital problems: design is a fact of recombination, not creation; we can define it as “creative” stuff like spontaneous artistic hobbies, decoupage or Christmas decoration, but not design that is a demanding methodology. This said inspiration comes from everywhere. A place, a book, a movie, a track, a conversation, but mainly a behaviour. The vocabulary of any concept is all out there, it’s just a matter of curiosity, acquisition and recombination. But it requires permanent study and dedication. That’s why I can't stand superficiality, simple thinking and banalities enunciated as pearls of knowledge or conquests of wisdom. I can't stand people who do the same job as me.
On the other side, I love complexity and diversity. I love risks, especially if they are not calculated. I love the alternation of seasons, rhythm, moods, projects. I love design challenges, especially impossible ones. I love the inventions of meaning, and they’re being glaring as a philosophical system. I love widespread femininity. I love objects and I grant them a soul. I love to travel and the conversations that happen. I love and hate "The bad litany of the usual things". But usual things and daily iterations are so sweet. This is my favourite planet, how not to be inspired?
What kind of relationship do you think should be established between design and human?
The design and manufacture of tools made a primate a human being. Nowadays we are facing a transition in design culture. After a first history based on welfare and comfort we are sliding into the second history of design, this time based on sustainability, resilience and on a different sense of the quality of life. Something has been missing so far to implement such a rethinking: meta-histories. The idea of a path, of a future that gives meaning to the present and guides its choices, indeed in open with the cage of the eternal present from which covid woke us up. The eternal present of a short horizon's policies and politics, the eternal present of digital consensus and that of the fear that the time of the aftermath will be worse then-well-worth-enjoy-it-now.
So in addition to restarting the engines of the economy, let’s restart the thinking about goods in relation to humans and the planet. From objects and services just supporting welfare to tools of resilience and instruments for the change. Not useless Dutch bowls and jars, but wonderful systems, tools, gear of equipment for existence. In short, these can be days of miracles and wonders. We are still here, in the post-global village, the air is “serene and lashing in substance".
What characteristics do you think "good design" should have?
Design exists only in relation to behaviours. If a new behaviour rises from society, there, the design has reason to exist. Otherwise, it is just shape-based style, that is not useful to anybody. The real design has the responsibility of detecting new behaviours, supporting or stimulating better behaviours, especially nowadays. I sincerely cannot stand the trivial nonsense of the rhetoric of design, the narration of the way of dealing with clients, magazine pictures where everyone is barefoot in mainstream cool houses. I can’t stand the way certain -colleagues- speak about unicity when it's hard enough to design simply good things. Good design contributes to renewing the enchantment of the world.
What are your hobbies, how do they help your design?
That’s difficult. I do collect anything related to material culture. I work the land and I gather chestnuts. I search for mushrooms in the forest, but I don’t eat them. I have travelled since ever. I read and read again. I’m a temporary lumberjack. I’m a biker and a Rally pilot. I discover, observe and try to understand the world through the eyes of design. And it's not just that these hobbies help me, they are part of me.
I learn from each object I collect, I get inspired from the soil and from the working tools, as they are miraculous samples of anonymous design. Walking in the forest is for me the meditation capable of cleaning the mind and making it ready for design. I extend my vocabulary from each place I visit. I design starting with novels and essays. Riding a bike and racing is some sort of meditation, it’s you… and you, breathing. Mind comes out ready. As you can see crossings always recur as an existential code. “Racing is life, anything before or after, is just waiting”, Steve McQueen
As the leader of an international design studio, how do you deal with the cultural differences encountered in each project?
When you travel one place another “…soul can't move that quickly, and is left behind, and must be awaited, upon arrival, like lost luggage.” Pattern Recognition, William Gibson.
When my soul rejoins me, those -already outlining- cultural intersections begin to intensify, complexify but also clarify in order to be fruitful. And at that moment I became a native, almost. So I’m home everywhere. Ok, more home in my Mount Amiata, but yes, everywhere. To do design in Serbia I must be somehow Serbian, to design in Anatolia I was Anatolian, to design in Syria I’ve been Syrian, and then Bulgarian, African. I will be Chinese if it will be a time for that. A pure post-global Chinese from Mount Amiata. I love differences so deeply that I get addicted and every time they change me -enriching- permanently. There is no escape. And then it is so wonderful to fall in love with differences that confrontation becomes an intense pleasure. That wonder of observing the world with different eyes and finding what you would not otherwise have discovered.
Mirko Tattarini's Selected Exhibition /Events/ Conferences
2019 “Forum Sistema Salute” Art director. Florence, Italy
2018 Conference: “Techpark Design Event” Tbilisi, Georgia
2018 “Migratory Objects” Curator, Florence, Italy
2017 Design Week Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey
2017“Design as a key”, Lectio magistralis, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey
2017 “Domestic Nomadic” Curator, Gaziantep, Turkey
2016 “The Best Design of our Life” organized by the Italian Institute of Culture, Sofia, Bulgaria
2015 “Design, technology, behaviors”, Beirut, Lebanon
2015 “3Digitale, tra arte, artigianato e design”, Florence, Italy
2014 “Sofia Design Week” Sofia, Bulgaria
2014 “Design and craftsmanship in relation to market”, Tunis, Tunisia
2013 “Creative Space Serbia – Yurope”, Curator, Milan, Italy
2012 “Mirko Tattarini Conference”, Kayseri, Turkey
2012 China-Europe Designers Summit Forum, Foshan, China
2011 “Ligna at Sleep Event” Curator, London, UK
2011 Conference: “Less is next”, Florence, Italy
2010 “Terra Futura”, Florence, Italy
2010 DMY - International Design Festival, Berlin, Germany
2010 Belgrade Design Week, Belgrade, Serbia
2010 Tokyo Design Week, Tokyo, Japan
2009 “Future Capitals World Summit”, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2006 “Transmodern Mermaids”, Lectio magistralis Sofia Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
2005 Conference: “The Identity of Mediterranean", Rodos, Greece
2003 Conference: “Linking Tradition to Innovation ", Lisbon, Portugal
2003 Conference: “Transmodern Mermaids”, Guest lecturer, Florence Academy of Fine Arts, Florence, Italy
2002 Conference: “Smart web”, Milano, Italy
2001-2005 “X-Media Conference” founder and director, Florence, Italy
2000 Biennale du Design, St. Etienne, France
