An exhibition exploring the boundary between ornament and design is being held in Como at the recently opened Diaz14 gallery on Via Diaz, proposing jewelry as a contemporary art form. The exhibition, open to the public until September 30, brings together seventy creations signed by some of the most important protagonists of Italian and international design. The goal is both aesthetic and theoretical: to redefine the role of jewelry as an object that transcends its decorative function to become an autonomous expression of a design thought.
The initiative is promoted by Gioel Milano, a reality created with the intention of continuing the design tradition of the historic San Lorenzo silverware factory, founded in 1970 with the desire to overcome the stylistic features of classicism through the language of design. The exhibition is enriched by the lighting design curated by Francesco Murano, a lighting architect known for his ability to enhance the exhibition space with measured and scenic solutions.
The authors featured include leading names: Naoko Shintani, Lella Vignelli, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Giovanna Talocci, Maria Blaisse, Lella and Massimo Vignelli, Antonio Piva, San Lorenzo, Flavia Alves de Souza, Benedetta Tagliabue Miralles, Franco Albini and Franca Helg, Patricia Urquiola, and Matali Crasset. Their works, collected in a corpus of about seventy pieces, highlight the evolution of jewelry from an ornamental object to microarchitecture, capable of enclosing within small dimensions concepts such as modularity, transformability, material experimentation and relationship with the body.
The exhibition includes necklaces, rings, bracelets and lockets, made of metal and conceived as artifacts that blend craftsmanship and design. Each piece of jewelry is born from a process that integrates formal rigor and expressive freedom, technical skill and intuition, abstract vision and attention to detail. The result is a set of objects that, despite their small size, are configured as complex aesthetic devices and bearers of a design poetics.
Two of the pieces on display take on particular relevance for their ability to represent the conceptual approach underlying the entire exhibition. The first is the Sfere necklace, designed in 1990 by Afra and Tobia Scarpa as a tribute to the 20th anniversary of San Lorenzo. Composed of nineteen silver spheres strung on multicolored silk cords, Sfere takes up the classic motif of the string of pearls to rework it according to an essential formal grammar that plays on the contrast between materials. The second is Senza Fine, a necklace designed by Lella and Massimo Vignelli as a fluid and transformable object. Made without technical drawing, it comes from a freehand sketch and takes shape thanks to the experience of goldsmiths. Its modular structure allows for a plurality of interpretations and uses, standing as an emblematic example of open and dynamic design.
Further insight is offered by the presence of the PAN999 collection, designed by Tobia Scarpa in collaboration with the Milan Polytechnic. It is a series of objects for the table, pots and glasses, which combine pure silver on the inside and iron on the outside. The combination makes it possible to enhance the physical properties of silver, such as thermal conductivity, bactericidal capacity and hygiene, while integrating them into a form that also meets criteria of aesthetics and functionality. The inclusion of the objects within the exhibition reinforces the reflection on the interaction between art and everyday life, between object of use and design language.
The opening of the Diaz14 gallery and the proposal of an exhibition involving internationally renowned authors are part of a context of growing attention to contemporary design and its more experimental declinations. The exhibition, which can be visited Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., offers the public the opportunity to come into contact with a rich and articulate design heritage, in which jewelry becomes a cultural device and a tool for reading the present.
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Jewelry as the language of design: 70 works on display in Como's Diaz14 gallery |
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