Business of Design Week 2007

The star of the exhibition “The Italian way of seating”. 50 years of Italian chairs is Italian chair design in the second half of the twentieth century, the history of a product dominated by Italy’s unrivalled leadership throughout the world.

The chair, this small habitable structure for personal use, an object of everyday relevance, the perfect synthesis of imagination and disciplined planning, is an essential element of domestic and office furnishings. A small “architecture” whose design has tested the mettle of famous artists, great architects and renowned designers, successfully marrying creativity and functional requirements, while addressing concrete manufacturing issues. Spearheaded by an impressive group of educated and innovative architects, Italian industries and craftsmen have made extraordinary chairs, which have rightfully earned their place in the history of design. Several are still in production, others have become “cult objects”, auctioned as works of art by the world’s premier auction houses.

Displayed in chronological order, the chairs – seventy or so symbolic chairs and armchairs that narrate the history of Italian design from 1950 to 2000 – have been selected not only from an artistic and aesthetic perspective, but also from a productive and commercial one; in fact, these chairs are all still being made.

As Alessandro Mendini states in the introductory interview in the catalogue, “we can say that through the history of chairs we are able to study the entire history of design and even, in some respects, of Italian art itself”.

The exhibition "The Italian way of seating”. 50 years of Italian chairs will be inaugurated at the Innocentre of Hong Kong – a new venue devoted entirely to design – on 15 November 2007 and will remain open until 16 December, coinciding with the Hong Kong Business of Design Week (BODW), which this year is dedicated to Italy.

The exhibition is being sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia; with the support of the Consulate General of Hong Kong.

The curator of the exhibition is architect Alessandro Mendini. Clelia Mazzanti, who devises strategies for the promotion of Italian design, is the author of the project.

Patrizia Scarzella, architect and journalist, is responsible for mounting the exhibition.

You may contact our Design Promotion Manager, Ms. Flora Wong, at Tel: 852-3586 3071 or e-mail : flora.wong@hkdesigncentre.org if you have any question