PETER GHYCZY: 50 YEARS OF FUNCTIONALISM
‘Peter Ghyczy: 50 Years of Functionalism’ presents a captivating retrospective on Peter Ghyczy’s iconic furniture and industrial objects that form an integral part of the design history of the second half of the 20th century. Central to the exhibition is the Garden Egg Chair, designed by Peter Ghyczy in 1968. At that time, this design icon was designed as a study to explore a new material, polyurethane, which came to dominate the trends in design and furniture making in the 1970s. Peter Ghyczy’s personal motivation was to make a comfortable outdoor chair that would always feature a dry seat come rain or shine. Since then the Garden Egg Chair has become an icon of space design featured in permanent collections of renowned museums worldwide, including the V&A Museum , The Wende Museum and the Design Museum Holon. Alongside the Garden Egg Chair, Peter Ghyczy designed many more iconic furniture objects that are part of the design history of the second half of the 20th century, including his patented clamping technique for glass and metal.
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Garden Egg chair, the ADAM-Brussels Design Museum proudly presents the first solo exhibition on Peter Ghyczy to map his design innovations, spanning five decades, giving behind-the-scenes insights into the life and oeuvre of this prolific designer. Curated by Kunty Moureau, the exhibition will feature curated wall displays, a video installation and a full-scale recreation of Peter Ghyczy’s atelier.
Exhibition Director, Arnaud Bozzini comments: “Opened in 2015, the ADAM-Brussels Design Museum pays homage to plastic – that cheerful, unpretentious marvel of popular design. The permanent Plasticarium collection showcases more than 500 artworks and design pieces that shows the impact of plastics on design creativity from the late fifties to the present day. In this era of mass culture, leisure-oriented society and prosperity, the Garden Egg chair has found its spot and the museum is pleased to present an exhibition in its honour.”
Exhibition Curator Kunty Moureau comments: “As a design curator, my main objective with this exhibition is to shed light on Peter Ghyczy’s diverse work over five decades and the significant role that he has played in the late 21st century international design history. This exhibition will highlight Peter Ghyczy’s 50 years of continuous design research in the quest for absolute simplicity in use of material and elegance of shape.”
Designer Peter Ghyczy comments: “My designs take their orientation from their function. They’re based on technical solutions that I apply in a new way. Again and again, technology plays the central role in determining their form – that is, it’s the force of reason that pervades the design which I hope that visitors to the exhibition will get to enjoy.”
On Tuesday 22nd of February the ADAM will host a design talk titled ‘In Conversation with Peter Ghyczy’, moderated by Alok Nandi. Open to the public, this design talk aims to give a personal insight into Peter Ghyczy’s reflections of his work and reactions to the exhibition on show.
Finally, coinciding with the exhibition is the launch of a new book on Peter Ghyczy, ‘Peter Ghyczy – Designing’ authored by Alok b. Nandi and published by La Charte, Brussels. This book is published in February 2018, in parallel to the exhibition on Peter Ghyczy at ADAM-Brussels Design Museum.
Author, Alok b. Nandi, comments: “The book allows the reader to get a sense of the creative process of Peter Ghyczy, a designer for whom the materiality of stuff matters. Charles Eames used to say “the details are not the details, they make the product”. This statement perfectly captures Ghyczy’s design philosohy. His works began in the architectural scapes to continue into design, from plastic to glass and metal. His sense of detailed and iterative design resulted in some iconic furniture, ranging from the famous Garden Egg chair to contemporary series providing an elegant ethos of sustainable interior space.”
For the first time, the exhibition presents the extensive donation of design furniture that the Kunstmuseen Krefeld received from the French manufacturers Domeau & Pérès last year. Philippe Pérès and Bruno Domeau have dedicated their craftsmanship and expertise to contemporary design, enabling designers to realize their most ambitious dreams. With limited-edition furniture and objects, they write design history. The donation includes around 50 high quality objects as well as prototypes by the most important representatives of contemporary design, including Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Christophe Pillet, Matali Crasset, Martin Szekely, Eric Jourdan, Michael Young, Odil Decq and furniture designed by Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
The objects are contextualized by the exhibition in the collection and presented together with convolutions of visual and applied art. More than 120 years after the inauguration of the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, which was originally founded as a museum of arts and crafts, this exhibition illustrates the interdisciplinary spirit of the Krefeld collection. In addition, she will highlight the creative process of creating furniture through the dialogue between artisans and designers (whether artists or designers). On the occasion of the exhibition, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld will cooperate with the design department of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences. A team of product design and communication design students designed the exhibition architecture and graphic design, which will be implemented in coordination with the curator. Curator: Katia Baudin, assisted by: Constanze Zawadzky With the kind support of the program Jeunes Commissaires of the Bureau des arts plastiques | Institut français Germany.
IDEA TO FORM / DOMEAU & PERES: DESIGN & CRAFTSMANSHIP
In further celebration of Peter Ghyczy, the Kunstmuseen Krefeld in Germany will open a new exhibition on 18 May, titled ‘Idea to Form / Domeau & Pérès: Design and Craftsmanship’. Concentrating on contemporary design and craftsmanship, the upcoming display will include a dedicated room celebrating the works of Peter Ghyczy – including the iconic Garden Egg Chair – in addition to the extensive collection of work by the French artisan-manufacturers Domeau & Pérès donated to the museum in 2017.
‘Idea to Form’ will highlight the creative process of designers – from initial sketches and prototypes to final products – and the longstanding relationships between designer and craftsman. The exhibition notes a return to the field of applied arts within the museum’s collections for the first time in nearly a century.
Director of Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Katia Baudin comments: “Whilst the focus of the exhibition is the extensive donation (over 50 objects) of contemporary design by the French artisan-manufacturers Domeau & Pérès received by the museum last year, I am particularly pleased that we can dedicate a section of this exhibition to Peter Ghyczy’s groundbreaking collaboration with the polyurethane company Elastrogran in Lemförde from 1968 through 1972, thanks to the designer’s recent generous donation of sketches, documents, prototypes for unrealized and realized design and architecture projects, including the iconic and influential Garden Egg Chair. This ensemble resonates wonderfully with our extensive collection of Peter Behrens (including his work for AEG), as well as our Jugendstil Kayserzinn products. We look forward to continuing to enhance this rich ensemble of projects and products by Ghyczy for Elastrogran during the coming years.”
Exhibition Curator Kunty Moureau comments: “As a design curator, my main objective with this exhibition is to shed light on Peter Ghyczy’s diverse work over five decades and the significant role that he has played in the late 21st century international design history. This exhibition will highlight Peter Ghyczy’s 50 years of continuous design research in the quest for absolute simplicity in use of material and elegance of shape.”
Designer Peter Ghyczy comments: “My designs take their orientation from their function. They’re based on technical solutions that I apply in a new way. Again and again, technology plays the central role in determining their form – that is, it’s the force of reason that pervades the design which I hope that visitors to the exhibition will get to enjoy.”
On Tuesday 22nd of February the ADAM will host a design talk titled ‘In Conversation with Peter Ghyczy’, moderated by Alok Nandi. Open to the public, this design talk aims to give a personal insight into Peter Ghyczy’s reflections of his work and reactions to the exhibition on show.
Finally, coinciding with the exhibition is the launch of a new book on Peter Ghyczy, ‘Peter Ghyczy – Designing’ authored by Alok b. Nandi and published by La Charte, Brussels. This book is published in February 2018, in parallel to the exhibition on Peter Ghyczy at ADAM-Brussels Design Museum.
Author, Alok b. Nandi, comments: “The book allows the reader to get a sense of the creative process of Peter Ghyczy, a designer for whom the materiality of stuff matters. Charles Eames used to say “the details are not the details, they make the product”. This statement perfectly captures Ghyczy’s design philosohy. His works began in the architectural scapes to continue into design, from plastic to glass and metal. His sense of detailed and iterative design resulted in some iconic furniture, ranging from the famous Garden Egg chair to contemporary series providing an elegant ethos of sustainable interior space.”
