Works from well-known, as well as lesser-known designers from more than 30 countries successfully present a Couleur locale, as the title of the show suggests, at the opening exhibition in Design Terminal, selected by the curators Rita Halasi and Viktória Szépvölgyi. Leather belt accessories from Ireland, lamps in the shape of egg whisks from France, a table reflecting on the shape of a mozarab lace from Bosnia-Herzegovina, a portable cradle from Norway and a granny bicycle from Britain. The world-famous Italian designer Alessandro Mendini sent a coffeemaker, Fabio Novembre a metal tray created from images of Italian piazzas and Ron Arad a new type of chair. Dirk Kels from Germany displayed ceramics decorated with graffiti, Luxembourg sent objects designed and manufactured by inmates, Finland sent lamps in which the actual light source in invisible, and Denmark sent an object based on a similar idea. The Czechs sent a reinterpretation of the classic wooden sledge, the Slovaks a plastic lamp stating ?Burda is dead? embroidered with red thread. The time of decorative needlework is gone and it is replaced by ?consumakers? as defined by Swedish designers who encourage people to reshape their objects. A whole lot of fully matured ideas and imaginative objects met in the space of the exhibition. It was all a bit crammed because a creative installation occupied every square centimetre around the objects but the overall effect was still spot on. The curators presented the objects together with their packaging which provided the framework of the installation, the boxes and wrapping papers stamped ?Welcome to Design Week.? The accompanying explanatory texts were also printed on the postal notes and therefore the entire view of the room reminds one of a postal warehouse with the spectators wondering around on treasure-hunts.
Couleur locale spreads throughout the entire city. In an annually returning system, it involves design studios that open their doors to visitors, design tours of the city, virtual and traditional fashion shows, children?s workshops, performances and screenings. A new element this year is gastronomy: some of Budapest?s more daring restaurants and creative teams have joined the initiative with edible objects and creative specialities based on refined local traditions. It?s now all up to the city?s dwellers to finally realise the essence of modern design, and that it?s not only about form but also about a combination of materials, functions, the environment and a general feeling for life to be experienced here and now.
Author: Eszter Götz
