Raw + Glamour= Meet Design 2011

One of my favorite design combinations is mixing raw, honest backgrounds with more glamorous elements. It achieves a certain tension that enhances both components. Many of the current ads that we see in magazines feature this principle.    

MEET DESIGN, a retrospective exhibit with a focus on 60 years of Italian household design in the 20th century, plays up on its location at the Mercati di Traiano in Rome to highlight 150 designers who were overlooked by the history books, or overlooked designs by designers who are famous for other, over-exposed creations.*  From September 15 to October 15, 2011 the show will be in Rome and will then move to Turin from November 5 to January 25, 2012.

The stone arcades of the Trajan Market are part of a unique archaeological site that is thought to have originally built to be the administrative offices for Emperor Trajan. Over the years it has been a military fortress, a convent, a market center and a hall. It sets quite a contrast to the modern, clean lined furniture in the show.

Roche Bobois, the French furniture company founded by the Roche and Chouchan families, excels at blending the old with the new. Francois Roche described the company’s furniture as “art applied to everyday life, with sensuality, movement and femininity.”

What are your thoughts on raw glamour?

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