The Close up of Design Processes: Autumn
On Wednesday, 18 September 2024, the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design (MDAD) (Skārņu iela 10, Riga), in collaboration with Design Export Alliance, will open the exhibition Autumn, continuing the pop-up exhibition series The Close up of Design Processes.
Just as the seasons sequentially change, the second exhibition in the MDADs' pop-up series The Close up of Design Processes, titled “Summer”, will be conceptually and thematically replaced by the new exhibition “Autumn”. Latvian designers will represent the colorful harvest season through contrasts in materials.
“The golden Latvian autumn will settle into the museum's premises. This season's value lies in the vibrant harvest time, and we boldly celebrate it in style! The sun descends lower on the horizon, and its golden rays pierce through the autumnal Latvian landscape, creating true opulence! They illuminate the rich autumn colors while highlighting the textures of natural materials," emphasizes the exhibition curator, Ieva Kalēja.
The new pop-up exhibition will focus on the tactility of materials, revealing to the viewer their natural diversity – smooth, shiny glass, golden brass surfaces, rough tree bark, warm earth clay, and the saturation of natural rust. The exhibition will also reflect contrast in materials. Notably, the exhibition will feature well-known icons of Latvian design in collaboration with emerging talents in the field.
The exhibition will showcase products from six Latvian brands: 'Kanttari,' 'Studio Sarmīte,' 'an&angel,' 'Vaidava Ceramics,' 'Livette’s Wallpaper,' and 'mammalampa,' all contributing to the ambience characteristic of a Latvian autumn. The 'Kanttari' furniture brand is characterized by luxury and brilliance, highly valuing the craftsmanship of artisans. The design and research studio 'Studio Sarmīte', through an experimental approach, repurposes materials into new products.
Sarmīte Poļakova, along with designer Māra Bērziņa, received the Latvian Design Award “Grand Prix” this year. Meanwhile, 'Vaidava Ceramics' will be represented by its well-known 'Eclipse GOLD' collection and will also showcase the company’s desire to collaborate with young designers – the harvest storage dishes are the diploma work of Ādams Sūna, a graduate of Riga School of Design and Art. 'Livette’s Wallpaper' will continue to reveal its endless offering of wallpaper motifs. The brand 'an&angel' will unveil a new facet in glass design. The brand 'Mammalampa' will present its lesser- known collection 'The Queen,' where two contrasting materials in metal – gold and rust–meet.
On the opening day of the exhibition, September 18, at 12:00 PM, all interested parties, especially the media, are invited to meet with representatives of the Autumn exhibition brands to get a closer look at Latvian design products and behind -the -scenes creation.
The exhibition will be open to visitors from September 18 to December 1, 2024
About the pop-up exhibition series The Close up of Design Processes
In honor of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, the project The Close-Up of Design Processes has been created in collaboration with Design Export Alliance. Four pop-up exhibitions are being organized throughout the year, each replacing the previous one. All of them are implemented in an innovative format by integrating into the museum’s 3rd-floor permanent display Design Process, which introduces Latvian design history since the 1960s. The concept and visual solution for this exhibition series find its inspiration in one of the four seasons – spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The special atmosphere will be achieved by the selected color palette typical of the season, emphasizing the traditionally strong connection of Latvian design to nature, appropriating, and interpreting organic forms, natural materials, and textures in its products. Each exhibition will showcase ‘success stories’ of several well-known Latvian brands using careful sample selection and audiovisual elements. Exclusively prepared video stories will reveal the process of product development and behind-the-scenes glimpses.
The pop-up exhibition series will be accompanied by educational program, public discussions, design hackathon, and, for the first time in the museum’s history, special projects by two resident young designers selected through a competitive process.
About cooperation with the association Design Export Alliance
The pop-up exhibition project has been implemented thanks to the initiative of MDAD and the creative vision of Ieva Kalēja who represents the association Design Export Alliance and is curator of the anniversary series. The graphic identity of the series will be created by Liene Drāzniece. Both artists have gained extensive experience developing successful companies: Ieva Kalēja is the founder and designer of two brands – Mammalampa and DeTales, while Liene Drāzniece is the co-founder and leading designer of Madara Cosmetics.
This special collaboration between the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design and the association Design Export Alliance will actualize and promote awareness in society about the importance of design processes in everyone’s daily life. Through a series of pop-up exhibitions, visitors will have a great opportunity to explore and appreciate the remarkable stories of Latvian design brands.
