Design by Choice – Exhibition Maastricht
Design by Choice – The origins of Mass-Customization in Europe
Ausstellung vom 10. Oktober 2015 – 17. Januar 2016
Adresse: Bureau Europa, Timmerfabriek, Boschstraat 9, 6211 AS Maastricht, Niederlande
Im Zentrum der Ausstellung steht eine repräsentative Auswahl von Handelskatalogen europäischer Eisengießereien. Mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts bestimmten Gießereien in Schottland, Frankreich und Preußen das Tempo der Produktinnovation. Schmuck, Leuchter, Stühle, Kanonen, Brunnen und Baukomponenten wurden in Serie produziert. Zeitgleich mit ihren Produkten erfanden die Gießereien ein neues Vertriebsmedium: den Handelskatalog. In ganz Europa dienten Kataloge als effiziente Kommunikationswerkzeuge, die zwischen Herstellern und ihren stetig wachsenden Kundenkreisen vermittelten.
Anhand der Darstellung des historischen Kontextes lädt die Ausstellung Design by Choice dazu ein, die einstigen Objekte der Begierde neu zu entdecken. Dabei erlaubt die Fokussierung auf die europäische Dimension der industriellen Revolution, den internationalen Austausch sowie die länderübergreifende Gemeinsamkeiten nachzuvollziehen.
Eingehende Studien der Sayner Hütte in Bendorf bei Koblenz, der Pariser Bibliothek Sainte-Geneviève von Henri Labrouste und der Paddington Station in London von Isambard Kingdom Brunel verdeutlichen die Einstellungen von Architekten und Ingenieuren angesichts des damals neuen Baustoffs Gusseisen.
Kuratorische Assistentinnen:
Ayça Sancar, Juliane Seehawer und Magdalena Derdzikowska (Lehr- und Forschungsgebiet Architekturtheorie, RWTH Aachen)
As a presentation and network organization, Bureau Europa/platform for architecture, design and fashion presents exhibitions and other activities on the culture of the designed environment. Bureau Europa’s focus is mainly on Europe and the Euregion from a social perspective and contemporary topics relevant to society at large.
Design by Choice
Origins of mass customisation in Europe
10 October 2015 – 17 January 2016
Opening: Saturday 10 October, 17.00 – 19.00
In recent decades, tailor-made solutions, customised items, rapid prototyping, and new communication tools and distribution systems have drastically altered the bonds between production and consumption. Building on Reyner Banham’s seminal publication „Design by Choice“, dedicated to modern cultures of consumption, the exhibition revisits industrial production and consumption prior to the advent of standardised mass fabrication.
At the centre of the exhibition is a representative sample of Western European cast iron trade catalogues. By the mid-nineteenth century, when furnace technology was improved, foundries in Scotland, France, and Prussia set the pace for product innovation. Jewellery, candlesticks, chairs, canons, fountains, and columns were serially produced. Together with their products, foundries also invented a new commercial means: the trade catalogue. Published all over Europe, the catalogues served as efficient communication tools between producers and their steadily growing clientele.
‘Design by Choice’ invites visitors to discover these former objects of desire as depicted in nineteenth-century trade literature. Focussing on the European dimension of the Industrial Revolution, international exchanges and commonalities are addressed. Specific designs are traced back to their common sources such as archaeological objects or architectural sourcebooks.
In-depth studies of the German Sayner Hütte and Scottish Saracen Foundry provide insights into the production technology and distribution networks. Based on the designs for the Parisian Saint-Geneviève Library by Henri Labrouste and London’s Paddington Station by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the different attitudes that architects and engineers assumed towards cast iron are expounded upon.
Curators: Axel Sowa (RWTH Aachen University) and Jules Schoonman
Graphic design: Adriaan Mellegers
Research and design assistants: Ayça Sancar and Juliane Seehawer