Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/32301
BEST IN SHOW A view of the Swiss gallery GALERIE DANSK MØBELKUNST “ MODERNITY ’’ Is there a particular work that you expect to generate the most interest? Actually, I’d say there are several works that will probably generate a lot of interest. In particular, Gio Ponti’s My Jumping Horse desk, which is a prototype, and the early Swan sofa by Arne Jacobsen, in original cognac leather.—Andrew Duncanson A detail from the Fragile Future series by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn. Dorte Slot, director of Zurich’s Galerie Dansk Møbelkunst has spent her life immersed in Scandinavian design. “I grew up surrounded by Danish furniture in my family’s furniture store so my appreciation of good design came quite naturally,” she says. “It has evolved over the years as I became interested in the history behind this very significant period of Danish culture.” Here, Slot shares a bit about the designer Vilhelm Lauritzen, who is the focus of her exhibition at Design Miami/Basel. Vilhelm Lauritzen was one of the most significant Danish architects in the 1930s and 40s and his work represent some of the finest examples of early Danish Mod- ernism. A number of Lauritzen’s furniture and lighting was designed exclusively for his buildings projects and are for that reason very rare. It has taken us a number of years to collect the pieces that we are now finally able to show in Basel. CARPENTERS WORKSHOP With a new Paris gallery set to open this Fall, and the re-opening of their Chelsea gallery space in London, Car- penters Workshop has lots of space to promote emerging design talent, as well as its existing roster of contem- porary design stars. While the gallery will show nine new works commis- sioned specifically for DM/B, including work by two new artists to the gallery—Studio Molen and Johanna Grawunder—it’s the work of Random International that seems to be steal- ing the stage. “The Victoria and Albert Museum commissioned a light sculp- ture installation, Swarm, based on an exclusive body of work created for Car- penters Workshop,” says new gallery director, Stephanie Gabriele. “They also just inaugurated a commissioned piece for the Welcome Trust in London that stretches across the façade of the building and uses lights to interact with passersby that represents an al- gorithm seen in animal behaviors.” Gio Ponti’s My Jumping Horse desk. 38 CULTURED