richard hutten: 18 years of playing
richard hutten: 18 years of playing the design museum of gent, belgium on now until june 6th, 2010
general exhibition view
’18 years of playing’ is the biggest retrospective to date of the dutch richard hutten studio, which was founded in october 1991. the show is a cross section of hutten’s work from the past 18 years, varying from well-known pieces such as his ‘table-chair’ and the ‘dombo/domoor’ mug to less-known works, alongside his more recent projects like ‘book-chair’. the exhibition space has been designed by hutten, a playful setting is typical of his style.
general exhibition view
orange balls cover the floor of the exhibition space
‘s(h)it on it’
interior spaces have also been incorporated into the exhibition
‘jaarglas’
‘playing with tradition’
‘playing with tradition’ is one of richard hutten’s most recent projects. wanting to work with traditional carpets for a number of years, hutten was looking for a way in which to bring together the old and the new – a kind of east meets west approach to traditional carpets. in developing his design, hutten researched different patterns and decided on this idea of stopping the pattern at a certain point (which was carefully chosen) and stretching the design outwards into a linear pattern. the carpets have been made in collaboration with italian carpet company i + i.
‘playing with tradition’, runner
‘playing with tradition’ (detail)
richard hutten (14 articles)
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richard hutten's satellite chair for OFFECCT designed for the digital age
richard hutten curates a design intervention at sonneveld house
richard hutten: apps sofa for artifort
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What a load of balls! (Ba-dum-tish!!!)
I actually rather like ‘s(h)it on it’ it’s very clever, and I’d totally buy it, if only to see peoples reactions to it.
Gwen, contrary to what you (or Mr Hutten) might think, repressive regimes are not lifestyle accessories
Killing, gassing and burning people is not actually that funny when you think about it
Im all for debate about good/bad taste in design, and bringing to light the recent rise in nationalist hate parties (Vlaams Belang in Belgium for example) but just stealing Hitlers graphic design and adding a swear word does not really contribute to that discussion, or any other that I could think of?
None of his other work is political in any way, so why this? It is just a cynical exploitation of symbols of hate
the carpets are a blatant copy of sebastian brajkovic’s lathe series. If hutten didnt see that work, he is ignorant. If he did, then, well, same really…
https://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5842/sebastian-brajkovic-lathe-series.html
I remember it was part of a series with cross, swastika etc. so yes probably was an investigacion of symbols as furniture and not anything deeper… Symbols are easy things to use an almost guarantee debate if the designer knows lots about their meaining or not. BTW hasn’t the idea of stretching pixels used on the carpet been done by many younger designers already? When did Hutten make them?
Because individuals such as yourself, goldsoupcans, react – and reaction spurs discussions which in turn spurs more money and blah blah blah… and as the world turns, these are the days of our lives.
designboom, please censor these comments, we might offend the esteemed designer. But leave the swastika picture, I like that part, its clever 🙂
Dear Dear , a bit of humour bypass in the design community .The swastika is NOT a 20th century symbol and S(h)it on it is perhaps a statement of the mis appropriation of such an historic symbol ..much like the “love that dare not speak it’s name “.As for the carpets they are not PIxels they are wefts and weaves .Get off your computers and look art the world..
You might be more creative then and less critical .
If Richard Huttens other work concerned only Nazism or even, as Tonio mentions, symbols as furniture and there was a context, then yes, using a swastika could have been interesting. But I have to agree with goldsoupcans, you cant just pick up something as loaded as that and then put it down when it suits you. For example, even a ‘shock’ contemporary artist (maurizio cattelan with ‘him’ comes to mind) would never treat a subject in such a simplistic and naive manner, without exploring possible interpretations. Hutten is casually showing it in a mixed context to a general audience. Is this how we as designers, want our profession to be interpreted by an exhibition public? As simple, naive and casually racist? People who want to make a swastika comfortable?
Dear censormeplease,
Sorry I speak to you like a child but you act like one…
Swastika has good meanings. Until it was use by the Nazis it was never associated with bad things and in countries where Buddhism and Hinduism are most popular religions it still has positive meaning.
The chair by Hutten can offend some but not others. Many terrible crimes like mass murder have been done in the name of the Cross or the Moon and Star or David’s Star…
It can be that the symbol furniture is about which symbols we are comfortable with and which we are not, and how these feelings can change if we know everything each symbol means.
Also part of the same works as the swastika seats:
https://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/hutten/13.jpg
Tonio, I guess thats fair, Hutten could (theoretically) be trying to bring positivity back to the swastika. I dont personally think so, and I dont think you really do either. In any case, my issue is mainly with context. As justasking and goldsoupcans mention, none of Huttens other work is in any way loaded or political. By casually using the swastika as decoration he is treating the holocaust as a fashion statement, and I think that says more about him (and unfortunately ‘design’ in general) than maybe he would be willing to admit
If I were to write ‘design (in general) is predominantly determined by white, middle age, middle class male fanatics’ would I be so far off the mark? Mies, Le Corbusier, these are still our design heroes, despite their politics, and that is an uncomfortable reality Could I also write that Richard Hutten is a confused child who does little to challenge that supremacist view of the design world. Or would that be seen as hate, where his swastika chair is ‘a clever and funny comment’, outside the bounds of criticism?