My earliest memory of Ettore Sottsass is of an album about Italian design, that I bought when I was in high school, completely mesmerised by the colourful ‘Carlton’ bookcase on the cover. After founding Eclecticó Studio, which had from the very beginning a  focus on postmodern design, his pieces were always around me & the more I looked for his designs, the more I found, sometimes with a magical flawless fluidity. Then came the books, his wise words, the admiration for the subtle eroticism present in his œuvre, his photography, soon after came gallerists, clients and collectors with whom to share the admiration for more-Ettore. 

His spirit was always a guiding light and equally a constant motivation towards the discovery of his universe, the universe of his collaborators and also that of the designers he inspired. All these people, influencing each other on multiple levels, marked the history of design, prompting an unprecedented, flamboyant & poetical-radical grand finale of the 20’s century. 

In the last few years, I've noticed a growing interest in postmodern design, both from  the connaisseurs, ranging from small gallerists to big collectors, as well as coming from important cultural institutions or furthermore, among a new aesthetics-enthusiastic generation across Asia. 

What I personally feel is missing is an accurate, fun and witty storytelling, that on one hand manages to reconnect certain historical contexts and on the other hand, conveys with a certain humorous approach the ‘je-m'en-fichiste’ spirit of those days, unfortunately much opposed to the multiply layered conflictual times we are living.  

There is without a doubt, at least for me personally, a strong connection between the current zeitgeist and the nostalgic desire of reconnection and exploration of that colourful, bold, bombastic & liberating spirit that marked the 80’s.

Sometimes we do certain things without exactly realising what we’re doing, sometimes things take shape quietly without an immediate intention and then again, things crystallise and start to perfectly align  at the right moment.

From the geographical perspective, we’ll be exploring the cross-pollination of influences starting from the historical axis Milano-Paris and expanding in concentric circles, considering the evolution of various designers who started producing their designs in Italy, which oftenly jump-started their career. In this regard, Philippe Starck worked and produced in Italy, and then in Spain, before founding XO in France;  two of the most representative Czech designers, Borek Sipek and Bohuslav Horak worked as young designers in Italy as well, where new markets opened for them, sometimes resulting in solid collaborations, as in the case of Sipek and Driade. We’ll also tap into what happened to the north, where Scandinavian countries had to reinvent themselves after being the poster boy of mid-century modern.

Since fluidity and the blending of aesthetic codes are part of the postmodern DNA, the exhibition will present a multifaceted view, following 4 aesthetic directions: the brightly coloured, playful pieces of the Memphis Group, the monochromatic, minimalist aesthetic, brilliantly explored in the works of Martin Szekely or Paolo Pallucco, the biomimetism of the pieces created by Bohuslav Horak or Christophe Pillet and what we’re calling Nouveau Baroque aesthetic codes, to be found in the pieces created by Borek Sipek or those for Galerie Neotu. These are proof that postmodernism doesn’t speak in one voice, but mostly in layers and vivid juxtapositions.

We believe it’s the right moment to shed a new light on prototypes which we consider important artefacts in the history of design, since they map some of the boldest ideas and daring experiments that bent the cultural and social norms of their times. We believe it’s the right moment to focus on prolific collaborations, be it creative duos or fertile cooperation between designers and producers with different backgrounds, resulting in a greater representation of varied multicultural identities.

Target audience

Collectors

Cultural workers, curators

General public interested in the history of design

Specialised public in China (young collectors, gallerists)

Targeted media

Sight Unseen

Wallpaper

Design Boom

Architectural Digest

Milk Magazine

The catalogue will gather documented imagery of the exhibited pieces alongside texts written by relevant art and design historians, curators and designers, bringing a new perspective on the context of postmodern design. It will explain in depth the rise of postmodernism and its expansion throughout Europe and bring forth the informal history of the two decades, adding to the mix a personal touch by way of anecdotes collected from key characters of the design scene. We will be collaborating with Terranova, an experienced publishing house in Barcelona.

Suggested guest writers and collaborators

Marco Sammicheli — curator of design, fashion, crafts sector at Triennale Milano and Superintendent of Museo del Design Italiano 

Patrizia di Constanzo — design historian 

Bohuslav Horak — designer

Gerard Mialet — Founder & CEO at XO

Constance Rubini — design historian and curator at MADD Bordeaux

Enrico Baleri — designer and co-founder of Baleri Italia 

Cleto Munari — industrialist, collector, patron

Nathalie du Pasquier — designer 

Barbara Radice — design critic, writer and editor

Philippe Thomé — design critic, writer

Christoph Radl — designer

Tom Vack — design and architectural photographer

Florine Barnet — attaché de conservation at Ubik, Agence de Philippe Starck

Eclecticó Studio was established in 2013 by Stefan Cosma and has since cultivated an interest towards the overlapping areas between art and design, with a penchant for sculptural objects, limited small series and unique pieces of furniture. 

The gallery specialised from the very early days in postmodern design, assembling over the years a very broad collection of rare pieces, becoming after its 10 years of existence a solid worldwide reference and a dynamic promoter of postmodern design. Eclecticó Studio is now floating somewhere between Bucharest, Paris and Ibiza.

In terms of exhibitions, in the past two years we focused on the work of 80’s radical designer duo Paolo Pallucco and Mireille Rivier. The retrospective of their work held in Paris in March 2022 was surprisingly very well received by the general public and the specialised press, proving an accurate rewriting of some lesser known episodes of design history was needed.

On the occasion of Eclecticó’s 10th anniversary we are staging up a major exposition on European postmodern design that traces down the collaborations and mix of influences involved in developing a diverse design scene at the end of the 20th century. Moreover, we will publish a comprehensive catalogue that will bring new perspectives on the design history of the last two decades of the century.

Stefan Cosma — owner of Eclectico Studio and curator of the exhibition

Madalina Cozmeanu — assistant curator

Emma Ionescu — project coordinator

Corvin Cristian — exhibition architecture & scenography consultant

Fabrik — printing house

Manon Hasselmann — creative consultant, creative producer at AvantArte, previously at Perrotin

Favori Paris  — communication and PR consulting

M/M Paris — graphic design studio

TerraNova — Barcelona based publishing house

Stefan Cosma
cosma@eclectico.studio

Instagram