Hella Jongerius – Misfit

Hella Jongerius

Last Saturday – 13.11.2010 for the sake of all Internet archaeologists who find this post in 120 years – Museum Boijmans in Rotterdam opened the first Hella Jongerius retrospective in her native Holland.

And we weren’t there. It was a regrettable, but unavoidable, situation.

Fortunately our global network is almost as large as that of the American secret service and so we were able to send a few friends on our behalf.

An interactive exhibition, Misfit not only features works by Hella Jongerius but also explores her working methods and her influence as a designer.

And so in many ways it was fitting that the opening speech was held by Vitra Chairman Rolf Fehlbaum; Vitra being not only the producer with whom Hella Jongerius is unquestionably most associated, but also a company who themselves have been influenced through their co-operations with Ms Jongerius.

Introduced to the work of Hella Jongerius by figures such as Paola Antonelli, Alice Rawsthorn and Michael Mahram, Rolf Fehlbaum was, by his own admission, instantly taken with her “outstanding sensitivity” for surfaces and colours; a not insignificant point given that this introduction came at a time when Vitra were starting to actively expand their “Home Collection“.

Hella Jongerius has since gone on to play a central role in the development of the Vitra Home Collection – not just in terms of products but also through her role as a sort of Vitra In-house Colour Consultant.

Polder Sofa by Hella Jongerius for Vitra

With its magical play on colour tones, “Polder Sofa” is probably the most obvious expressions of what first attracted Rolf Fehlbaum to the work of Hella Jongerius.  In his speech at Boijmans Rolf Fehlbaum described Polder Sofa as being ” … like a new beginning in a repetitive old world … “; a phrase which not only also wonderfully describes Hella Jongerius’ “Repeat” collection for New York textile producer Mahram, but can in many ways be taken as a universal attribute of Hella Jongerius’ work.

Hella Jongerius’ “colour consultancy” work for Vitra effectively began in 2006 when she updated the Eames Lounge Chair, a commission that was principally concerned with altering the tone of the wooden shell so as to allow a more harmonious match with leather tones lighter than the traditional black. The white leather Eames Lounge Chair beautifully illustrating the result of the work.

“Colour Cooking” is how Hella Jongerius herself refers to the relationship she creates between individual colours and between colours and materials, and her most recent “cookbook” is the so-called Colour Lab in the VitraHaus in Weil am Rein – an interactive area where visitors can experiment with materials, colours and combinations thereof.

Coloured Vases by Hella Jongerius @ Misfit, Museum Boijmans Rotterdam

In addition to showing examples of her work with Vitra, Misfits also shows works such as the aforementioned “Repeat” fabric collection for Mahram, some of her porcelain creations for Nymphenberg and as one of the true highlights 300 coloured vases created in co-operation with Royal Tichelaar Makkum.

We’re hoping to make it to Rotterdam real soon to see the exhibition ourselves – and when we do we’ll write a full report.

And explain the exhibition title….

Bur for now, many thanks to our spies – and if you keep delivering such high quality work we may just commission you again in the future ;)

Hella Jongerius – Misfit can be seen at the Museum Boijmans in Rotterdam until 13th February 2011.

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