Although it does now seem like half a lifetime ago … we were in Vienna for the Design Week, did enjoy it and do still have one or the other text to bring you.
In 1835 Herr Lorenzi opened his first ironmongers and blade sharpening business in Vienna. In the intervening 175 years not only has Lorenzi become one of the more renowned family firms in Vienna, but over 30 “branches” of Lorenzi Stahlwaren have been established worldwide by the Lorenzi diaspora.
Including one just across the road – as Laozi says “A journey of thousand …. ”
Czech designer Daniel Posta chose to focus on this global journey for his Vienna Design Week Passionswege project and travelled with Andreas Lorenzi to the annual Lorenzi clan gathering in Mortaso, Italy. There he met with numerous members of the family and requested that they send him one object that for them symbolises the tradition of the family.
A selection of the objects including knives, keys and shaving sets were presented in the window of Lorenzi in the Siebenstergasse.
Through this collection of objects Daniel Posta reminds family Lorenzi – and by extrapolation all of us – that distance is just a physical measurement that has no relation to those things that truly bind us. Which is something we all tend to forget in our modern, mobile world.
Vienna Design Week Passionswege Daniel Posta @ Lorenzi. Through the round window a range of objects with symbolic meaning for members of the Lorenzi diaspora....
... such as a shaving set.
Elvira Lorenzi - The least travelled family member (approx. 4 metres across the road)