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In design the term "readymade" is used to refer to products created by giving existing objects a new function; generally a new function far, far removed from the original.
Examples of the genre include the Mezzadro stool fashioned from a tractor seat by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Jasper Morrison's 1983 Handlebar Table or David Olschewski's Clothes Peg Lamp, an object that never reached the fame of the previous two examples. But which is and was every bit as interesting.
Berlin based Werner Aisslinger has pushed the scale boundaries of readymade design a little, and has transformed European landmarks into items of furniture.
No, honest!
The first results can currently be enjoyed as part of the Berlin Design Selection exhibition in Milan: and despite sounding like an obvious, and particularly uninspired, student project, one can genuinely enjoy Aisslinger's interpretation of the Colosseum as a side chair-cum-lounger or the Atomium as a side table/light combination. The latter being a truly marvellous item reminiscent in many ways of the better, more structured, less experimental works of Joe Colombo.
Elsewhere in the Berlin Design Selection show we were very taken with the Crossboard shelving system by LOCKWOOD, a relatively simple concept that combines oak and steel to excellent, modular, effect, the rattan lamps by hettler.tüllmann initially confused but ultimately delighted us with their innocent mix of 1970s DIY and Japanese lantern while Hopf, Nordin's Astrahedra lamps, visualising in their form as they do the vastness of the interstellar void are always a joy to behold.
And a special mention must go to the ceramic-table collection by Elisa Strozyk,featuring table tops created through experimentation with mixing and handling different liquid glazes. A collection we first saw when they premièred at the Objects and the factory exhibition in Cologne. And which still delights.
A few impressions from Berlin Design Selection 2014 in Milan.
