Admittedly the Dedas sofa by Budapest based designer Annabella Hevesi isn't part of Berlin Design Week 2024.
But it is on show at Berlin Design Week 2024.
Is part of the installation of the Sphere wallpaper collection for Italian manufacturer Tecnografica by Berlin based, Hungarian born, media artist Dávid Szauder in cooperation with Budapest based interior design studio Freeform a.k.a. Eszter Bolgár and Tímea Csitári.
Albeit is on show at Berlin Design Week 2024 unnamed. Uncredited. Which is cheeky.
And is, for us, very much the star of the presentation.
No offence to Dávid Szauder and Freeform, we see what you've done, appreciate what you've done, and having seen the animations by Dávid and Viktória Szabó at the exhibition Innenraum at Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, understand even better what's going on, why, and the role of AI in the generation, the statements and positions defended, but it just ain't our thing. Ain't our visual. But we know it will be the visual and the thing for a great many others.
Dedas by Annabella Hevesi is however our thing.
A thing we got to know, became acquainted with, online, and met for the first time in the Peter-Behrens-Bau.
We believe we whooped with excitement when we saw it. We definitely did after we'd spent some time with it.
Developed by Annabella as a component of the Burnt Geometry project realised in context of her, and Gábor Bella's platform Line and Round, I O, a Burnt Geometry project that took its starting point and impetus from a late 1960s/early 1970s enamel art movement/collective/project largely driven by Lantos Ferenc, a Lantos Ferenc whose positions, as elucidated and discussed in our interview with Annabella and Gabór, also largely drove the Burnt Geometry project, and a Burnt Geometry project that also realised the award winning Roly-Poly lamp; the Dedas sofa is based around individual upholstery units formally informed by some of the panels realised in context of the enamel art project, while the base, for all that it appears to be a simple tubular metal base, is informed by the stands used to support objects in the enamelling process. Or put another way as a form Dedas is essentially a snapshot of an industrial enamelling process.
Albeit a snapshot of an industrial process, a, if one so will, readymade reflective of many of the positions and movements of the 1960s and 70s that questioned Modernism, questioned what Modernism had become in the 1950s and 60s, Annabella has very pleasingly abstracted and domesticated and brought into the 2020s; as an object the proportions and scales are very pleasing, and it sits very nicely in the space it is in, and sits very discretely, unassumingly, and that, we'd argue not just on account of the attention the walls are demanding, but because with its rounded quadratics, open construction and ease with which it communicates it very much wants to compliment a space not encroach. Is a forming of space rather than the filling of space sofas so often are. And is not just visually pleasing, haptically it's also a very satisfying work, and while, for us, the seat cushions were a little soft it does provide for a very high level of seating stability and comfort, including if you curl yourself up in the corners. We obviously only experienced Dedas in the context of an empty room in the Peter-Behrens-Bau, surrounded by Spheres wallpaper; however, we can well imagine that in your living room curled up in the corner with a book and a favourite drink it'll be a space you'll not be keen to leave. Or indeed curled up in the corner on Dedas in a hotel lobby, a coffee shop, an airport lounge, a wherever public space, or wherever office space, with your laptop it will almost certainly be a most productive work space: and Dedas is every bit as much a contract object as a domestic. Arguably more so.
While beyond such considerations the modular nature of the construction principle means that individual upholstery elements can be replaced should they become damaged, or should your corporate identity change, thereby extending the life cycle of the object into an almost infinite future. Which is what contemporary furniture should be and should do. Must be, must do.
Arguably the only negative aspect about Dedas is that it is still a project and not yet a product. We know that in context of their brand Self and Scope Annabella and Gábor are working on making it a product, but if any manufacturers out there are looking for a responsive sofa concept that very pleasing spans an arch, spans several arches, from the late 1960s/early 1970s to today, and into the future, and which engagingly reflects on and rephrases a great many artistic, design and craft positions and process, you know what to do.
And apologies again to Dávid Szauder and Freeform, although we would argue that taking delight in the things that aren't supposed to be the focal point is very much how Berlin rocks. If you only look at what people tell you to look at in the way they tell you to look at it, you'll go blind. And will lose interest in the beauty of the world and human society. Learn to see for yourself.
In addition to Annabelle and David and Eszter and Tímea in the Peter-Behrens-Bau, until May 31st the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin is presenting the aforementioned exhibition Innenraum which alongside Annabella's Peach lounge chair, a work whose form is defined by the novel approach to upholstery Annabella developed for it, a work whose decoration is functional, both Dedas and Peach being very nice examples of how Annabella works, Annabella's approach, and also alongside further examples of Dávid Szauder and Freeforms' wallpapers, features works by over a dozen other contemporary Hungarian designers and artists, including, and amongst others, Dávid Salamon, Blanka Timári and Dóra Riederauer. Further details can be found at www.hungaricum.de
Further details on the Sphere Collection can be found at www.tecnografica.net
Further details on Design Week Berlin, and on the official exhibitors, can be found at https://berlindesignweek.com
And further details on Annabella Hevesi and Dedas can be found at https://lineandround.io and www.selfandscope.io
