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9/4/2013

Philippe Malouin

ProjectB Gallery, Milano

With a text by Maria Cristina Didero

ProjectB is proud to present the first solo exhibition in Italy by Canadian designer Philippe Malouin in the occasion of Milan’s furniture fair in April 2013. Malouin has emerged as one of the strongest voices of today’s design with his simple and yet sophisticated products that always develop from an endless research on materials, forms and techniques.

The power of Malouin’s objects and furniture relays on their permanence and durability: from a rug made of metal, to an all-in-one meeting room with hanging chairs; from a racking system in metal that includes the lighting, to a series of lamps inspired by classical shutters. The designer often begins his design process from an existing reality to develop new unprecedented projects.

For his solo show at ProjectB SIMPLE, Malouin is presenting two new series of objects - commissioned by Emanuele Bonomi’s gallery, Slat and Type Cast Chairs - and an installation titled Pendulum that coherently represents his wide spirit of action. Pendulum is a reflection on gravity and by contrast a speculation on ephemera.

Malouin’s research is based on the power of materials: for Functional Shapes, black MDF sheeting is cut and laminated and the resulting material is then turned into shape on a lathe. MDF is extensively hand-polished, transforming this extremely rudimentary material into something new, light and highly tactile. The simple geometric shapes are dictated by their function revealing a lamp, bookends and nestling boxes, presented for the first time in a pitch black finishing.
The same color is to be found in the Type Cast Chairs, a series of sand casted sitting tools in iron or aluminum as a single component. The chair is extremely thin with no mechanical fixings and surprisingly resistant. The sand leaves its mark on each chair, transmitting something of its own history and making each one of them slightly different than the other.
In Philippe Malouin’s Slats pieces, standard timber slats are translated and repeated, forming a linear pattern, revealing a tabletop, rotated around an axis, forming a base and reflected for support. The resulting table gives the impression of a building, columns and ceiling. The same simple process is applied to benches that can stacked to become a bookshelf.

Malouin’s objects and installations are new simple classics. As he expresses in his own words: “Simple timber slats, positioned in the right rhythm and proportions create benches, a table, a library. A Simple chair, exhibiting modest geometry and simple boxes, bookends and a lamp composed of a readily available and humble material such as MDF, just cut and polished. A simple natural phenomenon, powering an installation. SIMPLE is an exercise in restraint. The statement is the absence of complication, nothing is hidden, nothing is faked, everything is displayed. A complicated needs to lead to a visually and tactually simple outcome. A traditional process leads to a well-balanced object. An unexpected discovery creates a deceptively simple installation. A traditional process is used to facilitate simplicity of shape and thickness” (Philippe Malouin, 2012).


Biographical notes
Canadian Philippe Malouin holds a bachelor’s degree in Design from the Design Academy Eindhoven. He has also studied at the École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle in Paris and University of Montreal. He lives and works in London. He set up his studio in 2009 after working for English designer Tom Dixon. He is also the director of POST-OFFICE, the architectural and interiors design practice. His diverse portfolio includes tables, rugs, chairs, lights, art objects and installations. Recently Malouin won the W Hotels ‘Designer of the Future’ Award and the Wallpaper ‘Best Use of Material’ Award and teaches at the Royal College of Arts – Postgraduate Art and Design.

Awards
2012: W hotels designer of the future award 
Wallpaper design awards “best use of material” for the Yachiyo Rug

2009: 2nd Prize Young Designer for Grace Table, D3 section, Furniture Fair of Cologne, Germany

2008: Nominated to the René Smeets prize for Grace table, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

ProjectB Gallery
ProjectB is a project built on the idea of the constant review of content and information, in the context of the international art scene. Conceptual research and technique are our primary concerns, along with a great focus on the exhibition space. Design, a form of art married to object of our day-to-day, is the obvious next step of the gallery. We are about to open the door to our new purpose-designed space in Milan to the world of design during the Salone del Mobile with the first solo show in Italy of Philippe Malouin.

Emanuele Bonomi: "My passion emerged during the eighties when I got to discover Le Corbusier's chaise longue, a piece I still share my life with. Materials such as wood and steel are constituent to my aesthetic. I see them beautifully interpreted in Philippe Malouin pieces, whose creations I'm very proud to introduce."

For further information please contact:

Press information:
NEGRI FIRMAN
PR & COMMUNICATION
T. +39 02 89 09 60 2
design@negrifirman.com

ProjectB
T. +39 02 86 998751
F. +39 02 80581467
press@projectb.eu

ProjectB Gallery (nuova sede)
via Pietro Maroncelli, 7 (interno cortile a destra) - Milano

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