Panel interview with Aritco in collaboration with Dezeen

Dezeen panel discussion

The Line Between Art and Design

Aritco’s fourth collaboration with Dezeen was a talk entitled The Line Between Art and Design  which took place during Stockholm Design Week 2020 at Sven Harrys konstmuseum, the venue hosting Swedish designer Alexander Lervik’s exhibition Imaginations x 12.

Dezeen founder Marcus Fairs started by introducing Alexander Lervik who talked about the Brain lamp he designed in 2007 from an MRI scan of his own brain (pictured below) and his TED talk in 2009 about how 3D printing would disrupt the design world.

The Brain lamp, by Alexander Lervik (2007)

Alexander described how he won the competition to design the Aritco HomeLift in 2013, and the inspiration behind the design for the new, commercial Aritco PublicLift Access which launched at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2020. “My exhibition of 12 design objects, Imaginations x 12 is inspired by different art movements,” he explained.

The second panellist, Li Pamp, talked about her background as an art historian, and how her career as a broadcaster on Swedish TV began at Stockholm’s top auction houses. She referenced the limited-edition Concrete chair (pictured below) created by artist Jonas Bohlin in 1981 which came up for auction. “Although it looked like a chair, it didn’t function as a chair as it was almost impossible to sit on,” she explained. “The artist signed a number of limited-edition pieces – was this design, was it art or was it something in between? Maybe we need to redefine what is art and what is design, or is it even important anymore?” she said.

Artwork chair by Jonas Bohlin

The third panellist, product designer Petter Thorne, spoke about his collaboration with an urban designer to create a public art installation and how he teamed up with a human rights activist to create the award-winning, modular design installation 17,000 (pictured below) which contains thousands of small artworks, a comment on the number of refugees currently at risk of deportation in Sweden. “Function and practicality don’t necessarily define design as many artists are practical. The distinction between art and design is not relevant – the object is either good or bad.”

modular design installation

Alexander Lervik then explained that anything could be called art, but that design must always have a function. The Ars Sella Sculpture from his exhibition (pictured below) is a homage to Giacometti and can be considered art as it doesn’t function as a chair.

Ars Sella Sculpture by Alexander Lervik

His Motus Lamp was inspired by the Concrete Art movement, but the prototype had to be re-engineered to accommodate all the wiring to keep the cost of production down so it could be seen as more of a design piece.

 

Motus Lamp

Popular Dezeen Talk in video

Other themes discussed included:

  • Design must address a problem and include function, but can a function be an emotional response?
  • Art can demand a higher price than design, but is this changing as the market matures?
  • Can a design piece be considered art simply by the creator defining it as a collectible limited edition or by the dealer presenting it as a valuable object?
  • Does rarity re-define a design piece as a desirable artwork?
  • Are design and art merging in a new aesthetic movement?

See highlights of the talk – click here.

CN

ARITCO จีน เซี่ยงไฮ้

Aritco Homelift (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

B310-2, Wending Living Style Plaza,
No. 258 Wending Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai P.R.
China

Phone: +86 400 6233 121
Email: info.china@aritco.com

CN

ARITCO จีน ชิงเต่า

504, No.32 Building, Tian’an Cyber Park
No.88 Chunyang Rd. Qingdao
China

Phone: +86 532 66736895
Email: info.china@aritco.com

DE

ARITCO ประเทศเยอรมัน

Aritco Deutschland GmbH
Widenmayerstrasse 31
DE – 80538 München
Germany

Phone: +49 7123 9597272
Email: info.germany@aritco.com

ES

ARITCO สเปน

Avenida de la Constitución 24, nave 10
288 21, Coslada
Madrid
Spain

Phone: (+34) 918 622 552
Email: info.spain@aritco.com

SE

ARITCO สวีเดน

Aritco Lift AB
Elektronikhöjden 14
175 43 Järfälla
Sweden

Phone: +46 8 120 401 00
Email: info@aritco.com

SEA

ARITCO เอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้

405 Yang 1981 Building,
Room no. G-02B, M-03B
Debaratna Road, Bang Na Nuea,
Bangna, Bangkok 10260 Thailand.

Phone: 086-317-4017 or 095-901-8887
Email: info.sea@aritco.com

UAE

Aritco สหรัฐอาหรับเอมิเรตส์

ARITCO LIFT AB C/O BUSINESS SWEDEN,
CONCORD TOWER, 26TH FLOOR,
OFFICE 2607, MEDIA CITY
DUBAI, UAE

EMAIL: INFO.UAE@ARITCO.COM

UK

Aritco สหราชอาณาจักร

United Kingdom

Phone: +44 1604 808809
E-mail: info.uk@aritco.com