Shad Thames
London
9 May - 7 September 2008
Industrial Facility is a London-based design office formed by designer Sam Hecht and architect Kim Colin. With designer Ippei Matsumoto, it has established itself as a significant design office of mass-produced goods. Industrial Facility takes pleasure in the anonymity of everyday items and applies intellectual rigour, high design values and vision to the most mundane of products such as coffee makers, stationary and kitchen utensils.
This exhibition is an opportunity to see some of Industrial Facility’s recent and current projects, and aims to reveal the design motives and functional workings of the practice. Although based in London, they have designed almost entirely for foreign markets, with little of their projects being seen or consumed in the UK.
Recent commissions include work for Herman Miller, Established & Sons, and Yamaha. As Creative Advisors to Muji, the practice has designed over 50 items for the Japanese retailer, ranging from furniture to apparel to electronics to food, creating inspiring solutions to everyday commodities. Several of the newest projects will be on view in the exhibition.
Running in parallel to the exhibition is a selection of almost one hundred items Sam Hecht has amassed over the last fifteen years that cost ‘Under a Fiver’. Drawn from all over the world, the items display everything from astonishing kitsch to the purity of functionalism.
Each object tells a story about contemporary culture, about the nature of manufacture and marketing, and about the way we see and use things. Its role in Industrial Facility’s office is to inform the work and to allow an acute understanding of local rather than global consumption. These items are not mere souvenirs, there are no famous names behind them, no manuals required to operate them and their cost is of no relevance to their function.
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