Magis and Konstantin Grcic: Decisive Design

Konstantin Grcic: Decisive Design is the title of the first U.S. exhibition on Konstantin Grcic’s design, which was opened on November, 18th (and will last to January, 24th 2010) at the Art Institute of Chicago and precisely in the Abbott Galleries of the Modern Wing, which is devoted also to contemporary design. The exhibition includes about 100 works designed by Konstantin Grcic from the beginnings of his career (furniture, office accessories, lamps and tableware), among them some products for Magis, such as the famous Chair_One (on view in its various versions), which has become by now an icon and the more recent 360° Chair, Stool and Container (shown at the last Salone of Milan and already available), which rethink and revolutionize the concept of office furniture. The exhibition is also accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue (with the same title of the exhibition) by Zoë Ryan, the curator of the design Department of the Art Institute of Chicago and of the exhibition itself. This monograph is the first publication looking at Grcic’s work over the past five years, a period when he increased his interest in new technologies and materials that allowed him to produce furniture and objects, which are transforming the landscape of contemporary design.