Created in China. Chinese Collectible Design Exhibition

In December 2020, Heritage Gallery, in partnership with Perfect Crossovers, the Cosmoscow Collectors Club and the TEO by Cosmoscow online platform, will present the first large-scale exhibition in Russia dedicated to the works of the stars of modern collectible Chinese design.

In recent years, Chinese collectible design has undergone a tumultuous renaissance, reminding that China is not only a major mass production center, but also a country with deep cultural traditions, whose history goes back millennia. Minimalism, which hides Zen thinking, skills in working with natural materials, as well as a synthesis of innovative technologies and millennial cultural traditions, is the main distinguishing feature of Chinese contemporary collectible design. The exhibition "Created in China" presents the work of leading artists and sculptors working in the field of object art. The authors themselves have long gone beyond the Chinese art scene, their works are widely represented in such leading institutions as: Pompidou Center, Dublin Museum, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Groningen Museum,Brooklyn Museum of Art, Corso Como, Liberty, Saatchi Gallery in London and the Chamber of Fine Arts in New York, as well as in private collections in China, USA, France, Germany, Canada and other countries. By combining the principles of architecture, art and design, Chinese contemporary collectible design actively seeks to create radically new forms.

The exposition of the exhibition includes works by representatives of two generations of designers who are not bound by a single direction or a common artistic program. Based on their own concept, each of them developed an individual style based on the synthesis of tradition and innovative technologies. All products are produced in strictly limited editions, in fact, equating these items with functional sculpture. At the same time, they retain their utilitarian function, which is also a characteristic feature of modern design.

The works of the authors, selected by the curators of the Heritage gallery, provide an exhaustive picture of the main trends in Chinese collectible design in the 21st century. Thus, the works of Song Tao, Xiao Tianyu, and Honda Yang are based on the study of traditional furniture designs and techniques that reconstruct the essence of classical Chinese aesthetics. In this way, these masters strive to enable a global audience to rediscover and realize the beauty of forms and philosophy of Chinese art.

Founded by Song Tao in 2002, Self-made company sees its goal in combining traditional form with modern culture. Song Tao’s work aims to contrast ancient Chinese philosophy with the modern Western view, creating a continuous dialogue between minimalism and traditional crafts. In 2011, together with MaCalline, he founded China’s first National Chinese Lifestyle Museum. A graduate of the Academy of Design in Eindhoven, Honda Jan has been actively exhibiting at leading European institutions: Center Georges Pompidou, Paris; Holon Design Museum, Tel Aviv; MARTa Herford Museum, Germany; and the Kranenburg Museum, Netherlands. Its functional and sculptural pieces of furniture made from stainless steel are the result of an innovative casting method that combines ancient techniques with modern technology.This allows you to capture the transformation of the material in one work.

Xiao Tianyu is an industrial designer who graduated from CAFA in 2010. To this day, he continues to shape the design ethos through “identifying and understanding” consumer expectations. His Harmony series of furniture showcases Xiao’s signature style: a blend of local Chinese culture with a more modern design aesthetic. The artist Ling Ding, better known for her paintings, gained a reputation as a successful designer in the 1990s. Initially, she transformed the space of her own home, in which she lived until 2000, and later became an independent designer of furniture, lighting, ceramics, jewelry and accessories, and also opened one of the first boutiques in Beijing, which displayed her works, as well as the work of others. modern designers.

Shi Qinsong, a graduate of the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, graduated from the sculpture department, but later, having mastered various techniques, he began to use his knowledge in the field of author’s design. In his stainless steel works, the master often transforms recognizable images, giving them new forms and meanings, a sense of rebellion and contradiction to humanity and morality. This distinguishes his work from typical contemporary Chinese art. His work is in major institutional collections around the world, including the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France; Groningen Museum, Groningen, Netherlands, Uli Sigg Collection, M + Museum, Hong Kong, and White Rabbit Collection, Sydney, Australia.

Representatives of the second generation of Chinese design masters, which include Li Naihan, Zhou Runda, Tian Ding and Bing Xiaodong, successfully use the latest technologies in their work, including the capabilities of digital equipment, which allow not only to develop original aesthetic solutions, but also to create convenient and functional interior items, characterized by compactness and rationalism. Li Naihan was born in 1981 in Harbin, but studied design and architecture at the London Bartlett School of Architecture. Li Naihan has worked with renowned Chinese artists such as Ai Weiwei. Her work has been exhibited at the M + Museum, Milan Design Triennial, Venice Architecture Biennale, London Design Museum,

Sifang Art Museum and many other public and private institutions. Her work primarily explores the gap between art and design, architecture is at the root of Li Naihan’s thought process, and her practice of contemporary art inspires her to explore her subject from a bolder perspective, equivalent to the sensibilities that artists today have. Together with the lacquer painter Zhou Runda, she created a new collection of lacquered furniture. The objects are made of delicate wooden structures, the surface of which has become a platform for endless varnish processing and its unique effects.

The works of the young ceramist U Hayo, on the contrary, demonstrate a rejection of the traditional thoughtfulness of all stages of work and a clear vision of the ultimate goal in favor of a spontaneous creative process. Jean Ming from Shanxi province also works with ceramics. After completing her master’s degree at the Jingdezhen Institute of Ceramics, she opened her own ceramic studio.

Particularly noteworthy are the works of Tian Ding - the founder of the handmade carpet brand MEW. In her work, she focuses on graphic design, culture, art and fashion and seeks visual identity, seeking to integrate her own visual graphic style and language into carpets as a key visual object that retains the characteristics of traditional handicraft.

Many of the young creators on display have already created their own brands and can easily be called some of the most promising designers in China. Their creative method is characterized by a search for radically new forms by combining the principles of architecture, art and design in every piece they create. “The interest in the dialogue between art and functionality has arisen in China through the efforts of the creative design scene. The curatorial task and even, I’m not afraid of this word, the curatorial passion was to identify the true modern created in China, and not made in China, which has developed over the past 25 years, through the works of our chosen authors. These artists are a real discovery for

Russian art scene and, of course, for the sphere of subject collection design. They have already conquered their territory in the international art market and in the European-American museum space. Russian collectors and institutions have yet to get acquainted with this incredibly interesting topic. As a gallery working in the direction of collection design, we are delighted to have become the pioneers of this truly interesting contemporary cultural phenomenon for our viewer. Our task is to show what modern, progressive Chinese design of the XXI century is by the example of the best examples, while not forgetting about its 5000-year-old majestic cultural heritage, ”says curator Kristina Krasnyanskaya.

The project was carried out with the partner support of Perfect Crossovers.

During the exhibition, a number of joint events are planned with the Cosmoscow Collectors Club and TEO by Cosmoscow.

Address: Moscow, st. Petrovka, 20/1, entrance number 2 (entrance from the side of Petrovskie Linii lane), 4th floor

Gallery opening hours: Monday - Friday from 11:00 to 20:00