Volumnia showcases Michele De Lucchi's works across art, design and architecture

"My greatest inspirations come from the strangest and most unexpected combinations of different cultural, technical, scientific and artistic points of view,” shares Italian designer Michele De Lucchi. Since the 1970s, De Lucchi has been a leading figure in radical design and architecture. In addition to realising architectural projects in Italy and other countries, he creates product designs for renowned businesses and has designed industrial buildings and cultural hubs. He has been crafting wooden objects since 2004 to capture the essence of architectural form and serve as an inspiration for projects he works on professionally.

Dedicated to De Lucchi’s most personal works, from April 6 to June 29, 2024, Volumnia, the exhibition space dedicated to art and design inside the former church of Sant’Agostino in the heart of Piacenza, presents the exhibition Michele De Lucchi. With the hand and the mind | Forty years of experimentation between art, design and architecture curated by Paola Nicolin.

The exhibition examines De Lucchi’s diverse output, which includes sculptural art, artwork, and experimental design pieces from ‘Produzione Privata’ and architectural models. ‘Production Privata’ is a centre for research on various naturally derived materials, including wood, stone, and glass. These materials are subject to a multitude of procedures for transformation, processing, and interpretation. These processes begin with the craftsmanship of the human hand and are assisted by industrial and manual techniques in a continuous state of reciprocal impact and symbiosis. With projects that push back the frontiers of the previously conceived and the already built, De Lucchi has been working across architecture, interior and product design, graphics, and installations for more than 40 years. However, his primary source of inspiration in this field of work comes from a more personal, 'hands-on' approach, in which the architect is allowed to develop new forms without regard to functional or practical limitations by working manually in close touch with the matter. The product designer believes that thinking can directly connect to the materiality of the real world when he works with his hands. Thus, by this manual procedure, the concept becomes a signifier.

The exhibition display includes furniture design and lamp designs made by craftsmen, the result of work on the border between art and design. The objects and artworks on display are primarily made from wood. These unique works are tangible evidence of the process that indissolubly links the search for new forms and architectural concepts to professional projects. The research for the exhibition began in 2003 leading to the development of over 500 sculptures. Pencil sketches, tempera drawings, and engravings round out the exhibition, providing a glimpse of De Lucchi's various methods to convey ideas, create theories, and devise novel ideas.