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The idiosyncratic interpretations of 'Home Sweet Home' on display at VitraHaus
A view of Home Sweet Home displayed at VitraHaus
Image: Courtesy of Vitra
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The idiosyncratic interpretations of 'Home Sweet Home' on display at VitraHaus

This ongoing showcase curated by Connie Hüsser brings together established and emerging contemporary designers to provide their distinctive spin on the birdhouse.

by Mrinmayee Bhoot
Published on : Jan 17, 2025

A cage-like structure crafted in ceramic, a form carved in maple that looks suspiciously like an apple and surprisingly, a birdhouse in the abstracted form of a bird; are some of the amusing, offbeat and altogether charming designs on display at VitraHaus on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany. Curated by Swiss interior stylist Connie Hüsser and her label Objects with Love, 40 contemporary designers add their individualistic spin on the classic artefact that is the birdhouse. The list of designers contributing to the colourful showcase of product designs, on display from November 20, 2024 - January 31, 2025, is in itself a veritable cross-section of some of the best-known and emerging designers within the industry. From experiments in materiality to form, the sculptural designs correspond to each designer's distinctive style and practice, offering visitors a snapshot into the broad spectrum of contemporary design, albeit on a miniature scale.

UK-based designer and glassmaker Jochen Holz presents a surreal blown glass sculpture with a form reminiscent of weaver bird nests. The design is an extension of Holz's experimentation with the fluidity of molten glass, which is central to his design practice. On the other hand, Stockholm-based glass sculptor Rasmus Nossbring's design, created from cut and polished glass, is far more rigid in its use of the material. Several designers experiment not with form—drawing on the universal shape of a birdhouse, complete with a rustic gabled roof—but in the way they express materials.

For instance, Italian artist Michela Castagnaro showcases her characteristic playful ceramics for her design; Japanese designer Akiko Mori creates a porous ceramic design as her contribution; furniture designer Ferréol Babin's design is characteristic of his rational approach to wooden furniture; emerging product designer Jenna Kaës presents a house crafted from quilted velvet and glass beads; Swedish maker David Taylor uses unconventional steel for his design; and abstracting the eaved structure of birdhouses completely with her signature approach to wooden artefacts and craftsmanship, UK-based Bethan Laura Wood showcases a colourful nesting space in the design exhibition.

While these designers effectively dwell on the versatile potential of conventional materials, the most unorthodox designs also use the most radical materials for their conception. Ghent-based Belgian artist/designer Bram Vanderbeke’s artefact, crafted from aluminium resembles a rock growing from the wall; Audrey Large’s whimsical design brings to mind an apple hanging from a branch; a galvanised metal spiral tube becomes the main form for the Netherlands-based Lex Pott; paper is employed for the almost-psychedilic structure of Clara von Zweigbergk’s design. Some designers such as Fredrik Paulsen and Pablo Francisco Figueroa on the other hand, show a much-needed restraint in their imagination, staying true to their honed design language.

What’s particularly droll about the concise display is the ways in which different contemporary designers interpret an almost mundane artefact. Rendered in an aesthetic that is entirely their own, honed through years of experimentation and affinity with particular materialities, they transform these objects from the profane into something idiosyncratic. While contemporary design wrestles with pressing issues such as sustainability in design, such displays are a reminder that design can be unserious and fanciful.

'Home Sweet Home' is on view from November 20, 2024 - January 31, 2025, at the VitraHaus on the Vitra Campus, in Germany.

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