The title of the exhibition is a replica of the famous quote of Le Corbusier - “Machines for living in”. His vision about home embodies the rationalism of industrial society which is mainly our past. The post-industrial future; on the contrary, brings back the emotional element in architecture and design; of course, based on the technological achievements of the industrialism. Home and furnishing in this case can not be just machinery, they are objects with their individuality and contextuality, specific for every inhabitant and user. In this respect we think, with a certain sense of humor, that “puzzles” is a more adequate definition. Such structures are rational and constructivist on one hand and mystical on the other, combining the rational and emotional in one. They are also personal; for, the users must assemble them by themselves, being part of the creation process.
A good many brainteasers are put down as puzzles, starting with the purely abstract (mathematical, logical) and ending with the entirely material and spatial. What they all share is the hidden connection — sometimes outright mystical — between the pieces one starts with and the final solution. Mechanical puzzles, in which we see a huge utility potential, are an attempt at overcoming the limitations of the three-dimensional world. At first they seem impossible and difficult but later turn out to be founded on a simple principle and succumb to an astonishingly rapid assembling process. It is this type of spatial “knots” that prove inspirational for the people whose professions require practicality and realism — designers, architects, woodworkers. Unlike the task of the inventor of classical puzzles, theirs is perhaps the opposite: making the joint as simple and easy as possible without being obvious, preserving a portion of the mystery of orthodox puzzles. It is probably this mysteriousness that conveys life and warmth to these geometrical structures, making them suitable for the space of our home. The “puzzles for living” in this exhibition are two types: the put-together puzzles and the interlocking ones. The former type requires you to locate the correct place of each piece; the latter wants you to figure out the assembly method. In both, each piece matters — constructively, functionally and aesthetically.
The exhibition took place in
Credo Bonum Gallery in Sofia from 12.12.2011 to 15.01.2012. It was the first product design exhibition in this art space; as a result, the way of presentation was meant to be not just the same as the one in a regular furniture showroom. The two types of puzzle principles were presented differently in the form of installation. In both cases the designs were exposed in their assembled and disassembled condition. The disassembled elements of the put-together chairs of
Konstantin Achkov, where the type of joinery is relatively obvious, unlike the places of the parts, were put in a completely new context. They were arranged in a way representing totems and pagan masks making the relation between the initial parts and the final product even more mysterious. The initial elements of the “coordinate motion” and interlocking furniture of Petar Zaharinov were “flying” in the air in a configuration just ready for assembling and giving some hint and emphasizing the assembly principle and process.
The two different approaches also corresponded to the different professions of the authors. Petar Zaharinov is an architect,
Konstantin Achkov is a sculptor.
Konstantin Achkov took part in the exhibition with several chairs Android-system, Fangs, Frame, Ko-Ko, Stack.
Petar Zaharinov presented coffee table
1x3, chair
VIC and stool/table
VST.
Photography: Tihomir Rachev, Martin Filkov
