As you walk into the spaces dedicated to the exhibition "Atelier Mendini. Le Architetture" (Atelier Mendini. The Architectures”; until 6th May) at Milan's La Triennale, the first instinct is looking around to spot other visitors.
You know indeed that, in case nobody was around, you would yield to the temptation of starting to play with the colourful wooden constructions on display and dream about miniature adventures.
The most visionary minds would even push things further and wonder if, once disassambled, cut into smaller pieces and reassembled, the geometrical forms in front of them could be reinvented as avant-garde architectural pieces of jewellery.
These reactions are somehow perfectly understandable as the architectures created by brothers Alessandro and Francesco Mendini quite often look like toys, colourful pieces capable of putting a smile on people's faces or fill them with wonder.
La Triennale is currently celebrating the brothers via the "Atelier Mendini" exhibition that coincides with Milan Design Week. Yet the event is not just a way to pay homage to the brothers but the the entire team behind their atelier and to their historical partner, Abet Laminati.
The Mendini brothers have indeed been working with the iconic Bra-based company for 50 years, since Alessandro was part of the Alchimia group.
The collaboration focused on interior design pieces and architectural projects as well: decade after decade Abet turned into reality the Mendini brothers' visions and the principles explained in the 1984 Alchimia Manifesto.
Architectures rules supreme in the exhibition at La Triennale: 26 wooden models are on display on tables covered in Abet Laminati surfaces, accompanied by drawings, photographs and videos.
Among the most famous architectures there is a model showing the restyling of the Groninger Museum: Atelier Mendini came up with the concept and the project, but Michele De Lucchi, Philippe Starck, Coop Himmelb(l)au and artist Frank Stella contributed to the work.
The Mendini brothers' glossary informs the architectural language of the museum with its golden tower and patterns evoking the iconic pointillist "Proust" chair.
The starting point for all these architectures is very simple: the brothers always move from the immediate needs that the project they are working on should fulfil, and combine them with a precise geometrical and mathematical vocabulary. Then, as soon as they can, they put an arty spin on the project, letting their imagination run wild, but combining equal doses of function and imagination.
Every design or architecture is a complex adventure but the brothers are not scared to embark on such a journey as they are helped by all the members of their team working together in the Atelier Mendini, located in via Sannio, in the southern part of Milan.
There are quite a few examples of the Mendinis' architectures on display, among them there's also the model for the Bruno Bianchi Swimming Centre in Trieste, the Milan Triennale foreign branch in Incheon, South Korea, and the iconic Puppet Theatre in the Gardens of Milan's Triennale. All of them are characterised by bright colours that contribute to introduce a great degree of dynamism to the structures.
Alessandro Mendini has always denied hierarchical orders and believed there are no distinctions and boundaries between different disciplines such as visual and performing arts, architecture and science.
This point is reflected in the models, drawings and miniatures on display at La Triennale, if you didn't know they were representations of actual buildings, you could indeed easily take them for works of art, illustrations of fantastic worlds and colourful arty sketches.
"Atelier Mendini" is not a retrospective but a chapter in a story that is still being written and that will hopefully inspire younger generations of visitors. As for Abet Laminati, maybe the time has come for them to branch out into other disciplines and do a caspule collection of garments or accessories such as bags or jewellery inspired by their most famous laminated surfaces like the new one designed for this exhibition by the Mendini Atelier (the Op Art-evoking "Merletto", lace). Somehow you know that it would be a hit.
Image credits for this post
1 - 5, 8 and 10 "Atelier Mendini. The Architectures", La Triennale, Milan, Italy, ph. Alessandro Arcidiacono.
6 and 7 Groninger Museum. Groningen, The Netherlands, 1989-1994
Alessandro Mendini, Francesco Mendini with Alchimia - Alessandro Guerriero, Giorgio Gregori, Bruno Gregory and with Alex Mocika, Gerda Vossaert, Pietro Gaeta for the interiors. Invited architects: Michele De Lucchi with G. Koster, F. Laviani (interior of the pavilion of Archaeology and Regional History), Philippe Starck with A. Geertjes (interior of the pavilion of Decorative Arts), Frank Stella (unbuilt design for the pavilion of the Arts 1500-1950), Coop -Himmelb(l)au (pavilion of the Arts 1500-1950); lighting design, Piero Castiglioni; colour design, Peter Struychen; construction director, Team 4; structural engineering, Otto Wassenaar - Ingenieursbureau Wassenaar, Haarlem.
9. Triennale di Milano. Incheon, South Korea, 2009. Alessandro Mendini, Francesco Mendini with Seok Chul Kim - Archiban and with Andrea Balzari, Young Hee Cha, Bruno Gregory, Giovanna Molteni, Emanuela Morra. Triennale di Milano headquarters, currently in use as offices and headquarters of a Korean television broadcaster. Abet Laminati.
11. Teatro dei Burattini. Giardino della Triennale, Milan, Italy, 2015. Alessandro Mendini, Francesco Mendini with Alex Mocika, Giovanna Molteni. Open-air puppet theatre for children in the Triennale gardens. Abet Laminati.
12 - 13. Alessandro and Francesco Mendini in their atelier.
14. Alessandro and Francesco Mendini, ph. Andrés Otero.
15. Merletto (Lace), 2018. Alessandro Mendini, Francesco Mendini with Giovanna Molteni. HPL laminate, digital print. Abet Laminati.
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