BELGIUM: Brussels host a collection of six hundreds plastic objects created by international designers for exhibitino 'Design 2007 September'

Record ID: 231019

  • Title: BELGIUM: Brussels host a collection of six hundreds plastic objects created by international designers for exhibitino 'Design 2007 September'
  • Date: 16th September 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) PHILIPPE DECELLE, COLLECTOR OF PLASTIC DESIGNS, SAYING: ''People do recognize pieces they might have had in their home, that they may still had and perhaps they put them aside, so they are surprised to realise they do have a certain value. At the end of the day, it's just the way you look at things.''
  • Embargoed: 1st October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA42FCLDW04QPAYKCHTMFCPKYAX
  • Story Text: In addition to chocolate, beer and surrealist politics, Belgium is well known for its love for fashion and design.
    In September, the country's capital Brussels is celebrating international design with a serie of events and special exhibitions.
    For the occasion, Philippe Decelle is opening his unusual collection to the public.
    For more than forty years, Decelle has been collecting plastic objects and he is now the proud owner of six hundred pieces by some of the world's biggest designers.
    Today, one of his favourite piece is the ''Zombie chair'' designed by French designer Roger Tallon.
    ''It is anthropomorphic, let me explain, it needs to be comfortable for human beings so it was given the shape of a human body, well more or less that, and because of this anthropomorphism, it has a value both as a chair and as a sculpture. At that time, the boundaries between art and craft industry weren't precisely defined,'' Decelle says The ''Dondolo'' rocking chair by by Cesare Leonardi and Franca Stagi (Italy, 1967), the ''molar'' chairs and divans by Wendell Castle (USA, 1969) or Panasonic's radio bracelet (Japan, 1970) can all be considered anthropomorphic designs.
    The ancestor of plastic is the Bakelite, the first entirely artificial material discovered in 1907 by Belgian chemist Leo Bakeland. In 1937, Americans introduced the first modern plastic on the market thanks to the discovery of melamine, a substance that resists to heat and wears well. That same year, a team of German engineers conceived a machine that could mass produce plastic objects. Those progresses combined with the shortage of raw material after the second world war contributed to the rapid development of the use of plastic, the catalogue of the exhibition describes.
    Thanks to the Marshall plan, the US-financed plan to help rebuild allied countries in Europe after the second world war, a factory to mass produce plastic objects was built in Monza, northern Italy. Since then, Italian designers took the lead in conceiving plastic objects both useful and beautiful.
    Decelle says people associate plastic with products of good value, with a limited lifetime. Visitors are often surprised to recognize objects they may have at home.
    ''People do recognize pieces they might have had in their home, that they may still had and perhaps they put them aside, so they are surprised to realise they do have a certain value. At the end of the day, it's just the way you look at things,'' Decelle notes.
    The collection focused on the years 1960-1973, a period Decelle calls 'the first maturity of design'.
    Round shapes, joyful colours and smooth surface give a sense of optimism.
    After post-war efforts, this is a period of economic development throughout Europe and the first collections of plastic objects also had a social mission, to offer furnitures for everyone's homes at reasonable price.
    And because plastic was not considered as a noble material, great emphasis was put on design.
    ''Those times took place during the extraordinary ''Glorious Thirty'' (les Trentes Glorieuses), just after the war when everything had been destroyed. So it's not a movement born of opposition but a period of rebirth, a period of optimism, after the destruction of Europe,'' Decelle explains An entrepreneur in construction works, Decelle has become a specialist in plastic design by passion. He found the first piece of his collection in a garbage in a well-off neighbourhood of Brussels and now buy in auctions or specialised markets. He said he may have been one of the first to spot the artistic value of plastic objects but others are following and prices are going up. He is often pending pieces of his collection to temporary design exhibition in Europe.
    The energy crisis and oil shock of 1973 led to a return to more natural material. During the years 1973-1987, designs and material become more ecologic. This will be followed by the post-modernist years of 1987-2002 with minimalist design and the advent of the Swedish firm IKEA. Today, Develle says furniture design is inspired by baroque with extravagant lighting and objects.
    Is Develle worried about the possible lessening of oil reserves ? ''We hear about the scarcity of oil and prices go up but it's not that scarce, we still have enough for thirty years. And then we will discover more fields, we will look for it in places where it's harder to extract, in sands, there are still huge stocks around the world. And we may learn to use it in a better way, with less waste, but I think plastics still have a long life in front of them!'' Develle believes.
    And if you want to visit the Plasticurium, Decelle himself will lead you through his joyful world of plastic.
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