Displaying pieces by students from industrial design and fine arts programmes, ECAL’s More Rules for Modern Life exhibition plays with the flimsy distinctions between objets d’art and practical objects.
Swiss artschool ECAL (École Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne) keeps popping up in our Milan radar these past few years. Last year it made it to our list of most intriguing exhibitions in Milan with When objects Dream exhibition, which considered the future of objects by imagining what they would dream of.
This year the school has returned with a slew of exhibitions around the city, and one of them plays with the flimsy distinction between objets d’art and practical objects.
Displayed in Spazio Orso 16 until this Sunday, More Rules for Modern Life showcases side-by-side pieces by bachelor students from industrial design and fine arts programmes. The exhibition is curated by Switzerland’s curator and jack-of-all-arts John M Armleder. After they revisited some of Armleder’s works (including his famous Furniture Sculpture) the students developed the pieces for a full semester under the watchful eye of designer and professor Christophe Guberan and Stéphane Kropf, artist and Head of ECAL’s Bachelor Fine Arts programme.
The exhibits include a rocking zebra, a handless clock, a minimal painting with maximalist details, concrete marble and a menhir made from recycled plastic – all piled up in, as ECAL describes it, “a visual cacophony that is happily deliberate”.
To quote the delightful little essay It’s Only Furniture by Parker Williams that accompany the exhibition: “Somehow, whatever you do, whatever you show, it is something you might stumble on. Sometimes, you get cultural and then again it’s furniture”.
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
In this candid interview, the culinary mastermind behind Singapore’s Nouri and Appetite talks about food as an act of human connection that transcends borders and accolades, the crucial role of technology in preserving its unifying power, and finding a kindred spirit in Gaggenau’s reverence for tradition and relentless pursuit of innovation.
Within the intimate confines of compact living, where space is at a premium, efficiency is critical and dining out often trumps home cooking, Gaggenau’s 400 Series Culinary Drawer proves that limited space can, in fact, unlock unlimited culinary possibilities.
XTRA celebrates the distinctive and unexpected work of Magis in their Singapore showroom.
To honour Chef James Won’s appointment as Gaggenau’s first Malaysian Culinary Partner, we asked the gastronomic luminaire about parallels between Gaggenau’s ethos and his own practice, his multidimensional vision of Modern Malaysian – and how his early experiences of KFC’s accessible, bold flavours influenced his concept of fine dining.
We catch up with Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Director and FRONT Featured Speaker Peter Tonkin to discuss the evolution of Australian architecture, adaptive reuse, and why preserving our built environment is more critical than ever.
A spectacular new furniture release is here. With a recent launch event in Sydney, gohome is celebrating the new collection of lounges, ottomans and tables created by award-winning designer, Ben McCarthy.
The news is out that Corporate Culture has acquired the Mark Tuckey brand. We catch up with Richard Munao to understand the back story and his aspirations for this long-standing Australian design and manufacturing business.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
These early product standouts — from sculptural forms to reflective surfaces — capture just a sliver of what Milan Design Week 2025 has begun to unveil.
W Bali – Seminyak opened back in 2011, so how is the design of this luxury resort holding up in the fast-paced locale?