The Berlin exhibition features Czech designer Jiří Pelcl

Berlin - Furniture, home accessories, porcelain tableware, as well as designs for extensive projects for a technical park in Ostrava by leading Czech designer Jiří Pelcl (*1950) are presented at an exhibition at the Czech Center in Berlin. This is the designer's first solo exhibition in the German capital in several decades.

"Pelcl last exhibited in Germany in December 1989 in a small gallery near the Berlin Wall. This exhibition is actually his return to Berlin," says the center's director Tomáš Sacher about the exhibition titled From Idea to Design, which is on display until February 9.

"It’s not a classic retrospective, but rather showcases different ways of his work, different forms of creativity," noted Sacher by a pink vase that Pelcl fired in a hollowed tree stump. Despite the use of essentially old techniques, according to Sacher, the result is a luxury product.

It is precisely the contrast between luxury and the ordinary that the creators of the exhibition emphasize, placing on one side of the room tableware designed for a prestigious Italian company and on the other a living room set made of ordinary materials like cork or cardboard. "He somewhat mocks this and makes copies of famous luxury pieces of furniture that cost enormous amounts of money, using materials that are definitely not luxurious," describes Sacher about the unusual living room equipment.

The unusual imagination of the Czech designer is also evidenced by a painting of former Czechoslovak President Gustáv Husák, carelessly leaning against the wall and wrapped in protective foil. It was not originally supposed to be part of the exhibition at all, but when Pelcl saw it at the Czech Center, he simply added it to the display.

The approach of the former rector of the Academy of Art, Architecture, and Design in Prague is also shown in quotes that accompany the exhibition. "Designing things is exciting. It's about finding optimal shapes, materials, and technologies in relation to function. It is a constant observation of ordinary human activities, handling objects in various environments and under different circumstances," it says in one of them. "It is an exploration of the degree of attraction an object has for a person and its communication with them. Emotions that objects evoke play a key role in this. It's a contemplation of the spirit of things."

In addition to traditional design products, the exhibition also presents the World of Technology project in Ostrava, in which Pelcl participated by designing the extensive objects Tree of Life and Universe, which are among the most visible components of the local technical park.

Jiří Pelcl has been active for years both in the field of applied design for industrial production and in design theory. In addition to his design work, he has realized dozens of interiors. He has received many awards for his work, including the Czech Grand Design award in 2006 and the German awards Form and Design Plus a year later.