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Sheikh Majed Al Sabah, the undisputed arbiter of high-design and innovative art recently launched the Al-Sabah Art & Design Gallery in Kuwait that aims to bring the best of design and art worlds together and encourage cultural exchange as well as inspire dialogue between local and international communities. One of the events towards this initiatives is the upcoming exhibition titled Fragiles: Porcelain, Glass & Ceramics to be held from June 13-July 11, 2009, featuring such star names as Marcel Wanders, Jaime Hayón, Jurgen Bey, Arik Levy, Hella Jongerius, Jerszy Seymour, Arne Quinze, Alessandro Mendini and Tord Boontje to name just a few.

From left: Etagere Fioole Gold by Marcel Wanders; Sitting Clown Lamp by Jaime Hayón

“We’re pleased to host the Fragiles exhibition and look forward to introducing this cutting-edge presentation to the Middle East for the first time,” says Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah who invited Gestalten– the well-known German publisher of art and design books as well as a renowned creative agency– to curate and produce the exhibition. After successfully touring the US and Europe making stops at Design Miami 2007 and Quinze & Milan’s Gallery 113 in Belgium in 2008, Fragiles will travel to the Al-Sabah Art & Design Gallery this month.

Above: Night of Monsters by Takashi Hinoda; below: Missoni Patchwork Vases by Stephen Burks

Not long ago, porcelain, glass and ceramics were almost exclusively used to make ostentatious objects best suited for display in grandmother’s cabinet. Now these classic materials are experiencing a renaissance. Today, they are increasingly being utilised in playful ways by a new wave of designers and artists, inspired by Modernism’s clear forms as well as an ironic depiction of figures, kitsch and the romantic. Armed with these influences and an expanded repertoire of forms made possible by technological developments such as rapid prototyping, these designers and artists are manifesting their creative visions in unconventional objects made of these fragile materials.

Broken Family by Jurgen Bey; Tea pot by Lola Goldstein

Fragiles is a sales exhibition, curated and produced by Gestalten, that presents over two hundred objects that expand and challenge our notion of these classical materials and traditions. From experimental and avant-garde to evocative retro-inspired reinterpretations, these cutting-edge examples indicate how visual culture and high tech production processes are influencing and reshaping this delicate territory in pioneering ways.

For the Fragiles show, Gestalten commissioned Arne Quinze, the trail-blazing, self-made designer, and Creative Director of Quinze & Milan to create a series of unique limited-edition glass pieces in conjunction with traditional German artisans from the glass manufacturer Theresienthal. Fluid is a unique hybrid of art and design sensibilities imbued with Quinze’s sheer brilliance.

Coffee set by Ineke Hans; Little Joseph by Maxim Velcovsky

The inspiring showcase also includes objects in all shapes, sizes and editions both crafted by hand and created using industrial applications. Featured are limited-edition artistic creations by Jurgen Bey’s Broken Family crockery set; playful super-sized vases by Jaime Hayón for Bisazza and unique lamps and vases for Bosa; fantastically hand painted One Minute Delftware by Marcel Wanders; Missoni Patchwork vases by Stephen Burks; Jerszy Seymour’s raunchy Murano glassware Ken Kuts; Demakersvan’s Lucky Charms life-size ceramic centrepiece and cupboard jewellery, as well as hand-blown glass vases by Esque. The exhibition also presents striking creations by artists working in the contemporary art scene such as Hans van Bentem, Charles Krafft and Wendy Walgate. In addition to these projects by renowned creatives, Fragiles also contains an exciting selection of recent cutting-edge work by emerging talents such as Wieki Somers and Maxim Velkovsky to name but a few.

Black Honey– Curved by Arik Levy; One Minute Delft blue vase by Marcel Wanders

Fragiles at the Al-Sabah Art & Design Gallery has been designed to occupy the new gallery space and introduces several new works by artists not shown in the previous exhibitions. The spectrum and quality of these innovative projects shows a current generation of designers and artists just how relevant and challenging working with these traditional materials can be.

Beads & Pieces by Hella Jongerius

Designers and artists include Arne Quinze, Jaime Hayón, Marcel Wanders, Jerszy Seymour, Hella Jongerius, Jurgen Bey, Hans Van Bentem, Stephen Burks, Arik Levy, Charles Krafft, Emma Woffenden & Tord Boontje, Alessandro Mendini, Commonwealth & Joshua Davis, Esque, Ineke Hans, Malin Lundmark, Maxim Velcovsky, George J. Sowden, Wendy Walgate, Christie Wright | Elastichome, Wieki Somers, Lola Goldstein, Cynthia Hathaway, Demakersvan, David Amar, Emily Forgot, Frida, Andersson & James Steiner, Miwa Koizumi, Bertjan Pot, Hana Vitkova, Scott Rench, Laura Mckibbon | Cul De Sac, Sebastian Menschhorn, Lisa Goldberg, Megan Bogonovich, Katie Parker, Mimi Joung, tjep, CJ O’Neill, Doodle, Nicolas Bovesse, Robert Dawson, Sarah Cihat, Milan Pekar, Guillaume Delvigne & Ionna Vautrin, Emiko Oki, Thomas Paul, Jason Miller, Tamsin van Essen, to22, o-d-a, KleinReid, Dan Yeffet, Dror Benshetrit, Finding Cheska, Takashi Hinoda, Jennifer McCurdy, Justin Parker, One & Co.

The exhibition runs at Al-Sabah Art and Design Gallery, Kuwait from June 13-11 July, 2009. For more information, email: info @ alsabahcollection dot com