The route through the exhibition takes the visitor into various curved and attractively shaped pavilions, evocative of Valencian architectural imagery
Through an immersive, 100% digital exhibition, the public can explore the distinctive features of the future of Mediterranean design, approached through five themes that define the future of contemporary industry and craftsmanship
‘Valencia Pavilion’ was born in times of pandemic and combines its face-to-face version with a digital version accessible to all the projects that make up this discursive imaginary
Craftsmanship and innovation, art and design, avant-garde and tradition, economy and sustainability… «Valencia Pavilion. The Future is Design », the installation with which València World Capital of Design 2022 has landed in Madrid, as the guest city of the Madrid Design Festival. Designed by MUT Design and curated by Estudio Savage, the exhibition «Valencia Pavilion. The Future is Design »presents five different areas that go through the circular economy, contemporary industry and crafts, design and art, technology or the transformative economy to highlight the success stories that are changing the ways of doing in the Valencian Community. An exhibition organized in collaboration with the Department of Sustainable Economy, productive sectors, commerce and work through IVACE Internacional and the Valencia City Council.
From February 9 to March 14, the Sala de Capillas del Fernán Gómez (Cultural Center of the Villa) presents about 50 projects that will demonstrate the value of Valencian design and its ability to use creativity and intelligence to transform the world. A design that draws a bridge between society and the environment and is a factor of change in contemporary industry and crafts, based on the stories of success stories of companies and professionals who have made design a way of understanding their culture of draft. Based on five categories that will mark the future of the economy, these success stories are just the spearhead of an industry and a craft that have been facing social changes from the point of view of design for years.
“This exhibition is a small sample of what we will be able to see in Valencia from 2022. Some themes, which, like the program, are transversal and touch areas as varied as ecology, economy, art, culture, diversity or the inclution. We wanted to bring to Madrid a different selection of projects that are leaders in a silent transformation of society and that show how, from design, the ways of understanding the world and dealing with it can be changed. Born in a pandemic, we have presented pavilions that speak of Valencian tradition, crafts, architecture, nature and life, and which host projections full of reasons to believe in a better society ”, explained Xavi Calvo, director of València World Design Capital 2022.
“It is a very ambitious installation, not only for coming to Madrid, but also because of the way in which it tells why Valencia is the World Capital of Design 2022. The installation is undeniably emphatic, with a very broad overview of design and creation in the Valencian Community, and a wonderful way to discover the reasons why València has been selected as the World Capital of Design in 2022. This installation shows that the artisan tradition is in the DNA of your society, and its progress and evolution is the sample of this exhibition, where large companies and institutions support and develop design. This is not by chance that it only happens in Valencia, it is rooted in the culture and tradition of a society that has known how to see design as an ally. And it is essential to make it known in the rest of Spain ”, explained Álvaro Matías, director of Madrid Design Festival.
The Exhibition Design
The search for the roots of the Valencian imaginary has led MUT Design to create a set of modular pavilions with curved and suggestive shapes, a common sign of the identity of its projects. Its path, with a unique personality, will be transformed so that the space is driven by the design itself. "With this set of modular elements, we wanted to encourage each sample to have its own character and different from the previous one," says Alberto Sánchez, founder and creative director of the Valencian studio.
Natural wood becomes a constant throughout the exhibition, both in the structure of the different pavilions and in their cladding. Small pieces act as skin and scales, generating a framework of organic materiality that contrasts with the audiovisual exhibition of the projects selected for the exhibition.
In short, a set of various wooden pavilions is thus erected, reaching four meters in height, and which have been built completely by hand at the hands of the Fallas artist Manolo García.
«Valencia Pavilion. The Future is Design »is the first stop of a traveling exhibition that will visit the main fairs in the world sector and that is not watertight, but will always remain open to include many other projects that, from the design point of view, promote a change in the way of think, produce, communicate and act from the five themes included in the sample.
Selection of Projects Present at the Exhibition
Where normally physical objects and designs would have been found, on this occasion we find projections, screens specially conceived to provide examples of innovation and pure avant-garde. Each of the wooden pavilions present in the space hosts audiovisual pieces that explore the five themes curated by Estudio Savage: the circular economy, contemporary industry and crafts, the transformative economy, art and design, and technology.
In the sample it will be possible to find leading firms in product design with Valencian DNA such as Actiu, Andreu World, Capdell, Expormim, GAN Rugs, Lladró, LZF Lamps, Point, Porcelanosa, Punt or Vondom.
Creative figures with wide national and international recognition such as Masquespacio, Jaime Hayón, Inma Bermúdez, Nacho Carbonell, Juan Vidal, Anna Talens, Pepe Gimeno and Héctor Serrano.
Also to creators and creators of the stature of the urban artist ESCIF, the visual artist Felipe Pantone, the illustrator Africa Pitarch, Rocío Gallardo and Jorge Ros (responsible for the jewelry firm Simuero), the illustrator Diego Mir, the artist Ovidi Benet, the ceramist Ana Illueca, as well as the blown glass firm Sorribes.
Additionally, through the exhibition the public will be able to discover more experimental projects such as ADBioplastics (dedicated to the creation of biodegradable packaging); Decafé, Xufa Proceso or Naifactory (all focused on the reuse of organic materials such as coffee, tigernut from horchata and the pit of olives -respectively- for the generation of new products).
Among the projects focused on promoting a more conscious society, there are global companies such as Closca, the firm Jeanología (responsible for the manufacture of jeans ensuring zero waste and emissions) and the social design initiative Free Design Bank (with which to promote the economy of developing communities thanks to local product design); Néctar Estudio and its app designed to fight bullying in schools, the textile firm Equipo DRT (present in the exhibition with a collection of fabrics upcycled), the Azalea project of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (focused on formulating the forms of a totally sustainable and contemporary Valencian barrack), or Casas InHAUS (the company dedicated to the manufacture of optimized housing in construction and design).
For its part, the technological avant-garde will be present with the work of Jorge Herrera Studio for Flos, the construction of self-ventilated facades thanks to the use of graphene (by the Graphenglass brand), the Alegre Design studio with the Eyesynth glasses for the blind (which convert space into vibrations with which to identify depth and locate nearby objects); the ceramic brand Museum Surfaces, and the fashion brand Sepiia (with sustainable garments that do not stain, wrinkle or odor).
In short, a compilation of the success stories that begin to write the nearest future of design and creativity.
The commissioners of Estudio Savage will incorporate new projects as the calendar advances, with the aim of highlighting the connection with the present of Mediterranean design and rewarding research and avant-garde in this field.
Valencia World Capital of Design 2022
The city of Valencia will be the World Design Capital in 2022, after the biannual designation carried out by the renowned World Design Organization institution. The project, promoted by the Associació València Capital del Disseny, has been promoted since its inception by the City Council of València, the Generalitat Valenciana, IVACE, Visit València, Feria Valencia and La Marina de València. In addition to having as promoter entities the Association of Designers of the Valencian Community (ADCV) and the College of Interior Designers of the Valencian Community (CDICV).
It is an initiative that has gone beyond the local to become a national project with the support of three ministries: the Ministry of Culture and Sports; the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism; and the Ministry of Science and Innovation, in addition to many other institutions. Likewise, it has received the support of collaborating companies such as Actiu, Andreu World, Padima, Point, Tau Cerámica, Zumex, Grupo Torrecid, La Imprenta, Vondom, the Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia, Escato, Punt and Veles e Vents, as well as friendly institutions such as ComunitAD, READ, Art en Blanc, Dimova, the Official College of Advertising of the Valencian Community and the Territorial College of Architects of Valencia.
About MUT Design
MUT is a design studio founded in 2010 by Alberto Sánchez and Eduardo Villalón. Formed by a multidisciplinary team, its inspiration comes from natural and apparently prosaic objects that make up the puzzle of our day to day, always faithful to the principles of emotional design. One of the hallmarks that best defines them is experimentation. Thanks to its independent personality, MUT has become a design icon. Its products collect international awards, featured on the pages of the most relevant specialized magazines around the world, and are currently part of the lists of the most prominent studies of its generation.
Guests of honor at the IMM Cologne international fair in 2020, to create the prestigious Das Haus project. MUT collaborates with international companies such as Pulpo, Sancal, GAN, Diabla, Preciosa, Expormim, Gandia Blasco, Coordone, by Interiors, Plust Collection, Antonio Lupi, Missana, Archiproducts, Nunna, Harmony and immcologne, among other clients.
About Estudio Savage
Estudio Savage talks about the wildest nature, returning to the origins and looking to the past to face the future, the curiosity to discover new things and the passion to solve uncertainties in a sustainable way. "There is another way of doing things." Estudio Savage, founded by Adrián Salvador and Lucas Zaragosí, is a creative team that offers its creative direction, design, branding and communication services for brands and companies since 2010 in Valencia. Also designing and producing in collaboration with local artisans and offering limited editions of clothing, accessories and objects. Their small production allows them to be intimately involved at all levels of the creation process. Aware of their responsibility to preserve the centuries-old tradition of Spanish crafts from a contemporary perspective, each product is designed and handmade in Spain. “We believe in beauty. Without exception".
