From November 28th until December 11th the winners of Time to Design 2014, the designduo Chudy and Grase, will exhibit at Normann Copenhagen’s Flagship Store.
The name Chudy and Grase is worth noticing. The young design duo, consisting of Nils Chudy from Berlin and Jasmina Grase from Riga, won the design award Time to Design in late summer and has since been rewarded no less than seven design awards around Europe. From November
28th until December 11th they will exhibit at the Normann Copenhagen Flagship Store at Østerbro, Copenhagen.
Besides presenting the winning project ‘Viewpoint’ the exhibition will give an insight into the experimental process that Chudy and Grase have gone through during their three month residency at the Danish Art Workshops. The residency is part of the Time to Design award and
provides the winner with the opportunity to refine the winning design concept. However, Chudy and Grase were already so far in the process with ‘Viewpoint’ that they also found the time to experiment with lighting to create the foundation for an innovative lamp collection.
A reinvention of the lamp as an object During their residency Chudy and Grase have investigated alternative materials to rethink the lamp as an object. Instead of designing a shade for the light source they designed the light source itself.
The lamp collection ’Strike’ is made with optical fibres capable of directing light and the result is a series of minimalistic light sculptures that offer a new and different way of experiencing light.
Visitors can test the alternative materials in the exhibition’s ‘Light Lab’, allowing them to understand and experience their properties.
Chudy and Grase say:
“We truly believe that design is not just the end result that is available in a shop but instead it includes a lot more. We want to show what inspired us and allow the visitors to take part in the exploration process. The ‘Light Lab’ section gives the viewer the opportunity to try out these
new materials within lighting and to see the different results that can be achieved.”
A play with vision
The design duo’s winning project ‘Viewpoint’ is a sliding mirror mounted in front of a light panel with a gradient from dark to light. The viewer can slide the mirror back and forth to be in complete control of the reflection. When positioned on the dark side ‘Viewpoint’ functions as
a traditional mirror, but as one slides it towards the light side of the panel, the mirror becomes almost transparent and the reflection vanishes.
A stepping stone to a career in design
The Time to Design Award is meant to help young talents realise their ideas and create a career.
To Jasmina Grase and Nils Chudy it has meant that their dreams have come true: “Winning Time to Design is the best thing that has happened so far. We dreamed about starting our design studio in Copenhagen, but did not expect this to come true. Once we got the phone
call everything suddenly fell in place. The Time to Design award enabled us to move to Copenhagen to start our design studio and get introduced to the vivid Danish design scene.”