Fall Newsletter

This summer, Pro Materia relaunched its online platform. The new resource offers visitors and potential clients further information about the consultancy's expertise in curation, facilitation, and publishing. As an aggregator, updates pull the latest news from Pro Materia's main endeavours including Human Cities, Glass is Tomorrow, and TLmag. A directory culls all of the agency's previous and current collaborators. Mirroring Pro Materia's two-decade deep archive of previous projects, an online store is joined by Pro Materia Gallery's (Spazio Nobile) website. All relevant information of about current and past events can be found in one place.

PRO MATERIA GALLERY ONLINE STORE

An online store works to extend Spazio Nobile by Pro Materia Gallery with limited editions and unique pieces and contract market items for sale and review.

TLMAG_True Living of Art & Design

TL Magazine is entirely dedicated to capturing and contextualising the latest innovations in craft-led; material-oriented art, architecture, design, fashion, hospitality and luxury and collector culture.

Co-funded by the European Union Culture Programme since 2011, Glass is Tomorrow has brought the world of glassmakers and designers together by forging strong links between the individuals and territories involved in this age-old craft, thanks to the energy of partners and associated partners (major centres of glassmaking, production houses and educational programmes). Having received the label of excellence from the EU, it initially took place in 2011-2012 in Nuutajärvi (FI) with Iittala, in Nový Bor (CZ) with Verreum, and in Meisenthal (FR) with CIAV. From 2013 until 2015, GIT has gone from Boda (SE) with The Glass Factory on to Domaine de Boisbuchet with The Corning Museum of Glass’ Glass Lab™; ESADSE Saint-Etienne with Saint-Just Glassworks; CIAV in Meisenthal; and Nude (Şişecam) from Denizli, ending up in London at the RCA. After a first touring exhibition in 2013, this second round starts in March 2015 in Saint-Étienne’s Musée de la Mine followed by Milan’s Salone del Mobile with Nude, Stockholm’s National Museum at Kulturhuset and the RCA at Battersea during LDF.

SPAZIO NOBILE BY PRO MATERIA GALLERY

Highlighting expertise in design and the applied arts (glass, metal, wood, ceramic, etc.) as well as in photography, Spazio Nobile by Pro Materia Gallery aims to create a dialogue between diverse disciplines; a harmonious melange of contemporaneity and sense of history.

Spazio Nobile is the shared project of a couple made up of two art historians who have taken complementary paths in their own lives. With more than 20-years in the field of art and design, Lise Coirier has focussed her career on spotlighting designers who infuse matter with form and life. Her husband, Gian Giuseppe Simeone, followed a parallel journey, concentrating on the preservation of cultural and artistic heritage but also public awareness.

The gallery is located on the ‘piano nobile’ of a 1920s Brussels ‘maison de maître’; this so-called ‘piano nobile’ or ‘noble floor’ recalls patrician Italian homes and the principle reception rooms or collection room. However, Spazio Nobile is more than a “gallery” in the conventional sense. It is a platform for work and exchange, dedicated to shared know-how; an aesthetic encounter that always offers a full cultural and sensory experience. An ideal setting for living exhibitions and storytelling.

Philipp Thonet Lecture on 16 September 2016 - 18:30-21:30 at Spazio Nobile by Pro Materia Gallery during Design September

Philipp Thonet is a 5th generation descendant of Michael Thonet, and is actively involved with the company’s business since 1984. Today as sales manager of the United States of America. Since Michael Thonet established his first workshop in in 1819, the name Thonet has always stood for high-quality, innovative and elegant furniture. For the company today, the continuous process of innovation stands in the foreground alongside a focus on tradition and fine craftsmanship. Thonet GmbH has its corporate head offices and production site in Frankenberg/Eder (Germany).

Just like Thonet’s tubular steel icons, the historic bentwood classics are timeless yet contemporary: icons such as the coffeehouse chair 214 and the elegant 209 still enjoy great success today due to their timeless elegance and perfect craftsmanship. The classic collection keeps evolving, take for example the Pure Materials collection, that lends the well-known pieces the individual character like a vintage jacket. The intention is for signs of use to become visible by using materials such as natural wood, striking, grained leather. In addition, Thonet also introduces contemporary bentwood collections that expresses the renowned heritage of Thonet in contemporary form, such as in the bentwood lounge series 2000 that contains a sofa, a lounge chair and an ottoman (Christian Werner, 2015-2016).

At this year’s Salone del Mobile, Thonet introduced the minimalistic side table 1025 by Belgium designer James Van Vossel. Three tapered legs, each placed in a regular 120° in a twist that reveals itself only upon seeing it from different angles.

Since Thonet produces all of the furniture in the company-owned manufacturing facility, following the motto “Individuality is our standard”, custom-tailored solutions are part of everyday life in Frankenberg. Based on their standard solutions, Thonet is able to manufacture individual furniture, custom-tailored to the needs of their clients as regards size and shape of the room and the material and colour concept.

Lecture by Philipp Thonet

16.09, 6-9.30 pm

Pro Materia Gallery

During Design September Brussels

RSVP before 12/09/2016 – limited seats

+32 (0)2 7682510 – +31 (0)642 10 81 20P

lise@promateriagallery.com