Melbourne Design Week 2025
Replica Autoprogettazione
50 Years ago Enzo Mari presented ‘Autoprogettazione’, a series of furniture pieces to be assembled by the user using rough sawn timber, a hammer & nails in a process that was designed to help the user to better view mass produced objects with a critical eye. In present day, people are more detached than ever from the design and production of the spaces and objects that surround them.
As buildings have become more complex, the architecture that is so integral to our everyday lives has become both more reliant on standardised systems and more opaque than ever before. Complexities, each written in their own unique language, are concealed behind a homogonous veneer of surface.
In contrast to the romanticised vision of the modernists exploring materials in new ways and pushing manufacturing techniques to their limits; we twist, fold and tear standard details into a collage of meaning.
Alongside this shift to standardised methodologies in architecture, we have seen the rise of replica furniture, the factory farmed modernist icons at a low, low price. With a central focus on replicating an image, quality and craft are undercut in a race to the bottom.
This permeating attitude of irreverence towards intellectual property generates an environment in which original design is either drowned or absorbed by the churning waters.
At the intersection of all this, we find an opportunity for celebration. We will drag these systems into the light and we will make them dance.
The Exhibition
The Chairs
Originally designed by Eileen Gray 1926
Materials: Chrome-plated tubular steel base, upholstered seat, back and armrests covered in fabric or leather.
Dimensions: 900 W x 780 D x 730 H mm
Designed and constructed by Complete Thought Studio 2024
Materials: Base formed of galvanised steel channel and strut, steel plenum seat base, semi-rigid aluminium ducting armrests
Material Sponsors: EzyStrut (Channel/Strut)
Collaborators: iDuct Sheetmetal (Plenum)
//air//
Originally designed by Marcel Breuer 1925-26
Materials: Chrome-plated tubular steel, waxed cotton fabric (Eisengarn) / black leather straps
Dimensions: 900 W x 790 D x 720 H mm
Designed and constructed by Complete Thought Studio 2024
Materials: PVC Pipe, Brass connectors and Waterproof Membrane.
Material Sponsors: Holman (Pipe), Wolfin (Membrane)
//water//
petit modele
Originally designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret & Charlotte Perriand, exhibited 1929
Materials: Chrome-plated tubular steel, leather upholstery,
Dimensions: 700 W x 760 D x 670 H mm
Designed and constructed by Complete Thought Studio 2024
Materials: Scaffolding, Woven polypropylene
Material Sponsors: Layher (Scaffolding)
//earth//
Originally designed by Gerrit Rietveld 1930-1934
Materials: Elm Timber
Dimensions: 370 W x 480 D x 740 H mm
Designed and constructed by Complete Thought Studio 2024
Materials: Galvanised steel cable tray, channel and strut, 2.5mm orange 2 core and earth electrical cables,
Material Sponsors: EzyStrut (Cable tray, Channel/Strut)
//fire//