CHAIRS : ICONS OF MODERN DESIGN –
THE ALEXANDER VON VEGESACK COLLECTION

Boisbuchet is pleased to announce its latest exhibition, “Chairs: Icons of Modern Design. The Alexander von Vegesack Collection”, presented as part of the Madrid Design Festival 2024.

The exhibition contains over seventy pieces from the extraordinary collection of Boisbuchet’s founder. The showcased designs by Michael Thonet, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Charlotte Perriand, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, Mies van der Rohe, Charles and Ray Eames, Gaetano Pesce, Frank Gehry, and many others, represent some of the most significant figures of modern design and architecture. The prestigious selection is accompanied by over eighty catalogues, books, and other original documents. In addition, designs by Alvar and Aino Aalto of the same collection will be shown in a satellite exhibition at Espacio Arquia.

As silent witnesses to human development, chairs were always of central interest to Alexander von Vegesack, whether because of their construction and functionality, as status symbols or as a means of creative expression. They are intimately connected to people and their physical needs and their functions are much more complex than they first appear. Moreover, the development of these artifacts directly reflects each era’s material innovations as well as changes in industry, social norms, taste or the relationship between man and the environment. The exhibition explores the metamorphosis of these everyday objects from their unassuming, traditional beginnings to iconic pieces that reflect the cultural, social, and technological changes of our world. With chairs that embody the essence of their eras, the exhibition ultimately pays tribute to human ingenuity.

Alexander von Vegesack at Domaine de Boisbuchet, 2021. Photo: Adam Štěch

Alexander von Vegesack has been a lifelong collector, exhibition organiser, and pioneer in mediating design. In 1989, he conceived and co-founded the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, which over twenty years he turned into a globally acknowledged institution. At the same time, he created the Domaine de Boisbuchet, where today’s most notable designers and architects lead hands-on workshops. Over the years, his questions about the design of our environment has shaped design itself as a discipline, and his understanding is nowhere more evident than in the collection of objects and documents that he himself amassed over the course of his life.

 Fernán Gómez. Centro Cultural de la Villa — Madrid
Curated and designed by Guillermo Gil Fernández and Pablo Sevilla
Curatorial Assistant: Bernardo Sandoval
Opening 08/02/2024

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With the support of