Crème de la crème of the Czech contemporary design introduced by a very successful exhibition Křehký, which is starting in Milano it´s tour all around the globe and most excellent Czech design producers and designers.

Glass and porcelain are as fragile as the status of contemporary Czech design and its industries throughout the world. However, Czech design once experienced a period when its status was strong, its fragility referring only to its fineness and beauty. The Křehký project maps the current landscape of Czech design through its most significant works. Glass and porcelain play a fundamental role due to Czech industrial traditions. The exhibition enables visitors to gain an expansive and emotional look at the beauty of life, but does not abandon the profundity of the history of Czech design.

The interconnection of designers and industry at joint presentations represents an after-effect from the historical experience of the First Republic. Threadlike memories of past glories are accompanied by strong concepts that have succeeded with wide public approval both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The Křehký project strives to achieve the same objective Krásná jizba aimed for one hundred years ago, i.e. to help Czech manufacturers and designers in the eyes of their clients all around the world.

160 m2 exhibition designed by Olgoj Chorchoj, excellent Czech designers and architects. Installation of Křehký by Maxim Velčovský – new extraordinary talent at the international design scene, with his 30 years old only – already a front page of ICON magazine.

“Velcovsky’s installation was heavily inspired by the fantastical imagery of ‘the chronicles of narnia’ by C.S. Lewis entering through a wardrobe into a winter wonderland.The curators of the Křehký exhibition, Jana Zielinski and Jiri Macek aimed to map the landscape of the best contemporary Czech design while demonstrating the heritage of glass and ceramics in Czech industrial tradition. Velcovsky’s installation perfectly reflected this, conveying a feeling of timeless nostalgia and imagination.”
Brad Turner at Designboom.com about Křehký exhibition at Designblok, design days in Prague in October 2007.

In addition to several outstanding designers from the past, a complete selection of Czech design‘s contemporary elite will be in attendance. Thus, one will be able to admire a panaroma of Czech design in all its diversity and beauty at the Křehký exhibition. The designers, of course, included Bořek Šípek, Olgoj Chorchoj, Jiří Pelcl, Daniel Piršč, Maxim Velčovský, Jaroslav Ježek, and Ludvika Smrčková. Apart from them, one can also find a number of other surprising names. Moreover, Jiří Pelcl designed the Cactus vase, which the flora of Czech design has lacked for a long time, especially for this exhibition.

Exhibiting companies:
Azzare /glass, porcelaine, exclusive representative of Bořek Šípek, www.arzenal.cz
BeldaFactory / jewellery company with a long tradition working with best Czech designers www.belda.cz
Koncern Design with Rückl Glass factory / famous cut glass producer, www.ruckl.cz, www.koncern.cz
Kubista a Futurista: producers of original cubist furniture and it´s replicas and of new contemporary Czech design. www.kubista.cz, www.futurista.cz
Moravské sklárny Květná a sklářská huť Klára /hand-made glass with more then 100 years of tradition working with Czech and intern.designers: Arik Levy, Jean Marie Massaud, Marco Soussa Santos, Olgoj Chorchoj etc., www.moravskesklarny.cz
mminterier /seating working with young Czech designers, www.mminterier.cz
Studio NDR /glass, lighting, young Czech company owned by designers Dajra Podboj and René Šulc, www.ndr.cz
Piršč Porcelaine / porcelaine small-lot manufacture owned by excellent artist Dan Piršč working exclusively with porcelaine, www.pirsc.cz
Qubus /china, glass, producer representing btw Maxim Velčovský, www.qubus.cz
UP závody /legendary furniture company originally lead by Jindřich Halabala, legend of international modernist design with their new collection by the best contemporary Czech designers, www.upzavody.com

Exhibition is presented by Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, with support of Czech centers and under auspices of Designblok, design days in Prague.
www.mpo.cz
www.czechcenters.cz
www.designblok.cz


Welcome at the emotional landscape of the Czech contemporary design.
16. – 21. 4. 2008, ZONA TORTONA 15, SALA HAPPENING