Objects

2012
Vienna, Austria

Designed for Passionswege, Vienna Design Week,
Produced by Norbert Meier, Bürsten- und Pinselerzeugung & Thomas Petz, Petz Hornmanufaktur

‘Two manufacturers at once are involved in this Passionswege project and both work in crafts that scarcely exist anymore. The brush manufacturer Norbert Meier is one of the last to possess a master craftsman’s diploma in this trade. The young Thomas Petz on the other hand is the last Viennese producer of horn ware. He is just 26 years old and took over the factory from his grandfather; combs, jewellery, egg spoons and many other objects made of horn form part of the production programme.

The artist with the pleasure of applying her talents to both operations is the Polish-born curator, designer and scenographer Matylda Krzykowski, who now lives in Maastricht. She is an expert not only for products but for telling stories as well; she has designed not only a small collection of objects bringing together the materials of horn and bristles, but contextualises them historically: namely, the two manufacturers had already worked together generations ago to produce the designs of Carl Auböck, then as now a highly esteemed designer from the early second half of the twentieth century. A small exhibition on (disappearing) materiality, on Before and Now, shown in a charming brushmakers’ workshop.’

Text: Tina Thiel
Photos: Matylda Krzykowski

Winner Wallpaper Design Award Best Finished Objects 2013