A brilliant, sparkling Italian young woman and 8 big names in the international architecture and design scene.
8 carpets, unique pieces, the Golden Ratio, an exhibition and an auction.
It’s the ARTinD project instigated and curated by Oliva Sartogo, in partnership with the London auction house Phillips.
The young woman, Oliva Sartogo, born in 1992, is an art curator and advisor (daughter of Italian architects Piero and Nathalie Sartogo), who moved from Rome to London to nurture and spark international art design and architecture projects.
The architects? From the four corners of the globe they are none other than: Ben van Berkel, Peter Eisenman, Norman Foster, Sou Fujimoto, Thom Mayne, Alessandro Mendini, Piero and Nathalie Sartogo named before, and Peter Zumthor.
Passionate energy, and a little but powerful idea: have each of them design a unique edition carpet, a piece of art.
Oliva summoned the 8 architects to her - and gave them a theme to interpret: the Golden Ratio, that is the mathematical proportion of 1:1.61 which for centuries has regulated and defined the criteria for harmony in art and architecture.
This is the project ARTinD, which stands for “Art in Design”, to suggest and promote the dialogue between the two. Here are the 8 carpets the architects designed, each of them in unique edition, hand-knotted in silk in Iran. And, then, last but not least, there will be an exhibition and an auction that Phillips is going to dedicate to them in London from April 19 to April 29.
“I have always dreamed to link my two great passions: art and architecture. This project is interpreting this idea: inviting eight architects to work around the theme of the Golden Ratio, expressed through a silk carpet. Since I first met with Domenico Raimondo, Head of Design Europe at Phillips, to explain him my project, he has provided incredible support and enthusiasm for my ideas. Now, the eight first carpets are ready to be auctioned”, says Oliva Sartogo.
"I chose the Golden Ratio – she continues – because it’s a theme that can be interpreted both in design and proportion. It wasn’t a limit, but an input. I asked them: how would you design a carpet? What does the Golden Ratio mean to you?”
Norman Foster, for instance, deconstructed the ratio to rebuild it as a spiral. Ben van Berkel started with a map of his hometown Amsterdam. Peter Zumthor took the Golden Ratio to recreate in scale a building he loves and designed in Los Angeles. And the pictorial colors and geometrical forms of Alessandro Mendini, the relationship between space and void, white and black explored by Sou Fujimoto…
“People ask me: why do you do carpets when you have millions of projects elsewhere? The truth is I enjoy making carpets. The main inspiration for my carpet is based on one of my ideas of painting. I paint a lot, without an architectural goal - just as an experiment of form. My design for the carpet is the combination of a painting and a map. The Golden Ratio can be also found in the city map of Amsterdam, where our headquarters are located. The canals divide the city into smaller districts, similar to the spiral of the ratio. Carpets can bring things together. They can harmonize the furniture in a room, bring people together in front of a fireplace. Carpets can be sensual, functional and also formal. People often believe you can complete a room with a carpet. I believe rooms start with a good carpet. I particularly like the idea that it is round and large and I hope that you can place your furniture on it and make it part of the room”, says Ben van Berkel, founder of UNStudio.
“A carpet can create space. Even if it is decoration, the way you place it in a space creates a focal point. Only a carpet can do this”, states Architect Piero Sartogo.
“Before I decided to settle in Rome I was always traveling. In the nomad culture, a carpet is always seen as a house. For me, carpets represent a welcome center. It is a fascinating and active element in a space. The Golden Ratio is an important theme. For architects, it is a nightmare because it is very complex and simplistic at the same time as it is everywhere”, adds his wife, architect Nathalie Sartogo.
Piero Sartogo continues, “You can interpret it. It is the relation between a square and a triangle. Therefore it comes out as a spiral. The ratio has been around for centuries and has been the regulating element for architecture. The proportions, the juxtaposition of measures… It is not something new. You take the Roman temples, the Greek temples, all of them you can relate vis-a-vis the art of planning, the size, you go from big to small. It’s a nightmare for architects. It’s challenging history and at the same time innovation”.
Carpets as works of art, but not only. The project emphasizes also the genesis of each piece, the thought behind the curtains: “Every carpet will be auctioned with the original drawing signed by the architect. ARTinD focuses on this: from the project to its evolution and production”, adds Oliva Sartogo.
“I designed - Alessandro Mending says - this carpet like a painting. I painted a picture. It’s all about trying to get the pictorial aspect of the object’s surface, losing the full view of the object itself.”
The bid price for the auction: twenty-five thousand Euros per carpet, including the signed drawing, a sum that, as explains Oliva Sartogo " can be considered an entry price for new collectors. Together with Phillips, we aim at opening up the market to young collectors”.
And here is another tessera in the mosaic. The project is enriched with a series of talks and conferences that Oliva Sartogo is organizing across Europe, to recount and investigate the relationship between art and architecture from different viewpoints and voices. The next event will be at Philipps in London on April 20th: architects Nathalie Sartogo and Sou Foujimoto will be in conversation with artists Sir Antony Gormley and Haroon Mirza.
“This collection of carpets is only the first edition of a broader long-term project”, concludes Oliva Sartogo. “I would love to explore a new theme, material, and object every year. And also invite other architects to work on this. I now look forward to asking architects to design their dream desk for the next edition. For that edition, we already have Alejandro Aravena on board. I am also working on building relationships with museums to continue to dialogue between art and architecture”.
Save the date: in London at Phillips headquarters, in the heart of Mayfair, from the 19th until The 29th, for the first exhibition and auction of ARTinD by Oliva Sartogo.
Opening:A DETAIL OF THE “RIVER CITY CARPET” DESIGNED BY THE DUTCH ARCHITECT BEN VAN BERKEL. ARTIN D PROJECT CURATED BY OLIVA SARTOGO IN COLLABORATION WITH PHILLIPS.
