A dialogue between the past and present of ductile furniture at Artesania Catalunya

Opening this evening, at 7.30 pm, at the exhibition hall of the Centre d’Artesania de Catalunya is the exhibition "The Magical Curve. Beech and rattan furniture". The exhibition, which can be seen for free until 18th November, presents 21 pieces from two collections of furniture at the Museu del Disseny in which the curve forms the main element.

The technique that allows wood to be heated and bent was met with great acceptance in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when ductile or bentwood furniture was considered almost something magical. Barcelona was one of the places in Spain where curved beech furniture proved most successful, manufactured mostly in Valencia. Nowadays, furniture manufactured from rattan is again fashionable, and one of the companies leading the return of curved furniture is Expormim (from Valencia, of course), who have collaborated in the exhibition.

It is for this reason that the exhibition, curated by Rossend Casanova and Julio Vives Chillida, seeks to establish a dialogue between the past and the present, between the pieces of curved furniture made of beech wood from the historical collection, and the contemporary, from the product design collection, made from rattan. The two collections, in spite of the time difference, have in common the use of the natural element as a base material and the craftsmanship by which the pieces are made both functional and, at the same time, beautiful.