They met in a quaint bar in Milan. From that moment on, a enduring friendship began between the duo of Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby and Massimo Orsini, the founder of the ceramics company Mutina. “The first encounter with Edward and Jay was one of a kind,” recalls Massimo Orsini. “We instantly knew that an open and uncomplicated relationship had been born. It’s like meeting someone you feel you have known forever”. As often happens, prolific professional relationships are born from beautiful friendships. This was the case of the one between BarberOsgerby and the Fiorano Modenese company, which was celebrated with the exhibition ‘The magic of colour’, held from 25 to 29 September at Spazio Mutina.
These ten years have been a journey into colour for the British designers: the interdisciplinary nature of their work has enabled them to challenge the boundaries between industrial design and architecture, and the projects developed with Mutina have enabled them to extend their exploration into the realm of ceramics, challenging the norms of scale, texture and composition in this material.
“We’ve always been captivated by the production process, be it crafted by hand or generated by machines,” say the two designers, “and we firmly believe that there’s no reason why specific materials, products, or structures cannot coexist harmoniously in both contemporary and traditional settings.”
The exhibition was also the occasion to present three new projects: a new edition of the historic Mews, the result of the collaboration with BarberOsgerby, which is enriched, after 10 years, with three new colours; a new collection of surfaces, Time, and a new Edition, Rivington Tables.
Photo © Piergiorgio Sorgetti
