KPM BERLIN HONORS ENZO MARI
In memory of a design symbiosis between Berlin and Italy.
Enzo Mari is considered one of the most intellectual and influential international designers of the second half of the 20th century. His style: concise, clear and essential. His work: characterized by the critical examination of the questions of visual perception, functionality and beauty of things themselves, which he once also addressed at KPM Berlin.
Mari was originally known for his furniture and product designs, which, characterized by robustness and minimalism, opposed the society that was increasingly opening up to mass production at the time. Between 1993 and 1996, the Italian designer and artist Enzo Marie, in close collaboration with the KPM workshop and today's chief designer Thomas Wenzel, developed objects with strong character that today enjoy classic status.
MARI vase - 1994
The first result of the master workshop's intensive collaboration with Enzo Mari was a vase collection with recognition value: starting from the archetype of the amphora, a whole system of different variants of the basic shape was developed, which shines as a solitaire, in a fused duo and in various decors. Clarity and symmetry characterize the elegant shape named after Mari, which tapers both upwards and downwards and is reminiscent of ancient amphoras. It also demonstrates Mari's functional demands: the vase, which is still available in various decor variations and sizes, gets its firm footing thanks to a metal plate installed on one side that serves as a base.
Vases by Enzo Mari
Service BERLIN – 1996
Developed in 1996 by Enzo Mari and the KPM workshop, the Service BERLIN is characterized by its calm, modern character, which earned the service the “iF Design Award” two years after its creation. Mari gave a central piece of the service, the coffee and teapot, a look that was unconventional for the time and is still outstanding today: a body in an almost perfect spherical shape meets a strikingly large, inverted handle and thus conveys individuality and non-conformity to this day their former creator.
The BERLIN collection
Creative collaboration
KPM chief designer Thomas Wenzel also remembers his collaboration with the controversial controversial artist to this day: “Enzo Mari had a reputation for being an uncomfortable spirit. And really, nothing stood up to his critical eye until he himself dismantled it into all its components in order to rethink it in reconstruction. This holistic and consistent, I would almost say uncompromising way of thinking and working impressed me the most.”
Enzo Mari died on October 19, 2020 at the age of 88. His designs, created for KPM Berlin, can be seen from October 17, 2020 to April 18, 21 as part of the Enzo Mari exhibition at the Triennale Milano curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist.
