Quirky furnishings
YoU might as well have stepped into Ikea. Lining the floor from one end to another, grandly displayed in aesthetic splendour, are chairs, tables, carpets and armoires and a whole array of furniture. But don’t expect the norm. For, unlike the Swedish furniture retailer, this is no ordinary presentation of household paraphernalia.
Presented by the German Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations and designed by 45 German, European and American designers, 60 furniture pieces are part of a travelling exhibition called New Olds: Design Between Tradition And Innovation.
Last year, this exhibition also showed at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia. For the next two months, the New Olds furniture will take up residence at Galeri Petronas, KLCC. What this exhibition aspires is simply to examine the relationship of traditional designs in modern furniture applications. In other words, New Olds can be viewed as a social and aesthetic exploration on how modern furniture designs, albeit sold as new, actually have a historic and cultural undergirding.
Galeri Petronas’ curator and head of exhibitions Badrolhisham Tahir said: “We hope that the exhibition will motivate and nurture local designers to embrace the concepts and inspire them to incorporate varied Malaysian cultural traditions into