Aldo Bakker. PAUSE / Lausanne

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This is the first large-scale retro­spect­ive to focus on the Dutch designer Aldo Bakker, at a moment that seems partic­u­larly right. After several years of patient, applied research during which time he radic­ally developed his formal universe, Aldo has worked on a series of projects, either alone or jointly with some of the most pres­ti­gi­ous brands (Karak­ter, Georg Jensen, Puifor­cat and Sèvres).

The son of the design­ers Gijs Bakker and Emmy Van Leer­sum, he has always been surroun­ded by their delib­er­ately pion­eer­ing, not to say trans­gress­ive universe. He trained as a jeweller before pursu­ing his appren­tice­ship as a self-taught designer. His reper­toire includes objects and small items of furniture, in which formal research is prior­it­ised over any other consid­er­a­tion. Turn­ing his back on func­tion­al­ism as much as post-modern­ism and any other move­ment or trend, Aldo Bakker has developed a highly personal, formal vocab­u­lary. His objects often appear to be inves­ted with a person­al­ity and have their own char­ac­ter, as though they were autonom­ous creatures. Shaped for the most part out of a single mater­ial (ceramic, glass, wood, copper, etc.) they appear like organic, friendly forms, not unlike a picto­gram. Their relat­ive func­tion­al­ity leads to a dram­at­isa­tion of human gestures. The acts of open­ing, pour­ing from or pick­ing up an object all become unex­pec­tedly drawn out and theat­rical.

The exhib­i­tion is presen­ted in 2016 at the CID – centre d’in­nov­a­tion et de design in Grand-Hornu (Belgium) before the mudac, sole Swiss venue of the exhib­i­tion.