Listening to the Earth

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The climate and envir­on­mental crisis is certainly the most import­ant issue facing human­ity in the 21^st century. The Earth is suffer­ing and is trying to alert us by vari­ous means: climate disrup­tion, rising water levels, declin­ing biod­iversity and the extinc­tion of certain animal species. The ecolo­gical emer­gency has spread all over the globe, even to the world of design and applied arts. For several years now, mudac has been collect­ing works that aim to raise aware­ness of what the Earth is telling us.

Listen­ing to the Earth plunges view­ers into the mudac collec­tion where the vari­ous discip­lines that make up the collec­tion – design, ceram­ics, glass art, graphic arts and contem­por­ary jewellery – come together to reflect the chal­lenges of climate change. The works attest to the commit­ment of design­ers and open up the scope of possib­il­it­ies. They appeal to us to no longer consider nature solely through the prism of prof­it­ab­il­ity, productiv­ity or as a limit­less resource for humans to use. They implore us to open our eyes on the phenom­ena that bear witness to the diversity of our blue planet, and to become aware of the fragil­ity of this balance.

Coffee table in painted steel, design­flex©, 60 × 40.2 × 55 cm

This coffee table is made of a new mater­ial called “design­flex” which consists of a natural stone surface – slate and mica-schist – rein­forced with glass fibre and resin making the mater­ial flex­ible, unbreak­able and imper­ish­able. Laguet uses her expert­ise in metal to create a minimal metal frame­work and then applies the thin sheet of stone using a clever assembly inspired by tradi­tional forging meth­ods. The result is stun­ning: seem­ingly made of solid stone, the table is actu­ally very light and eleg­ant.
This piece is a perfect reflec­tion of the design­er’s mind­set: innov­a­tion in the use of unusual mater­i­als, the deploy­ment of her vari­ous skills, and local and eco-friendly manu­fac­tur­ing.

Recycled and sand­blas­ted radi­ator, varnished, metal 90 × 50 × 80 cm

The idea for Radi­ator Chair was born during a visit to a scrap metal dealer. At the top of a pile of objects was a twis­ted old radi­ator and, from a distance, the artist saw the shape of a seat. Subsequent models were given chrome legs and then “sledge” legs. This is more a work that dresses up a space than a comfort­able seat – the mater­ial is cold, but the concept of warmth comes into play with the idea of the radi­at­or’s original func­tion. The designer likes to go beyond tradi­tional categor­ies by taking chal­len­ging objects and giving them a new form, func­tion and status. Find­ing innov­at­ive solu­tions through the prism of design to avoid the obsol­es­cence of objects, partic­u­larly plastics, whose consequences are disastrous for the planet, is one of the driv­ing forces under­ly­ing his approach.

Porcel­ain, gold gild­ing, LED, computer connec­tion, H 25 cm

Like a signal in the heart of the room, the Veil­leuse tellurique (Earth­quake Watch) pulses, trans­mit­ting via coloured LED lights, Switzer­land’s seis­mic activ­ity in real time – the lowin­tens­ity lights testify to the continu­ous activ­ity of the Earth. The work is linked to a processor, connec­ted to a computer, which inter­prets the seis­mic data recor­ded on the Inter­net. Each invis­ible but percept­ible tremor is then relayed by means of light signals. A unique object created in collab­or­a­tion with the Manu­fac­ture de Sèvres, the body of the watch is made of enamelled porcel­ain and is decor­ated with a fine gold pattern.