Back Ahead - Austrian design at Villa Necchi

Georg Œhler curated and designed a show for Advantage Austria at the Milan Design Week 2016. The exhibition united 60 designers and brands at the famous Villa Necchi Campiglio.

Georg Œhler, Reanne Leuning and Rio Kobayashi at the Milano Design Awards. The show was shortlisted for the Milano Design Award 2016.

Tension Mirror by London-based Katharina Eisenköck combines a rough piece of marble with the fragility of a mirror held by a slim brass band. Pia Bauernberger showed coats that have been designed especially for design duo mischer'traxler. Robin Bensoussan alias Roben surprises with a finely worked Masque-pied - a shoe mask. A geomtetrical pattern unfolds to a golden wall lamp by ka ma interior.

Furniture designed and/or made in Austria was presented together with re-edited designs by Friedrich Kiesler and a limited edition piece by Franz West, a coat rack named Sinnlos. The reference by West to Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein reflects the motto of the show - Looking back, while moving ahead.

The exhibition offered new perspectives of the design objects by allowing the visitors to use high precision telescopes by Swarovski Optik. The ATX scope system is a legend amongst bird watchers and also a truly stunning piece to discover for designers. A-Chair is a light new creation in wood by Thomas Feichtner.

Ten telescopes invited the visitors to focus on details of the excellently crafted pieces. The time spent focusing, looking around and zooming in on the objects establish a different connection with the beholder. A combination of ceramics and brass handle makes a lot of sense for orchids to hold on to Mr Wong, a flower pot by eL Be Keramik.

Simply by using a mobile phone camera the objects can be photographed using the excellent quality of the telescope lenses. The light and the depth-of-field give a special air to the image and the vignette from the telescope delivers a sort of a lomographic filter automatically.

A hydroponic system called Habitat by Jürgen Steineder is a prototype for a super sustainable life circle station for every home.