Saved by Droog | Milan 2010.

Saved by Droog exhibition at Via Alserio in MIlan. All respurposed items were available for sale.

Left – Three Stars Bomb by Atelier Ted Noten. Right – Sad Hanky by Luc d’Hanis & Sofie Lachaert.

Saved by Droog was high up on my list of things so see at Salone, so I hiked out to their temporary exhibition space, which was seriously out of the way.

I’m sure you would have all read about this project by now, but in case you haven’t – here are some words by droog:

Every month about 500 companies in the Netherlands go bankrupt. Where do their products go? In the past several months we have been bidding on liquidation auction items ranging from handkerchiefs to dog baskets. We acquired 5135 items—1 water cooler, 1 dining table, 2 bar stools, 4 metal trays, 6 wooden trays, 8 mirrors, 10 small bowl sets, 11 cups, 14 dog baskets, 20 dish towels, 40 glass vases, 50 safety vests, 60 sets of cutlery, 80 folding chairs, 90 flower pots, 100 candy pots, 102 wooden spoons, 168 plates of glass, 200 saltshakers, 448 wallets, 500 matchboxes, 720 cola glasses, and 2500 handkerchiefs.

The exhibition showcased creative re-interpretations by 14 designers, who gave these liquidated objects a second chance to shine.

Following are images and explanations of almost all products. Yeah, didn’t get to take pictures of all of them somehow – I think I was a little bit distracted by chatting too much. Nothing new there…

I loved this one – Daily Handkerchief by Studio Makkink & Bey. 900 handkerchiefs were digitally printed with selected articles from 30 days of news from around the world. “Pick the news you want to keep in you pocket”.

Top – Glass Arrangements by Atelier Remy & Veenhuizen were really beautiful. Bottom Left – Mouth Watering Spoons by my design crush Marije Vogelzang {previously blogged about her right here}. The wooden spoon had a mouth-watering coating, invented by Marije. “It’s for stirring, not for eating!”  Bottom Right – 100 Blue Containers in ceramic, metal or timber were flock coated and given a new lease on life. Gorgeous.

Onno, Ed, Ms. Teaspoon and the King of Gold by Ed Annink. Material: stainless steel cutlery + 24 karat gold plating, cotton cord.

Left – Wannabe Mirror by Minale – Maeda. Material: mirror + plastic, coloured film. Rigt – Roll-On Scent by Eric Klarenbeek. These perfume bottles were transformed from the humble salt & pepper shakers. Genius!

Read Before You Eat by Marian Bantjes. A daggy old table was transformed into a seriously cool piece with a bit of varnish and some laser cuting, containing a personal message from the designer:
“Get up from this table and go make a contribution to Doctors Without Borders. Donate enough that it hurts a little. Then come back to this table and enjoy your meal. Really, really enjoy your meal.”

Check out droog’s blog where they’ve posted photos of the proud new owners of all the repurposed objects.

Fun.