The students of the Master in Interior design and the Visual merchandising course cannot be unaware of the work of Martin Gamper. With a path somewhere between conceptual art and design, Gamper currently represents one of the most interesting Italian personalities on the world stage. Born in 1971 in Merano, after an apprenticeship in cabinetmaking and studies in fine arts, sculpture and design in Vienna, he moved to London, where he launched a career that surprised for its interpretative originality and basic ethical concepts.
The project that brought him worldwide fame is the courageous "100 Chairs in 100 Days (and its 100 Ways)". Gamper reconstructed/reassembled/transformed every day - often in front of an audience - old chairs, giving new life to these furniture complements. The result is a gallery of unique pieces that through an unprecedented mixture of shapes and styles are at first unsettling, then seductive. '100 Chairs in 100 Days (and its 100 Ways)' was exhibited in various international museums, including the Milan Triennale.
In all his work, Gamper has shown that he has a decidedly original point of view and operational philosophyqualities that have made him a popular curator of exhibitions, as evidenced by "Design is a state of mind"This exhibition has bookshelves and bookcases as its protagonists, not represented in their simple nudity, but made alive and everyday, populated by the combination of hundreds of objects from the homes of Gamper's friends and collaborators, illustrious and not so illustrious people who wanted to reveal their own little collecting manias. Along the walls of the exhibition you can therefore admire over forty shelves and bookcases designed by authentic stars of the furniture design worldsuch as Ponti, Perriand, Ferrieri and Rams, but also - surprisingly - Ikea's Ivar system. A point of view, that of Gamper, which precisely from the union of the elite and the popular traces new perceptive paths, succeeding not only in showing interesting design objects, but also in reconstructing atmospheres that are as evocative as they are intimate. 'Design is a state of mind' was exhibited at the Serpentine Galleries in London, the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli in Turin and the Museion in Bolzano.
"Corners' - Visual merchandising work for Prada - is another important milestone in the career of Gamper, who has succeeded in recreating original artistic suggestions even in a commercial space such as a store window. An interplay of visual perspectives and material sensations that sums up all the themes of the Trentino artist in a few square metrestaking visual merchandising to a new level of expression. The creative concept will be rolled out in all Prada shops around the globe, more than 800 showcases constituting one of the largest art exhibitions ever held.
Awards received
Moroso Prize for Contemporary Art, 2011
Wallpaper Award for Best Use of Colour, 2011
Wallpaper Award for Best Alchemist, 2008
Brit Insurance Designs of the Year, Furniture Award winner for '100 Chairs in 100 Days', 2008
Sources: Martinogamper.com/project – Living.corriere.it/furniture
