Running until 14 January at Antonia Jannone Gallery in Milan, the exhibition Tavolini by Michele De Lucchi presents 19 small tables and new sculptures. In Italian, Tavolini literally means small tables. They represent a very special world for the designer, who explains: “I suppose they are distinguished from normal tables because they are smaller. However, no one has ever explained, nor theorised, what smaller means – how much smaller, how much narrower, thinner, lower and so on”.
“Tavolini are unquestionably used for many things, and often for purposes that don’t necessarily refer to the conventional usage of eating, writing etc. They can be used to sit on, to jump on and reach a high book, to display something important, to rest your foot on under the table, to change perspective and look above everybody, to support something not directly on the floor, for use in the garden, or to play a game while nestled on the ground,” says De Lucchi.
And he goes on: “They are extremely normal, but they open up a whole world of uses. The world of tavolini is intimate and delicate, one that we feel belongs to us, and perhaps the reason for that is that they have an ancient history that can be traced back to Ancient Egypt.”
Michele De Lucchi, born in 1951, is a celebrated architect and designer. An Italian Maestro that has been one of the protagonists of Alchymia and Memphis, has developed products for the most important Italian industries, as Artemide, Olivetti and Alias, and has renovated buildings for Enel, Piaggio and Telecom Italia.
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Michele De Lucchi. Photo by Giovanni Gastel
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This exhibition shows, once again, that Michele De Lucchi is also a poet and an artist. A free thinker, able to give a special meaning to our times.