Simply Droog Exhibition
What makes an everyday object worth a second look? Simply Droog opened at Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2004, looking back on the first decade of Droog Design. The exhibition brought together familiar designs and lesser-known experiments to show how much could change with a simple idea: old clothes became a chair, milk bottles became a chandelier, and a steel box came with a hammer so its owner could make the seat.
Studio Jurgen Bey brought these objects back into imagined homes. Strips of grey tape marked out rooms on the gallery floor, and silhouettes stood in for the rest of the furniture. The real objects took their places in garages, living rooms, and student flats, where visitors could picture themselves using them. Elsewhere, the crates that carried the exhibition became displays for sketches, models, photographs, and films that traced how the designs came about.
Designs that were on show at the 2004 stops:
Tablecloth with Bowl by Saar Oosterhof
Kokon Furniture by Konings & Bey
Chest of Drawers ‘You Can’t Lay Down Your Memory’ by Tejo Remy
Talking Coffee Machine by Eibert Draisma
Drawing Table by Djoke de Jong
Dare to Unlabel by Claudia Linders
Curtain with Dressmaker’s Pattern by Djoke de Jong
Simply Droog was built to travel, with room for each venue to rearrange the displays and add its own contribution. In Munich, Konstantin Grcic’s White Noise Answering Machine invited visitors to pick up a handset and listen to people praise, question, and joke about Droog. It was a fitting addition to a show that celebrated the work by reopening the questions behind it: what do we choose to keep, what do we throw away, and how much of a design can we leave up to the person who uses it?
The exhibition took place in the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Grand Hornu (Belgium), Design Zentrum, Bremen (Germany), Gemeentemuseum Den Haag (NL), Haus Der Kunst, Munich (Germany), Mudac, Lausanne & Museum Bellerive in Zürich, Switzerland, Museo Oscar Niemeyer in Curitiba (Brazil).