KONSTANTIN GRCIC – DESIGN IS WORK
Documentary by Gereon Wetzel, 54 Min. Germany 2017
Konstantin Grcic is considered one of the most innovative and profound product designers worldwide.
“Design is Work” accompanies the designer for the duration of a year in the various segments of his working world: while designing in the studio with his team or deliberating over the right decision with a client; among the tumult of “Salone” (furniture fair, Milan) or during the planning of an exhibition for the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. Here, with the aid of design models, the developmental process behind one of his most prominent pieces, “chair_ONE” becomes tangible – from the initial sketches to the finished product. In the film, these steps are lucidly illustrated by Grcic’s back then current project: a furniture series made of cast iron, conceived and developed with the long-established Italian design company “Magis” and its dynamic founder Eugenio Perazza. It becomes apparent that design involves a tremendous amount of work – but also considerably more.
Bonus: Workshop discussion with Konstantin Grcic, Tim Bechthold (Head of the Conservation Department, Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum) and Hubert Filser (journalist) about the model series of the “chair_ONE”, on the occasion of the exhibition The Good, The Bad, The Ugly in Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich.
Gereon Wetzel, born 1972 in Bonn (Germany). After graduating in Archaeology at the Heidelberg University, he studied from 2000 to 2006 at the Munich Filmschool (department of documentary). He lives and works as filmmaker, author and lecturer in Munich.
The film is available via www.doccollection.de.
SZ-Film review (in German) by Laura Weißmüller