As you may recall, we love MAKE Coffee + Stuff. Not only is the space beautiful and the coffee fantastic, but they do good work: blending art exhibits with retail space while showcasing amazing Manitoba talent. Now, with their 8th show (opening tonight), they’re featuring the wares of two Posterfavs: 2213 and Hut K.
The show, called 008_Metal, features design objects that use sheet metal as not only their sole material, but the driving force of its design. Specifically, the gorgeous mailboxes and address numbers from 2213 and Blu Dot chairs and Tom Dixon lights from Hut K. Drool-worthy pieces, we can assure you.
“What we love about these pieces is the way they, by design, “dematerialize” the material quality that would otherwise elicit feelings of industry or heavy manufacturing,” says MAKE’s Brandon Bergem. “Either through spatiality of light (Tom Dixon), achieving comfort (Blu Dot – despite how it looks, that chair truly is comfortable!) or by sheer refinement: 2213′s designs achieve a new life and clarity in objects that otherwise become so ubiquitous.”
How the show came to be is one of those classic Winnipeg stories of cool people meeting other cool people. (We originally assumed they chose the two design houses because of the handsome men behind each company. Valentin Mittelstet (2213) and Dane Kofoed (Hut K) are both certified babes.)
“Valentin stopped in one night, late January or early February, for a cup of coffee. I don’t think he really knew about us. He was just passing by. Jae (MAKE’s owner) chatted with him for a while, and found that Valentin likes a minimal and clean aesthetic and that while he was formally a photographer,” says Bergem. “We really liked his concept of designing the goods for a house by designing his way through the house, as one walks from outside in. We liked his ‘filmic’ approach to the product development, which made sense to us.
“We are always interested in ’pairing-shows’ as opposed to a ‘solo-shows’ at MAKE. We see opportunities of conversation and cross-pollination of interests, ideas, insights, and friends,” says Bergem.
“Pairing locally produced design with big-name international design is also exciting, since it becomes a way to see how Winnipeg design really holds up.”
Check out the show’s opening tonight, where select pieces will be on sale. And, if you’re lucky, two hunky design nerds.
