Inspired by the building principles of Pier Luigi Nervi, Konstantin Grcic’s “Magliana Project” consists of a corpus of limited edition furniture – a modular table with integrated seating and suspension lighting – entirely executed in concrete according to the most innovative techniques developed from the latest studies on the material, and its small scale application.
“Magliana Project” was launched as a temporary site-specific installation inside the building that has inspired it: the emblematic and the only surviving Nervi’s pavilion (Padiglione) which was part of the larger campus of ready-made buildings occupied in the 1940s by the firm “Nervi & Bartoli”, in the Roman suburbs Magliana.
Konstantin Grcic’s “Magliana Project” is part of the series Privato Romano Interno dedicated to contemporary design and curated by Emanuela Nobile Mino, who since 2011, has involved international designers in the production of new collections, executed with materials and techniques derived from Roman and Italian artisanal traditions.
Konstantin Grcic (1965) trained in England at Parnham College, Dorset, as a restorer and ebonist. From 1988 to 1990 he studied design at the Royal College of Art, London, where he began a collaboration with the studio of British designer Jasper Morrison. In 1991 he opened his own studio at Munich, Konstantin Grcic Industial Design (KGID), and began producing furniture and lighting for among the leading international firms in the industry. He has received prestigious international awards: in 2001 the Compasso d’Oro for the MAYDAY lamp produced for Flos, and again in 2011 for MYTO, the chair designed for Plank; in 2013 his MEDICI chair for Mattiazzi was included among the Design Museum’s ‘Designs of the Year 2013’ and the same year BENCH_B for BD Barcelona won the Icon Award ‘Furniture Of The Year’ from Icon magazine, while the PARRISH chair produced by Emeco received the IF Product Design Award; in 2014 Wallpaper* Magazine nominated the PALIO chair for Plank ‘Best Chair of the Year’ and in 2015 Wallpaper* elected Grcic ‘Desiner of the Year’. The Royal Society for the Promotion of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce (RSA) nominated Konstantin Grcic ‘Royal Designer for Industry’. In 2010 he was a Fellow of Villa Massimo, Rome and nominated ‘Designer of the Year’ by Design Miami/. In 2016 he received the prize for ‘Migliore designer dell’anno’ at the Salone del Mobile, Milan. Konstantin Grcic has curated a series of important design exhibitions including DESIGN REAL at the Serpentine Gallery, London (2009) COMFORT for the St. Etienne Design Biennial (2010), BLACK2 at the Istituto Svizzero, Rome (2010).
In 2012 he was in charge of the German pavilion at the XIII Venice Architecture Biennial. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (2006), Haus der Kunst, Munich (2006) The Art Institute of Chicargo (2009) Vitra Design Museum, Weil-am-Rhine (2014) Die Neu Sammlung, Munich (2016) Kunsthalle, Bielefeld (2017).