Konstantin Grcic's Small Talk at Musée des Arts Décoratifs

German designer Konstantin Grcic's exhibition Small Talk at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (October 18, 2007 – January 27, 2008) pairs his own creations with historical objects from the museum's collection. Each pair is accompanied by comic-style speech bubbles with texts by design specialist Pierre Doze, creating imaginary dialogues that blur boundaries between decorative arts, craftsmanship, and design. Notable pairings include Grcic's Chair_ONE (an aluminum chair resembling a spider web) with a circa 1760 clock by Robert Osmond, and his Mayday lamp with Charlotte Perriand's Berger stool. The exhibition also features a Miura stool opposite a 17th-century walnut child's chair, and a worm-eaten 18th-century cabriolet armchair compared to a racing car next to the Chaos seat. In 2007, Grcic was named Designer of the Year at both Architektur&Wohnen in Cologne and Maison&Objet. Born in 1965, he studied under Jasper Morrison and founded his own agency KGID in 1991. He works with companies like Moroso, Cappellini, Magis, and Krups, practicing a functionalist design that is both strict and humorous. This exhibition follows his earlier scenographic work in Design en stock (2004) from the Fonds national d'art contemporain, here adding a dimension of confrontation between old and contemporary.