Tarvisio Show Asks: Are Garden Gnomes Kitsch or Design?

In Tarvisio, Italy, an exhibition titled "Nani da giardino: design o cattivo gusto?" (Garden Gnomes: Design or Bad Taste?) runs until August 30 in the crypt of the medieval tower, part of the Festival Radici. Curated by Anna A. Lombardi, founder of MuDeFri (Museo del Design del Friuli Venezia Giulia), the show explores the evolution of garden gnomes from kitsch objects to design icons. Lombardi notes that the concept of kitsch has shifted since Gillo Dorfles's 1968 book "Il Kitsch" and Abraham Moles's 1979 work, suggesting that today's gnomes might be better described as "camp." The exhibition features iconic pieces such as Philippe Starck's "Attila" for Kartell, which gained design legitimacy with a tabletop surface, and Elio Fiorucci's Love Therapy gnome lamp. More recent experimental works include "Nino," a minimalist brutalist gnome by Plato Design and designer Pellegrino Cuciniello, made hollow via 3D modeling, and a Dutch "Naughty Gnome" inspired by Ottmar Hörl's 1994 installation "Sponti," which featured hundreds of gnomes giving the middle finger. The show also highlights a local piece: a series of PVC Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs figures produced in the late 1960s by Ledraplastic of Osoppo under Walt Disney license, using rotational molding. The exhibition is set in a dark, cave-like environment, appropriate for these woodland creatures.