Design Destinations

The Virtual Design Destination by Adorno

Adorno

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12-20 September 2020

12-20 September 24/7

Profile

Virtual Design Destination by Adorno

Adorno is a digital gallery for the best of collectable design and craft from around the globe. Selected by a network of on-the-ground curators in major design cities, Adorno’s collections provide a unique insight into the world’s diverse creative communities – and celebrate the work of the designers shaping them.

This year the Virtual Design Destination by Adorno will be the place to discover curated country collections of collectible design during the London Design Festival.

Working with Adorno’s roster of curators from design scenes across the globe, Adorno will present
fourteen country pavilions virtually during the festival, presenting new work by more than 100 leading
independent desigers and studios.

As a native, digital e-commerce platform, Adorno, from its base in Copenhagen, has been working for the last six months to harness the very best in tech. All real-world pieces from each collection have been
modelled three-dimensionally and set in a virtual environment designed to reflect the design scene from
which they hail. Visitors are invited on guided virtual tours by the curator each day during the festival.

Still from the interactive, virtual environment created for the Denmark collection as part of the Virtual Design Destination, featuring pieces by Christian & Jade (left, middle) and Phuc Van Dang (right)

Still from the Underwater Environment for the Finnish Collection. LEFT: "Relief" Sculpture by Hanna Anonen RIGHT: "Udon" Stool by Anton Mikkonen

Trophy Table by Studió Flétta floating in the Arctic Virtual Environment created for the Icelandic Collection.

Still from the interactive, virtual environment created for the Lithuanian collection as part of the Virtual Design Destination, featuring the "Naive" chair by etc.etc.studio [left], and the Raitūzai candlestick holder & Mirrors by Evelina Kudabaite

"Sand in Motion" Chair and Side table by Rive Roshan in the flat water virtual environment created for the Dutch collection

Still from the Virtual Environment; Visitors will be able to walk around the Museum de Arte Romano in Merida, Spain. All the pieces in the collection will be presented on structures developed and designed in collaboration with Cosentino

Still from the interactive, virtual environment created for the Swedish collection as part of the Virtual Design Destination

This years theme: The New Reality

Preparations for “The New Reality” were initiated during the surge of COVID-19 in Europe. The curators of the fourteen participating countries have been asked to reflect on specific experiences, thoughts, and themes from the time of lockdown in the curation and art direction of each of their country collections. They have been working with their local designers at the intersection of craft and design to develop sub-narratives to the overarching theme, including gender, urbanisation, climate, isolation, and healing, among others.

Using design as a tool for change, “The New Reality” pursues effective and innovative solutions, bringing different knowledges and experiences together through design to investigate what our new reality actually is.

14 interactive environments

As a digital-first online gallery, Adorno has set out to revolutionise the way we experience design and art online. Working with a skilled team of 3D developers and artists, the aim is to take the term “online exhibition” to the next level. Virtual Environments are often showcased as simple images or videos, but, for the Virtual Design Destination, Adorno will use the latest technology to make these environments fully interactive.

Adorno has partnered with the pixel streaming platform Furioos to provide real-time rendering from any browser or VR headset, making it possible for visitors to freely navigate around immersive, country-specific environments to experience the collections that have all been modeled in 3D. Visitors will even be able to meet the designers through integrated video interviews and place the pieces in their home using a Smartphone.

Program

Each day during the festival we will tune in on two country collections, where visitors will be able to enter
the virtual environment with a guided tour by the curator.