When Design Was Experimentation

When Design Was Experimentation opens in Athens at ANTIQUA Gallery. The exhibition explores the early 1960s, a pivotal moment of extraordinary creative freedom, when what would later be defined as Radical Design had not yet taken shape as a formal movement, but existed instead as an open and fertile field of experimentation.

The exhibition explores the early 1960s, a pivotal moment of extraordinary creative freedom, when what would later be defined as Radical Design had not yet taken shape as a formal movement, but existed instead as an open and fertile field of experimentation. During this period, designers and manufacturers began to radically rethink the domestic environment, questioning materials, colors, forms, and the very relationship between design and industrial production.

At the core of the exhibition are the early furniture pieces by Ettore Sottsass for Poltronova, created under the visionary direction of Sergio Cammilli. Alongside these works, the Yantra ceramic series introduces a symbolic and spiritual dimension to the domestic object, while experimental lighting by designers such as Franco Albini and Cini Boeri reflects a growing interest in new industrial materials and alternative formal languages. Together with key pieces such as the Quaderna table by Superstudio, the exhibition reveals a moment in which design was already radical in attitude—anticipating the emergence of groups like Studio Alchimia and Memphis Group.

A story of experimentation, collaboration, and visionary thinking that reshaped the way we understand objects, interiors, and everyday life.