24 YEARS IN THE SERVICE OF ROMANIAN HERITAGE AND COMMUNITIES

History

Golescu Villa and Honest Goods Collection, object design and craftsmanship in relation to architectural heritage

The Honest Goods project is part of the Pro Patrimonio Foundation’s strategy to design a sustainable heritage brand, inspired by the Villa and the Golescu dendrological park in Câmpulung Muscel, an exceptional architectural and landscape ensemble and also a sustainable model of historical housing.

The Honest Goods series reflects a pioneering project in object and craft design that has resulted in versatile everyday objects that cater to common needs – lighting fixtures, utensils, fabrics and cooking and dining accessories.

2016 / Heritage exploration. Prototype collection.

The exploration started in 2016, having as documentation point the Golescu Villa (1910), the needs of the place and its surroundings, following the customs, crafts and materials from the Muscel area, starting from the notion of cultural landscape. We set out to reuse a historical monument not through conservation and museification, but through inhabitation and integration into everyday life.

The multidisciplinary team of architects, designers and students documented the craftsmen in the villages, looking for structural, gripping and finishing solutions, starting from basic human needs. In this “locomotive” project we aim to comply with the following principles that attest to the vision of design (without imposing a specific style): functionality in relation to local materials, contemporary practice of use, multifunctionality, versatility (objects can be used indoors and outside, in rural and urban areas, in domestic and public space), the objects to be compact, modular, ergonomic.

The first testing of the idea and objects at an international level was done at the London Design Festival in September 2016, and at a national level through the exhibitions at the Galeria Posibilă (2016) and the Golescu Villa in Câmpulung Muscel (2016).

Designers are Andreea Machidon, Ruxi Sacaliș, Veronica Olariu, while Mirela Duculescu created the collection concept and the catalog.

The mapping of the territory and the craftsmen involved can be found in the Honest Goods Booklet which can be consulted here.

The Honest Goods team was invited to the Urban Eye Architecture Film Festival (French Institute, Bucharest, November 20, 2016) to hold a debate on the theme of heritage as resource, starting from the screening of the film that documents the exploration of the territory, the creative stages and working with craftsmen (directed by Alin Iacob).

 

2017-2019 / Participation in fairs and exhibitions

The prototypes we rethought and remade after the experimental stage initiated in 2016 were exhibited at the Romanian Design Week 2017, afterwards at the exhibition Threads of Tradition, organized by RDW and the Romanian Cultural Institute in Madrid (Central de Diseño, Centro Cultural Matadero, Madrid, June 15-July 16, 2017) & Vienna Design Week (September 29-October 8, 2017) or at the ReDESIGN Crafts 2018. A new series from the collection was exhibited at the Understanding Design event (ARCUB Bucharest, November 2017), held under the umbrella of the archutecture festival Urban Eye 2017.

In 2019, the stone lamps from the Honest Goods collection signed by designers Ruxandra Sacaliș and Veronica Olariu were selected to be part of the Romanian exhibition (organized by The Institute, the Romanian Design Week in Bucharest and the Romanian Cultural Institute) at the prestigious Biennial Révélations (Grand Palais, Paris, May 23-26, 2019).

The series of the Honest Goods collection were also part of the sale exhibition Creative Traditions Forum (Museum of the Romanian Peasant, September 5-10, 2017) and of the Christmas Fair (University House, Bucharest, 2018).

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