FROM THE STRUCTURES - SOLO EXHIBITION OF MARIO TSAI STUDIO

As a solo exhibition during the Milan Design Week 2019, also a part of Tortona Design Week 2019, Solo Exhibition of Mario Tsai Studio will present two lighting installations and two sets of furniture works. The exhibition is titled “From the Structures”, aims to express the important role of design in the process of adaptation and control of modern processing techniques and material properties.

From the structures, it is relative to the design from the appearance. Compared with the change of appearance, Mario Tsai Studio is more willing to proceed from the structure, challenge the inherent process and product structure, and provide more than conventional design solutions to meet the space or user requirements for the product.

Mazha Lighting System is the most important work in this exhibition, the design is inspired by the structure of traditional Chinese seat ‘ Mazha’, which coincides with the idea that the designer wants to create a modular extension of the lighting installation. The combination form that can be extended indefinitely is based on breaking the conventional circuit and structure design. The wires are subtly hidden into the hanging thread of the lighting system. Based on the system's 12V safe voltage supply, the exposed metal parts of the lighting system are also designed as part of the circuit, thus forming a modular structure system that is inherently complex but simple in appearance. Based on the combination of wireless extension, it can be composed of various types of lighting installation to suit a variety of spaces.

Gongzheng Tables use aluminum profile as the research subject to explore the limits on the size and strength of furniture. The collection looks clean and minimalist which is attributed to the material properties straight, and the length dimension of the furniture is almost unlimited, thereby extremely long and high-strength flat aluminum profiles can form a high-intensity and long-span desktop. In accordance with the through-structure of the profile, the designer has designed a unique connection structure to connect the profile panels flatly, thereby allowing the desktop to be multiplied in the lateral direction to accommodate the user's needs for different width desktops. The I-beam form legs and cross braces have similar functional characteristics to the commonly used I-beams in construction, and are lightweight and have an extremely high structural strength. Due to the hollow structure of the aluminum profile, the use of the material is greatly reduced while ensuring strength and stability, and making the tables light and elegant.

Press tables are based on the flexibility and elasticity of stainless steel sheet, and the exploration combine mechanics and aesthetics. The coffee table is composed of a thick steel plate top and a base plate extruded by 3 pieces of thin steel plates. The three pieces of soft steel plate are pressed by an external force to form a mutually squeezing and stable balancing device, and the connection between the base and the desktop through the suction cups is simple and convenient. The clever connection structure allows the product to be packaged and transported in flat form, as well as a set of furniture that encourages people to experience installation and interaction.

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