Telling Tales- V and A

On entering the gallery I found it mesmerising, I instantly thought the pieces were unique, cleverly displayed and beuatifully crafted. I found the pieces inspiring, particulary in the Forest Glade area. full of contemporary design furniture of fairy tales myths and fables, if only all furniture was built to appear so secret and full of stories. It looked like something that had just been taken from the set of the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe and that was priceless.



The Forest Glade:

"Fig Leaf" wardrobe, Tord Boontje,2008

This piece is like no other, I couldn't imagine the room it belonged in, it just seemed too precious and delicate to be able to be used, its a statue of a wardrobe. It makes you feel as though your in a fairytale, with delicate leaf imprints and a single garment hanging. It generates warmth, it's broad and heavy-looking but so delicately crafted, the viewer feels entrapped in the wardrobe, like you could stare at it for days and not loose interest, purely because its unlike anything else or anything I've ever seen before its truly a creation of deep imagination.



Heaven and Hell:

"Storm" chair, Stephen Richards, 2000

The piece looks uncomforatble, thrown together but in a very strategic way. It's a piece of furniture that couldnt be used but still has an Ikea-feel about it,a chair for a small built person it could blend into a forst and go unoticed, its not particulary beautiful amoungst the other pieces but its different with a certain elegance about it. It suits the dark setting with an eiree atmosphere



The enchanted Forest:

"Heatwave" radiator Joris Laarman 2003

Again this is another intiguing piece, Cast white iron it looks like its climbing up the wall, its intricate and bold, a signature design piece in a modern environment. It makes you feel pretty but unworthy to have it, something that people would crave for, even a reflection of social status as it looks expensive.



The three rooms lighting has a lot to do with the dramatic effect it creates for the objects, the first two rooms are bright, lit well and inviting, as you are not allowed close or to touch the objects it gives a better view to feel like you get the full experience of the pieces, Heaven and Hell is dim and cut off by walls witrh cut through viewing panels, it makes for dramatic dark effects, you only see pieces in portions and have to crane round to get a good look, it creates mystery and interest.



The exhibition taught me alot about different compostions, how objects can compliment and relate to each other and how objects can be grouped together. Colour schemes is also an important factor and making sure my objects are drawn from all angles.

"The Enchanted Castle"- A place of mischief and fairytales, somewhere almost to be feared but has a spell to enter. It's mysterious, associated with teh 18th century where fairytales were real, you conjure up images of Princesses and Princes, but also evil witches and stepmothers, its all very Disney, "style and design are a visual language".
High status is displayed, mesmorising pieces of furniture literally taken from the imagination and created into real life, with seemingly inappropraite use of amterials and scale, everything has been taken and drawn out to be bigger or wider than someone would imagine, so its not quite as delicate but more real. You could stare at the pieces for a long time, drawn to them but purposelly not allowed to touch them which seems rather cruel.
"Heaven and Hell"- the Black sheep of the exhibition, possibly the unexpected in relation to the previous work, it is viewed last, in half light. It comes accross difficult to tell which is heaven and which hell, something so closely linked has been taken from being visualised to reality. Saintan and God under one roof, it all seems very religious and yet very confusing, it almost feels one with dread at what is being viewed, the title really indicates the whole of the exhibition, it feels scientific, at the end of th 19th century when anything was considered medicinal. It's about dream and interpretations but in a darker matter. Freud the famous if somewhat ludacris psychologist who had out of this world ideas and theories that to this day some say are crazy. Life vs death, good vs evil, a measure of mortality and the exploration of can we live forever? The Title reflects anxiousness and trouble, to be advoided?



Tord Boontje caught my attention, his pieces were like nothing i've ever seen before I thought them to be beautiful, they were carefully sculpted with alot of work hours been spent on the pieces, you could tell it took planning to exact detail and everything fits so well together. He completely encaptured The forest glade with enchantment, fables and childhood dreams turned into adult reality