Swiss bathroom manufacturer Laufen and Brasilea present the third edition of the Impressões in 2018 – a project that combines design innovation with the production of Saphirkeramik. In collaboration with the artists Maria-Carmen Perlingeiro, Alex Flemming, Zezão, Christina Oiticica, SHN (Marcelo Fazolin, Haroldo Paranhos, Eduardo Saretta), works of art have been created to honor Brazil and its culture, while offering a new and different medium for the artists.

The project “Impressões” has already fascinated the audience twice – with “Brazil up Close” (Edition 1, 2013) and “Brazil: Verse and Reverse” (Edition 2, 2015) – combining artistic skill and the refined ceramic by Laufen. Entitled “Impressões 2018: 19 – from Basel to Brasil”, this year’s objects will be created by five artists who stage their very own interpretation of “Impressões”.

The art project shows Laufen’s manufacturing skills and the company’s commitment to promoting design, art and culture. Already in the 1950s Laufen opened its own ceramics factory in Brazil, starting what would become and enduring friendship with renowned Brazilian architects such as Oscar Niemeyer, and to this day with Ruy Ohtake. Through its cooperation with the Culture and Arts Foundation Brasilea, the 2018:19 series focuses on the impact and perception of Brazilian art and culture in Switzerland.

For the 3rd edition of “Impressões”, the sculptor Maria-Carmen Perlingeiro exclusively designed a polyhedron, which Laufen then produced in Saphirkeramik. The material allows for freedom to design minimalistic, architectural lines and for the production of extremely narrow radii and filigree walls with high robustness. Laufen sees design as the key to shape this material as intelligently, functional, environmentally friendly, resource-saving and aesthetically pleasing as possible. This gave rise to ideal conditions for the artistic development of the handmade polyhedron, which serves as a 3-dimensional basis for the work of the 5 artists. Besides Maria-Carmen Perlingeiro, the prominent graffiti artist Zezão from São Paulo and the artist Christina Oiticica are also present.

Oiticica lets her works be transformed by the influence of nature and has been widely exhibited in Brazil and Europe. Will the polyhedron of the Collective SHN also get an interdisciplinary treatment? Typically, this group blends the boundaries between graphics, architecture, and video installations in their own way. Alex Flemming, who studied at the prestigious FAAP (Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado) in his hometown São Paulo, moves in his art between engraving, photography and painting.

Exhibitions

The first exhibition of “Impressões 2018: 19 – from Basel to Brasil” will take place on November 10, 2018 in the Brasilea on the occasion of the 100th birthday of its founder Walter Wüthrich. Also in 2018, the Culture and Arts Foundation Brasilea itself celebrates its 15th anniversary with the exhibition “Abroad at home”. The Saphirkeramik sculptures will also be at home abroad when they travel between the continental worlds of Europe and the Americas:

At Design Miami, the Saphirkeramik sculptures will be exhibited on 5-9 December 2018 in Miami / USA.

On 12-15 March 2019, the objects will be on display at Expo Revestir in São Paulo / Brazil.

During Art Basel / Design Miami in June 2019, the sculptures will be presented at Laufen’s “Architecture during Art Event” in Basel.