Erik Mortensen
at Designmuseum Danmark
(2017)
We were invited by Designmuseum Denmark, to conceptualise and set the stage for seventy of the most beautiful Haute Couture pieces to come out of Mortensen’s the sewing rooms throughout his long and distinguished career.
The pieces were arranged into themes by Curator of the Textile Collection Kirsten Toftegaard, whom we worked closely with throughout the entire design process. The themes consisted of: an introductory room, a room focussing on the legacy of Balmain, an overview of haute couture, a section diving into the world of Mortensen’s favourite materials, an area focussed on his private shows in the 50s and 60s, one on the private customers, another on the little black dress, and the golden thimble (which he won three times), his use of transparent materials, his love for black velvet, the catwalk shows, a kids room where they got to play with pearls and finally a section with his many hand drawn sketches and old interviews on video. It was a fun Tetris-like challenge fitting these themes and the 70 corresponding dresses into the 300sqm we had at our hands.
The main goal we set ourselves concerning the exhibitions design, was to try and hit the right balance between the theatre like sense of the dramatic, the exquisite sophisticated tone of the materials and the understated elegance that characterised Mortensen. We worked with big, black, heavy curtains with print for all the display texts, as a reference to his love of this (lack of) color and to shut out the natural light to create a stage-like ambiance.
In order to separate the sections, we opted for a transparent white fabric, with a metallic shine, referencing Mortensen, while allowing us to create a dreamy, luxurious feel and direct the visitors attention from sections to section in interesting and dramatic ways.
We designed the podiums in a matte black finish, utilising three levels and sometimes breaking through door openings for dramatic effects and optimal viewing angles.
Five of the themes were also enhanced by the use of video, projected on the walls. We tried to capture the feel of fashion from the early 90s, referencing early video techniques, the animations consisted of animated organic 3D patterns referencing his materials and techniques with video fragments from 90s Balmain runway shows layered on top “picture in picture” style.
Credits
Concept, Scenography, Graphics, Animation & Execution: Dark Matters
Podiums: Møbelsnedker Nicklas Jensen
Client: Design Museum Denmark