Museum of Decorative Arts to Display Work of David Elia During D'Days Celebration, 6/1
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Work by David Elia, founder of Design da Gema, will be featured at the prestigious Museum of Decorative Arts during D' Days: The Grand Paris Design Festival from June 1-7, 2015. The exhibition, Manifeste Carioca, will include several key pieces from Elia that were inspired by his surroundings in modern-day Brazil.
Rio de Janeiro is fertile ground for creativity, nourished by the extraordinary vitality of its people and rich in strong contrasts. The city is a never-ending source of inspiration for David Elia. The studio is named "Da Gema" as homage to the native inhabitants of Rio and invites us to confront the country's societal issues. David Elia conceives everyday objects as veritable manifestos.
"The Carioca spirit is very spontaneous; it represents the capacity to improvise everything at the last minute, and this is the spirit I hope to convey in my designs," said David Elia. By observing everything that surrounds him, David Elia seeks to transcend daily perceptions; everything becomes a pretext to create, to draw form from the unexpected. His work is a veritable expression of our time and exists to provoke reactions and interpretations, as well as to reflect on his perspectives on life.
Pieces on view at the Museum of Decorative Arts include: Bullet Proof Vitrine, Stray Bullet Side Table, Stray Bullet Vase, Pacification Shelf, No Trespassing Bookshelf, Deforestation Chairs, Gato Lamps, Veneza Carioca, Stray Bullet Chair, and Shelfish Mollusk Lamp.
Gang warfare, urban violence, deforestation ... David Elia uses these subjects as testimonies of daily Carioca life. Like the inhabitants of Rio, Design da Gema collects violence and anger and transforms them into creative energy. David Elia uses themes that have seldom been explored in design to create his furniture pieces. His body of work falls between contemporary art and design, and each piece, far removed from its original function, questions a certain reality. Additionally, Elia's work combines gambiarra-a Portuguese word that refers to a makeshift problem-solving style common to Brazil, generally necessitated by or alluding to a lack of tools and inspired by a tradition of resourcefulness-as well as up-cycling and Post-Minimalist tendencies.
About David Elia | Design da Gema
An artist designer, David has Lebanese and Uruguayan origins and grew up between France, the United States and Brazil, making him not only a true Brazilian but also a citizen of the world. The studio Design da Gema embodies the pureness of Brazil's vision, whose epitome is drawn by the vision of its designer. Both a Design studio and small production unit, Design da Gema is based in Rio de Janeiro.
David received a Masters Degree in Interior Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and Product Design from Domus Academy in Milan. He is the recipient of an A' Prime Design Award, IF Materials Design Award, the Esther Pine Prize and the Leonard Bernstein Grant in Fine Arts. Some of David's work is part of important private collections most notably the Pinault Art Collection. David founded Design da Gema after working with the Campana Brothers in 2010 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
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