RADO Lightness Gallery

Dubai , UAE - April 13, 2016: The contemporary design scene is on a quest for lightness. From the streamlining of ceramics to the use of transparencies or the injection of air, objects are set afloat and embedded with an ethereal energy that corresponds to our desire for a lighter existence. Material is the message and mindfulness is the movement.

Rado has invited world‐renowned trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort to curate a design exhibition that illustrates this tendency. By bringing together innovative works by international designers, Edelkoort and her team will show how a “weightless” socio‐cultural philosophy is being previewed in design today.

As Lidewij Edelkoort explains, “A new generation is defining a different idea of style, ownership and luxury. Moderation and restraint are requested today; a mentality that favours quality over quantity and one that influences the way people look at the consumption of everything from cars to clothes and from food to travel. Modesty becomes a philosophy that goes beyond simplicity and minimalism, becoming another way of life made of essential choices with the planet and society in mind.”

• Purposeful processes are being designed to reduce mass and a new industrial era is announced, combining innovative technology with traditional handcrafted details such as quilting, folding, pleating and draping to create new dimensions. In order to feel lighter, surfaces are moulded and given volume, whether in porcelain, plastic, ceramic, metal or paper. Fibres are set free to float, turn‐up and coil in air.

Exhibition highlights include: two flexible steel seating designs by Nendo, a one‐of‐a‐kind transparent glass chair by Tokujin Yoshioka, a wire chair by Jinil Park that resembles a sketch, an animated “monstrous” vase by Tim van der Weerd, inflated FIDU technology objects by Oskar Zieta, a poetic time measuring device by Kacper Hamilton, and the world’s first 3D printed chair by Patrick Jouin (2004). The exhibition design will also unveil a wallpaper recently created by Front for WallVision.

• The exhibition dates coincide with Baselworld 2016. Edelkoort observes how Rado’s timepieces fit within this new design vocabulary: “Rado’s timepieces are simple, serene and soothing, created for theindividual and no longer for the public, with the feature of feeling so surprisingly light when worn. Transparencies and the use of black and white convey a message of peace of mind. White is chosen because of its mystic ability to soothe and blend with all other colours. Grey is symbolic of wisdom and weathering the test of time, while black is grounding and adapts equally to other hues. From their delicate dials to the sleek silhouettes, the watch details are intimate and emotional, reduced to fundamental elements, quiet and almost invisible, whispering time.”
• Lidewij Edelkoort is arguably the world’s most famous trend forecaster. Her company Trend Union produces tools that are used by strategists, designers and marketers at brands from Armani to Zegna. Edelkoort is also a publisher, humanitarian, educator and exhibition curator, working with her Parisbased team to illuminate museums and cultural institutions around the globe. She has been named by Time Magazine as one of the 25 Most Influential People in Fashion and by Icon as one of the 20 Most Influential People in Design.
• Rado is a globally recognised brand, famous for innovative design and its use of revolutionary materials to create some of the world’s most durable watches. Ever since its beginnings in Lengnau, Switzerland, Rado has been a pioneer, with the brand philosophy “if we can imagine it, we can make it” still holding true today.

Breaded Escalope (Austria)
Peter Donders (Belgium)
Formafantasma (Italy)
Constance Guisset (France)
Kacper Hamilton (Great Britain)
Patrick Jouin (France)
Donn Koh (Singapore)
Ross Lovegrove (Great Britain)
Simon Naouri (France)
Nendo (Japan)
Jinil Park (Korea)
Koji Sekita (Japan)
Berndnaut Smilde (the Netherlands)
Eisuke Tachikawa (Japan)
Tim van de Weerd (the Netherlands)
Tokujin Yoshioka (Japan)
YOY (Japan)
Oskar Zieta (Poland)

Rado’s latest standout pieces have been crafted from the brand’s signature material, high‐tech ceramic, which is one of the lightest and most durable materials used in luxury watchmaking. The designs are light and atmospheric as well: The True Open Heart, with its diaphanous mother‐of‐pearl dial, evokes feelings of weightlessness, while the new True Thinline timepieces seemingly float on the wrist with their restrained lines and ultra‐slim profiles.

The HyperChrome 1616 truly breaks new ground in comfort and durability with its use of a new titanium hardening treatment. This treatment makes the titanium 5 times harder than watchmaking steel while being only half its weight. The HyperChrome Ultra Light is crafted from incredibly light materials: silicon nitride ceramic, hardened titanium inserts, and a movement with anodized aluminium bridges.