Cranbrook Academy of Art Announces Annual Knoll Lecture on Design
Bloomfield Hills, Mich., March 27, 2019 – Each year, through the generosity of an endowment from Knoll, Inc., the Knoll Lecture Series at Cranbrook Academy of Art brings a renowned designer to campus for a free public lecture to promote the importance of design and build discussions with the Academy students.
Aldo Bakker will deliver this year’s lecture, ‘TO CREATE’ at Cranbrook Art Museum on Friday, April 26 at 6pm.
Bakker’s designs become an expression of ontological questions, where objects become something more like characters with their own sense of being. Bakker claims that by positioning his works as individual characters, he forces his audience to shift its perception. “We are no longer looking at an inanimate object on which we project our knowledge of style, shape or material value. Instead, these creatures invite us to engage in a conversation about their behavior, their uncertainties, their beliefs, and their native tongue. We do not approach them as buyers or even as art historians. We become their fellow travelers, questioning ourselves as much as they question us,” Bakker says.
Many of Aldo Bakker’s works are unique pieces. Several are produced in small editions. Next to his independent studio production, Bakker has also created commissioned works for companies like Georg Jensen, Karakter, Puiforcat, Sèvres and Swarovski. His work has been acquired by museums like Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), MoMa (NY), Cooper Hewitt (NY), mudac (Lausanne), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou (Paris), Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Victoria & Albert Museum (London). In 2016 and 2017 a major overview of his work was presented in the exhibition Pause (CID Grand Hornu, mudac Lausanne). Other solo exhibitions were staged at Atelier Courbet (NY), Gallery Libby Sellars (London), Looiersgracht 60 (Amsterdam), Villa Noailles in Hyeres and Vivid Gallery (Rotterdam).
In 2016 Alice Rawsthorn and Hans den Hartog Jager edited the monograph Aldo Bakker (NAI 010 Publishers NL). Aldo Bakker received the Wallpaper Award (2011), First Prize at DDA (2009) and First Prize at Bornholm Glass (2008).
The relationship of Knoll International and Cranbrook Academy of Art dates back to the early 1940s. It was at this time that Florence Schust, who was first a student at Cranbrook Kingswood School for Girls before she enrolled at the Academy, met her husband, Hans Knoll, who founded Knoll International in 1938. The Knolls went on to produce furniture by the Academy’s most celebrated alumni including Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Harry Bertoia, among others.
“The Knoll Lecture Series on Design is truly a gift to Cranbrook that keeps on giving,” said Susan R. Ewing, the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art. “Each year through the generosity of this gift, we are able to bring in thought leaders from around the world. The benefits that our students and faculty receive from these relationships extended far beyond their years at Cranbrook. We continue to be grateful to Knoll for their ongoing support.”
Andrew Cogan, Chairman and CEO of Knoll Inc., says, “Knoll today continues the tradition of inspiring and supporting design talent. The Knoll Lecture series at Cranbrook honors Florence Knoll and is inseparable from our commitment to work with the world’s preeminent designers, developing products that inspire and endure.”
Knoll operates locations around the world including a manufacturing site in Grand Rapids and Muskegon, MI. The Knoll headquarters is located in East Greenville, Pennsylvania.
The lecture will be held in deSalle Auditorium at Cranbrook Art Museum. Free, no pre-registration required.
