Belgian design collective Zaventem Ateliers has recreated a full furniture show in cardboard after the majority of the pieces it was to show at a Mexico City exhibition were stalled in transit from Europe.
Zaventem Ateliers, a collection of design studios that operates out of a 19th-century paper mill outside of Brussels, recreated a full exhibition after it learned that the 35 pieces it had brought for the Unique Design X exhibition taking place during Mexico City art week were not going to be released from customs.
The works by eight design studios, including members Krjst Studio and Serban Ionescu Studio, were replicated at a one-to-one scale using three square metres of cardboard gathered locally in Mexico City. The original pieces were made in a variety of materials, including metal. Reproduction took 17 hours
To meet the deadline for the fair's opening, the studios worked for 17 gruelling hours to create their reproductions.
"We worked, barely speaking or drinking, and then we set up everything and created the same scenography that we planned," Zaventem Ateliers founder Lionel Jadot told Dezeen.
"The result was quite satisfying. The funny thing was that people passing by didn't understand what we were doing until the next day when we opened."
"We had nothing to sell. We were just there to show models of our pieces, to show the volume, and in the end, the absence of our pieces rounded the public's astonishing curiosity."
The exhibition (to...