Often avoiding the usual client/brief relationship, Alex Rich is fascinated by the social aspects of design. Alongside his graphic and product design practice, Rich works increasingly with workshops and also interventions in public space. He calls these projects ‘gentle interventions’, rethinking design that has lost its functionality with a playful, DIY aesthetic, such as, for example, his series of redesigns for damaged park benches. Rich also is involved in activities that include cooking, such as the Total Trattoria events at the Aram Gallery, London, in collaboration with Åbäke and Martino Gamper.
For On Purpose Rich has developed a concept for designing wall drawing, comprising patterns and texts especially for the Arnolfini’s expansive lobby and circulation area. The drawings will be generated through a series of workshops in collaboration with different groups over the duration of the exhibition, including staff from the Arnolfini café/bar, a deaf group, and members of the public participating in one of the institutions regular ‘Mash Up’ events. Inspired by Bruno Munari’s brightly-coloured teaching aids for learning the alphabet and writing, the wall drawings, which are both decorative and a trace of these discussions, will accumulate over time.
Rich has also designed the second of the two adverts in frieze magazine for the exhibition.
http://www.field-trip.org
http://www.thearamgallery.org/2008/03/07/total-trattoria/