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    Carpenters Workshop Gallery And Swiss Bank Lombard Odier Partner For The Venice Biennale

    Carpenters Workshop Gallery And Swiss Bank Lombard Odier Partner For The Venice Biennale

    Article published in Forbes.com, 13 May 2019

    Last week as the Venice Biennale opened its doors for previews, a glamorous cocktail took place at Galleria Giorgio Franchetti Alla Ca’ D’Oro, a late Gothic palazzo located along the Grand Canal that holds an important collection of Medieval art owned by the baron Giorgio Franchetti. There, Carpenters Workshop Gallery, an international art and design gallery with locations in London, Paris, New York, and San Francisco, had commissioned several of the names on its roster, who include Nacho Carbonell, Random International, Maarten Baas, The Verhoeven Twins, Wendell Castle, Michele Lamy, Virgil, Abloh, Rick Owens, and more to add their contemporary touch to the palazzo by adding their own creations to construct a dialogue between them, the Medieval works, and the palazzo’s ornate architecture. The exhibition, which is on view through November 24 and titled Dysfunctional, was made possible in part by Lombard Odier, a family-owned private Swiss bank founded in 1796.
     

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    Now why would a Swiss bank partner with a premier art and design gallery? On the surface, a partnership between a Swiss bank and a design and art gallery may raise eyebrows, but for both Lombard Odier and Carpenters Workshop Gallery, it makes perfect sense. It was a partnership that began with discussions about  three years ago, around the time of the 2017 Venice Biennale. “When Loïc [Le Gaillard, the co-founder of Carpenters Workshop Gallery] proposed the idea, the dream, just clicked and just wanted to be part of it. It was very easy to rationalize, because they are true rethinkers, and our bank stands for rethinking everything, the very interest of the art design collectibles,” said Fabio Mancone, the chief branding officer at Lombard Odier, as we sat on a chaise lounge by Owens.

    When Loïc Le Gaillard proposed the idea, the dream, we just clicked and just wanted to be part of it…They are true rethinkers, and our bank stands for rethinking everything, the very interest of the art design collectibles,” said Fabio Mancone.

    Just make not to label the partnership a sponsorship. That’s exactly what Mancone insists it’s not. For a sponsorship, “you take your brand name, you pass it on something, and then you invite clients,” he said. “What we wanted to do here was really to commune our vision and values, which exist, and then bring it to the clients in a way that makes sense. We share the same clients, especially, you know, wealthy clients that love art, and they love to collect, and wealthy clients who love to invest—the same kind of ground.  So we wanted to create something that was relevant for them.”

    What we wanted to do here was really to commune our vision and values, which exist, and then bring it to the clients in a way that makes sense, explained Fabio Mancone.

    Carpenters Workshop Gallery had the opportunity to work with other partners, but they decided that Lombard Odier was the best fit. “Like any good projects, and like any good partners, we need more than money, we needed smart money, people would not only will be able to help us financially, but really be able to sit down at the table, roll their sleeves, come up with new ideas, to challenge us, in order to make sure that whatever we start doing together is going to get better,” said Le Gaillard.

    {We needed} people {who} would not only will be able to help us financially, but really be able to sit down at the table, roll their sleeves, come up with new ideas, to challenge us, in order to make sure that whatever we start doing together is going to get better,” said Le Gaillard.

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    Fabio Mancone, Chief Branding Officer, Lombard Odier

    Le Gaillard said that Carpenters Workshop Gallery titled the exhibition Dysfunctional because it wanted to ponder over the following questions: “What is function? What is not function? What is Dysfunctional, anyway brings us to what is art? What is not art? Where does it start? And where does it finish?” The dealer approached his artists and designers with one request when organizing Dysfunctional: “Blow my mind away.” And that’s exactly what they did. Upon entering the palazzo, guests see a chandelier by Carbonell titled “Inside a Forest Cloud,” an illuminated amalgam of clouds and trees that is framed by the building’s Corinthian columns and its magnificent tiled floor.

    On the next level, hundreds of tiny automated mirrors on the floor surround the gallery’s medieval sculptures, following the exhibition visitors around. “It was born out of trying to mimic human behavior in the most minimalist fashion, having little mechanical heads which can do only what human heads can do,” said Hannes Koch, one of the members of design collective Random International, which created the installation.

    Many of the exhibits look at the environmental and social issues of today.

    Many of the exhibits look at the environmental and social issues of today. At a balcony close by, multi hyphenate Virgil Abloh contemplated on Venice’s future and its rising waters through a series of chairs, benches and lamps called “Acqua Alta” that look as if they’re sinking. In another room Stuart Haygarth’s “Tide Colour,” a sphere-shaped chandelier composed of colorful plastic objects the designer found on the coastline of his native England. The Campana Brothers formed an installation made from sustainable materials like raffia and dried palm leaves from the forests of their native Brazil. Lamy hung a set of punching bags designed by various artists that asks viewers to think about life in a boxing installation called “What Are We Fighting For?”

    At the balcony on the second level, a series of iridescent glass bubbles is installed by the Verhoeven Twins, who took over seven years to perfect the process to make the perfect clusters of glass spheres that evoke the childhood joy of playing with bubbles. “So behind this smile is a lot of science, this moment of joy,” said Jeroen Verhoeven. On the ground floor, Studio Drift created an illuminated frame of lights that surround the 1506 painting “San Sebastian” by Andrea Mantegna.

    “We are pushing the boundary because I think we are rethinking the way we're approaching art today,” said Le Gaillard, who with Mancone, hinted that Dysfunctional may be the first among many future collaborations between Carpenters Workshop Gallery and Lombard Odier.

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