All I Want for Christmas / Glenn Adamson
Hella Jongerius, 'Coloured Vases', 2010
By TDE Editorial Team / 8th December 2020
WELCOME TO OUR new Christmas strand. We have invited twelve leading figures in the world of collectible design – a mix of gallerists, expert commentators and designers – to choose the one object of collectible design, from any era, by any maker, which they would like to see posted down their magically expanded chimney on Christmas Eve. First up, is Glenn Adamson, academic, curator and writer, author of Fewer, Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects. Ironically, he has chosen many things, though wrapped together in one concept – but such is our generosity, we will do our best to oblige.
Glenn Adamson
COURTESY: Glenn Adamson
Which collectible design object would you like Father Christmas to bring you?
I’m not really an acquisitive sort, but I do make an exception at the holidays. As Sally (Charlie Brown’s little sister) once wrote to Santa, “To me, Christmas is the joy of getting.” So I was thrilled when TDE asked me to name my ultimate design wishlist item. It was an easy choice, too.
Hella Jongerius, ‘Coloured Vases’, 2010
COURTESY: Glenn Adamson & Hella Jongerius
Why this series?
Who wouldn’t want a full set (300) of Hella Jongerius’s ‘Coloured Vases’, in which the Dutch designer applies her characteristic personal touch to the domain of industrial ceramics? Conceived at a time when digital technology was sweeping across the design field, Jongerius offered a helpful reminder that craft was the original mass customisation.
Which chair will you be sitting in on Christmas day?
I will be sitting on my 1969 Art Carpenter ‘Wishbone’ chair. I do all my writing in it … and present opening too.
Glenn on his Art Carpenter ‘Wishbone’ chair
COURTESY: Glenn Adamson
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