Curator Stephen Weishop: Man of Art

DThe last time Stephen Weishop was traveling in March. He came from Toronto, Sebastian Herkner of Offenbach. The two met in Berlin. A table should be created. Designer Herkner also put some initial ideas on paper. But then it became a project that Weishopt could support from afar. Forty-three-year-old Carona has been stuck in Toronto, Canada for ten months. Weischop and Herkner had to improve. “We spend a lot of time on Lifetime,” Weishop says. Samples, models, profiles sent back and forth in the mail. He lived up to date in Toronto, but was not able to be part of the creation process as usual.

In January, a prototype made in Germany was finally ready and brought to Canada. The table of Weishop’s Man of Parts brand is launching these days, already named: Saviganplatz. Herkner’s work is named after the German legal scholar Friedrich Karl von Sävgen, a professor of law and a good 200 years ago at the University of Berlin, later Rector of Humboldt University. Savane was chosen as the name because the scholar referred to the writings of Emmanuel Kant and called for greater freedom and self-determination in legal theory. Thus, it says in the description, the huge wooden table Savignyplatz is “also a place for decent debate and food: with an open mind and a good wine, every problem can be solved.”

Furniture in the portfolio of the Man of Parts brand, which is only two years old, has almost all the names of streets, squares, or districts that have a definite connection to the respective designer. For example, there is the Menkai Luminaire by Sebastian Herkner, built very close to Apponament Street on the right bank of Maine in Frankfurt. Or Alexander Street Armchair by Philippe Malouin: Canadian product designer grew up on this same street in Montreal. The Rua Tucuma coffee table by Oswaldo Tenorio of Brazil is named after a street in São Paulo, El Raval Sofa by Canadian designer duo Yabu Pushelberg is named after the Barcelona district, which postpones La Rambala promenade, Which in turn gives its name. For another chair by George Yaboo and Glenn Pushelberg.

Niche discovered beautiful things

The two Canadians, who have been running a studio together in Toronto since 1980, were instrumental in establishing not only Man of Parts, but the first project Stephen Weishop developed 14 years ago: Avenue Road. “George and Glenn gave me the idea of ​​opening a gallery to show things that exist in Canada,” Weishop says. Toronto is a metropolis and is growing strongly, but it cannot be compared to London, Paris or Berlin. “There was a place for beautiful things, and we wanted to fill it.”