When you see her series of Totems in marble and in ceramics, which will be presented at the Milan Design Week next week, you’ll immediately know that Beirut-based designer Karen Chekerjian’s language is rooted in the Italian radical design movement of the 60s. It was as a student at the DOMUS Academy in Milan, that she had first met her future mentor, Italian architect and designer Massimo Morozzi, co-founder of the influential Archzoom Associati, known for its pop-art-inspired furniture and for creating design full of narrative. Two years ago, Chekerjian has introduced her own Totem, a side table composed of three geometric forms, cylinder, circle, and cone, stacked one of top of the other. This series of colorful Totems will be presented by Gallery Dilmos, while, and at the same time, their new version, Totems in marble will be launched by its producer, Mmairo. “Circles,” Chekerjina suggests, “represents the infinite, and the infinite is at the basis of all beings. I read it and cannot stop thinking of Ettore Sottsass, who long before founding Memphis, created oversize and colorful totems, spiritual objects in ceramics, homage to his love affair with India.
