Borghese

Ingo Maurer. Designer. Reichenau, Germany, 1932

 

One of the most interesting aspects of my work is working with different architects. They call on us for help - often too late because the electric outlets are already done - a help to bring their work the fourth dimension, to make their work visible. / I don’t remember exactly when I met Oscar Tusquets first. Probably some fifteen years ago, somewhere in Milan. Yes, now I remember: at Maddalena (“la prima donna del mobile”) De Padova. I was impressed by his elegance. The next encounter was at Driade, also in Milan. He came up to me saying: “Ingo, I read your text for Achille Castiglioni”. In that text I was praising the fact that Achille Castiglioni lives and works in Milan, a city which I find so Borghese, and yet one cannot find a single trace of Borghese attitude in his [Castiglioni’s] work. Oscar said: “I read your text and I want to tell you that we love being Borghese”. Borghese means to me among a number of things slipping into a costume, a costume which is connected with pretension. And pretension is what I dislike. Of course one can argue a lot about it, whether avoiding pretension is also pretending just like a person who claims not to be conceited, is also kind of conceited at the same time. / I have noticed among my designer/architect friends that between their work and their likings there is some times quite a difference - schizophrenic? Doing one thing but loving the opposite. / Lately I saw a photograph of Oscar Tusquets that showed him about 25 years ago. Wow!, he had the flair of a revoluzzer. I wish I had met him at that time, to understand when and how and why he left his skin behind. Was it sudden? Was it a long process? Is he a man under certain influences? Influenced by what? His city, his wife, the money? It is interesting but it does not really matter. Important is that he gave and gives us a lot. / Yes, I do admire him, and I admit I envy him for certain things. Not that I would like to be like him. He is a true result, a true reflection of his city. Oscar is so much Catalan, and most of all so from Barcelona, a city that I adore. He is truly genuine. The only other architect I worked with which is so closely connected and therefore a result of his city is Borek ípek, who lives and works in Prague. / Oscar has a firelike spirit. He is a restless man, alert in discussions. I feel him as a liquid element, rich in his mind, and never static. His eyes are warmly fixed on you, with attention and presence when he talks. A visit to his home/studio is each time a treat of a very special kind. Truly, it is more a palazzo than a home. Only a few things are cluttered at random. Culture and consciousness in any corner, a sign of his curiosity. He is open and closed at the same time. / It is great to work with him, a spiritual intercourse. The amount of his work is most impressive. Certainly, Oscar, like most architects, is ruled by compulsion. / However, compulsion is not in the roots of his elegance. And he is elegant and fashion-conscious. / Behind all those virtues, I see and feel the human being on that mentioned photograph. My few good friends from Barcelona confirm my instinct. Many of his design objects show a tenderness and a great sensibility. And that’s him! / Behind every strong and successful man there is a strong woman, it is said. But in Oscar’s case, I feel that he is, as I said, truly a genuine human being, a great contributor to our time with a source of his own. / Utterly a Borghese? I am in doubt.

With Ingo Maurer at the Casa del Laberinto.