"Curious Boy introduces ALPINE RISING, a project by Markus Benesch that vividly expresses his contemplation of nature through imaginative and vibrant space designs."
Inspired by the legend of the Tuntschi, Markus Benesch invites visitors to experience a surreal world that explores the needs and desires of our digital society through furniture, objects, and space.
ALPINE RISING features bold colors and decorative accents, creating joyful furniture with an individual and daring character. The collection encourages an analog lifestyle, offering a response to the negative effects of digitalization on our mental health. The focus is on achieving a balance between the digital and analog worlds, creating a harmonious and inviting space that allows us to reconnect with nature and ourselves.
Markus Benesch transports the visitor to the fantastic and surreal world of the high mountains. The furniture, objects, and space tell a story in which the needs, desires, and struggles of today‘s digital society are explored in an intuitive and playful manner. In the high alpine terrain, one encounters oneself, the Tuntschi* and the longing to return to a world that creates space for what is essential - through reduction, structure, austerity and colors. This is where the ALPINE RISING collection shines, embodying the essence of rural furniture by combining functionality with visual appeal. The collection merges traditional elements of alpine furniture with Markus‘s unique visual language, resulting in contemporary and symbolically significant furniture.
The Tuntschi is a legend that can personify wishful thinking, an alter ego, or a straw doll. It embodies our individual conception of isolation, joy, and plea- sure in alpine life, while also representing our need for quiet, profound conversations and simplified living. The story of Tuntschi reflects the joy of missing out, the opportunity to create and enjoy beauty by reducing everything to the essentials. Artifacts and relics collected from the Tuntschi trigger our imagination, allowing us to participate in Tuntschi‘s life and envision the life we long for; especially when digital noise becomes too overwhelming. It‘s a yearning for a simplified life, the opportunity to immerse oneself in cooking, embroidery, pottery, painting, table games, and contemplation. To be disembodied, to be one with nature, to create and enjoy beauty by reducing everything to the essentials. Creativity can only emerge when noise is reduced. Only when there is space, something new can arise. The physical artifacts we have collected from the Tuntschi are relics that trigger our imagination and allow us to participate in the Tuntschi‘s life. They exist in the present, as well as in the past, future, or even a parallel dimension. These possessions enable us to envision and piece together a picture of the Tuntschi and the life we long for, especially when digital noise becomes too overwhelming.
