AtFAB joins pioneers of digital design in “Minding the Digital” at the Design Society Museum, China’s first international contemporary design and cultural institution. AtFAB Rotational Stools join works by Achim Menges, Joris Laarman, and other artists and designers in the museum’s inaugural exhibition.

For the exhibition design itself, Dutch architecture firm MVRDV furnished the various galleries with AtFAB furniture. Working in the spirit of AtFAB’s concept, MVRDV downloaded our open source files. Then, they modified each file to suit the exhibition’s varied installations. Our friends at Opendesk‘s Shanghai office then connected MVRDV with local fabricators, who produced dozens of transparent acrylic pieces. As a result, MVRDV filled the Design Society Museum’s galleries with barely-there, sparkling versions of the Rotational Stools, One to Several Table, and its new cousin, the One to Several Bench.

Shenzhen’s makers demonstrated their meticulous digital craftsmanship in every piece of acrylic furniture. They maintained a perfect joinery fit, polished every cut edge, and flawlessly fastened each screw into the material. Throughout the museum, guests seated at the show’s interpretive exhibits seemingly hover above the gallery floors.

The Design Society Museum opened in 2017 in Shenzhen, China’s largest manufacturing region. Its charge and mission is to expand and enrich the nation’s design environment. In order to fulfill this mission, it aims to make “Designed in China” synonymous with “Made in China”. The Museum creates a platform to show China’s creative drive to the world. And, through exhibitions like “Minding the Digital” that included AtFAB, the Design Society Museum also nurtures China’s quest for design inspiration from abroad.