Vjenceslav Richter was a central figure in the aesthetic construction of post-war Yugoslavia, an architect whose pavilions at international expositions projected a vision of progress and disciplined modernism. Yet, while his influence on the Croatian urban landscape remains indelible, his contributions to furniture design were long confined to archives, sketches, and singular prototypes. At this year’s Salone del Mobile, the Croatian brand Prostoria moved to rectify this historical oversight with "Revisiting Richter," a collection that brings the architect’s unproduced ideas into industrial reality.
The 20-piece collection, categorized into five sub-collections, marks the first time Richter’s furniture has been industrially manufactured. Led by art director Iva Šilović, the project is less a nostalgic reproduction and more a translation of Richter’s functionalist rigor into contemporary production. The designs are characterized by the sleek, geometric lines of mid-century modernism, yet they carry the weight of a specific ideological and social moment in Central European history.
Among the highlights is the VR51 task chair, an updated version of a 1948 design originally created for the transformation of a Zagreb art gallery into the Museum of the Revolution. Other pieces, such as the VR53 armchairs, draw from 1960s prototypes that capture the era’s optimistic belief in design as a tool for institutional organization. By moving these objects from the archive to the showroom, Prostoria provides a tangible link to a modernist legacy that has, until now, been largely under-recognized outside of its home country.
With reporting from Dezeen.
Source · Dezeen