On the occasion of Milano Design Week, Tecno celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the desk system Nomos -an icon of industrial design- with an exhibition dedicated to the product and its designer, design and industrial production. Awarded ADI Compasso d’Oro in 1987 this masterpiece represents the first example of hybrid office design and opened the era of the cross-product.
The original designs by Norman Foster, the technical drawings selected from the Tecno archives and pictures taken by master photographer Mauro Masera guide the visitor as they rediscover a major chapter in the story that the architect has created with many of his works, be they macro structures or –as in the case of Nomos – exceptional objects.
Foster and Tecno have always had idioms particularly agreeable to constituting a relationship: a choice of great clarity and consistency, meaning certain value.
Their meeting, followed by two years of work, results in an unending stream of designs by Foster followed by no fewer models and prototypes created by Tecno to achieve an industrial result nearly identical to the original.
Nomos was originally conceived by Foster and his collaborators to generate a system for the new Portland Street studio in London, but over the years it proved capable of performing other functions too and became a furnishing accessory that meets a multitude of needs, an authentic system that has furnished public and working spaces the world over.
Nomos. design Foster+Partners, 1986
Physically, Nomos is a system of precise structures that combine with surfaces and elements in various materials.
The basic concept is simple: a surface rests on a metal structure with a central backbone, two side support arms and four tilted, projecting legs, analogous to the structure of vertebra and ribs of the human body.
A system of elements for building a wide range of compositions without fixing elements, which a process of selection can employ to create settings for groups of varying natures and dimensions: from individual workstations to large meeting tables and the latest desk-sharing solutions.
Nomos is not defined, but evolves over time, even gaining the artificial intelligence of the ioT, internet of things.
