There is a certain gravity to Jasper Morrison’s lightness. It is not merely a matter of weight and materials but an attitude, a mental posture that translates into objects of Super Normal design – an approach Morrison himself, alongside his colleague Naoto Fukasawa, defined in 2006. With the exhibition The Lightness of Things at the Fondazione ICA Milan, curated by the institution’s director Alberto Salvadori, the British designer takes this reflection further, emphasizing the value of the essential and the importance of the ordinary.

Milan has played a central role in his career. “It has been at the heart of my ambitions as a designer since I was a student,” he recalls. He first arrived in 1983, drawn by the city’s creative energy and the dynamic world of Milanese design. At the time, the Salone del Mobile was very different: a single pavilion dedicated to design, accessible only by navigating a labyrinth of furniture. Yet even then, it was already the beating heart of industry innovation. Four decades later, Morrison admits that “getting through a week of endless dinners and late nights has become a challenge,” but he also acknowledges that the event remains “the highlight of the year.” 

Jasper Morrison

Today, it is not just Milan that has changed, but the entire design landscape. Artificial intelligence and the copyright debate pose new challenges, and Morrison recognizes the urgency of protecting creativity.

“We may be on the verge of a major shift,” he notes, stressing the need for designers to collectively defend their work against the unchecked use of data. While technology opens up new possibilities, it also raises fundamental questions about authorship. In this context, the simplicity of his design philosophy gains even greater significance – not just as a response to excess but as a deliberate affirmation of what it means to create today.

Morrison has always had an aversion to design ego. His work does not shout, does not seek spectacle, does not aim to dazzle. Yet his objects, infused with a minimalism that feels familiar, become essential – indispensable even – in the homes of those who live with them. Objects that endure over time because they seamlessly integrate into everyday life with a quiet presence that ultimately makes them irreplaceable.

“For me, design is the change in atmosphere that an object brings to a space,” Morrison explains. His work can be summed up as a deep focus on what makes a place welcoming, livable, and lovable. This is the atmosphere the Fondazione ICA exhibition seeks to capture and convey to the public with utmost simplicity.

The project unfolds on two levels: 12 chairs suspended in space and 12 photographs of archetypal objects displayed on the walls. The chairs, selected from among the many Morrison has designed over the course of his career, are stripped of their primary function. They cannot be sat on, nor touched; they are objects to be observed and contemplated in their formal purity. 

Meanwhile, the photographic images restore the essence of ordinary objects, revealing their silent yet powerful presence. The exhibition is accompanied by a soundscape composed by British experimental musician Anthony Moore, titled Six Agents Sound the Morrison Canon. A series of synthetic voices recites Morrison’s essays on the objects in the exhibition. Once again, no excess, no rhetoric – just a subtle intellectual vibration that encourages slowness and contemplation. 

“The starting point for this project is the concept of the archetype, which has shaped Morrison’s entire body of work,” Salvadori explains. Alongside it are “two other fundamental principles he has defined both theoretically and practically: Super Normal and Unimportance,” two concepts that lead to the creation of objects capable of entering everyday life discreetly yet effectively. This perspective captures the essence of Morrison’s approach – pragmatic, devoid of ostentatious authorship, and focused on the intrinsic value of objects. He reminds us that true quality does not need to make a spectacle of itself to be recognized.

The exhibition’s title, The Lightness of Things, is not merely an aesthetic statement but a true ethical manifesto. Here, lightness is not superficiality; it is a form of resistance against excess, against opulence – an invitation to rediscover the value of things in their purest essence. In its apparent simplicity, the project reveals the depth of a thought process that, without grand proclamations, questions the very meaning of contemporary design.

Opening image: Portrait of Jasper Morrison, 2022. Photo Thomas Martin. Courtesy PCM Studio