Diverse Maniere: Piranesi, Fantasy and Excess

Sir John Soane’s Museum was conceived as a place of inspiration, learning and provocation for “amateurs and students” working within the field of architecture, painting and sculpture. The current exhibition, Diverse Maniere: Piranesi, Fantasy and Excess, more than responds to this remit

Curator Jerzy Kierkuć-Bieliński speaks to Studio International about some of his favourite pieces on display, including a coffee pot shaped like a shell standing on a tortoise; a decadent golden chair with swan-neck armrests; and a tripod with a helix spiral that seems to foresee the discovery of DNA. The items, never realised during Piranesi’s lifetime, have been scanned from his often minute designs and 3D printed by Factum Arte, a Madrid based company that has carefully hand-finished the pieces in the materials Piranesi would have intended.

Sir John Soane’s Museum, London
7 March – 31 May 2014

Interview by Anna McNay
Filmed by Martin Kennedy