ENSEMBLE – Gerrit Rietveld and the MAO Collection - Slovenia
Initiated by the Embassy as a public diplomacy project and developed together with Ms Maja Vardjan, Director of MAO, the exhibition brings to light an exceptional private collection of Rietveld’s furniture and household objects, never before shown publicly.
The exhibition centers around a remarkable private collection built from the 1990s onward, largely comprising works from Rietveld’s workshop, established in 1917. The workshop — in long-term collaboration with master craftsman Gerard A. van de Groenekan — became a space for developing, refining, and iterating many of Rietveld’s seminal pieces.
ENSEMBLE thoughtfully places these Dutch design masterpieces in
conversation with the MAO collection and key figures from Slovenian
modernism, including Oton Jugovec, Niko Kralj, Marjeta Pirkmajer
Kregar, Gizela Šuklje, and Ciril Tavčar. Their works are presented
alongside Rietveld’s to highlight shared interests in construction,
materiality, and the role of design in shaping modern life.