This week our guest lecturer Alexander von Vegesack, invited as part of the Spring Lecture Series 2017, inspired the audience with his lecture: Adventures With Objects.

Alexander von Vegesack is a collector, cultural entrepreneur and a self-made man par excellence. His professional and personal life are one holistic work in progress, continuously investing in the meaning and beauty of design.

Be it as an organizer of tourist adventures in the Sahara, of theatre happenings, exhibitions, and concerts in a Hamburg-based former factory, be it as founder of museums such as the Vitra Design Museum, which he directed for more than 20 years, or today as the initiator and guiding spirit of Domaine de Boisbuchet – his innovative center for experimental design education in the French countryside: Alexander von Vegesack has always been the creator of something definitely different and unexpected.

While following his passion for cultures, his curiosity about the origins of an object’s specific look and functionality, and his joy in translating experiences or things into stories, all his ventures have been authentic and innovative to an extent that they ulimately served as role models or prototypes for others to learn from.

In this exclusive lecture, Alexander von Vegesack has been talking about his inspirations in Andalusia, Japan and East Europe, his encouters with personalities such as Billy Wilder or Ray Eames, and his latest and biggest project: a summer camp for design- and architecture-afficionados from all over the world.

On the day of the lecture Alexander von Vegesack and Mathias Schwartz-Clauss, Director of the Domaine de Boisbuchet, had also the chance to visit  IAAC’s Valldaura Self-sufficient Labs by the hand of Vicente Guallart.