Guest Contribution by Katerina Biliouri

MN*LS was born in 2008 when Colombia met Austria, when Margarita Navarro met Ludwig Slezak.  Margarita Navarro was born in Colombia, studied design in Madrid and after some work experience in Spain and the United States, she moved to Milan for her postgraduate studies on Design at Domus Academy.  On the other hand, Ludwig Slezak was born in Austria, studied in Los Angeles, London and graduated from St. Martins College of Art and Design.  After several years of various collaborations within design and architectural studios, they both ended up in Treviso. There, in 2008 they founded their studio MN*LS, where they are mainly working in the fields of sports apparel, interior, product design and graphics.

What is evident throughout all their areas of interest is the combination of craftsmanship and industrial processes, as well as of tradition and innovation.

Entre Lineas is one of their design projects. It is a one-off collection where unknown pieces are inspired by the traditions of ready-made. Keeping in mind the definition by the king of readymades Marcel Duchamp that a ready-made is "an ordinary object elevated to the dignity of a work of art by the mere choice of an artist", one can  understand that the field of ready-made design objects is definitely a challenging one for designers.

Through the Entre Lineas collection, MN*LS studio manages to add a different value to given objects and reinterpret them by the application of handmade techniques. Specifically, the collection is comprised of illuminated objects in a limited edition that appeal due to their rather poetic approach. Small hand folded antique books are turned into romantic & stylish lightings.  If until now we were accustomed in using a light to read between a book's lines, now the light itself comes from between lines, in spanish "entre lineas".

Overall, the Entre Lineas project has been exhibited in a small gallery, a showroom and a Japanese restaurant as decoration. Currently, MN*LS have another Entre Lineas exhibition planned in Austria, focusing this time more on illuminated sculptures.