Exhibition curated by Oscar Lhermitte
Set design by Oscar Lhermitte and Stinsensqueeze

No Randomness is an exhibition curated by Oscar Lhermitte. It was originally shown at the International Design Biennial of Saint Etienne 2015, gathering more than 200 000 visitors.

Have you ever wondered why manhole covers are round? Why a metre measures a metre? Or why an A4 sheet of paper measures 210 mm by 297 mm? A ratio to determine the size of an image, an octagon to represent a pictogram, a smell to materialise the intangible... These ideas are not new, there is nothing original about them, no one knows or can remember the name of the person who thought of them, these are ideas for mass consumption ... but heavens, are they beautiful! The modern world is full of objects that we interact with on a daily basis; we are so used to their presence that some of them have taken on a form of self evidence. We forget just how functional and well-designed they really are. The No Randomness exhibition highlights the beauty and the qualities of the standards, systems and industrial products whose presence and use in our environment are of such great importance. From the specific shape of a road sign to the pattern on a Cornish fisherman's jacket, the collection presents a series of products that share one common attribute: their shape could not be more functional. These objects, apparently banal, non design, even invisible, are actually true heroes of design: they fulfil their function perfectly, sometimes so well that they become universal. Their hidden beauty is in the detail (a particular curve, a particular dimension, a particular colour): their essential raison d'être. The intention of this exhibition is to show that design becomes beautiful when it is thought out and developed as a whole, within the framework of a system connected to other systems. This collection arouses the public's curiosity about their immediate environment and leads them to understand that nothing is random. In other words, design is never as beautiful as when it is invisible. The objects on show in this exhibition will be everyday objects: paper, long eggs, a metric system, an orange safety vest, a STOP sign and a tyre tread.

Biografie - Oscar Lhermitte

Oscar Lhermitte is a French multidisciplinary designer based in London. He graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2009 in Product Design and from the Royal College of Art in Design Product in 2011. Oscar sees diversity as a driving force, he does not want to be constrained by only one area of creativity. His body of work ranges from industrial design to photography, video, exhibition curation, set design, art direction, and consulting.

Oscar Lhermitte is the co-founder and director of Sidekick Creatives LTD and was nominated Design Of The Year 2014 by the Design Museum of London.

Oscar is regularly invited to give talks, lectures and tutorials in universities such as Brunel University and the Royal College of Art.