For over 30 years, the Museu da Casa Brasileira’s Design Awards have recognized Brazil’s top design objects across a full scope of categories including appliances, textiles, transportation, furniture and academic research and design publications. Each year the annual awards cycle kicks off with an announcement poster selected by competition and culminates in an exhibition in the Museum’s galleries. Year in, year out a continual challenge remains presenting the show in unique and unexpected ways. To accomplish this necessary sense of annual originality, the Museu takes inspiration for exhibition design and graphic motifs from the winning poster. For the 33rd edition, however, a minimalist, sterile graphic of a broken plate nodding towards everyday household objects emerged the victor, proving difficult to translate aesthetically into the adjoining show. Here’s how we pieced it all together. Photo: winning poster by Stephanie Mathias

Linking directly with the poster, we visualized a corresponding form for each of the Museu’s exhibition rooms, broken apart and repurposed as bases for the pieces on display. Shards and puzzle fragments were utilized on floors and walls accomplishing lucid relief. While simple in concept, room layouts still required a focus on accessibility for museum patrons. Everything just so.

Utilizing the same idea, all signage, captions and wall texts were also presented on similarly shattered forms, much like the bases composed from pieces of the same shape.

Showcasing collapsible furniture broken down into its component pieces, the overriding visual strategy remained in play across every award category. Overcoming the limitations imposed by the simple initial image of a broken plate, these solutions delivered an intriguing museum experience.