A new exhibition in London explores how design and art can preserve memory, blending objects and moments into a single show. Titled Passages, the event at Monologue London features work by three creatives—rug and ceramic designer José María Balmaceda, photographer Simone Bossi, and architecture studio Paraforma. The show opened last week, timed with the PAD and Frieze art fairs, and centers on the idea of memory as something that shifts across forms rather than being fixed in time.
The exhibition’s core pieces include Balmaceda’s Códices collection, which translates ancestral Mexican architecture, pyramids, reliefs, and ancient codices, into rugs and ceramics. His studio, founded in 2017, reimagines these elements not as historical artifacts but as living, evolving objects. On display are three rugs, three ceramic vases, and a Murano glass vase, each designed to invite viewers into the layers of history embedded within them. Balmaceda’s approach avoids reconstruction, instead focusing on reactivating the past in a way that feels immediate and tangible.
Complementing the ceramics are Bossi and Paraforma’s Captiva series, a set of film photographs suspended in translucent resin. Taken inside the Barbican Conservatory on the evening it closed for renovation, the images capture the space at a key moment, just before transformation. The resin encasement creates a dynamic interplay of light and reflection, ensuring the photographs remain alive as objects rather than static images.
The exhibition’s curator, Pavel Klimczak, founder of Monologue London, describes the show as a dialogue between art and design. Klimczak’s curatorial philosophy balances collectible art with functional design, ensuring pieces feel at home in both galleries and private spaces. The tension between these worlds, art that still belongs in a home, is central to his approach.
Alongside Passages, Monologue London is also showcasing Batch, a family of hand-blown glass stools by Italian studio 6:AM. Klimczak’s selection process prioritizes quality of craftsmanship, clear aesthetic vision, and a compelling narrative beyond commercial launches. His clients, many of whom are interior designers, play a key role in shaping these choices. “I carry my own taste, but also theirs,” he notes.
The show runs at Monologue London, located at 4 Portman Square, Mayfair, London W1H 6LD. Additional works from Klimczak’s collections, including pieces from his east London apartment, will appear in a forthcoming feature.
