HEROES. From Ordinary to Legendary is a curatorial project developed by The Collections of FAU, presented at the 10th anniversary edition of Deco Days 2025, held at BT Arena in Cluj-Napoca. Building on the momentum of their first public exhibition at FAST 2024 - where objects from the Collection framed the keynote conference of Peter Zumthor - the new installation continues The collections of FAU’s mission to connect past, present, and future design cultures through a living educational platform.
The exhibition explores the idea of “heroes” in design: individuals who, much like the mythical figures shaping collective imagination, use creativity, resilience, and vision to influence the world around us. Designers, architects and makers become real-life heroes whose values and ideas travel across generations. Their objects teach, inspire, endure, and carry what we call circular joy - stories and values that circulate, evolve, and remain relevant over time.
ateliercetrei contributed to the exhibition by guiding the students in conceiving and developing the display stand, composed of two main elements: a shelving unit and a table. Both components were designed to be easy and fast to fabricate and assemble. They consist of vertical and horizontal black MDF slabs with ABS edge banding, interlocking through dry notched joints and wooden dowel pins. The vertical end panels of the shelving unit are fixed with no more three wood screws each and a cross-brace made of twisted steel wire. Fabrication of the ensemble was completed in under two working days, while assembly and disassembly were carried out in less than three hours by a team of one tutor and four students.
Over four design-filled days, visitors were invited to discover more than forty iconic and emerging objects:
– works by acknowledged masters represented in major international design museums—August Thonet, Charles & Ray Eames, Jean Prouvé, Alvar Aalto, Verner Panton, Achille Castiglioni, Vico Magistretti, Joe Colombo, and many others;
– contemporary international design by Philippe Starck, Konstantin Grcic, the Bouroullec brothers, Thomas Heatherwick, Patricia Urquiola, Rem D. Koolhaas, Michael Anastassiades;
– and a strong selection of Romanian design, including works by Dragoș Motica, Petrică and Andrada Maier, Paul and Anamaria Moldovan, Andrei and Romana Gârba.
True to its values, The Collections of FAU relocated the display stand to the School of Architecture in Cluj-Napoca, where it now marks the beginning of the future Gallery of The Collections of FAU.
Design Team: Paul-Mihai Moldovan, Flavia-Veronica Marginean, Anamaria Mustata, Alexia Chis, Carina Cuceu
Collaborator[s]: Deco Days, Maria Nath, Alessandra Zaharia, Andor Terek, Aida Babici, Robert Starjil, Andrei Pop, Vlad-Constantin Atanasiu
Design Year: 2025
Status: Completed
Material[s]: black MDF and wooden dowel pins
Technique[s]: CNC milling
Manufacturer: Salon B, Vasco Forest
Text: ateliercetrei
Photographer[s]: view catchers