Inga Sempé's home reveals the charm of daily imperfections

Walking through Inga Sempé's perfect imperfect house, which has been reconstructed at the Triennale Museum in Milan, feels like an investigative exploration, a treasure hunt, and an embarrassing invasion of privacy - all at once. Until September 15, 2024, the Milanese museum presents the exhibition ‘Inga Sempé. La casa imperfetta’, curated by Marco Sammicheli. ‘The exhibition concept arose from a desire to continue experimenting with visitor-interactive exhibition formats,’ he says. ‘After the gym of tools for the office and home designed with Riccardo Blumer for Alberto Meda's solo show, with Sempé we wanted to investigate the domestic landscape in its rawest honesty.’

‘Inga Sempé. La casa imperfetta’ at Triennale Milano

The exhibition showcases projects, objects, and designs in a domestic setting that resembles a film set, in an itinerary designed by Studio A/C, run by Alessia Pessano and Chiara Novello. ‘I'm tired of seeing the desire for perfection all around us,’ says Sempé. ‘Purity, for example, has no effect on me. I do not want to meet perfect people or things. In magazines, perfection is depicted as a goal to strive for, with giant, empty houses and no daily imperfections; the same is true for women, who have perfect skin, excellent dishes, and perfect children. A gigantic bore. A generic lie.’

The result is far from monotonous flawlessness. A sports medal hangs on the studio's bookcase. There is a bell on a shelf, similar to those found in hotel reception areas. Next to it, a deck of Neapolitan cards, a map, and a ticket for admission to a municipal swimming pool in Paris. A chess set can be found in the bedroom, next to Vico Magistretti's Eclisse lamp. Grison shoe cream and a shoe cleaning brush are stored in a basket next to the bed. On the kitchen table, some candles are bent on themselves, and a white pot holder hangs alone among plastic baskets, and glass splashback. An out-of-date analogue green telephone sits next to an espresso cup in the living room. 

‘I just wanted to create a house that wasn't perfect, far from the museum setting where every object becomes a pseudo masterpiece because it's placed on a pedestal,’ explains Sempé. ‘I wanted to include all of the things that we all have at home, such as twisted and dried sponges, soap aged like an old cheese, and administrative documents.’ 

The Casa Imperfetta is also designed to show visitors the complexities of Sempé's work, allowing them to explore products designed by the French designer, and her idea of restoring the tradition of anonymous objects. ‘Inga's aesthetics are based on the charm of the obsolete, the simplicity of the function, and the clarity of the method of use. All seasoned with a deft use of colours and various materials,’ says Sammicheli. 

Sempè is a connoisseur of materials and industrial processes: ‘Her catalogue is extensive, so it was not difficult to furnish an entire house. With the exception of sanitary ware and telephones, Inga has created designs for a wide range of products,’ he underlines. ‘The references, smudges, stratifications, accumulations, and combinations occur spontaneously, just as they do at home.’

Visitors are allowed to interact with environments such as the bedroom, kitchen, corridor, vestibule, and outdoor space. Anyone can sit in front of the desk or open a box on the shelf to reveal what's hidden inside: ‘A variety of prohibited actions may be carried out in the museum space,’ confirms Sammicheli. ‘Accentuating them is a cultural challenge and a bet we want to take. Touching, turning on, lying down, testing, and browsing become simple yet novel ways to learn about the functions, textures, and mechanisms that underpin a design object.’

'Inga Sempé. La casa imperfetta' is on view until 15 September 2024

Triennale Milano
Viale Alemagna, 6
Milan