"This exhibition intends to acknowledge the cultural achievements of Italian design in the last decade, to honor the accomplishments of its gifted designers and incisive critics, and to illustrate the diversity of their approaches to design by presenting a collection of the most interesting examples of their work."1 Thus announced the curators of the Museum of Modern Art's 1972 exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landscape their intentions. The New Domestic Landscape portrayed by the gifted
read moreFor the German architect, designer, artist Peter Behrens it was important that the exterior reflected a building's intended function, that the exterior provided information about the nature of the building and its occupants. We suspect therefore he would greatly approve of the title of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Cologne's exhibition in honour of his 150th birthday, neatly encapsulating as it does the nature of its protagonist. #all-rounder Peter Behrens himself greets visitors to
read moreEstablished in 1897 as an institution for pure and applied arts the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld was, for all through the person of its founding director Friedrich Deneken, an important protagonist in the discourse concerning the relationships between art, craft and industry at the turn of the 20th century With the exhibition From Idea to Form. Domeau & Pérès: Design and Craftsmanship in Dialogue, the contemporary Kaiser Wilhelm Museum Krefeld continue this discourse. From Idea to Form.
read moreAs with all creative professions, design is something into which one grows, where over time your position to it develops and evolves until such time as you reach a place where you are comfortable with what you are doing and why. Sure one starts of under the impression you understand design, the wise quickly realise they don't, step back, reconsider, listen, observe, reconsider, experiment, listen, observe, reconsider, experiment and slowly but surely form their own position to and understanding
read moreFollowing smow Lisboa's surprise victory in the 2017 smow Song Contest, the Portuguese capital is preparing to host the 2018 song contest: a contest being staged very much in context of the contemporary relevance of smow's historic connections.... As the anniversary of smow Lisboa's victory approaches it remains as controversial and as unexpected as it was on that muggy evening back in May 2017: not least because there is no smow Lisboa. However, never ones to look a gift horse in the mouth
read moreIn the wonderful month of May, As all the buds bloomed, My heart became, With Love consumed In the wonderful month of May, As all the birds did sing, I confessed to her My desire and yearning. Heinrich Heine, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, 1827 And then??? Heinrich, don't leave us hanging! It all started out so positive! It's an awkward month May, the vitality of blooming buds and oratorio of singing birds luring us into hopeful fantasies, utopian visions of what lies ahead: but what will
read moreAny anthology of 20th century design would by necessity feature a very, very long chapter on Italy. With Storie. Il Design Italiano the Triennale Design Museum Milan sketch out how the narrative of such a chapter could develop, highlight key moments in the plot development and introduce the most important protagonists. Storie. Il Design Italiano @ Triennale Design Museum, Milan Established in 2007 the Triennale Design Museum reorganises its permanent exhibition on an annual basis, each
read moreBy way of celebrating designer Achille Castiglioni's centenary Italian lighting manufacturer Flos used Milan Design Week 2018 to launch re-editions of two Castiglioni designs: Ventosa and Nasa. Objects which in their own, small, ways allow for an insight into Achille Castiglioni's approach to, and understanding of, design. Flos present Achille Castiglioni - If you are not curious forget it, Milan Design Week 2018 Born in Milan on February 16th 1918 Achille Castiglioni studied architecture
read moreWe're great believers in Fate, in the guiding principle that if it is meant to be, it will be: not least because it protects us from the expectations of achievement. Further proof of the veracity of Fate was provided by our meeting during Milan Design Week 2018 with the project Moorwerk by Jan Christian Schulz. Moorwerk by Jan Christian Schulz, as seen at ein&zwanzig, Milan Design Week 2018 If you compare our claim to have visited 27 design schools on our 2017 #campustour with the number
read moreMilan Furniture Fair 2018, at least amongst those more design led manufacturers, is/was largely about consolidation, largely about new materials, new colours, slight changes to existing objects, with one or the other family proudly presenting their latest members. Which is no complaint, far from it, Milan's speciality traditionally being the new for the sake of the new, that misguided belief that one has to present something new every year. You don't. Present something new when you've got
read moreWhereas exhibitions in which designers show prototypes and discontinued projects by way of explaining who they are, where they come from and how they work, are a, relatively, regular occurrence, exhibitions in which manufacturers do such are much, much rarer: with the exhibition Typecasting Vitra make a very rare and very welcome exception And in doing so don't just present an image not only of Vitra past, but also take a look into the future..... Vitra -Typecasting, as seen at Milan Design
read moreCurated by Carwan Gallery Beirut co-founder Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, Unsighted presents projects by eight international designers; the title making reference to the fact that the designers weren't told for what they were being commissioned, had no external context; were working, as it were, Unsighted. During Milan Design Week 2018 all became clearer... Unsighted, Milan Design Week 2018 As we've oft noted in these pages, in terms of furniture and lighting design, context is important,
read more"Shake of all the props - the props tradition and authority offer you - and go alone - crawl - stumble - stagger - but go alone", encouraged the Scottish architect, designer and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh his audience during his 1902 lecture Seemliness.1 How Charles Rennie Mackintosh himself attempted to do just that can be explored in the exhibition Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Making the Glasgow Style. Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Making the Glasgow Style @ Kelvingrove Art Gallery and
read moreAccording to the German philologist, mythologist, folklorist and definer of the Germanic Umlaut, Jacob Grimm, an old belief states that the Cuckoo never sings before the 3rd of April; and, "should you have money in your pouch when you hear him sing the first time, you will be well off all that year, if not, you will be short the whole year" 1 Much like the cuckoo, our five new architecture & design exhibitions recommendations for April 2018 begin with their songs after April 3rd; and should
read moreFollowing on from the Collective in 2015, Movement in 2016 and Substance in 2017, the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau's annual theme for 2018 is the Standard; a central component of the teaching at Bauhaus Dessau yet one which is and was freely open to artistic, technological and functional interpretation. And one the Bauhäusler freely interpreted artistically, technologically and functionally The first exhibition in context of the annual theme explores the work of the German architect Carl Fieger,
read moreThe only FAQ not answered by the smow FAQs is the one that begins, "What is smow........?" And as smow grows and grows so too does the F with which the Q is A'd. The answer in one sense is very simple, smow trade in furniture, lighting and home/office accessories through a series of showrooms and online shops. But that only partly explains "smow". Doesn't explain the how, who, why and wherefore. Nor the richness. Explaining the true smow is in many respects best achieved by exploring another
read more1918 was a bad year for the Wiener Moderne, losing as it did with the deaths of Koloman Moser, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and Otto Wagner four of its leading protagonists. To mark the centenary, and help underscore the important role Vienna played at the turn of the 19th/20th century in the development of art, architecture, music and literature, museums across Vienna are staging a wide range of specially themed exhibitions throughout 2018; the Hofmobiliendepot - Imperial Furniture Museum -
read moreWhile it is generally the case that the development, evolution, of product design is dependent on the development, evolution, of technology, such is particularly the case in context of lighting design: ever since a burning stick was first employed to create a relaxing evening atmosphere in a neolithic cave, technological developments have been the driving force behind the development of lighting design, be that formally, functionally or technically. The nature of Light + Building Frankfurt,
read moreNightclubs and discos are not only about entertainment and sensory overload, but also provide a society with means of expression and reflection. With the exhibition Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960 - Today the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein explore five decades of club culture. Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960 - Today, Vitra Design Museum One of our worst ever disco experience's was in Weil am Rhein. And we weren't even there. It was a couple of years ago, we were in
read moreIn front of the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich stands a Futuro House by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen, a work realised in 1968 as his response to considerations on questions concerning our future society. And an object which resembles a flying saucer. And arguably does so more now than it did then. Then it was a bright new future enabled by contemporary technology: now it is a piece of late 1960s science fiction. Inspired by the Futuro House 28 students from the Industrial Design and
read moreFollowing three years of renovations and redesign the principle house of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich is once again open for visitors. Three years which have not only seen the physical structure renovated and redesigned, but also the presentation concept and foci. Museum für Gestaltung Zürich Established in 1875 as an applied arts and crafts museum, the contemporary Museum für Gestaltung initially served, and as with so many of the early applied arts and crafts museums, as a material
read moreIn context of the renovation of the historic Falkenhütte alpine hut, Munich based StudioFaubel were commissioned to develop a formally appropriate, contemporary lighting solution. During Munich Creative Business Week 2018 the Alpines Museum Munich are presenting with Gentiana Alba - Tradition und Design, not only the result of that commission, but an insight into the development process. Gentiana Alba by StudioFaubel, as seen at Tradition und Design, Alpines Museum Munich Completed in 1923
read moreVicis (latin, f.): Change, variety, alteration VICIS (Munich Creative Business Week 2018): An invitation to consider such. VICIS. Always Change a Running System Munich Creative Business Week 2018 Organised by state of DESIGN the subtitle of the exhibition could be considered partly biographic, given the personnel changes that have occurred since the 2017 state of DESIGN exhibition in Berlin, and also considered partly conceptual, given the altered presentation format chosen for Munich in
read moreWith the exhibition Hans J. Wegner: Designing Danish Modern the Vitra Design Museum Schaudepot explores the oeuvre of one of the Grand Doyens, and arguably one of the most widely misconstrued protagonists, of 20th century Danish design. Hans J. Wegner: Designing Danish Modern, Vitra Design Museum Schaudepot "If only you could design just one good chair in your life . . . But you simply cannot”1 opined Hans J. Wegner in 1952: and as if to prove his point designed over 500. And while not all
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