Paris Design Week is largely about brand in-store and similar PR driven presentations. An extension if you will of Maison et Objet into the city, and thus predictably prosaic. Largely. Not exclusively. Throughout the city there are/were stimulating and challenging presentations to be found and interesting designers and manufacturers to be discovered and enjoyed. Among the new discoveries we made at Paris Design Week 2017 was Paris based studio woodmade. Mali à bascule by woodmade, as seen
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As the old proverbs teach us, Waste Not, Want Not! And, all that (g)litters is gold! With the exhibition Pure Gold. Upcycled! Upgraded! the Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe Hamburg not only demonstrate the inherent value that can exist in apparent waste, but also how understanding that inherent value could help us reduce future waste problems. Pure Gold. Upcycled! Upgraded!, at Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe Hamburg Realised in context of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the German cultural
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Back in June 2016 we included the Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch's exhibition Nacho Carbonell – On the Origin of Pieces amongst our five new architecture and design exhibition recommendations, noting that, for us, the exhibition appeared to offer "an excellent opportunity to, finally, get to know the man and his work. And for all to understand his cocoon constructions, works which terrify us as much as they fascinate us." We sadly never did make it to On the Origin of Pieces; however, the
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If Milan marks the start of summer, Paris marks the end: the gentle warmth of the Lombarden sun and the fresh alpine breeze blowing over the Saloni ceding as it invariably does, nay must, to the brisk crispness of Maison et Objet. C'est la vie! The September 2017 edition of Maison et Objet was a disconcerting mix of baroque revival and picturesque, fantasy, Scandinavian, as if late 1980s Philippe Starck discovered hygge. And over large stretches Maison et Objet 2017 is/was just as terrifying
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Designers are prone to spending inordinate amounts of time shaving a millimetre of a surface thickness. Or trying to increase the distance between two points by a couple of millimetres. Occupations which to the uninitiated can appear just a tick obsessive. In how far however relatively small changes of scale, differences of a few millimetres, can alter not only the physical appearance of a product, but the very character of a product, was elegantly explained by Danish manufacturer Houe at
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Whereas other cities get by with a design week, Brussels has a whole month: which shouldn't be taken as an indication Brussels is four times more design than say Milan, Eindhoven or Vienna. It isn't. It just takes its time. Doesn't rush. It is Belgium after all ...... For Brussels Design September 2017 MAD Brussels is hosting Belgitude & The New Belgians, two exhibitions of contemporary product design curated by the federal platform Belgium is Design. Belgitude @ MAD Brussels MAD Brussels
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On our recent #campustour we didn’t only view the students' works, and chat to students about their works, we also spoke to members of the design schools' teaching staff about their motivations, methods, experiences and views on contemporary design eduction. Ultimately if you want to understand contemporary design education, you have to understand contemporary design educators. Whereby one of the peculiarities of design eduction is that any given school's staff is a mix of full time staff
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The 2017 spoga+gafa garden trade fair in Cologne hosted the 5th edition of the unique youngstar outdoor living design competition. Open to current design students, or those who have graduated within the past three years, the 2017 unique youngstar attracted a recorder number of 81 entries from 18 countries, from which a shortlist of 15 nominees was selected and presented in an exhibition at spoga+gafa 2017. At an awards ceremony on Sunday in Cologne the prize winners were announced......
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The September architecture and design exhibition recommendations are arguably the cruellest to write: the fact that the majority of the exhibitions end in the depths of the European winter meaning that as we sit here hoping that summer keeps going just a little, little, longer.... we're forced to think about winter jackets and gloves. And so before things get that far, best get out there and visit an exhibition!! Our five recommendations for September 2017 feature new exhibitions in Weil am
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Much like the aardvark, or Alvar Aalto, Aachen is always likely to find itself at the top of any alphabetical list. But aside from such orthographic deceit, would the FH Aachen be at the top of our #campustour list.......? FH Aachen Design Department @ Boxgraben 100 Aachen FH Aachen In what is becoming a popular, almost ubiquitous, sentence in these pages, and one we suspect we will return to at a later date, the Fachhochschule Aachen was formed in 1971 from the fusion of five existing
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Although Bauhaus originally opened in Weimar, the Bauhaus most people understand as Bauhaus is Bauhaus Dessau. But can the students of the Bauhaus University Weimar reclaim "Bauhaus" for Weimar? The Bauhaus University Weimar's annual Summaery exhibition offered a chance to learn more..... Bauhaus University Weimar (Photo © Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Foto: Nathalie Mohadjer) Bauhaus University Weimar In context of architecture and design the combination of "Bauhaus" with "Weimar" is not
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According to the Chinese philosopher Laozi "a journey of 1,000 li begins with a single step". For a journey of 20,000 li that step is onto a bus to Malmö.... and is followed by a succession of trains, boats, planes and trams. If sadly not Laozi's preferred mode of transport, the water buffalo. While there are still a few #campustour posts to come, for now the rucksacks have been hung up, the red travellin' socks are, finally, in the wash and we can start to try to take stock.... By the end
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Without wanting to in any way detract from the work undertaken by Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee students in the past year, a highlight of our visit to the 2017 Rundgang summer exhibition was the thunderstorm which broke while we there. Calling it biblical would be to trivialise the ferocity with which it smit the day asunder, turning in its fury the Bühringstraße in front of the school into a Bühring Straits. And the first of three storms which broke over Berlin in quick succession, almost
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Visiting the 2017 end of year Werkschau exhibition at the Peter Behrens School of Arts, Düsseldorf we were greatly reminded of the school's eponym's own time in Düsseldorf. If not for the reasons one might assume....... Peter Behrens School of Arts Düsseldorf Peter Behrens School of Arts Düsseldorf Among the many interesting and important buildings which didn't make an appearance in our Tour de l’architecture de Düsseldorf, one of the more interesting and important is arguably the former
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Whereas the Ludwig Forum Aachen's focus is contemporary art, since March 2017 the museum has giving floor space over to contemporary designers and the project LuForm. The Design Department; thereby not only increasing the scope of the museum but also offering designers from the region a new platform. LuForm @ Ludwig Forum Aachen Ludwig Forum Aachen The Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst was established in 1970 by the Aachener art historian, and more importantly, art collector, couple,
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In 2018 the Hochschule München Design Department will move a few hundred metres round the corner from its current home, a home it has occupied for over forty years, to a new purpose built facility opposite the main college building; consequently, the 2017 Jahresausstellung was one of the last chances to experience the Design Department in its original location. But was it a presentation worthy of the moment, a fitting au revoir to an old friend..........? Hochschule München Design Department
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Established in 1992 the Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe was conceived from the off as a design school for coming realities, for a world we don't yet know. But is that a world of smart, autonomous apps? A world of intelligent and considered applications of evolving technology? Of the craft of yore? The 2017 Rundgang durch die Lichthöfe summer exhibition was a chance to glean some clues...... Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe Keen readers of our
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While it's certainly true that without having been introduced to the work of Akademie für Gestaltung der Handwerkskammer Münster alumni Florian Kallus and Sebastian Schneider a.k.a design studio kaschkasch, we probably wouldn't pay that much attention to the Akademie, that introduction was pre-kaschkasch: a project from Florian at DMY Berlin 2010 and one from Sebastian at IMM Cologne 2011. And yes we are blowing ever so gently on our own trumpet. If at the same time terrifying ourselves by the
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Owing to the unique nature of Berlin's history and geopolitical relevance, the (hi)stories of all the city's cultural institutions are invariably complex. And the number of such institutions greater than in most comparable metropoli*. Few other cities can boast, for example, two public zoos, three public operas or four public universities. And while three of Berlin's universities offer individual courses in subjects such as architecture, theatre studies or music, there is only one which offers
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Summer traditionally sees a fall off in the number of new exhibitions opening, the 2017 drought is however especially hard, so much so that we can only find four recommendations. Either the global museum community assume we're all at the beach, and thus not interested, or expect the world to end in September and so don't see the point in new exhibitions. It is a little unclear. However, not only are we interested, but it takes a little more than the threat of an imminent apocalypse to keep us
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The Hochschule Wismar is an institution we have wanted to visit for a long time; and no, not just because it means a trip to the Baltic Coast and the historic Hanseatic port, but much more for despite being in no respect the largest design school in Germany, it is one of the most present: from Milan to Berlin to Cologne hardly a design week passes without Wismar. And so we wanted to understand the school a little better. Which is of course one of the stated aims of our 2017 #campustour,
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As an institution London’s Royal Albert Hall teaches us that regardless how illustrious and prestigious your history may be, you can never rest on your laurels, you are only ever as relevant and interesting as your next programme, as your next soloist.. With the 2017 Graduate Show the Royal Albert Hall’s next door neighbour, the equally illustrious and prestigious, Royal College of Art unveiled its 2017 programme and 2017 soloists. But would there be a standing ovation… Royal College of
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Although older than Bauhaus Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle has arguably never achieved the same popular acclaim as its fêted near neighbour. Is however still in existence, and thus need not live on its laurels, but rather can continually develop its legacy through the efforts and ideas of its staff and students. The 2017 annual summer exhibition provided insights into the contribution made, and being made, by the current crop........ Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle: The
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Somewhat disappointingly the authorities in the southern German town of Schwäbisch Gmünd have succumbed to the current unicorn lunacy and placed one in the town's coat of arms. But could the design students at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd be relied upon to resist such short term fads? The 2017 Rundgang summer exhibition provided the answers....... Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd @ Rektor-Klaus-Straße Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd The old adage that
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