What with the sweet afterglow of Vienna Design Week behind us we entered October 2013 full of enthusiasm - not least because it meant the opening of the new (smow) Cologne store. The month nearly nose-dived on account of a hideous plagiarism in Leipzig, but was more than rescued by Alison and Peter Smithson at the AIT ArchitekturSalon Cologne.......
read more
After the relative calm and civility of July and August, September sees a more than inconsequential upping of our professional pensum. In addition to our regular pilgrimage to Vienna Design Week, September 2013 also saw the opening of Lightopia at the Vitra Design Museum, Made in Slums - Mathare Nairobi at the Triennale Design Museum Milan, the International Marianne Brandt Contest in Chemnitz, and the acquisition of Finnish manufacturer Artek by Vitra......
read more
A summer silly season with 360 degree product images and handmade bottle openers explaining the difference between craft and design assumed a veneer of normality thanks to a fairytale presentation of vintage furniture in Berlin, contemporary porcelain at the Bauhaus Archiv and a little thinking about architecture in Stuttgart.........
read more
Visiting the HfG Karlsruhe Sommerloch exhibition was not just a memorable highlight of July 2013 - but also fitting as it marked the start of our own summer pause. Our own Sommerloch. In addition July 2013 saw us visit the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart Rundgang, Art & Design Fit for a King @ Ampelhaus, Oranienbaum and Aus allen Richtungen. Positionen junger Architekten im BDA at Wechselraum Stuttgart......
read more
Those still looking for a New Year's Resolution could do worse than to promise to try to maybe visit more design exhibitions this year. And January 2014 offers a few wonderful places to start. That January is once again IMM Cologne and the accompanying Cologne Design Week we make no apologies for having selected two Rhein-side exhibitions, in addition we have an investigation of the production process and a brace of exhibitions devoted to Denmark's more important design "old masters".....
read more
Following the pains and tribulations of Milan, June is a time to relax. To enjoy design once again. This year we did that at DMY Berlin, Design Miami Basel at with the new Vitra(mini)Haus in Weil am Rhein....
read more
As a general rule May doesn't exist for us... it is just a fluid continuation of April. And of Milan. May 2013 was no different, did however end with a delightful Oskar Zieta show in Berlin......
read more
The biggest April fool is.... us, for always going to Milan! That said, as ever, we did find a few gems amongst the senseless corporate trash..... And after Milan we had the joy of viewing the latest addition to the Vitra Campus, the Factory Building by SANAA......
read more
March 2013 was a month of travelling: Stuttgart, Chemnitz, Weimar, Dessau..... its amazing we found time to actually write anything.......
read more
IMM Cologne kept us busy into February, but the month also saw the opening of an Eileen Gray retrospective in Paris, a visit to the Louis Kahn exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum and the sad passing of James Irvine....
read more
January 2013 was, as every January, dominated by IMM Cologne, and all that that entails. In particular IMM Cologne 2013 brought us Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec's investiture as A&W Designers of the year and a delightful Alvar Aalto Stool 60 exhibition at Ungers Archiv für Architekturwissenschaft. January 2013 was in addition the opening of the exhibition "Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things" at the Design Museum London.....
read more
It is in the very nature of year ends that they tend to cause one to reflect. And so in the coming days, while we enjoy a barely deserved but jealously guarded week or two offline, we will present a reflective pictorial review of 2013. 2013 was a weird old year, and while it's fair to say that we've certainly had better, it did contain a few moments that reminded us why we do this. And made us grateful that we can. And no we're not talking about the Prada croissants at the Knoll show during
read moreOn Thursday December 12th Vienna Design Week co-founder Tulga Beyerle was officially presented as the new director of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden. A decision that excites us as much as it surprises us. Not least because until now the Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden has never struck us an institution with any ambitions above securing its own existence. For example, we can't remember any special exhibitions being organised there or to be honest any form of event that sought to actively use the
read more
In our recent post from Florence we reported on the attempts being made there by the local authorities to help support and advance the local craftsfolk. Since 2008 the Chambers of Commerce from five of Florence's nearish neighbours have followed a different, though just as valid path towards achieving the same. Under the title "Rethinking The Product" the Chambers of Commerce from Lucca, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato and Terni pair young designers with local businesses and set them specific challenges.
read more
There is an old adage about turning problems into chances, of every cloud having a silver lining, of every thorn having its rose. One of the best examples of such is the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. In the wake of a 1981 fire at the Weil am Rhein production site, Vitra found themselves needing to quickly rebuild. And needing a fire station. The first problem was solved by Nicholas Grimshaw with his Production Hall. The second by Zaha Hadid with her Fire Station. In the intervening 30+
read more
By way of an addendum to our 5 New Design Exhibitions for December 2013 post....... On Saturday December 14th 2013 SWING Gallery in South-Central Italian Benevento open a solo exhibition by the Berlin design collective Shapes in Play. Under the title Hidden Patterns Johanna Spath and Johannes Tsopanides, a.k.a Shapes in Play present the latest chapter in their exploration of both the borders between digital and analogue in contemporary society and the possibilities for increasing emotional
read more
While we can't be certain that the artist, designer and choreographer Oskar Schlemmer would have completely agreed with the claim that "Life is a cabaret", we do know where he placed cabaret in the great scheme of cultural happenings: a little lower than theatre, but slightly higher than varieté. ""Stage" in general", Schlemmer wrote in 1925, "encompasses all that lies between religious cult and naive public amusement, both are not that what the stage is; the calculated impact on man of
read more
"In a best case scenario, and when the technology is advanced enough, the opaque cover can be replaced by an OLED and so become the light source itself."1 We admit to having wondered when we saw Ionna Vautrin's Binic lamp on the "Light for tomorrow" table at the Vitra Design Museum's Lightopia exhibition. "Nice lamp", we thought, "but not exactly revolutionary." First upon reading in the catalogue did we understand. Inspired by ships funnels Binic is formally very reminiscent of Vico
read more
On Wednesday December 5th the AIT ArchitekturSalon Cologne open an exhibition devoted to the Guga Children`s Theatre construction project in Langa, South Africa. Established in the late 1990s the Guga S’Thebe cultural centre in the Langa township by Cape Town provides facilities and courses for adults and children alike and in addition to meeting rooms and a theatre/concert venue also houses rehearsal rooms and craft workshops. While over the years the work and scope of the centre has grown,
read more
One of the biggest challenges facing product designers in coming years will undoubtedly be the question of planned obsolescence. For while we genuinely believe that the majority of designers understand their responsibilities in terms of sustainability and resources, we also know that most designers understand their responsibilities to help their clients generate profit. Finding the correct balance wont be easy. But it must be found. Perhaps the most distressing example of planned
read more
It being that time of year when the only exhibition most of us are interested is the one displaying "presents with my name on them", there are only very few design exhibitions opening this December. Very few. But some. Here a selection of the more interesting ways to work off that extra roast potato or twelve........ "Mensch Raum Maschine. Stage Experiments at the Bauhaus" at Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, Germany Despite the current theatre surrounding the decision not to renew Stiftung Bauhaus
read more
At the recent Designtage Brandenburg Design Conference Vitra Design Museum Chief Curator Mateo Kries held the opening keyword speech. Under the title "Open Design! Why we need to reinvent design" Mateo Kries extended the thoughts presented in his 2010 book "Total Design" to explore where design is going, what are going to be the important themes in the future, and so by extrapolation explore the contemporary nature of the term "design". For as the spray paint on the walls so often says: "How
read more
When we met Italian designer Alberto Meda at Orgatec 2010 he told us that he was working on his next project for Vitra. And that it would be a chair. And that was all he told us. At Orgatec 2012 the secret was revealed when Vitra released the office swivel chair Physix. Presented as a continuation of an idea began by Mies van der Rohe with his MR20 cantilever chair and continued by Charles and Ray Eames with their Aluminium Chair collection, Physix adds a new dimension to a familiar form
read moreWhile researching our post "Eames Alchemy. Or how Charles and Ray Eames turned steel into plastic….." the most remarkable discovery came in the New York Museum of Modern Arts' press release announcing the opening of the Low-Cost Furniture Design Exhibition:1 "Perhaps the greatest advantage of this chair is the extraordinary lustre and soft, smooth surface of the plastic which, strengthened by the silky threads of glass imbedded within it, quickly absorb room temperatures. Never before used in
read more
