Where photographic evidence exists that indicates the possible existence of the Loch Ness monster or the Yeti, until recently no photos existed of a mythical beast twice as shy and eight times as hirsute. The simple reason being that with over 60 years experience and a natural mistrust of cameras, the (smow)blog photographer can hear a lens cap being removed at over 1 kilometre. However during the Hölle Von Aschau, Siebenschläfer designer Christoffer Martens managed the unmanageable. As a
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Pretty much half-way between Piet Hein Eek's design wonderland and Sectie C, with among other tenants Nacho Carbonell, is Atelierdorp. Based in an old office block near the middle of town, Atelierdorp is both a workspace for designers and platform for contemporary design and research. With a wonderful view over, but sadly not into, the PSV Eindhoven stadium Under the title "In Between" Atelierdorp's exhibition during Dutch Design Week 2011 explored the relationship between the fluid state of
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During Dutch Design Week the Eindhoven based design platform Onomatopee is hosting an exhibition looking at ways of adding cultural value to raw materials. In a time when raw materials are becoming rarer and our economic prosperity ever more dependent on the fluctuating prices of such, how can we disengage from this cycle and give these economic materials a cultural value? Or, put another way, how can we use raw materials in an alternative fashion, that removes them from the economic cycle
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During Dutch Design Week 2011 Premsela, the Netherlands Institute for Design and Fashion, opened an exhibition in the Designhuis Eindhoven that both celebrates Dutch Design Week's 10th anniversary and honours 15 Dutch designers who got their break and/or made their name in Eindhoven. Rather than simply present the 15 in isolation, curator Miriam van der Lubbe presents them in the context of a young designer they admire and of someone who inspired them. And so, for example, Richard Hutton is
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Twenty four hours before Sebastian Vettel sealed his second F1 drivers title in Japan, Markus Jehs and Jürgen Laub were securing victory in an event that stands a vertical cliff face higher than F1 on Mount Motor Sport and to which Vettel himself hopes to ascend, once he gets a bit better at driving: The Bookinist Cup. For many the Bookinist was developed as an armchair in which one could sit and read; surrounded by your favourite literature. This however is one of the crueler droplets in the
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Keynote speaker at the Norm=Form Symposium that took place in Leipzig in early September was the Dutch design historian Timo de Rijk. Timo also curated the exhibition Norm=Form, and co-edited the accompanying book. In the course of a highly entertaining and thought provoking speech Timo tracked the story of standardisation over the centuries and presented his opinions on why we have standards. Including a hilarious comparison between the Chinese Communist Party and industrial designers.
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On November 1st we'll be in Zurich for Switzerland's biggest designer furniture fair Neue Räume, and hope to use the trip to research the current state of the industry in Switzerland. More interestingly, from October 14th - 16th the collective behind Depot Basel are offering interested parties the chance to get to know a few practitioners from the creative scene in Switzerland, and so get a feel for what is currently happening in the land. Featuring the industrial designers Dimitri Bähler and
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One of the most original, and entertaining, exhibitions at Vienna Design Week 2011 was kidsroomZOOM. Curated by Paola Noè from Gallery Unduetrestella Milan and Thomas Maitz from Austrian kids furniture producer Perludi, kidsroomZOOM was a delightful, turn of the century, downtown Vienna flat furnished especially for kids. Adults were allowed in; but hadn't been considered in the planning of the exhibition. Featuring works by producers and designers as varied as Thorsten van Elten, Rijada or
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As we stood in a cold-storage centre in west Vienna looking at Ljod by Copa, somehow we knew it was also training for the rapidly approaching winter. We just didn't realise how quickly it would come. A mere 72 hours later we found ourselves standing on the station platform at Prien in Chiemgau. Air temperature 4 degrees. By the time we reached Aschau, the first snow of the winter was busy dusting the tops of the Chiemgauer Alpen. And we began considering if it wasn't, slowly, time to swap
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There is nothing a newspaper sub-editor loves more than photos of an ice sculpting contest: blue sky, shimmering ice, chainsaws. And indeed nothing the manager of a 5 star hotel restaurant loves more than a well sculpted block of ice to crown an obviously over-priced buffet. However, ice isn't just chipped for the sculptural; it is popular as decorative bar furniture in winter climes and could arguably also be used for public furniture in those parts of the world where the winter temperatures
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We traditionally start our Vienna Design Week Passionswege tour at J. & L. Lobmeyr. And it is always an appointment that fills us with trepidation. Not because we fear J. or indeed L. Lobmeyr. Put it this way. A shop. Full of exquisite bone china. Full of exquisite crystal. Us. What could possibly go wrong ? And so maybe Philippe Malouin had us in mind when developing his project for Vienna Design Week 2011. And incorporated wood into his hourglasses. "Time is a quality that makes
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At Fuori Salone Milano 2011 we helped Moormann construct their stand. And of course took the opportunity to chew the fat a little with company founder and eponym Nils Holger Moormann. Variously described as being an autodidact, pioneer or provocateur, for us Nils Holger Moormann is simply pleasant company and the guarantee of well considered and soundly opinionated discussion. In the course of the Milan interview we covered the new products, the current state of the furniture industry and,
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In a New York Times piece by Alice Rawsthorn1 we read that Enzo Mari once said that he wanted to make things that factory workers would like to produce. In his UdK Berlin talk, Enzo Mari touched on a similar vein describing, in the course of various monologues, the drudgery of badly paid workers in factories producing goods that no one finds attractive and the majority of which are in any case destined to become waste. When I see an object he said, I ask who will this make happy? People
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Under DMY Berlin 2011 lancerede Daniel Wahl aka Weltunit sit nye skrivebord Wilbur. Bordet er specielt designet til den klassiske Egon Eiermann bordramme, og Wilburs primære funktion er at hjæpe brugerne med at genvinde kontrollen over deres arbejdsareal. Hvad de fleste ikke ved er, at Egon Eiermann udelukkende designede bordets ramme, da det var meningen at brugeren selv skulle levere eller fremstille deres egen bordplade - mange af Eiermanns studerende brugte eksempelvis gamle døre på
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We've long since accepted that there are more design weeks in a year than actual weeks. But we still can't accept the poor coordination between the various festivals. June, July, August.Basically nothing. September, October. Every day Copenhagen, London, Brussels, Budapest, Istanbul, Vienna, Eindhoven, Leipzig, Lodz, Zürich.... Every 2 years Orgatec in Cologne. And in the midst of all this Berlin sprouts Qubique. Hallo! We however have no choice. Or at least little choice. Our October
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As if it wasn't hard enough to keep up with the various project strands that twine together to form Droog. They've launched an imaginary brand. We did consider marking the moment by penning an imaginary post. But that would be to completely miss the point. Again. Created from the Moscow leg of the Droog Lab "Here, there, everywhere" project, Fantastical Investments is both a response to consumer habits in Russia and a vision of how the world of the future could look. The Droog Lab team
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One of the more interesting anomalies about Bauhaus Weimar is that it never had an architecture department. Despite Walter Gropius' desire to unite the arts and crafts with, and in the service of, architecture. The modern Bauhaus University Weimar does have an architecture department. A very good and award winning architecture department. At Summaery 2011 the faculty presented the results of numerous research projects: including, greenhouse - globally the first building constructed from a
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For a publication renowned for the quality of its authors, the Spiegel press department write press releases that repeat themselves a lot. That said we were delighted to receive the one that reached us at the start of the week. If less delighted to read it. And not just on account its cyclical nature. Unquestionably one of Verner Panton's most famous interior design projects, his 1969 work for the Spiegel publishing group's HQ in Hamburg is a monstrous testament to.... well Verner Panton.
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On Monday September 5th the Universität der Künste Berlin designtransfer centre hosted a talk with the Italian designer, design critic, design linguist and, somewhat paradoxically, design disdainer, Enzo Mari. Preparing for the event we read page upon page about the man, his ideas, his work but mainly about his well documented rants against.... well pretty much everything as far as we could ascertain. Which made the sight of a gentle, elderly man, walking amongst the audience, shaking hands
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Last August we made an ill-fated trip to Copenhagen and CODE 10. A trip that caused us to ponder the question if Danish furniture design is still relevant. To help us explore this point a little further we decided to speak to two young Danish designers and ask them for their views and opinions on the current state of furniture design in Denmark. Monique Engelund and Jonas Pedersen both studied architecture in Aarhus, graduating with a degree in furniture design. And no they didn't change
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Once a month we visit a trade fair. We don't always want to - but we always have to. We look at furniture. We think up some cheap jokes. We take some out of focus photos. We come home. But what is actually involved in organising a trade fair stand? How important are trade fair stands? Is our weak humour and poor photography disrespectful? In an attempt to try to answer these and similar questions we helped Moormann with the construction of their stand at Milan 2011 Although "helped" is
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Much as we'd all like to believe product and furniture design is only about aesthetics and "form follows function". There's also a bit of dull old bureaucracy involved. Why do office swivel chairs have a five-foot base and not a four-foot base? Why do all aircraft seat belts have the same fastening system? Why can you plug your headphones into any portable device? The answer is Norms, or Standards - guidelines that define how things should be constructed and tested. Norms aren't,
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Until August 27th Galerie dieschönestadt in Halle is presenting an exhibition of works by Burg Giebichenstein students/graduates. Featuring works from Jan Bernstein, Caspar Huckfeldt, Sebastian Müllauer, Hiroko Oda, David Oelschlägel, Stephan Schulz and Katharina Schwarze, "Addicited to Love" is a delightful mix of what product design is and can be. Regardless if a multi-plug that you want to show the world, a shelving system that you can take with you when you leave a room, a lounge chair
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Following our visits to the Bauhaus University Weimar, Fachhochschule Potsdam, Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee and Universität der Künste Berlin the final stage of our 2011 summer tour was Burg Giebichenstein Halle. It may just be us, but we are firmly of the belief that Burg Giebichenstein students complete more, and more varied, seminars than students at any of the other schools we visit. At least based on the presentations at their end of year show. Be it designing record sleeves,
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