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smow | 23.07.2023

Grassimesse 2023: Meet the selected exhibitors.......

Unlike a great many international craft, applied art and design fairs, entry to the annual Grassimesse Leipzig is strictly by jury selection. And has been since the first edition in 1920. 'twas, in many regards, one of the pillars on which the event established its reputation. And one which helps it maintain that reputation. The 2023 Grassimesse jury recently convened to review the abundance of applications for this year's edition, up some 33% on 2022, and, and perhaps more satisfyingly,

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Part of the presentation of Konstantin Grcic's Open Design class, as seen at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg Graduate Show 2023: Unfinished Business
Designer | 17.07.2023

Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg Graduate Show 2023: Unfinished Business

As we noted, almost exactly 12 months ago, although we here at smow Blog are more or less fully up and running again after the Covid enforced disruption, the extremely complex nature of the smow Blog machinery means that there are still a few elements of the whole that are awaiting a proper re-boot, including, as we noted almost exactly 12 months ago, our famed, and falafel fixated, annual #campustour through European design school summer exhibitions. Which doesn't mean that we aren't visiting

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Into the Deep. Mines of the Future, Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen
Designer | 11.07.2023

Into the Deep. Mines of the Future at the Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen

Of all the novel technological developments of the past century or so, or more specifically those novel developments in context of mobility, arguably, none have approached the human species' imagination, spoken to the human species' fantasies nor so tantalisingly promised that limitless future we all innately know is possible, to quite the degree of the airship; arguably a form of transport that today, all those decades after reaching its zenith as a commercial enterprise, still has an appeal,

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The Historia Supellexalis R for Rowac
Chemnitz Creative | 06.07.2023

The Historia Supellexalis: "R" for Rowac

Rowac A Rivet; A Crimp; A Schemel According to the Trabant Sagas, a component of the Erzgebirge Hoard, that earliest of all documentations of life in the contemporary Sachsen, the Rowac was developed by a Wagner by the name of Robert, a young man who although a member of that renowned Sächsische Wagner community which had brought motorised mobility to the peoples of the known worlds, had chosen to follow the trade of the Windowsmith, an, at that time, relatively new profession that had

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5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for July 2023

5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for July 2023

In July 1969 Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and as Neil Armstrong stepped from the Eagle lunar module he announced it was, "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind". And inarguably it was. And was. But what has it brought mankind? Apart from an awful lot of conspiracy theories. And an ongoing fascination with space that drives the irrational belief that in the 21st century we urgently require everything which appeared in 1950s and 1960s science fiction comics and films in order

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The studio d-o-t-s manifesto and Full Grown by The Edwardes Chair, essentially a tree grown as a chair, as seen at Plant Fever. Towards a Phyto-centred design, Schloss Pillnitz Dresden
Designer | 26.06.2023

Plant Fever. Towards a Phyto-centred design at Schloss Pillnitz, Dresden

While the Art Nouveau of the late 19th/early 20th centuries was without question inspired and informed by nature, for all by plants, one thinks, for example of the many representations of alliums, liliums, vitaceae et al, it was a moment that was led by humans, and for all one that placed human needs, human demands, human comforts at its core. Certainly above the needs, demands, comforts of plants. With the exhibition Plant Fever. Towards a phyto-centred design Schloss Pillnitz, Dresden, or

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Futurails. Wege und Irrwege auf Schienen, DB Museum, Nürnberg

Futurails. Wege und Irrwege auf Schienen at the DB Museum, Nürnberg

Only very few novel transport methodologies have impacted on society to quite the degree of the railway; not only did the arrival of the railway, pun intended, mean once far removed cities were now near neighbours, but also meant that the raw materials for, and the goods of, industrialisation could be easily and economically moved from location to location. And as the fledgling railway networks and systems developed so society.1 With the exhibition Futurails. Wege und Irrwege auf Schienen the

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The Modulor - Measure and Proportion, Pavillon Le Corbusier, Zürich
Architecture | 13.06.2023

The Modulor — Measure and Proportion at Pavillon Le Corbusier, Zürich

"Customs turn into habits, some modest, some all-powerful", opined Le Corbusier in 1950, a reference to that inexplicable way humans have of passing through life blithely accepting all that has come before, accepting all that existed when they were born, as fixed and immutable and unchallengeable; an acceptance of the familiar, the existing, as fixed and immutable and unchallengeable that, for Le Corbusier, represented a major hindrance to the "free play of the mind". However, Le Corbusier

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5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for June 2023

5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for June 2023

According to Germanic folklore, A cold and wet June spoils the whole year. For farmers possibly, but not for the rest of us, as a cold, wet June is a perfect excuse to visit an architecture or design exhibition, an experience that can only enrich and enliven and invigorate the rest of the not only your year, but your life. Our recommendations for new showcases opening in June 2023 can be found in Värnamo, Ljubljana, East Lansing, Vienna and Ulm....... "Front: Design by Nature" at

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Power Space Violence. Planning and Building under National Socialism, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Architecture | 29.05.2023

Power Space Violence. Planning and Building under National Socialism at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin

Everyone knows that the Nazis built Autobahnen. Everyone knows that the Nazis built an imposing and daunting parade ground in Nürnberg. And that they had outrageous, decadent, plans for Berlin. But the wider architecture and spatial planning projects of the NSDAP dictatorship are not only a lot less well known, but a lot less well understood, and certainly far less well popularly reflected on in wider contexts of the relationships between architecture, spatial planning, state, community,

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Mythos SABA – Memories of a Global Company, Franziskanermuseum, Villingen-Schwenningen
Everyday Design | 19.05.2023

Mythos SABA - Memories of a Global Company at the Franziskanermuseum, Villingen-Schwenningen

For all that the Schwarzwald is popularly known for its cuckoo clocks, as Mythos SABA - Memories of a Global Company at the Franziskanermuseum, Villingen-Schwenningen, helps elucidate, such aren't the only noise emitting precision technical objects, nor indeed the only harmonies, rhythms, melodies and metres, associated with the (hi)story of, and the cultural contribution of, the Schwarzwald. If alternative noise emitting precision technical objects and alternative harmonies, rhythms, melodies

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The Historia Supellexalis: "Q" for Quercus
Architecture | 09.05.2023

The Historia Supellexalis: "Q" for Quercus

Quercus An oak; A cultural good; A material Furniture has been made from Quercus since it was developed in a far gone epoch by the Eocene, one of a great many important and innovative inventions of the Eocene which remain relevant and necessary, and avant-garde, today; if, as can be read in the Cupule of A.C. Orn, a development of Quercus not motivated by a desire to develop a new material for the production of furniture but by a desire to develop a contemporary, future-proof, housing

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A selection of works that did, or could have appeared at the Grassimesse between 1920 and 1941, and could have won the smow-Designpreis, had it existed.......
smow | 02.05.2023

The Grassimesse smow-Designpreis - Don't miss out like Reich, Wagenfeld, László, Brandt et al

Although the Grassimesse has been staged, with readily understandable pauses, since 1920, the Grassimesse smow-Designpreis is being staged for the first time in 2023. Which means a highly impressive roster of innovative, intelligent, imaginative, informative, designers from back in the day can't win it. Have, if one so will, missed out But you can win it and the associated €2,500. Or can if your reading this before Friday May 12th Sunday May 21st, the new extended, deadline for entries.

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5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for May 2023

5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for May 2023

In the northern Hemisphere May is a month of ritual; rituals primarily associated with the awakening of nature, the approaching of summer with the associated hope of a successful and bountiful harvest. And rituals which include, amongst many others, maypoles in various contexts, bonfires for various reasons and a myriad dances, including the traditional English children's dance/game Nuts in May, with its repetition of the line "Here we come gathering nuts in May"... which obviously raises the

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Yrjö Kukkapuro - Magic Room, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, EMMA
Designer | 24.04.2023

Yrjö Kukkapuro – Magic Room at Espoo Museum of Modern Art, EMMA

"My work was... How would I put it?", asks Yrjö Kukkapuro. "Constant contemplation" he answers.1 With the exhibition Yrjö Kukkapuro – Magic Room Espoo Museum of Modern Art, EMMA, invite us all to contemplate on Yrjö Kukkapuro's contemplations....... Yrjö Kukkapuro - Magic Room, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, EMMA Born in Vyborg, then Finland, now Russia, on April 6th 1933 Yrjö Kukkapuro enrolled in 1955 at the Institute of Industrial Art, Helsinki, a school, then, housed in the city's

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The Grassimesse smow-Designpreis 1923: A Fantasy Shortlist
smow | 20.04.2023

The Grassimesse smow-Designpreis 1923: A Fantasy Shortlist

The 2023 edition of the Grassimesse Leipzig will see the inaugural awarding of the €2,500 smow-Designpreis. The first dedicated design prize in the institution's long (hi)story. Entries are were open until Friday May 12th. But what if that first Grassimesse smow-Designpreis had been awarded not in 2023, but 1923? Who might have won? Who would the 1923 Grassimesse jury have selected from the many possible candidates? ???? A smow Blog fantasy final four....... Back in 1923 the

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A wooden chair by Viktor Holešťák-Holubár (l) and Vojtech Vilhan & Ján Bahna's chair for the Government lounge at Bratislava Airport (r), as seen at Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces at the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin
Architecture | 13.04.2023

Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces at the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin

It is, we'd argue, fair to say that most people in western Europe still have a very stereotypical, skewed, if not prejudiced view of late 20th century design in and from those nations that form the eastern half of the European continent. With Retrotopia. Design for Socialist Spaces the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin, in cooperation with numerous museums and institutions from across eastern Europe, provide an introduction to post-War 20th century architecture and design in and from Croatia, the

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The Grassimesse smow-Designpreis: Call for Entries
smow | 09.04.2023

The Grassimesse smow-Designpreis 2023: Call for Entries

For the first time in its long and illustrious history Leipzig's Grassimesse will award a dedicated design prize at its 2023 edition. More specifically, will award the €2,500 smow-Designpreis. The call for entries is now open, and you are all cordially invited closed....... Tracing its history back to 1920, the contemporary Grassimesse began as an, if you will, response on the part of Dr. Richard Graul, Director of the, then, Kunstgewerbemuseum Leipzig, the contemporary Grassi Museum für

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The Bigger Picture: Design – Women – Society, Gewerbemuseum, Winterthur
Designer | 07.04.2023

The Bigger Picture: Design – Women – Society at the Gewerbemuseum, Winterthur

What is the popular understanding of the contribution of women to the mural of design (hi)story? Exactly. Thus, and with very good reason, and a degree of necessity, urgency even, the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur invite us all to consider The Bigger Picture....... The Bigger Picture: Design – Women – Society, Gewerbemuseum, Winterthur As an exhibtion The Bigger Picture: Design – Women – Society is based on, essentially is, the Vitra Design Museum's exhibition Here We Are! Women in Design 1900

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5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for April 2023

5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for April 2023

Although the etymology of "April" is lost in the mists of time, one of the more likely, and more satisfying, theories as to its origins is to be found in the Latin verb aperire, to open, which itself can be considered as being, possibly, related to the ancient Greek ἄνοιξις, ánoixis, opening. And thus the very obvious connotations to spring springing forth in April, to the natural world opening for another season. What is much better recorded are the new architecture and design exhibitions

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Meadow by Alexandra Kehayoglou, as seen at Garden Futures. Designing with Nature, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein
Architecture | 29.03.2023

Garden Futures. Designing with Nature at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein

Amongst the great many things the experiences of the last couple of years have brought to the fore, and have unequivocally reinforced, is the importance to humans, collectively and individually, of outdoor spaces; not just for fresh air, movement, relaxation and physical well-being, but also for mental well-being. With Garden Futures. Designing with Nature the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, explore the garden as such an outdoor space, and also as a cultural space, as a design space, as a

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The Historia Supellexalis: "P" for Paris
Designer | 23.03.2023

The Historia Supellexalis: "P" for Paris

Paris An Île; A Commune; A Context For all that the contemporary island of Paris has a long tradition of furniture production and usage, the greater part of that history, as can be read in the Bossu de Notre Dame, the oldest relic and most reliable witness of Paris, is one of either extreme decadence and frivolous ostentation, or of extreme poverty and destructive corruption. The (hi)story furniture of Paris very much reflecting the (hi)story of the island. And the (hi)story of its hotels.

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The Rowac-Schemel, Rowac Stool
Bauhaus | 18.03.2023

(smow) introducing: Rowac

The return of an old favourite, and no not (smow) introducing, although Welcome Back!!!, but the Rowac-Schemel, the Rowac stool, a work initially launched in 1909 as one of the world's first sheet steel furniture objects, a work that once graced not only innumerable industrial workshops, craft ateliers and educational institutes, but the workshops and ateliers at Bauhauses Weimar and Dessau, a work that became lost in the confusions of post-War eastern Germany. A work returning in 2023, some

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Long Live Wivi Lönn!, Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki
Architecture | 08.03.2023

Long Live Wivi Lönn! at the Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki

"How did I end up going to technical school?" asked once the Finnish architect Wivi Lönn, rhetorically, "I had building in my blood, and it pulled me in."1 With the exhibition Long Live Wivi Lönn! the Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki, help elucidate not only how that innate urge expressed itself, but also that for all the apparent ease contained in Lönn's account of an innate urge being followed, for a Wivi Lönn, and for the great many Wivi Lönn's over the past 200 years, it wasn't

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