For all those looking to make their summer balcony even more exclusive, Vitra are currently offering the Panton Chair in a one-off summer 2011 Dark Lime edition. The offer is strictly limited on a first-come-first-serve basis, and only available online. That said, the dark lime Panton Chair costs the same as all other colours! An "exclusive" product at no extra cost. So to say. As with all Vitra Panton Chairs the „Summertime in dark lime" special edition is constructed from a special UV
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Last week we, finally, made our first visit to Design Miami Basel. Featuring 43 international design galleries, Design Miami Basel is a curious mix of those featuring "old" objects and those featuring new contemporary designs. Those galleries who concentrate on new contemporary design generally make their money in that they organise limited editions of concept pieces by designers - which they then sell. Or they buy up "first editions" of pieces of new works that may, they hope, eventually go
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The Internet may not, as yet, have been able to provide us with a free lunch; but it has given us free software, music, photos and videos. But more importantly it has given us not only the means and methods by which we can share what we do, but also to alter what other people do so that it fits our requirements. And if the authors and editors behind "Open Design Now: Why Design Cannot Remain Exclusive" are to be believed - what is now an everyday norm in digital media will soon become just
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Among the projects at Design Miami Basel 2011 that most appealed to us was without question Cloud by London architect Asif Khan. Conceived within Asif's tenure as one of the 2011 W Hotels Designers of the Future Award winners, Cloud can, at the most primitive level, probably be best described as floating foam. But as with all good design Cloud hides its true genius behind a facade of primitive simplicity. Cloud employs a mixture of Helium, soap and water to create irregular forms that rise
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For their 2011 project the Berlin/Milan design group Transalpino chose to explore the "design" tradition that exists between their two cities. The fruits of their research were presented at DMY Berlin 2011under the title "Made in Between". To find out a little more about the project we spoke to Transalpino member Christoffer Martens. (smow)blog: Briefly, what is the background to "Made in Between"? Christoffer Martens: Normally one would only speak of Berlin as a design city or Milan as a
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Among the new Vitra products launched in Milan one of the most eye-catching was Waver by Konstantin Grcic. Following an initial cooperation in the form of a Vitra Edition project, Waver is Konstantin Grcic's first commercial product for Vitra. Created for outdoor use Waver borrows heavily from the visual aesthetics of "lifestyle" sports to create a product that not only goes its own way formally but is also remarkably comfortable. In the second part of our interview with Konstantin Grcic we
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During DMY Berlin 2011 Daniel Wahl aka weltunit formally launched his new desk top Wilbur. Specially designed for the classic Egon Eiermann table frame, Wilbur's principle function is in helping the user regain control of their workspace. For all cable organisation. Unbeknown to many, Egon Eiermann only designed the table frame - the intention was that user should supply their own top. And indeed many of Eiermann's students simply used old doors on top of their frames. Back then everything
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For all in or near Paris this summer the Dutch Invertuals exhibition "Matter of time" is showing at Gallery S.Bensimon from 16.06 until 11.07 One of our highlights of Dutch Design Week 2010, "Matter of time" presents projects from 8 design studios that use 600 year old wood that initially formed an entrance gate to "Old-Eindhoven" to create objects/installations which examine time in all its material and immaterial contexts. A particular favourite of ours is "Drawn by time" by EDHV - a piece
read more.... Greece. Congratulations to Yiannis Ghikas whose Monarchy Stool was awarded the coveted public prize. We caught up with Yiannis during DMY Berlin to find out a little more about the Monarchy Stool, his new coat hanger Game of Trust and the realities of life as product designer in Greece. That's all coming, but until then, here's a short video which beautifully explains the Monarchy Stool
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Back in February the VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein celebrated its first birthday. But was it all worth it? To find out more we spoke to Vitra Chief Design Officer Eckart Maise about one year VitraHaus and the plans for the future. (smow)blog: The VitraHaus is now one year old, are you satisfied with the first year? Eckart Maise: Yes, the VitraHaus has been a huge success and the resonance has been very positive both in respect of the number of visitors as well as the feedback. The Vitra Campus
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This year we are finally going to make it to Design Basel. In the past something else always seemed to get in the way; be it illness, other appointments or a feeling deep in our stomachs that it was all just a touch too elitist and too far removed from the world of the normal designer furniture customer to justify the trip. But this year we're healthy, free and a little older and wiser. It in its 6th year Design Basel features exhibitions from 43 international design galleries showing an
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One of the unseen aspects of the furniture industry is the relationship between dealer and producer. For most people their only contact with a furniture dealer is when buying a new sofa. Or bookshelves. And so most people assume that that it is all furniture shops do. Sell sofas. And bookshelves. However an important part of a, quality, furniture shop's business is concerned with larger scale contracts; for example fitting out offices, hotels or working with architects on a redevelopment
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One of the genuine highlights of our year is DMY Berlin. Not just because it offers the chance to spend a week in Berlin, but because whereas all design festivals, inevitably, have a commercial aspect - at DMY Berlin it is not rammed down your throat. Conceptual, experimental design is just as welcome as market ready products, and one genuinely has the feeling that "design" is the only thing that matters. Egos, star allure and bottomless expense accounts belong elsewhere. DMY Berlin 2011 is
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Just before we head of to Berlin for DMY Berlin 2011 comes confirmation that our own local design festival, Designers' Open, has a new home for 2011 - the Baumwollspinnerei in our very own Lower East Plagwitz Village. Among the more nomadic design festivals Designers' Open has been staged in numerous wonderful venues throughout Leipzig, but the move to the city's Baumwollspinnerei promises not only a spectacular backdrop to the festival, but also a slight increase in the festival's reputation
read moreOwing to other commitments we have sadly been forced to cancel our trip to Belgrade Design Week. Gutted. Is probably the best description of our emotions at the moment. It was going to be our first visit to Belgrade, and after all the good and positive things we've heard... we were genuinely looking forward to it. Aside from an interesting sounding series of lectures and talks from, amongst others, the likes of Arik Levy, Stefan Diez or Dieter "YELLO" Meier as part of the official design
read moreUntil Wednesday June 1st the Design Museum Helsinki is accepting applications/proposals for inclusion in their Design Gallery 12 project. Curated as part of the Design Museum's programme during Helsinki's tenure as World Design Capital 2012, Design Gallery 12 will be a series of 12 individual exhibitions/installations Applications are welcome from all actors in the design community and projects should be of no more than one month duration. More information and details of how to apply can be
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For the last in our series of EuroDesignExhibition previews we travel to the spiritual home of Europe. Belgium. Aside from quite possibly Luxembourg, which only Luxembourgians would be cheeky enough to contend even counts, there can no country that has become more identified with the founding ideals of the European community than Belgium. But has it lost its culture identity? Or is a cultural stronger than politics? The question of creating a piece that represents your country wasn't that
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During this years Leipzig Book Fair (smow) hosted an evening of readings by three Swiss authors under the title "Neue Stimmen from Switzerland" and hosted by SWIPS – Swiss Independent Publishers. Ahead of the readings we spoke with one of the organisations founding members, and former President, Liliane Studer from Dörlemann Verlag about the organisation and its work. (smow) You've been associated with SWIPS since the very beginning, just quickly as background what was the reason for forming
read moreNext week the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 begins in Düsseldorf - and we can't remember the last time we saw Lena? Curious. But before the singing starts, Düsseldorf will play host to an equally important attempt at European understanding: EuroDesignExhibition - Sit down please” 40 Stools from 40 Countries" Featuring the work of young designers from across Europe the EuroDesignExhibition is a unique attempt to see if one can define cultures through furniture. Apparently design is an
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Billed as being an "... experimental, collaborative journalism project that aims to lift the lid on the design world to coincide with next week’s Milan furniture fair." #milanuncut appears to have come down to an article in the Guardian by Justin McGuirk and a side discussion about unpaid interns. Sadly. Because there is without question an urgent need for a more open discussion about the "design" industry. However what #milanuncut does beautifully prove is that before the discussion can
read moreWe can all describe and define a country in terms of food, music or footballing ability. But can designers define their country through a stool? The exhibition “Sit down please” 40 Stools from 40 Countries" in Düsseldorf will attempt to answer the question? Austria will be represented by Alexander Gufler. How will Alexander handle the challenge? Habsburg excess? Art deco aesthetic? Michael Thonet minimalism? When I received the invitation from Anonym Gestalter I started by thinking about
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As you know we're no huge fans of Milan. Love the city. Don't love the size and cost of their furniture fair and design week. A couple of months ago we spoke to Giulio Cappellini, one of those who have been part of "Design Legend Milan" since the earliest moments, and he told us that, in his opinion, Milan had to be careful that it didn't all become too big. For us a design festival where it is physically impossible to see everything is pretty close to our definition of "too big."
read moreOn May 6th the inaugural, and quite possibly concluding, EuroDesignExhibition opens in Düsseldorf. Under the title "“Sit down please” 40 Stools from 40 Countries" an array of young international designers have been challenged with describing their country in a stool. Ahead of the opening we spoke to Denmark's representative Monique Engelund about her entry: When I got the brief for the exhibition and read "How do you sit in your country?", "Make a stool that tells a story about your country",
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Among the more interesting co-operations we saw in Milan was the first product from Konstantin Grcic for Azucena. Entre-Deux is a very simple, reserved screen/divider/barricade - but as we say, the interesting point is the cooperation. And so to find out more about how it arose and how it could develop in the future we spoke briefly with Konstantin Grcic. (smow)blog: Starting with the obvious first question, how did the cooperation between yourself and Azucena come about? Konstantin
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