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Cassina | 30.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: Scotland 1 - Japan 2

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was greatly influenced by Japanese design and this encounter against Isamu Noguchi quickly developed into a masterclass of subtle, self-confident, organic design. Charles Rennie Mackintosh took an instant lead with his complete interior ensemble for the Willow Tea Rooms. In particular the Willow Chair seemed to distract Noguchi through its familar, yet foreign narrative. Isamu Noguchi recovered however and drew level with his Freeform Sofa and Ottoman before moving

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Designer | 29.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: England 3 - Israel 1

Despite the rumours flying around ahead of this match, England stuck with Jasper Morrison rather than pitting Tom Dixon against Ron Arad. Whereas many would have relished the opportunity to have witnessed the two masters of "real" industrial design going head to head the Morrison/Arad encounter was every bit as entertaining. Unmoved by Ron Arad's Bookworm, Jasper Morrison concentrated on his chair work and took the lead with his Basel chair for Vitra; a simple move that produced the deserved

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smow 2010 | 28.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: USA 0-Mexico 0

Following their defeat of Eero Saarinen in their opening match, Charles and Ray Eames found themselves up against another old companion in the form of Alexander Girard in this all important second group match in the 2010 (smow) designer furniture world cup. Opening with a classic Plywood group combination of LCW and CTM Charles and Ray Eames moved steadily towards their former Herman Miller colleague. Complimenting the LCW chair and CTM table with an LCM chair Charles and Ray Eames seemed

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Designer | 28.06.2010

Vitra Design Museum: The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction

The (smow)blog team outing to the cardboard furniture workshop was coupled with a visit to the current Vitra Design Museum Exhibition: The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction. We must admit to finding it more than a little ironic that an exhibition on "Design and the Art of Reduction" should be taking place in a building designed by Frank Gehry, especially when Tadao Ando's Conference Pavilion is only some 10m away. And after the long journey to Weil am Rhein this thought

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Designer | 28.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: Holland 1 - Canada 0

If ever a designer furniture contest could be compared to a game of "rock-paper-scissors" then surely Hella Jongerius against Frank O. Gehry. The Mistress of Materials against the King of Solid Constructions. And so developed this match. Frank Gehry applied all his radical geometry to try to find a way through the Dutch defence; but found himself continually hindered by the fact that natural material forms are always more sustainable than artificially generated: Or put another way Hella

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Designer | 27.06.2010

James Irvine, Jasper Morrison, Nils Holger Moormann and... Victoria Beckham?

You know how it is. You arrive early in the office..... Make a coffee..... Turn the computer on........ Check out the tabloid press websites..... And break gently into the day with stories as irrelevant and vacuous as they are compelling. It's just a comfortable and familiar way to start the day. This morning was different. The story had all the makings of normal tabloid nonsense: a pop star, a footballer's wife and a party guest list that you suspect had been thrown together by a tired and

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Designer | 25.06.2010

(smow) Interview:"We have to do less, and better" Ronan Bouroullec at Saloni Milano 2010

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are without doubt two of the brightest stars in the international designer furniture heaven. And two of the most omnipotent. Something which however may slowly change. Ronan Bouroullec in the VitaHaus, Weil am Rhein Following their initial breakthrough with Cuisine désintégrée ( Disintegrated kitchen ), an concept piece by Ronan Bouroullec that was taken on by Italian producer Capellini in 1998, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec went on to develop projects with companies

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Designer | 25.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: Germany 2 - Spain 0

The careers of Konstantin Grcic and Patricia Urquiola could barely be more different; whereas Patricia Urquiola has steadily and confidently moved through the traditional Italian designer furniture producers, Konstantin Grcic has skipped from cult producer to cult producer with only the occasional diversion into the mainstream of European designer furniture producers. Opening with a Hut Ab for Nils Holger Moormann, Grcic then complimented this with an ES shelving system for Moormann before

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Awards | 24.06.2010

Designpreis Halle 2010: Moving Family by Guy Königstein

For the sake of completion in terms of our coverage of the Designpreis Halle 2010: The winning film Moving Family by Guy Königstein (The German version is called “Die Rückreise” the film here is the English version; hence the different title)

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Designer | 24.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: France 2 - Mexico 0

Both Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec as well as Alexander Girard had to wait a long time for their opening match in this years (smow) designer furniture world cup - but for the sell out crowd in Pretoria the wait was more than worth it. Although born in New York, Alexander Girard qualifies for Mexico on account of the Wooden Doll side of his family tree. Opening up with an impressive selection of traditional southern Portuguese patterns Girard was initially confused as the Bouroullec brothers

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(smow)summer tour 2010

For some July is all about relaxing, enjoying the sun and drinking G+Ts under a Droog Shadylace parasol. For the (smow)blog team July means art and design college annual exhibitions. However for reasons unfathomable to us most Germanic colleges insist on holding their exhibitions on the same weekend. Obviously Germany design schools can develop everything: except a joined-up, national student exhibition plan. Fortuitously amongst the shows that have caught our attention this year there is a

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Designer | 24.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup:Italy 0-Belgium 0

Following his ankle injury Cesare "Joe" Colombo was replaced for this match by Antonio Citterio, one of the most experienced designers in the Italian squad. Opening with a quick Mobil for Kartell Antonio Citterio quickly reinforced this with a Follow Me for Vitra. Despite the intensity of the opening Citterio couldn't break Maarten Van Severn's legendary calm and the doyen of Belgian furniture design responded with an elegant LCP for Kartell and MVS Chaise for Vitra combination and so

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Awards | 23.06.2010

Designpreis Halle 2010

The theme of the 2010 Designpreis Halle is and was "travel" For us travelling to Halle has a special meaning as in a previous life we used to regularly travel to Halle, experience all sorts of perverse inhumane horrors and then travel back to Leipzig glad - once again - to have escaped from the banks of the Saale with our lives. That was then. But since then not only has our life changed but we now see and understand Halle in a completely different light. Thanks largely to another tour;

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Designer | 22.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: Denmark 0 - Switzerland 1

One of the high points of Verner Panton's career came in Switzerland when in Vitra he finally found a producer for his Panton Chair. Today however there was no room for sentiment and Panton came out fighting. Picking up where he left off against Joe Colombo Verner Panton attempted a quick plastic combination, his Barboy however going just wide. Fritz Haller remained as composed and sturdy as ever, the flexibility of his classic USM Haller system allowing him to respond to whatever move Verner

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Designer | 22.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: USA 1-Finland 0

There is a very familiar flair to Group D and this opening encounter pitted three old friends against each other; Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames. The three have been close friends since the start of their careers and the common influences and experiences were clearly visible in many of their early approaches. The longer the contest ran however the more the differences appeared and the more each side could set their individual tone and make use if their individual strengths. For all

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Designer | 22.06.2010

(smow) offline: Win a Vitra Organic Chair

It may not be the most universally recognised example of either Charles Eames' nor Eero Saarinen's canon however their 1940 "Conversation Chair" is without doubt one of the more important examples of 20th century furniture design. Designed for the New York Museum of Modern Art's "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition the Conversation Chair was a concept piece and Eames' and Saarinen's first attempt at moulding synthetics. At that time however the technology lagged somewhat behind

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Cassina | 21.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: Scotland 1 - Israel 1

Although stylistically worlds apart both Ron Arad and Charles Rennie Mackintosh are united by their individual and uncompromising style and approach to design. As expected it was Charles Rennie Mackintosh who made the stronger start, taking a 1:0 lead with his Argyle Chair - a brave break form contemporary convention and a deserved lead. Ron Arad's attempts at stemming Mackintosh's dominance largely lacked the required precision and all landed wide of their intended target. Late in the second

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Designer | 18.06.2010

(smow) Interview: "The thing that would be amazing to try to do is to work with recycled material" James Irvine at Saloni Milano 2010

For 26 years James Irvine has been quietly and unassumingly influencing European industrial design. Immediately after graduating from the London Royal College of Art in 1984 James Irvine moved to Milan to take up a position with the Olivetti design studio. And has pretty much been in the north Italian metropolis ever since. In 1992 James Irvine left Olivetti and since then has worked with companies as varied as Artemide, B&B Italia, Whirlpool, Magis and WMF. Among his most public projects is

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Designer | 18.06.2010

Shadylace by Chris Kabel for Droog

With Royal Ascot in "full flight" and the All England Championships at Wimbledon beginning om Monday, the summer season is here and with it long evenings in the garden, on the terrace or on the balcony. Lovely. And so it was guaranteed no coincidence that we saw the wonderful Shadylace by Chris Kabel for Droog at DMY Berlin last week. For having reached a comfortable, and somewhat overweight, middle age we now feel justified in owning such a treasure. Not only does Shadylace stylishly

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Designer | 17.06.2010

2010 Designer Furniture World Cup: England 4 - Japan 0

The first meeting between Jasper Morrison and Isamu Noguchi proved to be a truly one-sided affair; a result that although deserved, seemed unfair on the old master of Japanese design. Despite a few brave forays with his coffee table or rocking stools, Isamu Noguchi was unable to get away from his Akari Lamp stereotype. Jasper Morrison was more than able to profit from Noguchi's alleged monotypology and through some clever chair and crockery combinations was soon leading 4:0. Towards the end of

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DMY Berlin | 17.06.2010

DMY Berlin: Cardboard Furniture

On June 26th the (smow)blog team befind themselves in Weil am Rhein and a workshop in cardboard furniture production at the Vitra Design Museum. The plans for our new piece are relatively well advanced, that said we did take the opportunity to check out some of the cardboard furniture on display at this years DMY Berlin. Below a small selection of some of the pieces that especially caught our attention. Edge Table was the first collaboration between father and son team Cameron and Martin

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DMY Berlin | 17.06.2010

DMY Berlin: Tape Installation

Of course it wasn't a UFO at DMY Berlin Oh but how we laughed. The structure was the so-called "Tape Installation" by the Austrian/Croatian design team For Use/Numen. First presented at the 2009 Vienna Design Week the installation was in Berlin as advertising and an invitation for the 2010 Vienna Design Week. Which makes it all the more amusing that it won a DMY Award. In Vienna it was an original installation, and importantly an installation in context that demonstrated to visitors what

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Designer | 16.06.2010

DMY Berlin Sputnik: Fruit Bowl by Adam & Harborth

Between 1965 and 1985 the Soviet Union launched some 57 satellites from their rocket launching base on Berlin's Alexander Platz; thus, making Berlin the single most important launch site in the Soviet block. Following the disintegration of first the Berlin Wall and subsequently the Warsaw Pact, satellite launches from Alexander Platz ceased and the area was converted to a nature park for tourists and those who prey on such. In 1995 Berlin City Council erected an exact replica of a satellite

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DMY Berlin | 15.06.2010

DMY Berlin: Switzerland

At the risk of alienating the whole of Switzerland, it is probably fair to say that globally Swiss design is most successfully represented by pointy chocolate. And the font Helvetica. Although that may only be an issue to the hard working young men of Berlin-Mitte. With their Swiss focus the organisers of the 2010 DMY Berlin set out to try to introduce other facets and directions of Swiss design to a wider public. Something which they achieved; albeit with a couple of provisos. The idea

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