On 03.11.1989 the Vitra Design Museum opened. On 09.11.1989 the Berlin Wall "fell". Coincidence? Almost certainly. But while the Vitra Design Museum may not be able to claim responsibility for the end of the DDR, it can look back on a remarkable 20 year history and proudly profess to have helped popularise designer furniture and furniture designers. Initially established as a location where Vitra chairman Rolf Fehlbaum could display his extensive collection of contemporary designer
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Our new flash has arrived .... and that just in the nick of time. (As the name tends to imply ;) ) For this coming Friday the 2009 Designers' Open will once again present the finest selection in contemporary design from 150 international designers. And that right here in Leipzig. In addition, a series of lectures, workshops, discussions and "hands on" events will not only wonderfully complement the exhibition, but, hopefully, invigorate, motivate and illuminate both industry professionals and
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With the clocks all across Europe preparing to be turned back an hour and so cast us all into that unlit world so beloved of poets, painters and cat burglars; a ray of light comes from the US of A. The organisers of the 2010 ICFF have issued a call for entries for the ICFF Studio and ICFF Design School. We had a fantastic time at ICFF in 2009 and are thoroughly looking forward to returning to the Big Apple in May 2010. And so, by way of supporting and helping the organisers of ICFF we would
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One of the most exciting moments of our trip to the ICFF, New York was our visit to the droog flagship store in SoHo. For those who don't know droog, firstly forget everything you accept about the separation between art and furniture design. And then having convinced yourself there is no divide imagine your Dutch and design something. OK droog also have some fantastic "normal" designs - but their real strength is pushing the borders of absurd until they become the most obvious thing ever.
read moreSadly we must report that our critically acclaimed short animated film “usm_highboard_m_rubinrot” will not be featured in the 2009 DOK Leipzig. Apparently entries closed months ago and it would be unfair to allow our film into the competition at this late stage. Those who have chosen a creative route through life, know that the road is long, hard and winds its way through valley's of despair. But that's why we do it. And so we go undaunted forward and our next USM Haller work is already
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(click to play) As a few you have noticed (and thanks for the mails by the way, always appreciated) we've been a bit quiet of late. The reason for our absence was the development of our new short animated film: "usm_highboard_m_rubinrot" Initially conceived as a simple animated tribute to the the role of the trouser press in the social history of lower-middle class England since 1067, the work proved to be little more complicated than first envisaged. As one should really expect wth such a
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Back in June we started a campaign to encourage election officials to improve the furnishing of their polling stations. We can't claim a great deal of success, or indeed any, but we remain committed to the cause and so will be using Sundays General Election here in Germany to further promote our demand for more stylish and aesthically pleasing polling stations. However, in comparison to the local election where we made use of the practical Eames Elephant from Vitra as our urn, for the more
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One of the joys of being involved in the designer furniture industry is that every now and again one is allowed to share ones enthusiasm and passion with others. We believe that in more vulgar industries such is known as selling. And so it came to pass that last week the boys and girls from uniturm.de visited smow.com to test out a few chairs. The smow.com testing lounge may not be as luxurious as those on offer in the two (smow)shops in Leipzig and Chemnitz but it does offer a pleasant and
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For a lot of people USM Haller make units where you can store lever arch files. True. They do. And that very successfully. However, the beauty of System USM Haller is such that with a little imagination, and the correct professional advice, one can also create just about any object to suit your needs. We believe we even once saw a photo of a USM Haller bed.... Recently, while promenading through one of Europe's finer cultural centres, we were delighted to spot through a window System USM
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In the past week three independent events have occurred which fuse together in one important tale. Firstly, while visiting a student flat in Dresden the (smow)boss noticed an obviously well used, but functioning chair reminiscent of the EA 107 by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra. Despite assuming it to be a copy - student flat, Dresden, etc... - his professional curiosity got the better of him and thought he'd better check .. and Lo and Behold it was an original EA 107 by Charles and Ray
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It's probably fair the say that Maarten Van Severen isn't a particular favourite of the (smow)IT department. Not that they dislike Van Severen's effortless aesthetic, but rather with his .03, .04, etc... Antwerp's finest artisan of designer furniture is the proverbial fly in the ointent of the new (smow)live search. Developed using technology originating from the NASA Mars Programme, the (smow)live search is amongst the most user friendly and responsive search features ever developed. Simply
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First produced in 1936 by Gebrüder Kaiser & Co. in Neheim-Hüsten, the “town of lights” in the Sauerland region of Germany, the KAISERidell 6631 R Luxus quickly became a by-word for product design, choice of materials and precise engineering. Designed by silversmith and Bauhaus Weimar Meister Christian Dell the 6631 Luxus is characterized by the smooth, asymmetrical design of the lampshade and the attention to detail such as the the swivel joints which enable the lamp to be positioned in
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In the next week or so we will be introducing here some of the new products from Thonet that are now available at smow.com. But before we get that far, a small video below that explains something of the story of Thonet furniture and the production process involved in bent wood and bent metal furniture. Narrated by perennial smow favourite Nils Holger Moormann. The text is currently only in German - we are however working on a translation - and so until then sit back and enjoy the pictures.
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As all who work in a small office, or perhaps more importantly from home, know, noise is one of the biggest contributors to stress and non-productivity. And we don't mean the radio that you want to hear, but rather the unwanted, background noise generated by others. A little physics tells us that noise travels in waves, and that the most important factor in sustaining and amplifying noise in a room is reverberation and reflection from walls. Ergo, stop the reverberation and reflection and
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In these pages we have often described the dangers and problems associated with non-licensed copies of design classics. And now thanks to Core 77 a particularly appalling case from the USA has been brought to our attention...as the images below show. OK it is art, and specifically an installation by conceptual sculptor Mark Wentzel for the Global Health Odyssey Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Entitled XLounge x 3 the show is, according to the PR blurb " ... a series of cleverly-adapted
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One of the classic rules of furniture design is the product must look good, must look appealing. What, however, if you can't see the product. If it doesn't have a visual presence. That would make no sense. Which is probably why it took Philippe Starck to come up with the "Ghost" range of chairs and stools for Kartell. Very few other designers could create a range of chairs that regularly vanish in the light. Starck's motivation was of course somewhat different. With his Louis Ghost,
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There are very few major designer furniture producers who are prepared to risk truly inventive design. The exception, as in so many facets of the industry, is Nils Holger Moormann. Although the basic look and feel of Moormann furniture rarely changes, the functionality and conceptual basis always does. And with Strammer Max, Max Frommeld has helped Moormann, once again, move the borders of what is acceptable in designer furniture. Who else would even consider a design that requires using
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A few months ago our local baker started offering a new bread roll variety called KNAX You can imagine our disappointment when instead of a streamlined, almost invisible product with cleverly integrated features we received a somewhat cumbersome bakery product with the various grains apparently inserted at random. What would Charles and Ray Eames have to say? Although it is a bit harsh to blame the baker, for not everyone can have the talent of Harrit and Sørensen, the design studio behind
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It's not all hard work you know. Just read a nice little article on dutch design portal design.nl in which Marie-Luce Bree, deputy director of the Foam Photography Museum in Amsterdam, talks about their photo project “New Greetings From”; which basically follows the tried and tested method of getting members of the public to submit photos and then using the best to create an exhibition. In detail, “New Greetings From” requests contributors to submit photos showing their interpretation of
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We're just a touch late with this one, but since July 22nd the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin has been showing the exhibition "Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model". For the first time, the three German Bauhaus institutions - Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Museum für Gestaltung, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and Klassik Stiftung Weimar - are uniting to present a comprehensive Bauhaus retrospective. “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model” recounts the story of the Bauhaus in a comprehensive presentation of the works of its
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Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor. The Trial by Franz Kafka. Madonna and Child with St John and Angels by Michelangelo. Although there are always ethical and stylistic questions concerning the completion of unfinished works, in principle it is always a joy to see someone who cares as much as the original artist complete a project. And so hats off to the Vitra Design Museum for it's decision to finally bring George Nelson's Ceramic Clocks onto the market. In 1945 George Nelson
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Idling on the internet the other day we inadvertently clicked on an advertisement. Fortunately. For the link took us to 3 fish studios and these wonderful linocuts. Now we're not going to insult yous by pretending to be experts in graphic art, and so in the words of 3 fish studios: All prints are of the highest possible quality, each one printed by hand with a Conrad Machine Etching Press on Rives BFK paper using Daniel Smith Traditional Black Relief Ink. There are ten designs in total
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Eames DSR from Vitra On a recent trip we discovered a genuine Herman Miller Eames fibreglass chair bench at an airport. Being a relatively small airport - in fact so small that the word "airport" appears optimistic in describing it's capabilities - our frenzied photographing of the chairs and the Herman Miller stickers caused quite a lot of amusement. And that among individuals who spend their spare time photographing aircraft!!! Anyway, once we'd calmed down a little we started reflecting a
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Since Saturday the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York has been showing their new exhibition Ron Arad: No Discipline. Until October 19th visitors have the opportunity to view a varied selection of Arad's work. Or in the organisers words: "...celebrate the designer’s interdisciplinary and “no-disciplinary” spirit. Physical concepts are traced through works in different materials and scales, and objects are grouped in families based on a shared form, material, technique, or structural
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