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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Giorgio by Peter Horn is the chair that almost never was. Having commissioned Horn to create a stackable multi-function chair, the finished design lay for two years in the archive of Stuttgart based designer furniture producer Richard Lampert - in short, although convinced of the quality of the chair, Lampert saw that particular market segment as too crowded. After all how many chair designs does the world need? And so the story would have ended had not one day a request for help not been
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It's Dumfries Show on Saturday. That won't mean much to the most people, but for us it is a sure sign. Winter is coming. We know, we know. Barely have we got use to remembering to take our sunglasses to work, buying ice-creams for lunch or waking up at 5 am because we forgot to shut the curtains - again - than the Dumfries Agricultural Society hold their annual show. And after the Dumfries show the evenings get shorter with increasing rapidity and before you know it the ground will be brown
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DMY Berlin may have been a few weeks ago, but the warm memories remain. And as we were sorting through the piles of info material we gathered in Kreuzberg we came across a postcard from Wohngold. And like a remiss lover returning from a holiday fling, instantly felt a pang of guilt as we saw the card and were reminded of that wonderful time at DMY Youngsters. Why hadn't we responded since our return? Did it all mean so little? For the truth is that LADAR by Wohngold is a truly wonderful
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As we stood looking at some mighty fine, but horribly over-carved, wooden furniture at the Salone in Milan a female colleague confided in us that all she needs is some leather straps and a few bits of bent metal. Trying not to show our horror at this outburst of candour, we asked if she had a meeting with El Presidente that evening. "No, no" replied our erstwhile colleague, "Bauhaus. That's my idea of good design" Eileen Gray (1878 -1976) We recite this tale here principally to amuse
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As hopefully been noted we've been away for a week or so, but not on holiday ... rather moving into our new house: We wish. Now we're not big on flash harry design, we like it simple, as in the simpler the better, but we are impressed by this. And really impressed that it is used as an ... urban planning display venue. A) We've never known a local authority take such pride in the displaying of urban planning plans B) We don't know anyone, apart from a few grumpy pensioners, who are
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Now that it is finally online we did want to write at great lengths about the AC4 by Antonio Citterio for Vitra. But you know what. We're not going to. On the one hand; we already have: Red Dot Winner 2009 54% Recyclede, 91% Recyclable Heirloom Design Net'n'Nest And on the other Vitra have produced such a delightful promo video: We're impressed - especially by the three zone lumbar support and the constant eyeline tipping system - and we genuinely don't say that about all office
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The so called "Barcelona Chair" by German architect and designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is without question one of the true classics of 20th century furniture design. And one of the most copied. On the 80th anniversary of its first public appearance during the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, materials scientist Prof. Friederike Deuerler and Art Historian Prof. Gerda Breuer have curated an exhibition for the Galerie im Kolkmannhaus at the University of Wuppertal. "From prototype to cult
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Although the rumour persists that we only travel to trade fairs and exhibitions so that we can impress people in bars with phrases such as "Last week in New York..." or "For me the real beauty of Milan is...", in truth we do do a little work. And the fruits of that work can be seen, for example, in the ever expanding (smow)collection. And punctually to the start of The Ashes season we can now offer the extended Thonet outdoor range; quite possibly the most stylish furniture for sitting in the
read moreIf we're honest we've never understood TED ... and probably never will. Which is cool. And regradless of, and in how far, we comprehend why TED exists, they do offer some wonderful short films and lectures... and the newly released 2007 talk by Eames Demetrios, grandson of Charles and Ray Eames, is no exception. Occasionaly it wanders into the realms of "whatever!", but on the whole is a lovely little introduction to Charles and Ray Eames and for all their philosophy and approach to design.
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System USM Haller is a storage and display system for all. We know that most people only come across USM Haller units in lawyers and accountants offices, doctors surgeries or museums ... but that is, if you will, a historical relic based on the traditional distribution system. The times my have changed but system USM Haller remains the reliable, versatile and practical system it has always been. Many new customers, however, have a problem understanding what is and is not possible with USM
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The Top 5 chairs from the smow design spring. In no particular order. We lie: there is a slight order. First up is our favourite chair from the smow design spring: Stuart Miller's unnamed foldable cardboard chair from the designersblock showcase in Milan. Over the course of the smow design spring we didn't see any thing that even came to close to capturing Stuart's simple, practical and comfortable chair. We've sadly lost sight of the project a little, and lack the requisite degree in
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Just in time for the official start of the balcony reading season in Northern Europe, (smow) is proud to announce the arrival of Liesmichl by Nils Holger Moorman. Without a doubt one of the freshest and most inventive reading/side table design of late, Liesmichl is also an expression of Nils Holger Moormann's love affair with the written word. And a rare excursion by the southern German firm away from 100% wood furniture. The genius of Liesmichl is not the wonderful holder on the top where
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