Designer | Exhibitions and Shows | imm cologne | Producer | Product | Thonet | USM Haller
On Monday January 13th the European design circus rolls into the new year with the opening of IMM Cologne 2014 and Passagen 2014, and against our natural inclinations we'll be there, or as Ride so nearly put it;
"If we've seen it all before, Why's this train taking us back again? If we don't need anymore, Why's this train taking us back again?"
Yes, the rent has to be paid. But there are easier ways to earn a living than spending a week in January on the banks of the Rhein questioning your own existence as you're confronted by yet another piece of soulless furniture whose singular raison d'être is to fill a perceived gap in a company's portfolio. Regardless of what that means for the environment or global social harmony.
Yes, (smow) now have a shop in Cologne, but they also have a shop in Chemnitz and we've never felt any great need to spend time in the wilds of south Sachsen.
However, and much like Milan, although we don't "need" anymore, we want more. We know that amongst all the dross, junk and criminally unnecessary we will find one or the other project that restores our faith in the design profession. A project that genuinely excites and challenges us. And we want that. We want those moments.
And although we're not expecting to find such moments at IMM Cologne itself, a few of the new products that have been publicised in advance certainly appear to be worth closer inspection. In particular the new S 1200 desk by Thonet. Formally it does remind us of the PS 07 Bureau by Delphin Design that Müller Möbelfabrikation launched at IMM Cologne 2013; however the wooden desk top and the split level storage space make it an object that can be more easily used in domestic situations. And it has a footrest bar. An underrated yet so simple feature of a good, practical, user-friendly desk.
Artek meanwhile are promising, amongst other new additions, a re-release of Yrjö Kukkapuro's 1964 Karuselli lounge chair and the tables 907B and 915 by Alvar Aalto. A further foci for us is seeing how Wilde+Spieth follow up 2013's successful launch of the CU! chair by Avinash Shende, and then of course there are those delightful, unannounced, unexpected discoveries. Which as we all know are often the best. Most satisfying.
Away from the fair ground the Passagen design festival looks a bit weaker, more sparse, than in previous years, but still promises some interesting shows. For all country specific shows. Italian Style at the Italienisches Kulturinstitut, Dutch Design at the Handwerkskammer zu Köln, Modern Japanses Design at the Japanisches Kulturinstitut and in the Belgisches Haus Flanders design as represented by Cas Moor and the ever amiable Atelier Bonk.
Elsewhere we're delighted to see the organisers of last years Objects for the Neighbour are back this year with a slightly larger show under the title Objects and the Factory; the exhibition Alle Metalle/all metal promises to present contemporary and classic metal design objects, could fall flat on its nose, but looks well worth checking out; Jack in the box e.V. are hosting a couple of interesting looking presentations - and some urban gardening boxes; and we're really looking forward to Stefan Wewerka: Denkmöbel at Ungers Archiv für Architekturwissenschaft. Ungers Archiv isn't the roomiest exhibition space in Cologne, but looks like being one of the more thought provoking and educational.
And then there is the USM Haller exhibition Facetten at (smow) Köln, "Mit Grüßen aus Istanbul" featuring works by design students from the FH Dortmund created in Istanbul's craft quarter Sishane and of course Werner Aisslinger's inauguration as A&W Designer of the year 2014 with accompanying exhibition(s).
As we say there are more pleasant things to do in January than travel to Cologne, but it does always throw up those brief, magical, moments that make the otherwise unbearable bearable, that make us appreciate just how privileged we are that we can experience such and so, ultimately, "the circus lights you see, is where you have to be"
Reports and photos to follow.....
