We've spent a lot of 2014 travelling backwards on trains, racing towards the future with our eyes fixed firmly on the past.
We know its a metaphor.
We just hope it isn't an omen.
Time will, as ever, tell.
And with this being late September, the next five weeks will see us travelling backwards through the European design landscape with an unhealthy, and fate taunting, regularity.
Our Autumn Tour 2014 begins at Vienna Design Week where, aside from the Passionswege projects, were particularly looking forward to the exhibition "Tomorrow Is…" in the MAK Forum, the "Willing & Able " workshop series in which "...senior citizens pass on their knowledge..." and curated by_vienna's exhibition series "The Century of the Bed". The latter probably because we'll barely see our own Siebenschläfer until November. A bit disappointing is that the Wagner:Werk museum don't appear to be involved in this year.....
Following Vienna our tour continues over BIO 50 in Ljubljana, Budapest Design Week, Designblok Prague and Łódź Design Festival before we kick it like the Pet Shop Boys and "Go West".
This being an even numbered year mid-October sees the Biennale Interieur in Kortrijk, Belgium, and parallel the annual Dutch Design Week, an event we sadly missed last year and where apart from the cultural and aesthetic charms of Eindhoven we are very much looking forward to seeing CLEAN UP! the mess by Studio Joost and Kiki, the UNION11 collective showcase, the TAB STUDIOS collective showcase and catching up once again with Atelierdorp.
Following the fun and frivolity of Eindhoven our tour continues to the sober brutality of Orgatec Cologne, Europe's largest office furniture trade fair. Nothing against office furniture, far from it, but office furniture trade fairs aren't the sort of places youngsters dream about spending bright October days. Unless they're really weird kids.
And then having had our fill of height adjustment systems, armrest technology, filing cabinets and ergonomic desks, Leipzig and Grassimesse 2014 await us. And the end of our 2014 Autumn Tour.
As ever photos, reports and videos as soon as we have them, both here in (smow) blog as well as on facebook, pinterest and tumblr.
