Since 2014 the Room + Style "lifestyle" fair in Dresden has been extended, if not enhanced, through the presentation of the Staged Design Award exhibition. Organised by the Dresden based creative agency Paulsberg, Staged is open to young designers from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic and seeks to not only reward outstanding creativity but also explain contemporary design and creativity to a wider public and thus attempt to increase an understanding and acceptance of what contemporary
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What with the sweet afterglow of Vienna Design Week behind us we entered October 2013 full of enthusiasm - not least because it meant the opening of the new (smow) Cologne store. The month nearly nose-dived on account of a hideous plagiarism in Leipzig, but was more than rescued by Alison and Peter Smithson at the AIT ArchitekturSalon Cologne.......
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We're not going to pretend everyone is enamoured with our constant pops at Chemnitz. Truth is for the majority our behaviour lies somewhere between adolescent immaturity and the senseless ravings of an embittered pensioner. And indeed all did in fact begin when we were immature teenagers. And we've long since reach the enviable status of rancorous elder citizens. But despite being unenamoured with our demur, most have accepted and understood that it is nothing personal, that it is just an
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Normally we don't pay any heed to design contest exhibitions at design fairs. It just doesn't feel right, looking at them being in our jaundiced minds akin to reading those appalling advertorial "special supplements" that the print industry have fallen back on for survival. However at DMY Berlin 2013 something drew our attention to the exhibition for the adream 2012 competition. A pink brick to be precise. And we're mighty glad it did. Although "adream 2012" sounds like some truly horrendous
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London based design studio Barber Osgerby stands as a testament to the fact that high quality work will always win through, with or without the media status "star designer" While its fair to say that many of their contemporaries have been placed on international glossy magazine pedestals, Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have remained largely in the shadows, quietly producing consistently high quality work for both international producers and private customers. That is however slowly changing
read moreBack in October 2010 the design blog pixelgangster.de ran a competition with a Richard Lampert Egon Eiermann desk - supplied naturally by (smow) - as the first prize. Entrants were asked to say why they deserved the desk. In his winning entry Benjamin asked his friends why he deserved the desk - would your friends be so generous? Ours probably wouldn't. But then we already have an Eiermann Desk! Benjamin's winning video (in German with English
read moreChemnitz is without doubt the ugliest city in Sachsen. If not Europe. And so it is all the more surprising that the town produced one of the most gifted aestheticians of the Bauhaus generation: Marianne Brandt. A student of, amongst others, László Moholy-Nagy, Josef Albers and Wassily Kandinsky, Brandt is best known for her home accessories including ashtrays, coffee/tee services and lamps. Many of her works are part of the permanent collection at leading museums including the Museum of
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W've all been there. We've all suffered. And so we can all wonderfully identify with Michael #57's winning entry in the designtagebuch.de Christmas designklassiker Medapal competition. The judges were praised not only Michael's concept but also the excellent photo re-working and the wonderful little story that rounded the entry. Congratulations Michael and hopefully in January you can donate your torture chair to some museum or chamber of horrors and enjoy the ergonomic and
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To celebrate the 150th birthday of Michael Thonet's "chair of all chairs" Thonet are running a photo competition: 214x214. The rules are ridiculously simple; whoever submits the best photo of a Thonet 214 wins a 3 day trip to New York. For the second best there is a trip to Thonet in Frankenberg and the chance to build your own 214. If you don't own 214, you could always buy one - or more - from smow. Alternatively, keep your eyes open when your out and about, 214's crop up a lot more often
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In the world of designer furniture the word "individual" is regularly used; with everyone conveniently forgetting that if we all buy the same furniture, nothing is individual. Unless that is we all furnish our homes and offices with products from Danish producer, and smow partner, Montana. According to the good folks over there at Montana there are 5 billion possible combinations of their products - we've not counted, and we're not going to count, but you can check for yourself in the
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Nice chair...and for free As a general rule we don't pay any attention to our (smow)boss; however, as the news fluttered in that Vitra are giving away 20 Vegetal chairs from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec even we were forced to listen. The Vegetal chair is the culmination of four years development and follows in the tradition of their Algue room divider by combining synthetic materials with natural forms to create a functional, attractive addition to any home. Weather resistant and specially
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