Cleaning is a chore. If only we could get through life without the necessity of dusting, sweeping, washing, polishing et al....... With the project Cleaning against the Dictatorship of Efficiency Birgit Severin and Guillaume Neu-Rinaudo a.k.a. studio b severin explore cleaning, its rituals, contexts, symbolism, functions, psychology, and in doing so enable differentiated perspectives on both that ubiquitous chore and the necessity in the necessity of dusting, sweeping, washing, polishing et
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Alongside the Chinese and Korean New Year celebrations one of the most popular observances in any given February is, arguably, the Feast Day of Saint Valentine on February 14th; St Valentine famously being the patron saint of greetings card manufacturers, lovers, but less famously, if just as importantly, also offering protection from the plague. Now while the misanthropes amongst you will query whether love and plague aren't synonyms, and a pox upon you for that; this February 14th we could
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In 1936 Aino Aalto opined that "homes can be given interior design in other ways than before - not by buying expensive complete suites of furniture, but by concentrating on low-cost furnishings which can be used - with the aid of flowers, carpets, drapery and colours - to create hitherto more practical and more comfortable homes."1 A break not only with the understandings, the ways, of generations long past in terms of what constitutes appropriate furniture; but also a break with the ways of
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The only certainty as 2020 flows into 2021 is the ongoing uncertainty. An uncertainty that is increasingly being understood as an ongoing certainty and thereby turning ever more "plans" into "options". And also causing a great many global architecture and design museums to skip over the first quarter of 2021 as if weren't there, and to move their new exhibition openings to April and beyond. A state of affairs which on the one hand means there are currently fewer lonelier locations than any
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The so-called Bielefeld Conspiracy asserts that the German city of Bielefeld doesn't exist. Have you ever been to Bielefeld?, it asks. Do you know anyone who has ever been to Bielefeld? Do you know anyone from Bielefeld? If your answer to all three questions is no........ how do you know Bielefeld exists? A similar conspiracy could be built around Gertrud Kleinhempel, one of Germany's first professional furniture designers and who for the greater part of her career was active in Bielefeld.
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"Only slowly does it dawn on people that modern furniture must be designed on the basis of practical necessities", observed the Danish architect and designer Kaare Klint in 1930.1 How Kaare Klint understood those "practical necessities", how he understood "modern furniture", would not only define his career, but in many regards define the development of 20th century furniture design in Denmark. Kaare Klint (1888 - 1954) Kaare Jensen Klint was born in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, on December
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"With every new building the first task is to clarify the needs that will arise in context of its use",1 opined Peter Behrens on December 10th 1912 at the official inauguration of the new administrative HQ for the Prussian industrial concern Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG. And while Peter Behrens was certainly not the first to opine such, with the so-called Mannesmann-Haus in Düsseldorf he realised one of the earliest large office buildings designed to evolve and develop as those needs evolved and
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To paraphrase the Propellerheads, this is just a little bit of a blog post repeating... For much as with our November 2020 exhibition recommendations, so some of our December 2020 exhibition recommendations won't be opening. Or at least not in December 2020. But then as now are in still in our list. On the one hand because they will open, and is an important part of any pleasure not the expectation and anticipation? And on the other hand, because that which makes an exhibition recommendable
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"The placing of foam mattresses, spring mattresses, and the like, on bed frames made of wood or metal is familiar", notes a July 1966 patent application, and it was. However, it continues, "bed frames of this type are heavy, continually take up one and the same space in a room, must be dismantled if they are to be moved to a new location, and represent a major obstacle in context of cleaning the bedroom."1 Which, certainly in the early 1960s, they were and did. But what is one to do? Verner
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Outwith his native Denmark, the country home to the most architectural works by Arne Jacobsen is Germany. Yet the vast majority of them remain popularly unknown. As does Arne Jacobsen's partner on his German projects: Otto Weitling With the showcase Gesamtkunstwerke – Architecture by Arne Jacobsen and Otto Weitling in Germany, the Felleshus Berlin not only set the record straight but allow for some fresh reflections on both Arne Jacobsen and our relationships to and with architecture and our
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Back in May we were faced with the decision as to whether to remain with the online exhibition recommendations we'd been carrying throughout the spring, or, given that ever more museums were re-opening, move back offline for our June recommendations. And decided to move back offline, not least because "viewing an exhibition in a museum is the more satisfying experience, the more rewarding experience, the more enduring experience. And an important experience." Ahead of our November
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"I don't know what design is", opined once the Italian designer Enzo Mari. Not because he hadn't considered the question. But because he had. A lot. With the exhibition Enzo Mari curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli the Triennale Milano present an opportunity to approach an understanding of that which in the course of those considerations, and his 60+ year career, Enzo Mari has variously understood both design to be, and what it could, should, must, be........ Enzo Mari
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In 1977 Ludwig Glaeser, curator of the Mies van der Rohe Archive at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, opinioned that "it is certainly more than a coincidence that [Mies van der Rohe's] involvement in furniture and exhibition design began in the same year as his personal relationship with Lilly Reich."1 A statement that has in many regards come to define understandings of the furniture designs of both Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich. An understanding that "is certainly more than a
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In 1977 the German designer Luigi Colani demanded a "renaissance of Art Nouveau"1 What he meant, why he meant it, and if it is something we should all fear, can be explored and considered in the exhibition Luigi Colani and Art Nouveau at the Bröhan-Museum, Berlin....... Luigi Colani and Art Nouveau at the Bröhan-Museum, Berlin Born in Berlin on August 2nd 19282 Lutz Colani3 studied sculpture at Berlin's Hochschule für bildende Künste between 1946 and 1948, before moving to Paris where he
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"Last night the waiter put the celery on with the cheese, and I knew that summer was indeed dead", opined once A.A. Milne, continuing that, while there may be other indications of autumn's arrival, "it is only with the first celery that summer is over." And the first celery appears, or at least appeared in early 20th century England, in October. Not that one should fear the celery, for in its crispness, freshness, tenderness, sweetness celery, so A.A. Milne, reminds us that winter isn't only
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As a general rule we prefer to focus the Design Calendar on positive events, it just seems more, well, positive; however, sometimes a negative event is more illustrative of a situation, provides for better access to a story. An event such as Mart Stam's beurlauben, suspension, as Rector of the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst, Berlin, on September 22nd 1952. The unhappy end of Mart Stam's not altogether joyful sojourn in East Germany. But also a moment that allows for some focussed
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"Hvis jeg får et nyt liv, vil jeg være gartner", opined once the Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen. "If I have another life, I want to be a gardener" Not that, as Arne Jacobsen – Designing Denmark at Trapholt, Kolding, would tend to imply, he made an incorrect career choice..... Arne Jacobsen - Designing Denmark, Trapholt, Kolding Arne Emile Jacobsen was born in Copenhagen on February 11th 1902 into a, by all accounts, comfortable middle class family; his mother a trained bank
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Tuesday September 22nd marks the 2020 Southward Equinox, and thus the start of autumn in the northern hemisphere, and of spring in the southern hemisphere. Two seasons known throughout history for the vagaries, capriciousness, of their weather. And thus two seasons perfectly suited to a longer architecture and design, or art, museum visit. Our recommendations for four new showcases opening in September (autumn) 2020 can be found in Berlin, Kolding, Düsseldorf and Berlin (again); our
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"Trunk-hasped, cart-heavy, painted an ignorant brown. And pew-strait, bin-deep, standing four-square as an ark"1 Reading Seamus Heaney's musings on his Settle Bed one could be forgiven for considering it a thoroughly unremarkable object. Ignorant even. That would however be to misunderstand the nature, spirit, essence, of poetic construction. And the nature, spirit, essence of the Settle Bed. A World of Vernacular Furniture: The Settle Bed. As a settle...... (Photo Kenneth Allen via
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"It is a very interesting thing indeed to ask myself certain questions", reflected H.G. Wells in 1937, "How did I come to know what I know about the world and myself? What ought I to know? What would I like to know that I don't know? If I want to know about this or that, where can I get the clearest, best and latest information? And where did these other people about me get their ideas about things? Which are sometimes so different from mine. Why do we differ so widely?"1 Questions whose
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"Wij hebben de nieuwe wereld te scheppen" wrote a, then, 19 year old Mart Stam in 1919.1 "We have to create the new world" And subsequently spent the following decades developing, explaining and demonstrating his understandings of what that meant...... Mart Stam (1899 - 1986) Martinus Adrianus Stam was born on August 5th 1899 in Purmerend, a community to the north of Amsterdam, and which, not uninterestingly, is also the birthplace of Stam's contemporary J.J.P. Oud. Following an initial
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While understandings of form, of beauty, in context of the objects with which we surround ourselves continually evolve and develop, understandings of function are, generally, much more stable. Or at least are once they have been identified, understood and normalised. Something that can be studied and appreciated in Thomas E. Warren's Centripetal Spring Chair..... A Centripetal Spring Chair by Thomas E. Warren for the American Chair Company with tapered back and armrests (Image © and
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The German designer and graphic artist Otl Aicher once opined, "Hans Gugelot wasn't a theoretician. But not a practitioner either. What is one if neither a theorist nor a practitioner?"1 What, indeed.....? With the exhibition Hans Gugelot. The Architecture of Design the HfG-Archiv Ulm allows one to approach an answer..... Hans Gugelot. The Architecture of Design, HfG-Archiv Ulm Johan (Hans) Gugelot was born in Makassar, Indonesia, on April 1st 1920, as the second son to Dutch couple
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Christa Petroff-Bohne arrived a trifling couple of minutes late for the opening of Beauty of Form. And was most apologetic, apologised for keeping us all waiting. Whereby, we couldn't help thinking, it is much more us, all, the international community, who should be apologising for keeping Christa Petroff-Bohne waiting for such a comprehensive and rounded recognition of her work and career.........1 Form studies by students of Christa Petroff-Bohne's Basics of Visual Design, as seen at
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