The biggest, and certainly highest budget, new architecture and design exhibition open in May 2015 is without question the World Expo 2015 in Milan which begins on May 1st. Staged under the central theme of "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life" Expo Milan 2015 will feature presentations from some 140 countries in an equal or greater number of pavilions by some of the world's leading architectural practices, and promises to present an unrivalled exploration of future strategies for feeding an
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It was invariably more through good fortune than good planning; however, at Milan Furniture Fair 2015 Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec's principle manufacturers were all sited next to one another. Good for Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec as it meant they didn't have so far to walk to get to their numerous appointments. And good for everyone else as it allowed for a very easy overview of the brothers' latest works. Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec's highest profile new launch at Milan Furniture Fair 2015 was
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Privately and professionally we have long complained about, and been deeply saddened by, the lack of side/coffee tables with a shelf to be found in the contemporary furniture market. We know it's a first world problem, we know we should concentrate on other, genuinely important, things, but..... Back in the day all side/coffee tables had a shelf. And today......? Today the smow blog living room is scattered with magazines, brochures, music scores and catalogues we simply do not know where or
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Back in the hazy mists of 2014 the Grassi Museum for Applied Arts, Leipzig presented Sitting – Lying – Swinging. Furniture from Thonet, an exhibition which provided a leisurely stroll through 150 years of Thonet chair design and helped explain the evolution of the company's designs over the decades, including why Thonet lost their way in the 1980s and how from the late 1990s onwards they regained their position as one of Europe's leading contemporary furniture producers. And an exhibition
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In the late 19th/early 20th century Vienna based J & J Kohn helped establish the Austro-Hungarian Empire as an important centre for contemporary furniture design, advanced the careers of leading Wiener Secession era designers such as Josef Hoffmann, Otto Prutscher or Adolf Loos, as well as helping lay the foundations for the commercial furniture industry as we know it today. And while we're not going to forecast such a grand future for Brussels based Ateliers J&J, or at least not yet, from
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Upon seeing Rui Alves's Bridge armchair prototype at IMM Cologne 2015 we commented on the unfamiliar, and for us not instantly accessible, overproportioned upholstered seat and backrest...... Before realising in context of both the Pocket Chair by Jesper Junge and the Lenz Lounge Chair by Bartmann Berlin, Silvia Terhedebrügge & Hanne Willmann, that possibly Rui was just riding the Zeitgeist a lot better than us and that the overproportioned aesthetic had a contemporary relevance we were unaware
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For reasons far too abstract, intangible, and potentially libellous, to go into, we didn't report on the inaugural presentation of USM's new Privacy Panels staged during Orgatec Cologne 2014. Fortunately, and no doubt buoyed by the success of the Cologne presentation, USM are also presenting the Privacy Panels in Milan. When Fritz Haller developed his modular office furniture system for USM it's ability to divide internal spaces in a responsive and functional yet reduced and unobtrusive
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Given that all we have too many household accessories and our planet too few natural resources to justify continually producing ever more household accessories, the vast majority of which will invariably merely gather dust before being thrown out next time you move house, how should designers react? Stop designing household accessories? Certainly one option. Move away from resource heavy mass production to more sustainable forms of smaller scale production, so more craft than design? Without
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Following on from our interview with Michael Geldmacher and his appeal for the introduction of project development payments as standard in the furniture industry, we thought it appropriate, prudent, and correct, to ask other designers and design studios how they view the situation. The views of one furniture designer representing an entire profession no more than one swallow maketh a summer. To this end we conceived a short online questionnaire which we asked numerous European designers and
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The (hi)story of contemporary design isn't just about those designers, artists and architects who have, literally, formed the past century or so, but also about those who encouraged them, advanced their ideas and provided platforms on which they could present their works. Men and women such as Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 9th 1910 as the only child of Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann, owners of the city's "Kaufmann" department store, Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. was raised
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It being early April Milan furniture fair once again stands before us and with it the promise of untold column inches about the latest trends, the hottest young talents, the sharpest suits and the best bars for sharing an Aperol spritz and unsavoury gossip. Or a chance to critically assess the contemporary furniture industry. Yes, we’ve been here a few times in the past, but are always happy to return. There be nothing we enjoy more than biting the hand that feeds us. Among those perennial
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"Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?" asks Obi-Wan Kenobi, more or less rhetorically, in Star Wars. Chewbacca understood. And the Wookie warrior also understood that foolish as the fool who follows the fool is, he is less foolish than the April fool who misses the following five new design and architecture exhibitions opening in the coming weeks.............. "Somewhat Different. Contemporary Design and the Power of Convention" at the Museum of Decorative Arts and
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As we've often noted/complained/mocked in these pages, for a town widely lauded as being the most creative in the universe, there isn't that much evidence of design, creativity or innovation to be found in Eindhoven. Or at least not in downtown Eindhoven. Go a little bit outside to the former Philips industrial estate at Strijp on the western edge of the city or the Sectie C complex to the east, and you'll find seemingly inexhaustible communities of creatives holed up like rabbits in warrens,
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How to celebrate the birthday of a man all celebrate? What words can one find to honour the birthday of the German architect, designer and ex-Bauhaus Director Ludwig Mies van der Rohe? When in doubt we invariably turn to the man who has words for every occasion, George Nelson. Following his graduation from Yale University George Nelson won the so-called "Rome Prize", a fellowship awarded by the American Academy in Rome for particularly talented individuals from across a range of disciplines
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When Italian designer/design theologian Enzo Mari released his Autoprogettazione family of self build furniture in 1974 he did so with the aim of challenging popular conventions on industrial furniture production, and for all the concept that price is related to quality; the real value of an object, according to Mari, being something more intrinsic, something that exists inherent within a piece of furniture and which comes from a purity of form. Commercial furniture production distorts this
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As we've often noted in these pages the eastern German town of Chemnitz markets itself as the "City of Modernism", which as we've equally often noted in these pages is a bit of an over optimistic claim. For just as a swallow doesn't make a summer so being the birthplace of Marianne Brandt and possessing an Erich Mendelsohn department store building doesn't make you a "city of modernism" Which isn't to say that Chemnitz isn't without its cultural relevance: historically through works such as,
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Following the necessary disruption of their permanent exhibition to accommodate the recently ended exhibition Sensing the Future: László Moholy-Nagy, die Medien und die Künste, the Bauhaus Archiv Berlin have taken the opportunity afforded to redesign their exhibition concept. And in doing so have allowed a very welcome fresh wind to blow through their museum. Bauhaus Archiv Berlin: Sammlung Bauhaus Presented under the title Sammlung Bauhaus - The Bauhaus Collection - the new permanent
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Name: Izabela Bołoz Born: Wałbrzych, Poland Alma mater: University of Wrocław, Poland, University of Zurich, Switzerland & Design Academy Eindhoven, Netherlands Selected Work: Responsive Furniture Waiting Spot Shadow City Waiting Rooms Leaning Bench Intersections smow blog: To begin, our standard opening question, why the decision to study design? Izabela Bołoz: Initially I studied social sciences with the intention of following a "classic" career path in, for example, economics or the
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"I am rather silent, resolute and industrious. I can use any tool or machinery with dexterity." So described a 21 year old, and apparently extremely self-confident, Harry Bertoia himself on his application for Cranbrook Academy of Art. That the boast was anything other than hollow is something Harry Bertoia was to go on to prove. Repeatedly and in many fields. Harry Bertoia 1915 - 1978 (Photo courtesy of Knoll International) Born in San Lorenzo, Italy on March 10th 1915 Arieto Bertoia moved
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In our 5 New Design Exhibitions for January 2015 post we noted with dismay, and an unmistakable hint of accusation, that System USM Haller appeared not to be included in the exhibition SYSTEM DESIGN. Über 100 Jahre Chaos im Alltag at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln. We were wrong. Of course System USM Haller was included in the exhibition. Anything else would have been absurd. And while the actual object on show is and was a less than ideal example of the genius of the system, the essay
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As we've noted in these pages in the past, changing methods of working and communicating mean that we need new chair forms, specifically chairs which allow one to work with tablet computers and similar devices. When we wrote letters we needed desks, and so chairs which allowed us to sit comfortably at the desk. When we worked with computers we needed larger desks, and so chairs which allowed us to sit comfortably at the desk. Now we work with tablets we need chairs which allow us to sit
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By way of an addendum to our 5 New Design Exhibitions for March 2015 post, until March 28th the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf is presenting an exhibition devoted to the German artists, architect, designer and all round multi-talent, Peter Behrens. Born in Hamburg on April 14th 1868 Peter Behrens was not just one of the earliest product designers and first proponents of corporate design but also played a decisive role in the development of European modernist architecture. Yet very much like his
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March is a month for caution. Yes, the sun shines. Yes, the days are getting longer Yes, one can smell spring in the air. But March has a temper. Meteorologically March is fickle with a hang to petulance and so it takes bravery and fortitude to expose oneself to March's harsh, unforgiving vagaries. Snowdrops risk it. And often regret it. The following five museums have also taken that risk.... and we feel should be rewarded and applauded for their bravery. "Making Africa: A Continent of
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Interesting as many design objects unquestionably are, the story of their development is invariably more interesting. Especially in the case of contemporary Dutch design objects, for as we noted in our post on the exhibition Domestic Affairs – New Voices in Dutch Design in Cologne, there are currently only very few designers in Holland who simply produce objects. Rather contemporary Dutch designers tend to develop concepts that, occasionally, result in objects. Needn't however. A fact which
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