Since establishing their own design studio in Stuttgart in 1994 Markus Jehs and Jürgen Laub have quietly gone on to become two of the busiest and most successful German product designers of their generation. With a client portfolio that includes the likes of Thonet, Wilkhahn, Fritz Hansen, Authentics or Belux Jehs+Laub are just at home with designing office furniture as with domestic furniture, lighting and accessories. And in a career splattered with international awards the highlight
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If you thought you'd seen the epitome of kitsch, we give you..... An olive bowl in the shape of Celine Dion's swimming pool. Just writing that sentence makes us want one. And of course the accompanying bowl for sun-dried tomatoes in the shape of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's swimming pool. Created by Zurich based designer Damian Fopp the Celeb Bowls collection is a series of porcelain bowls based on celebrity swimming pools, or to be more precise the swimming pools of Frank Sinatra, John
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As part of DMY Berlin 2013 the Belgian design critic, curator, journalist and lecturer Max Borka organised the exhibition "Refugium. Berlin as a Design Principle" in collaboration and cooperation with students from his d- SOAP course at the FH Potsdam. Presenting works by some 50 Berlin based designers Refugium not only presents works by the selected designers but also seeks/sought to explore what characterises the Berlin design community and what makes the Berlin design scene relevant and
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We first came across the work of Polish born, Swiss based designer Oskar Zieta at DMY Berlin 2009. And in 2010 wrote in the context of DMY's Swiss country focus: One of the biggest Swiss stands was that from ETH Zurich with their FIDU technology. Which was displayed at DMY 2009. We like it, find it a fascinating process, like the furniture that they produce and last year had an interesting and long conversation with Oskar Zieta about the process and its development. For us there is no doubt
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The first object to attract our attention on Atelier Bonk's stand in the Ventura At Work exhibition in Milan was the candle stick holder. That is until it was pointed out to us that it is actually a potato masher. It's a very simple mistake to make. Especially if you're as daft as us. Bruges based Atelier Bonk is the result of a co-operation between designer Tim "Interror.be" Baute and graphic artist Stefaan de Croock, a.k.a. Strook. The name of the atelier may cause uncontrolled
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With DMY Berlin standing in front of the door like some excited child waiting to be taken to its chums birthday party, all eyes are slowly turning to to the German capital. The first Berlin design events are already running and until June 9th the gallery "Haus am Waldsee" is presenting the exhibition "Home of the Future" by and featuring Werner Aisslinger. We already posted a few photos in a (smow) facebook gallery. Delightful as the exhibition unquestionably is, for us one of the more
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We quote: "It’s probably fair to say the biggest surprise at Salone Satellite 2012 was seeing Rui Alves aka My Own Super Studio. Because we thought 2011 had been the last year he was allowed to exhibit." Fast forward 12 months later. And guess what the the biggest surprise at Salone Satellite 2013 was.... ? He has however promised us that this is his final, final, final year at Salone Satellite. A thought which to be honest doesn't disappoint or otherwise upset us because 2013 was also the
read moreAs older readers will know a large proportion of the menial labour at (smow) is carried out by a team of highly qualified Vitra Eames Elephants. In the past we've praised them, for example, for their help moving USM Haller units around our warehouse. (smow) recently moved into a new base in the Leipzig Baumwollspinnerei complex, a former yarn works largely inhabited by artists, sculptors and their ilk. Being naturally curious beasts our elephants didn't take long to start exploring the
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In the context of another project we are currently researching various aspects of Egon Eiermann's architectural output. And have discovered the most wonderful contradictory positions as regards dealing with his legacy. Contradictory positions which pose the more general question as to how one should approach modernist architectural legacies. Should all works be saved? Are all buildings really worth saving? Are there alternatives? Stadthaus Krefeld by Egon Eiermann (Photo Source: Wikimedia
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More intuitive readers will have enjoyed our post on the exhibition "Objects for Neighbours" from IMM Cologne 2013 and for all our interview with the participants. To be fair you'd have to very intuitive as it hasn't been published. Yet. We are however working on it. You can therefore imagine our absolute horror on bumping into two of the participants at Salone Satellite during Milan Design Week. There being little worse than admitting that you still haven't finished something.
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In December 2012 Vitrashop, the shop fitting arm of the Vitra Group, and of course the original rock on which the Vitra seed germinated and grew, took formal occupation of their new distribution centre. Conceived by Tokyo based architects Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa aka SANAA, the imaginatively titled "SANAA Factory Building" is the latest addition to the Vitra Campus and was officially presented to the public on April 19th 2013. Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum first approached Kazuyo Sejima &
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During Milan Design Week 2013 Knoll formally launched the "Tools for Life" collection from Dutch architecture practice OMA, a collection overseen by OMA co-founder Rem Koolhaas. The collection had previously been previewed as part of the stage decoration for the Prada Fall Men's show in January, and was formally unveiled in the same location.... the Prada Milan HQ A location that theoretically the likes of us should never be allowed to enter. But Design Week is Design Week. The first thing
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Back in October at Orgatec 2012 Vitra unveiled Workbay, the new concept from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. The latest stage in the brother's career-long "room within a room" research Workbay is a flexible system based around fleece walls and aluminium supports that resembles a cross between the Alcove Sofa and the Bouroullec's Communal Cells from Orgatec 2010. When we saw Workbay in Cologne we thought, nice idea, nice extension of the Bouroullec programme... and went back to concentrating on
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Ahead of Milan Design Week we received an email from a Belgian designer of our acquaintance letting us know where we could view their work. The email ended with a euphoric "This is finally Belgium's year!" A thought that really appealed to us, because as we wrote last year Belgium has the potential to be every bit as successful as Holland. And indeed should be. And so with an optimistic heart we set off to the Triennale di Milano to view the exhibition "Belgium is Design" And experienced our
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The concept of the so-called "Vertical Garden" or "Living Wall" is reasonably well established in architecture. In principle it involves cladding an exterior wall with plants in an integrated, self-sufficient system that requires little or no maintenance or external input. The theory is that the plants provide an efficient layer of insulation that keeps the temperature ambient in summer and reduces heating costs in winter. In addition such constructions reduce the impact of a building on
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Many of you will remember the exhibition "Great Taste for Waste" that was staged at Dutch Design Week 2011 AGF Class 3 Bowls by Renee Boute would have been a wonderful addition. AGF is an abbreviation of "Aardappelen, groenten en fruit" -"Potatoes, vegetable and fruit" - and Class 3 refers to quality Class 3, so damaged examples that can no longer be introduced into the food chain. Or at least not into the "individual" food chain. Utrecht School of the Arts' graduate Renée Boute took these
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Probably on account of all the wood, upcycling and back-to-basics on show at Milan Design Week 2013, Granoff Sofa by Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) alumna Scot Bailey, Taylor McKenzie-Veal, Ian Stell and Yumi Yoshida stood out like a burger bar in Rovaniemi on Christmas Eve. An unexpected, inignorable and ultimately very welcome delight. And that despite, or better put because, we completely misunderstood what was on display. Created for the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts at
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As we believe we've said before it is always especially pleasing when a designer you first got to know as an unkempt, idealist student, finally signs their first serious contract with a major manufacturer and so sets of a, hopefully, long and successful career. Similarly it is always very pleasing to watch a newly established business grow and develop; especially when it's one established with the goal of advancing contemporary design and the designer's lot rather than simply generating a fab
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Although as a general rule we don't want to think about Vienna Design Week during Milan Design Week - as it means thinking beyond the summer, and that before we've really felt the warmth of the sun on our milk white skin - the touring exhibition Werkstadt Vienna showing at Ventura Lambrate is a delightful exception. Because it brought back so many memories and ultimately reminded us just why we put ourselves through this. Curated by Sophie Lovell and featuring an exhibition design by Studio
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For us one of the highlights of Saloni Milano 2013 was/is Italian manufacturer Mattiazzi. And not just because they have managed to eke a chair out of Jasper Morrison that, in our opinion, is one of his better, and certainly more interesting, of recent years. Established in 1978 Mattiazzi is, if we correctly understand, essentially a network of woodworking facilities in Udine. For three decades the company served as a supplier of wooden parts for other furniture manufacturers before
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Back at Designers Open 2011 Norwegian designer Caroline Olsson caught our attention with "Curious", a wooden lamp inspired by pencil cases. At Salone Satellite 2013 Caroline has gone one better and is presenting a wooden lamp that is a pencil case. Which seems like an obvious development. Nothing more complicated than an oblong birch box, the beauty with Pencil Light is the metal mechanism that allows the lid to be raised, lowered and positioned. The illumination is in the lid, set a little
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Those Milan Design Week visitors brave enough to venture north of Garibaldi Station, yes there is civilisation up there, will be rewarded by an exhibition that demonstrates just how easily architecture, art and design can co-exist without threatening one another's integrity. Design, architecture and art combined in a borderless display of unity, tolerance and respect. Which sounds like a nice response to the current political situation in Italy. It isn't meant as such, but.... Magic Moments
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Before Milan Design Week and Furniture Fair really get started we took the opportunity to relax a little and to visit Milan's contemporary art fair, MIART, and for all their new "Object" section devoted to contemporary design. Curated by Michela Pelizzari and Federica Sala "Object" presents 10 design galleries from Italy, France, Israel and the Lebanon. Ten international galleries presenting an equally cosmopolitan pallet of objects, ranging from limited edition pieces from the 1950s over the
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As with so much of Ron Arad's commercially available, serially produced, furniture designs the story of Tom Vac starts a long, long way away from the domestic conformity one has become accustomed to seeing them in. In this case the story begins on a street corner in Milan. In 1997 the Italian architecture and design magazine Domus launched a PR campaign which involved asking contemporary designers to create an installation which embodied the fundamentals of the magazine. The first commission
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