Passagen Design Week Cologne 2017 is playing host to Naked Objects, the fifth edition of the exhibition series "Nieuwe German Gestaltung" - and an exhibition which as with the previous four is an unashamed celebration of the diversity and vitality of contemporary German product design. Naked Objects: Nieuwe German Gestaltung #005 Naked Objects - Nieuwe German Gestaltung #005 Tracing its origins to the 2009 exhibition “Nullpunkt. Nieuwe German Gestaltung” curated by the Belgian critic and
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With the exhibition 21 Common Things designer Thomas Schnur explores his personal relationship with everyday objects. And in doing so the concept of functionality. Thomas Schnur - 21 Common Things "The whole world's going home with blue plastic bags" observes Malcolm Middleton in his 2008 song, "Blue Plastic Bags" The blue plastic bag as a unifying object. The blue plastic bag as a metaphor for contemporary urban life. The blue plastic bag as a symbol of our social homogeneity. "The whole
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With the exhibition Full House: Design by Stefan Diez the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Cologne, MAKK, present the first museal overview of the canon of the German designer Stefan Diez. And an exhibition which in many respects also helps explain industrial design. Or at least the contemporary industrial design process. Yard by Stefan Diez for emu, as seen at FULL HOUSE: Design by Stefan Diez, Museum für Angewandte Kunst Cologne Full House: Design by Stefan Diez Born in 1971 into a
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Our pick of the new architecture and design exhibitions opening in January 2017, with showcases in Cologne, New York, Rotterdam, Atlanta and Helsinki. 5 New Design Exhibitions for January 2017 Offering as it does the perfect opportunity for reflection on what has been, and the chance to quietly place hope in what may yet come, January is in many respects the perfect month for visiting an architecture or design exhibition: the very best presenting as they do just such a mix, and thus
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Five recommendations for new architecture and design exhibitions opening in December 2016, featuring shows in Copenhagen, Weimar, Nürnberg, London and Munich 5 New Design Exhibitions for December 2016 2016 has been an awful year. As in proper awful. Which my explain the unusually high number of expressionist-esque art exhibitions opening globally in December 2016: the bright colours and supportive warmth and encouragement such works tend to radiate being just what we all need after a tough
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With the exhibition Stapeln. Ein Prinzip der Moderne the Wilhelm Wagenfeld Haus in Bremen celebrate the complex diversity of one of design's simplest principles .... Stacking. Stackable Chairs, as seen at Stapeln. Ein Prinzip der Moderne at the Wilhelm Wagenfeld Haus Bremen Placing one object on top of another is one of the more innate of human actions. Is something we start to do before we can talk, and an action so simple, so self-explanatory, we generally pay it no heed. Why should we?
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Back in February we spoke with Richard Lampert and he told us he was planning exhibiting at Orgatec. Had a few ideas he said. Boy, did he have ideas......... Orgatec Cologne 2016: Richard Lampert Established in Stuttgart in 1993 the first product in the Richard Lampert portfolio was Eiermann table frame, and thus, in many respects, the company began as an "office furniture" manufacturer. If largely furniture for architects' offices. The great architect's table frame quickly establishing
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Although one primarily goes to Kazerne Eindhoven to experience experimental, challenging, yet invariably accessible and pertinent design, during Dutch Design Week one also gets the chance to experience young, emerging, furniture brands. At Dutch Design week 2016 we were particularly taken with the presentation by Dutch brand Functionals. Tracing its origins back to 1972 and the establishment of a metal workshop in Goirle, near Tilburg, by Henk van Esch, the contemporary Functionals was
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Whereas 3D printing is omnipresent in the media, and a ubiquitous tool in contemporary research and development, in most daily realities it remains scarcelypresent. Save for tablet holders, cosplay accessories and Star Wars chess sets. Or put another way, as a popular activity 3D printing is still very nerd niche. Often very, very trivial. And certainly not a widespread, commercial, industrial process. Yet. But will be. Of that we are certain. How that will be in context of the furniture
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With The Wall, Nieuwe German Gestaltung #004, the 2016 Biennale Interieur in Kortrijk presented an overview of contemporary German design. The Wall: Nieuwe German Gestaltung @ Biennale Interieur Kortrijk 2016 All who know us will understand just how much it tickles us that one of the most ardent proponents of German contemporary design is a Belgian, Max Borka. Not per se that Max is Belgian. But that Max isn’t German. That it takes a non-German to explain to Germans how good contemporary
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It goes without saying that picking a "best of" from an event such as Dutch Design Week is impossible. Too varied are the projects, too wide the scope, too incomparable the works be that classic product design, classic architecture, classic craft, or more conceptual and/or research projects in and across genres. Rarely does urban planning sit so comfortably and naturally alongside pottery, high-tech and politics. While everywhere in Eindhoven one finds people 3D printing with all manner of
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According to Axl Rose, "...it's hard to hold a candle, in the cold November rain." The question is surely, why you would want to? It sounds like a thoroughly foolish thing to do. The clocks have changed, it's dark, cold, we're all a little down, but honestly Axl, standing outside with candles ain't going to make things better. Visiting one of the following five new architecture and design exhibitions however might just.... Fear and Love – Reactions to a complex world at the Design Museum,
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We must start with a confession . This High Five! is a High Four! Not because there weren't good products on show at Orgatec Cologne 2016, there were. But much more Orgatec is an office furniture fair, and therefore: a) most manufacturers offer, in essence, the same range, it is all very homogeneous. Generally of very good quality, but otherwise uninspiring, all very generic, safe and overtly commercial. One reason is that in the contract, so wholesale, business, decisions as to which
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When we spoke with Vitra's Chief Sales Officer Josef Kaiser at NeoCon Chicago he told us that at "Orgatec 2016 we will be trying to be more interesting for architects, without losing the focus on the dealers, which will be challenge, but one we’re looking forward to, not least because this year we have our own hall" What that meant in practice could be experienced in Hall 5.2 at Cologne Messe. Or in the Vitra Messe - Vitra Trade Fair - as we've taking to calling it, seeing how it was,
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On the train down to Kortrijk and the 2016 Biennale Interieur we started drafting this introduction. The talk was of the 25th anniversary edition, the relevance of the event in context of the European furniture and design market - then and now - and the strength(s) of contemporary Belgian furniture design Then we saw that organisers were charging 50 cents to use the toilet. In a fair. Ctrl A. Ctrl X. It may "only" be 50 cents, but.... having charged visitors €22,00 to enter a fair. You
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"The fact that you are European allows you to be quirky. Europe has a great reputation for good design but that is just the ante to the game, and allows you then to be interesting, but you also have execute." BuzziJungle by Jonas Van Put for BuzziSpace, as seen at NeoCon Chicago 2016 Established in 2007 as a producer of office acoustic solutions, the Belgian manufacturer BuzziSpace has quickly grown to become not only one of the major producers of acoustic products but of what one could
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In 2016 the Breton capital Rennes hosted four exhibitions of, by and from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec; one of them Rêveries Urbaines - Urban Dreams - is now on show at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec - Rêveries Urbaines, Vitra Design Museum In the European design calendar late September/early October is Vienna Design Week and the opening of the winter/spring temporary exhibition in the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein. And thus our annual outing on the
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The winners and nominated projects from the 2016 International Marianne Brandt Contest can be viewed in an exhibition in Chemnitz. International Marianne Brandt Contest 2016 Exhibition, Chemnitz Museum of Industry Time was we couldn't write about Chemnitz without making a cynical comment, an alleged joke. Time was. These days we not only travel voluntarily, and regularly, to Chemnitz but have begun to understand aspects of the town's character, aspects which on account of our previous
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Understanding materials has helped contemporary society develop as it has. And remains as relevant today as ever. If not more so. Ergo material education is as relevant as ever. If not more so. Object Lessons. The Story of Material Education in 8 Chapters at the Werkbundarchiv - Museum der Dinge Berlin "We daily call a great many things by their names, without ever inquiring into their nature and properties; so that, in reality, it is only their names and the things themselves with which we
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O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild* You'd be well advised to take yourself off to one of the following new architecture and design exhibitions....... (With apologies to Robert Frost) * Robert Frost - October (1913) "How Should We Live? Propositions for the Modern Interior" at the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York, USA Whereas lifestyle magazines and lifestyle blogs are very keen to tell us how we should live, architects
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Dessau and Rotterdam may appear unlikely brothers in arms; however, an exploration of the towns' architectural connections helps explain International Modernism. Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau present The Simultaneity of Modernism The Bauhaus School building by Walter Gropius in Dessau is, arguably, the best known and most popular example of International Modernist architecture in Germany The Van Nelle factory by Johannes Brinkman and Leendert van der Vlugt in Rotterdam is, arguably, the best known
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With their WerkBundStadt project the Werkbund Berlin aim to redevelop an industrial site in northern Berlin into a future orientated inner-city quarter. How can be explored in a new exhibition. WerkBundHaus Berlin Established in 1907 as an amalgamation of designers and manufactures, primarily with the intention of improving the quality of German industrial production - "Made in Germany" being at the end of the 19th century more an insult and synonym for shoddy tat than the quality guarantee
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August in Edinburgh is Festival, Fringe & Edinburgh College of Art Masters Degree Show. We enjoyed one of the three…… Edinburgh College of Art Occasionally, very, very occasionally, we genuinely think it might be us. Genuinely think there might be nothing wrong with the number of events during Milan Design Week. Genuinely think there is nothing wrong with the number of stages at the Glastonbury Festival. Genuinely think there is nothing wrong with the number of ice cream flavours on offer.
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(a+b)÷a = a÷b ≡ harmony? Or, the contemporary relevance of the Golden Ratio In addition to those artificial laws decreed by state and church our lives are also defined by innate laws, those of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and Murphy. But is there a law of harmony? A law which defines perfect proportions and thus the ideal form of any object? Proponents of the Golden Ratio would answer yes. With their exhibition Divine Golden Ingenious. The Golden Ratio as a Theory of Everything?
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