One of the biggest problems with Modernism is the name. It was unquestionably modern. Which is why it became known as "Modernism". However, having become Modernism, it remained Modernism, and consequently "Modernism" came to imply something static. Rather than something, well, modern. Nowhere is this problem more visible than in discussions around Bauhaus. Established in Weimar in 1919 Bauhaus would go on to play a central role in shaping those new ideas about art, architecture and design
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These past few months we have made no effort to disguise the fact that one of our favourite discoveries of 2015 has been Brussels based Ateliers J&J. Ever since we saw the studio's work as part of the exhibition MAD ABOUT LIVING – 24 Designers from Brussels during Cologne Design Week we've been obsessing about the tubular steel and solid wood objects which formed their inaugural collection. And now Ateliers J&J are ready to launch their second collection: their challenging second album, as
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If form follows function, what form does, could, should yearning and longing have? If architects are continually searching for a form that meets our individual understanding of the physical environment, what form does, could, should our individual emotional yearnings and longings have? Do we want our yearnings to have a form? Or are we not, perhaps, when all is said and done, happier when they remain abstract and unreachable? The seventh edition of Vitra Frankfurt's biennial Ampelphase
read moreCelebrated as the salvation of design. Denounced as kitsch. Fresh & invigorating. Vain & hifalutin. A watershed in design history. A passing fad. There are few architecture and design movements that divided opinion quite as much as the works of the Italian group Memphis. Or indeed which continue to divide opinion more than thirty years after their emergence. Although officially launched with an exhibition at the Arc '74 gallery in Milan on Friday September 18th 1981 Memphis can trace its
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If we're completely honest, until now the only piece of wickerwork about which we have ever gotten truly excited is The Wicker Man in Robin Hardy's eponymous 1973 film. All other wickerwork leaving us somehow cold. Almost as cold as the heart of Lord Summerisle. That however was until we saw Diana Stegmann's woven baskets presented as part of the Modern Crafts Talents section at Tendence Frankfurt 2015. Yes with their protruding stalks and unfamiliar forms Diana Stegmann's woven baskets are
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We've said it so often that even we are somewhat tired of hearing it, but..... Portugal has lots of cork. Portugal has a, relatively, weak economy, Portugal has lots of very talented designers. 1+1+1= More Portuguese cork design would be an excellent idea. And while some Portuguese labels such as Blackcork, CorkWay or Vicara are investigating, admittedly with various degrees of success, contemporary uses for cork, in general when one finds Portuguese cork in the home it is invariably in
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As we noted in our post on the 2015 Garden Unique Youngstars competition winner "snak" by Gunnar Søren Petersen, the contemporary outdoor furniture market is largely a forgotten world as far as quality design is concerned. But, and as we also noted, it needn't be. The 2015 edition of the Garden Unique Youngstars competition staged as part of the spoga+gafa garden fair in Cologne presented 15 projects by young designers which showed that "design for outdoors" is no contradiction. We're not
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In 1960 Enzo Mari designed "16 Animali" for Italian manufacturer Danese. Comprising 16 wooden animal shapes "16 Animali" is simultaneously a child's jigsaw and 16 individual wooden toys to be played with and thrown about as wished. In 2014 with his son's second birthday approaching Prague based industrial designer Jakub Gurecký faced the question of what to give him? Yes, he could buy something, but surely as a qualified and experienced industrial designer he could also create something? But
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The very first piece of product design George Nelson realised was inspired by architecture. The typical American family home in 1944 had storage problems: not only because increasing prosperity meant that a majority of 1940s Americans owned more than their parents and grandparents had ever possessed, but changing lifestyle practices meant they didn't own the same things their parents and grandparents had owned. Rather they owned things like golf clubs. Which don't fit in conventional
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As old Mother Goose, allegedly, once claimed: Thirty days hath September, and the following five enticing new design and architecture exhibitions which are probably well worth checking out if you get the chance....... "Piet Mondrian. The Line" at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany Just as those architects who were to lead the move to modernism in the first decades of the 20th century generally began working in more classic styles before being seduced by the reduced charm of modernism,
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As Noël Coward famously observed, only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, and it takes a similarly laissez-faire approach to life to open an exhibition in August. Everyone, but everyone, it would appear is on holiday. Or has at least like Coward's caribous, lain down for a snooze. Which is probably why the majority of the following five exhibitions open in late August, so after the sun has ceased to be much too sultry such that one must avoid its ultry-violet ray. "Shelter:
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"The challenges of contemporary housing are rooted in the changing materials, social and intellectual structures of our time; and can only be understood in such terms. The degree of structural change determines the nature and extent of the problems. They are deprived of any arbitrariness. They cannot be solved with slogans, nor hidden and ignored behind words of good intention. The problem of rationalisation and standardisation is only one part of the problem. Rationalisation and
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Taking a few minutes break from the 2015 Burg Giebichenstein Halle Summer Exhibition we sat ourselves on a low wall to enjoy a well earned coffee and to digest and reflect on what we had seen, when we slowly became aware of the unmistakable tones of Morrissey's "Everyday is like Sunday" drifting across the college's Neuwerk campus. "Armageddon, come Armageddon! Come, Armageddon! Come!" Give that in the course of its 100 year history nuclear obliteration is just about the only twist of fate
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It is probably fair to say that over the years and decades the Universität der Künste Berlin, UdK Berlin, has produced the majority of the more interesting and important Berlin designers. Whereas historically that was largely on account of the lack of alternatives; today the school has responded to the increasing competition by employing good sensible teaching staff who set the students good sensible semester projects and also give them the freedom to develop their own individual projects as
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On the evening of Thursday June 9th Bauhaus University Weimar formally opened the 2015 edition of their annual Summaery end of year exhibition; thus, and equally formally, launching our 2015 summer tour of student showcases. For all in or near Weimar this weekend, Summaery 2015 runs at the Bauhaus University Weimar, and at locations throughout the town, until 6pm on Sunday July 12th, full details can be found at www.uni-weimar.de/summaery, and here three design projects which particularly
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On days when his sketches didn't meet with his own, self-critical, approval, the Swiss architect and urban planner Le Corbusier is reported to have laid down his pencil and quietly reflected, "c'est difficile, l'architecture" 1 Equally difficile is describing and explaining the multifarious talents and passions of Le Corbusier. One option, arguably the best option, is to focus on just one aspect of Le Corbusier's oeuvre and to use this concentrated analysis as a conduit through which to
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On the evening of Wednesday June 24th the winners of the 2015 aed neuland young designer competition were announced in a ceremony in Stuttgart. Organised by the design/architecture/engineering association aed Stuttgart, neuland is a biennial international competition open to students or recent graduates under the age of 28 and according to the organisers the 2015 competition attracted some 330 entries across the five categories. An exhibition featuring all 23 nominated and prize winning
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It being July, there is an obvious temptation to search for new design and architecture exhibitions opening near the coast, maybe in interesting seaside holiday locations. That four of our five tips for July 2015 are indeed being staged a flip-flops throw from the beach is genuinely more by chance than design. Is however very, very welcome. "Rygalik: The Heart of Things" at Gdynia City Museum, Gdynia, Poland The first time we met Tomek and Gosia Rygalik they were making tables out of old
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Space is, as any Trekkie will tell you, the final frontier. For designers and architects it is certainly a very challenging frontier. Not only do the normal physical laws not apply thus requiring new considerations in terms of materials or construction, but functionality takes on whole new meanings: “comfort” being replaced by “need to survive”, “ergonomics” being replaced by “need to survive”, “adaptability” being replaced by “need to survive” And does the interior of a spaceship need to be
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In his review of Chris Taylor's book "How Star Wars Conquered the Universe" the American film critic Tom Shone makes a point so obvious you wonder how it has escaped you these past 38 years: Junk is everything in Star Wars. The Jawas deal in junk. The droids are sold as junk. Our heroes are delivered as junk into the Death Stars trash compactor. That the Death Star is the only new piece of technology on display is sign enough of its nefariousness: those serving the Empire are the only people
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"Fancy a cup of tea?" "Oh, yes please! Thank you!" "OK, I'll put the kettle on" "Troglodyte" Boiling water for tea is a process as old as, well...... the drinking of hot tea. And a process that has remained largely unchanged since. When change has come it has invariably been influenced by technology: kettles over open fires, kettles on stoves, electric kettles. But always involving a kettle. (Accepting that is that the samovar is a "kettle".......and even if you don't, the samovar has
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As previously reported, Bauhaus Dessau are currently presenting “The coop principle – Hannes Meyer and the Concept of Collective Design”, an exhibition devoted to the second Bauhaus Director and for all his belief in the strength of the collective in almost all aspects of life, but especially in design. Hannes Meyer himself never completed projects alone, but always as part of a collective, the Dessau exhibition celebrates that fact and Meyer's unshakeable belief in the power of the
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There is little in this world that brings us more pleasure than a good modular shelving system. We know that sentence speaks volumes about the state of our alleged "lives", but we're not embarrassed to admit it. We like shelves. Consequently, given that it appears that everybody but everybody is developing a modular shelving system and that as a result you currently can't visit a furniture fair or design event without stumbling every few metres across another new system, these would appear
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Customs are a form of social regulation. Love them or loath them customs allow us to form connections, to find a sense of stability and order, to differentiate ourselves from others, align ourselves with others, and not least enjoy regular festivities and parties as customs are celebrated and/or enacted. Customs are therefore inherently good. Unless it is the sort of Customs which sit at the border between two counties and stop a young Swiss ceramicist displaying their work at an
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