The (hi)story of applied arts is, we believe it's not too impetuous to claim, very closely connected with that of all other visual artistic forms. Therefore it is only logical that the (hi)story of the Grassi Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig is very closely connected with that of the town's Academy of Visual Arts - the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, HGB And so to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the later the former has invited students and graduates of the HGB to disrupt the Museum
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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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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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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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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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By way of an addendum to an addendum to our 5 New Design Exhibitions for March 2015 post, until June 21st the Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden is presenting the exhibition Parts of a Whole. Stories from the collection of the Kunstgewerbemuseum. When Tulga Beyerle took over as Director of the Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden at the beginning of 2014 she announced her intention to stage a winter exhibition in Dresden city - the Kunstgewerbemuseum museum itself is based a little out of town in Schloss
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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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Munich Creative Business Week 2015 is being staged under the motto "Metropolitan Ideas", a banner under which the organisers aim to explore themes such as urban mobility, urban planning and the future of urban spaces generally. A central component of this focus is the exhibition Hit the Future - Metropolitan Design. Munich Creative Business Week 2015: Hit the Future - Metropolitan Design Much as it may often appear that demographic and technological changes have awoken our cities and urban
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In what sounds like a truly monumental example of critical cultural analysis meets mid-life crisis and self-doubt, Depot Basel and members of the global creative network Fictional Collective will spend March exploring the modern nature of creative work and for all the nature of the relationships between creative work and private life and between creative work and financial reward. As anyone who works creatively will know, and as anyone who doesn't will no doubt have long suspected,
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Throughout 2015 some thirty European museums and cultural institutions will mark the 125th anniversary of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh's death with a series of exhibitions, events and cultural exchanges. As previously noted, just as we have an innate mistrust of "lifetime achievement awards" for the living and lively, so to do we find "celebrating" deaths somewhat macabre. Especially in the case of Vincent van Gogh given the gory and tragic circumstances of his passing. But we famously don't
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Established in 1993 with a primary focus on producing the designs of Egon Eiermann, including most famously the re-edition of Eiermann's 1953 table frame, Stuttgart based furniture manufacturer Richard Lampert have quietly developed over the intervening twenty plus years into one of Germany's most distinctive and idiosyncratic furniture producers, and a manufacturer with a portfolio that effortlessly mixes contemporary design with older, established, pieces. Often in the same object. Whereas
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Premièred in 2012 as a platform to help connect design with business and to encourage greater design thinking by and acceptance of the value of design for industry, and as a sort of supporting fringe event to envelop and accompany the iF Design Award ceremony following the decision to host the event in the Bavarian capital, Munich Creative Business Week has developed over the years into a very interesting event which, although still largely promotional in character, does from time to time
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In our post from the exhibition Schrill Bizarr Brachial. Das Neue Deutsche Design der 80er Jahre at the Bröhan Museum Berlin we noted that, for us, the two most important legacies of the Neues deutsches Design movement and 1980s German Postmodernism are and were the number of protagonists from then currently teaching at German design schools, and those manufacturers who arose from the heady, damp haze of the period. Manufacturers such as Nils Holger Moormann. Established in the early 1980s
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Among the more arrogant characteristics of us city dwellers is our assumed cultural and creative superiority over those who live in the countryside. A situation largely fuelled by the insular, self-absorbing nature of city life and the resulting belief that only an urban environment and its peculiar mix of influences and rituals can bring forth cultural evolution. And a state of affairs barely helped by contemporary technological, demographic, economic and political changes and their
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In our post on Plug Lamp by Form Us With Love for Ateljé Lyktan, we posed the question "where in Hades if not while at your desk are you likely to need both a light and a plug?" And where, if not in your kitchen are you likely to need both a light and herbs? Presented as part of the Hochschule für Technik Stuttgart Interior Design department's IMM Cologne showcase "Wir bitten zu Tisch", the Erleuchtung Kräutergarten - Enlightening Herb Garden - by Elisabeth Kocher and Anna-Lena Bast provides
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In our post on Rui Alves's Bridge Chair prototype from IMM Cologne we noted that, although generally approving of the piece, it wasn't as instantly accessible as much of Rui's work. It took us a little bit of time to find our way into it. One possible reason is and was what we referred to as the "deliberately overproportioned upholstered seat and back rest", and the associated unfamiliar but not unappealing form language with its vague reminiscence of Finn Juhl or Hans J Wegner, yet clearly
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Contrary to popular legend, a change is not as good as a rest. It's better. For whereas after a rest one just carries on ploughing the same furrow, change means new experiences and the gorgeous, invigorating, uncertainty of not knowing where the new path will take you. After neigh on 18 years of producing refreshingly individual objects from sheet steel, and sheet steel alone, in 2014 Augsburg based Müller Möbelfabrikation began a flirtation with wood in context of their Stack sideboard/room
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Much as the hardest move in yoga is unrolling your yoga mat, so to is the most challenging facet about most design and architecture exhibitions actually getting round to visiting them. Especially when it involves going out into February's cold air. The following five however seem well worth the effort. If unrolling your yoga mat is worth the effort is of course another question. And not one we have any intention of ever trying to find an answer to.................... Architecture of
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If you're of a certain age, and of a certain background, you'll be familiar with the Roland TR-808 drum machine. If not, introduced in 1980 the Roland TR-808 was one of the first programmable drum machines, was, as such, a major influence on the development of electronic music in the 1980s..... and is infamous for sounding absolutely nothing like real drums, far less real percussion. Consequently, on account of its universally acknowledged auditory failings, the TR-808 was only produced for
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While the old adage "you are what you eat" can't be true, if it were we'd be a slovenly pile of beer and crisps, it is very true that you are how you cook. Cooking has largely developed with cultures, the way similar foodstuffs are prepared and cooked, for example, varying from region to region, and regardless of how technologically advanced society inevitably becomes, cooking will, we suspect, remain largely resistant to change. Cooking systems will evolve and adapt, but cooking processes
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