The Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK) opened in 1888, and so it is somehow fitting that it should start the celebrations of its 125th anniversary with an exhibition exploring Romanticism in contemporary design. Not just because a museal discussion of Romanticism refers neatly back to the prevailing atmosphere when the museum was being established; but because it also opens a window on our contemporary society and so potentially provides some pointers as to where the next 125 years will
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Back in the day the gentle flapping and choral honking of a snow goose skein heading south provided a comforting, aural background to the approaching winter. It meant our year was coming to an end and we could slowly wind down and enter a state of semi-hibernation. These days we dread the approaching Hitchcock cliche. The unrelenting, tuneless screeching reminding us it is time to decide: Should we travel to IMM Cologne in January? Really? And much like the migrating goose always follows the
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From 2013 onwards Designers' Open Leipzig will be organised by Leipzig Messe. The current organisers and festival founders Jan Hartmann and Andreas Neubert will continue to assist with the content and conceptual planning; however, all legal and financial control has been taken on by Leipzig Messe. More observant readers will have noticed that we didn't report from Designers' Open 2012. The simple reason is that we saw little reason to visit it. And that despite it being staged about 10
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From Friday December 7th until Sunday December 9th the Wilhelmspalais in Stuttgart is hosting the 9th DEKUMO Art and Design Fair. Initiated in 2004 as a sales fair for local designers and artists DEKUMO has grown steadily over the years: both geographically as well as in volume. Whereas the original version featured the works of some 30 design studios, principally from Stuttgart, the 2012 edition presents 110 exhibitors from as far afield as... we'll to be honest that's really hard to tell
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At Orgatec 2012 Augsburg based Müller Möbelfabrikation introduced their new WORKSPACE product range(s). Developed in cooperation with Andreas Struppler and Sebastian Frank from Munich based Struppler Industriedesign, WORKSPACE is technically two ranges - WORK and SPACE, or "Labor et Spatium" for any scholars of historic furniture design who may be reading - that combine to create a modular office furniture system. WORK is represented by two height adjustable desks, one electronic the other
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At the risk of upsetting furniture historians, wood is probably the longest serving material in furniture design. It is also one of the most deceptively complex and hard to work materials in furniture design. For all bending, shaping and moulding pieces of solid wood is a process that has long fascinated and infuriated designers and architects in equal measure. From Michael Thonet's ground breaking research in the 19th century, over the efforts of Alvar Aalto, Marcel Breuer or Charles Eames
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Wandering round the Vitra spaceship at Orgatec there was one product that you simply couldn't fail to notice. On every table, in every Workbay, in every Alcove stood a lamp. A Vitra lamp? Not technically. Technically a lamp from Swiss producer Belux. However since 2001 Belux has been part of the Vitra family and at Orgatec 2012 they made good use of their family connections to unveil the latest addition to their portfolio, U-Turn by ECAL Lausanne graduate Michel Charlot. Older readers will
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In February 1991 the grand doyen of Italian design Ettore Sottsass approached Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum with a suggestion for a joint project looking at the nature and being of life and work in the office. The project wasn't aimed at developing office furniture, simply exploring the microcosmos "Office" in its multifarious facets. Rolf Fehlbaum willingly agreed and together with Michele de Lucchi, Andrea Branzi and James Irvine, Sottsass and Vitra set off an exploratory journey: researching,
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As more loyal readers will be aware we like nothing more than attempting to undermine Italy's claim to be the cradle of contemporary European architecture and design. It's all show and deliberate misinformation being our war cry. And so the exhibition L'Italia di Le Corbusier currently showing at the MAXXI in Rome is not the sort of show we really want to see presented. Because it seems to imply that Italy played a significant role in both the development of the young Le Corbusier's
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In addition to works by individual designers and artists Grassimesse 2012 also presented the results of the research project "Ü60 Design: Design for Tomorrow" No-one denies that our society is getting older and that in the coming decades an ever greater percentage of the population will be Ü60, so 60+ What is often forgotten is that the future 60+ generations will be different from the current 60+ generations and so the needs in the future are not the same as those at the present. Similar.
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Anyone who had anything to do with the UK childrens toy market of the 1970s - either as a user (child) or consumer (adult) - will be well aware that no matter how hard you try, how hard you push them and how devilish you are, Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down. Stand-up by Thorsten Frank applies a similar logic, albeit in the more urbane world of furniture. The concept isn't new, indeed it could even be said that stools that rock and flow with your body are a fully established furniture
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Established in 1996 by three friends with a shared passion for classic metal furniture, Müller Möbelfabrikation has grown steadily over the last decade and a half into one of Europe's most interesting contemporary furniture manufacturers. They don't do anything especially revolutionary, and there is certainly no danger of them ever redefining the fabric of furniture design. However, they are currently producing some of the most interesting, brash and accessible furniture on the market, and
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The MoMa in New York famously houses some of the most famous works of Pop Art. And just as famously some of the most famous pieces of mid-20th century design. They are only separated by one floor; however, the layout and curation are very much of the infamous "ne'er the twain shall meet" style. And given the size and configuration of the MoMa it is inconceivable that any normal visitor would be able to consider what they are currently viewing on one floor in the context of what was viewed half
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Before we pack up our Yurt and leave Vienna Design Week 2012 to move on to design pastures new, a quick mention of the "Hartz IV Furniture" Workshop the Berlin designer Van Bo Le-Mentzel hosted at the Wien Museum. Originating in 2010 Van Bo Le-Mentzel's "Hartz IV Furniture" collection is.... well, we've never really been that sure. In essence it is a very good Open Design project, featuring as it does a comprehensive range and mix of objects, all of which can be easily constructed, even by
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A few years ago the phrase "food design" suddenly started cropping up a lot. It's the sort of phrase that makes us uneasy. It just sounds like the sort of shallow, self-indulgent thing Guardian readers get excited about and then book weekend courses in Tuscany to learn. We don't trust things like "food design". Fortunately for his Passionswege 2012 project with the Viennese jam and pickle maker Staud’s, London based designer Mathias Hahn chose to ignore the food and concentrate on the
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We missed "Croatian Holiday 2012" when it was originally shown in Milan, and so were suitably pleased to find it on the Vienna Design Week programme. Featuring 15 projects inspired by tourism, Croatian Holiday 2012 understands its main aim as stimulating a debate about the role, function and importance of design in tourism. Principally in Croatia, somewhat obviously. The objects presented could, broadly speaking, be split into two groups: those that base themselves on aspects of Croatia's
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Pretty much ever since we first saw Tafelstukken by Daphna Laurens at DMY Berlin 2010 we've had a bit of thing for them. A fact that we are completely unapolgetic about. There is something wonderfully eloquent, dignified and timeless about their work. Something that draws you to them. Their works invariably comprise a mix of materials, a mix of materials which is always central to the objects, yet is understated in the design, almost as if it doesn't want to draw attention to itself. For
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Was it not Pulp who in 1995 prophesied that the world would soon be dominated and controlled by mis-shapes, mistakes and misfits: the great silent majority who feel themselves intimidated by their alleged imperfections and deviations from society's norm. If only they could realise that they were so numerous, that they have something to offer and that society's imposed ideas of perfection were our modern golden calf, their future would be so promising..... Under the title "Misfits Revisited"
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The outer edges of the (smow)blog galaxy recently witnessed some pretty ugly scenes. A new, Windows Seven, laptop was bought. The unfortunate purchaser's printer however wasn't Windows Seven compatible. And the manufacturer had no plans to release the necessary driver. Consequently a functional, reliable printer was rendered useless. And a new machine had to be bought. Manufacturer 1 - Consumer 0 Much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued. But it's not just software alone that is
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Do we need to repeat why we are such committed fans of the annual Vienna Design Week Passionswege programme? We hope not. But if we do, Matylda Krzykowski @ Norbert Meier Brushmaker and Petz Horn Manufacturer provides the perfect answer. Norbert Meier has been making brushes of all shapes and functions since 1973. And his workshop looks like it. Not that that is a criticism. It's lovely to see. For Passionswege 2012 the Dutch/German designer/curator/journalist/good egg Matylda Krzykowski
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As The Smiths so succinctly put it, "Stop us, oh,oh,oh, stop us. Stop us if you think that you've heard this one before" But once again October is out there, lurking, tacitly, like some not especially friendly sounding nuclear submarine. And once more we find ourselves questioning not only the nature of our existence and the sociological sense of product design, but also why the European design weeks can't sit down together and plan their year better? As is traditional our October begins
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Ever since DMY Berlin inaugurated their "Three from Ten" Awards in 2009 the Bauhaus Archiv Berlin has honoured the nominees and prize winners with an autumn exhibition. 2012 is no different and the exhibition "DMY Awards and Jury Selection 2012" can be viewed in Berlin until mid-October. It is of course only logical that the Bauhaus Archiv should take an interest in largely experimental and conceptual design projects. For although today heavily stained with cliché and tainted by the passing
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Any email that starts "Please join us for A Taste of Austrian Design and Lifestyle in Stockholm" is going to get our attention. And quickly lose it when we realise that no one is actually offering to pay for us to join them. Just inviting us. If we should, by chance, happen to be in Stockholm. However on this occasion the affront was short lived. For despite numerous good reasons to ignore the exhibition - the word "Lifestyle" in the title and the objectionable construction of the
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Browsing through the catalogue for the exhibition "Der Stuhl" in Stuttgart one item in particular caught our attention: "Der Federdreh by Albert Stoll, Waldshut (Baden)" - and not just because it is a delightful piece of woodworking. Loosely translated as "The Sprung Swivel" Der Federdreh does what it promises - swivels and has spring suspension. Might not sound that interesting, but back then Der Federdreh was the very first chair of its kind. Anywhere. Consequently Der Federdreh is, in
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