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. Turns out we can't count. And that the rules for Salone Satellite are a lot more complicated than even we were aware. Fortunately. For in addition to the chance to catch up with Rui, he also had new projects with him. While most industry attention of late has been focused on his Lapa chair, for us the
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We bow to no man in our admiration for the people of Belgium. Not only have they common sense to make chips their national dish, but they have proved beyond all reasonable doubt that politicians are no pre-requisite for a functioning state in 21st century Europe. We've just always found it a real shame that the various parts of the country have never got on. It's so unnecessary in such a small nation. Fortunately, at least in design, that is starting to change, and in the last couple of
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As regular readers will know one of our favourite design festivals is Vienna Design Week. And one of our all-time favourite Vienna Design Week projects is LacesLamp by Antoinette Bader. Because it delt so playfully with statics. And believe us, we've suffered for statics. And so anything that presents it as something to be enjoyed is to be celebrated. Consequently it was a particular joy to discover Antoinette at Salone Satellite 2012 with three new projects: projects which although
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At Milan 2011 Moormann presented the prototype of Pressed Chair by Harry Thaler. At Milan 2012 the market ready version was/is being officially unveiled. Last year Nils Holger Moormann enthused at great length about Pressed Chair. And so to complete the story, ahead of Milan 2012 we caught up with Harry Thaler in his London studio to learn more about both him and the background to Pressed Chair. (smow)blog: To begin with maybe a little to your background. If we're correctly informed you
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As anyone involved in the designer furniture industry will confirm; it's a secretive old world. Probably only matched in its inherent furtiveness by the Freemasons, Papal Conclaves or the committee responsible for setting petrol prices. Simply saying that you might have heard that designer X may be considering a possible future cooperation with producer Y is to risk a long interrogation by a Product Manager wanting to know who told you what. The situation is even more clandestine when it
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As we've already admitted the first time we saw a Dutch Invertuals exhibition we didn't hang around very long. Since then however we have matured a lot and the show has become a regular feature of our visits to Eindhoven and Milan. Simply put, one always finds something challenging, exciting and beautiful at a Dutch Invertuals show. And invariably something you don't really understand, no matter how often it is explained to you. But that itself is for us reason enough to go. In 2012 Dutch
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Although proud of the number of "issues" we have with Milan design week and furniture fair. It does of course also have its positive sides. Most of which are to be found down quiet, unassuming side streets. Last year we discovered Azucena. This year Villa Necchi. Built in the first half of the 1930s by Italian architect Piero Portaluppi on behalf of a (very) rich Milanese industrial family, Villa Necchi is just about the most "In-your-face" building you are ever likely to set foot in. In
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We suspect the reason we write so much about designer furniture in an airport context is simply because of the amount of time we spend in airports. And consequently the amount of time we spend thinking about and analysing what we are being offered. If you're going to be delayed at Frankfurt for five hours. You want to make sure that your seat is comfy. If you're going to have to spend the night at Copenhagen Airport. You want to make sure your seat is comfy. If you're... you get the idea.
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At the end of March the V&A Museum London opened the exhibition "British Design 1948-2012. Innovation in the Modern Age", their major summer exhibition and a central pillar of their celebration of all things British throughout 2012. Documenting the story of design in the UK since the last London Olympics, "British Design 1948-2012" begins in an era when Britain as a nation was recovering from the trauma of the Second World War, yet understood that in the rubble of the war lay the chance to
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Much like those who doubted that the Stone Roses would ever get back together; there are also those who doubt we will ever make it to a Depot Basel show. Until now it was the case that the shows inevitably fell at periods when we were otherwise engaged. And the opening of Depot Basel No. 5 on March 23rd was no different. However, this time we're hopeful we can make it, because the show runs until May 5th. Longer than usual, but then they are also showing more than usual. The "main"
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On March 20th the Bauhaus Archiv Berlin opened their spring exhibition "Stühle ohne Beine - Chairs without legs" Dedicated to the development and diversity of the cantilever chair, Stühle ohne Beine is a fairly simple exhibition concept with an equally simple message: designing a chair without legs doesn't mean limiting your possibilities. Less is more not being just a design maxim but also a design challenge. Featuring 25 chairs from the collection of Die Neue Sammlung - The International
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On March 4th 2012 the Grassi Museum for Applied Arts Leipzig opened the final part of their permanent exhibition. An exhibition very close to our hearts. Now you know us, we 've nothing against baroque or ancient Japanese furniture and objects. But our hearts do beat a little faster when we get to the late 19th century. Mies van der Rohe bending metal. Alvar Aalto bending wood. Verner Panton bending plastic. Axel Buether bending light. It's all there in “Art Nouveau to Present” Plus a
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On Wednesday February 29th the Hofmobiliendepot Vienna open their 2012 spring exhibition. We had hoped to make it to the opening; but life being what it is. We wont. Sadly. Not least because the exhibition explores, for us, one of the most interesting periods of design - The Sixties. Not interesting as in, "Wow! Look how bright, spacey and groovy everything is!!!" Obviously. But interesting in terms of what it brought into the design vocabulary and the doors that it opened. And because it
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For all in our near Copenhagen, and who aren't planning travelling to Weil am Rhein in the coming months, the Designmuseum Danmark is also currently offering the chance to view an exhibition that highlights the role of art in the design process. But featuring works from Finn Juhl. Not Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. One of the most important, if not so universally well known, Danish furniture architects of the mid 20th century Finn Juhl would have celebrated his 100th bithday in 2012. And as
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Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are without question two of the most important designers of their generation and are currently being honoured in two shows. The retrospective "Bivouac" currently on show at the Centre Pompidou Metz, and Album, an exhibition of their drawings and sketches that premiered in Bordeaux and is now on show at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Weil am Rhein, At the opening of "Album" at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery we spoke to Ronan Bouroullec about drawing, getting
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There's nothing quite like a invitation to a vernissage to remind you that you really should get round to finishing of typing up an interview. At Neue Räume Zurich in October 2011 we didin't just speak to Nikolas Kerl and Jürg Scheidegger But also with Moritz Schmid and Rebekka Kiesewetter. And yes the last two interviews have yet to be published. We are working on them. Promise. Back at Neue Räume, Rebekka told us that it was almost certain that she would be co-organising a "Depot Basel -
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Having got up in the middle of the night to travel through the depths of the European winter just to get to Weil am Rhein for the "Album" opening, you can imagine our joy when we heard that Erwan Bouroullec had frozen to his core while waiting to board the 6.15 Basel bound TGV. Not because we're cruel, heartless beasts who take pleasure in the suffering of others. At least not on this occasion. But because it is one of these nice reminders of how "normal" the design world is and designers
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As we admitted, "time management challenges" saw us visiting Design braucht Täter 2012 in Cologne before it officially opened. And before all exhibitors had arrived. We know it's not good. And we're still not sleeping properly. And so it was especially nice to receive an e-mail from Julia Pfizenmayer from jp designs - one of those exhibitors we never got the chance to see - introducing us to her modular storage system Outsider. Because it means that the exhibitors don't hold it against
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We received advance warning of what awaited us at IMM 2012 on the Friday afternoon before the official opening. Ambling through Cologne town centre we came across a large plastic hemisphere - the IMM Snow Globe. Dispatched on a tour through the city to entice the good folk of Cologne to visit the fair, the IMM Snow Globe was filled with some of the delights that would be on show, and, at the touch of a button, feather-lite snow blustered over the scene. Beautiful! However, as Julia
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For a decade and a half the unofficial start to Cologne Furniture Week has been the honouring of the "A&W Designer of the Year" Awarded by the German magazine "A&W Architektur & Wohnen", the prize was inaugurated in 1997 to honour a designer whose work has particular defined the home furnishing style of our time. Previous winners including Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio or Tom Dixon. To name just three from 15. The A&W Designer of the Year 2012 is the Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola.
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Following on from last years "Kids Only" collection, Richard Lampert was/were back at Cologne 2012 with a collection of new outdoor furniture And just as "Kids Only" clearly wasn't. So too can "Living Outdoor" clearly also be used for "Living Indoor" Which is important if you live north of Alicante and can't guarantee your summer will be in any way summary. Featuring four new products from three of the company's roster of young design talents, the new collection can be seen as an extension
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A drawer. Honestly that is all it takes and you’ve got us. A desk with a drawer. Or even better multiple drawers. As if Müller Möbelfabrikation could read our minds, we were met on their stand in Cologne by the most fantastic sheet steel desk. With soooo many drawers. If that's not a guaranteed to way to get our attention! If we did have one slight criticism it would be the decision to display a version in orange. If there is one colour that is real hard to photograph under exhibition
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As tradition demands the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK) have organised a furniture themed, special exhibition to coincide with the Cologne Furniture Fair. Under the title "Von Aalto bis Zumthor: Architektenmöbel" ("From Aalto to Zumthor: Furniture by Architects") the MAKK is presenting over 120 examples of furniture designed by professional architects. As older readers will have long since accepted, the "Furniture Architect" is a pet subject of ours. Not just because the architects
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On Monday January 16th IMM Cologne, Germany's largest furniture trade fair, opens it doors. In the coming days we'll bring you a series of interviews, reports and reviews from the Rhein, but ahead of the show we thought we'd look back at what Cologne 1962 had to offer. On the one hand, because we think it's interesting to look back on what the furniture industry had to offer 50 years ago; but also to help place IMM 2012 in context of its heritage. The International Möbel Messe Köln started
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