Although he was not showing any new products at Orgatec 2010 Alberto Meda used the show to catch up a little on what other designers were up to. And when we caught up with Alberto Meda on the Vitra stand we learned something wonderful: Alberto Meda uses the same office chair as the (smow)blog crew... (smow)blog: Unless we've missed something you aren't showing anything at Orgatec 2010? Alberto Meda: No, but I am working on a new product with Vitra, but that is not yet ready and so I am
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Although the public face of Vitra is unquestionably their "Home Collection", for decades the backbone of the company has been their office furniture division. Consequently a central feature of Vitra's daily work involves developing new approaches to office design and attempting to predict what will be important for office workers in the coming years. In 1991 Vitra commissioned the designers Michele de Lucchi, Ettore Sottsass and Andrea Branzi to develop some plans for future office design.
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At Designers' Open 2009 (smow) first discovered Austrian producer Perludi, who were making their first appearance in Leipzig. Since when their wonderful MAXintheBOX has been part of the (smow) kid's collection. And obviously Designers' Open 2009 was generally a good one for Perludi, because they came back to Leipzig for Designers' Open 2010. On the (smow)blog desk we use a mini MAXintheBOX as a visiting card holder. In real-size MAXintheBOX can be more or less whatever your child wants
read moreAt Orgatec 2010 we spoke to USM Haller CEO Alexander Schärer about the company's return to Orgatec after a 12 year absence, their new "Living Essentials" collection and what his own office looks like....
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Just as the Man in the Corner Shop was famously satisfied with his life until the Boss from the Factory turned up to buy cigars - so too were we content with our life until 00:42 this morning. Because then we received the invitation to Frank and Oliver's next exhibition in Zürich: „Schöne neue Welt - American Mid-century Design“ On their many trips through North and Central America Oliver Müller and Frank Landau have acquired a unique collection of objects. In the exhibition „Schöne neue Welt
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In the history of (smow)blog only two designers have contacted us to comment on our comments. The first was Brooklyn based Jason Miller and the second was SintLucas student Vivienne van den Dungen. Writing about a stool she was exhibiting at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven we commented that : "Our one complaint would be that the current version doesn’t really seem to know what it is: the higher component being to short to be a back rest and to narrow to be used for holding, for example, a
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Eindhoven is Philips. Eindhoven used to be much more Philips; but in course of the inevitable restructuring of the last 20 years Philips have greatly reduced the number of buildings they need. Buildings which Eindhoven city council hope to turn into a "Creative City" In addition to office blocks occupied by architects, photographers or graphic designers, just about every Eindhoven based product designer you meet works in an "old Philips factory" And the principle Dutch Design Week
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For us Designers' Open 2010 was a wonderful mixture of new discoveries and renewed meetings with old favourites. Such as Collecteur by Christian Lessing. We first saw back Collecteur in January at Designers Fair in Cologne - and are still impressed by the simple genius of the design. In essence Collecteur is a stool/side table that receives its stability from magazines. Perfect for all those of us with large magazine collection we can't bear to part with but which we can't find appropriate
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Drawers! And we don't mean that as an insult. If there is one thing we really, really miss it's desks with drawers. Back in the day, all desks had drawers. Then, probably due to flexible office design where no one has a fixed desk, drawers started to vanish from desks. Regrettably. And so it was with a small scream of delight that we saw Ragna Gutschow's desk at Grassimesse 2010. Sadly we didn't get to speak to Ragna and so we don't know any more than we liked it. And not just on
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When USM Haller last exhibited at Orgatec we were still in Kindergarten and our only experience with interior design was the wonderful shapes one could create on walls with wax crayons. 12 years later and not only have we discovered that marker pens are much better suited to drawing on walls, but USM Haller have returned to Cologne and Orgatec. One of the real joys of the USM Haller system is that it has remained unchanged over the decades. Units bought 20 years ago can be extended with
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We first saw Spore Vase by Paulo Sellmayer at Made out Portugal on Dutch Design Week Sunday, and it didn't leave us in peace the whole day. And so we went back on the Monday morning and spoke to Paulo. Born in Oberhausen, Germany Paul studied Industrial Design at ESAD in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal and is currently on an internship with Julien Carretero in Eindhoven, Holland. So just the sort of cosmopolitan pedigree we like. Spore vase is - in short - a vase in which fungi grow. A hole
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Although it does now seem like half a lifetime ago ... we were in Vienna for the Design Week, did enjoy it and do still have one or the other text to bring you. In 1835 Herr Lorenzi opened his first ironmongers and blade sharpening business in Vienna. In the intervening 175 years not only has Lorenzi become one of the more renowned family firms in Vienna, but over 30 "branches" of Lorenzi Stahlwaren have been established worldwide by the Lorenzi diaspora. Including one just across the road -
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Amongst the plethora of new products launched by Vitra at Orgatec 2010 in Cologne was HAL, a new shell chair series by British designer Jasper Morrison. Over a cup of tea we spoke to Jasper Morrison about HAL, Vitra - and what his own office looks like. (smow)blog: Your presenting your new shell chair series HAL here at Orgatec, how long was the development phase? Jasper Morrison: About three years, with a lot of effort going into the form of the shell and the performance of the shell.
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When we visited the "Summaery" exhibition at Bauhaus Uni Weimar one object stood out amongst all the others. Sadly, at that point we were asked not to say too much about it; for reasons all designers will understand. But now we can. R2B2 by Christoph Thetard is well on it's way to being our "Design of the Year", and having caught up with Christoph Thetard at Designers' Open in Leipzig we have to say that the industry could well use a few more designers with his approach. But more on
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We must begin this post with a small confession. Something we were too scared to tell the good folks at Dutch Invertuals personally. We first came across the Dutch Invertuals design collective @ Milan 2009. Where we walked out of their show after 36 seconds. It was our fault. We were tired, hungry and on our way to the opening of a Belgian product design showcase. We shouldn't have gone. It was the wrong moment on the wrong day for experimental Dutch design. We spent a little longer at
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The third stage on the (smow) design marathon 2010 was the Grassimesse at the Grassi Museum here in Leipzig. First hosted in 1920 the Grassimesse has established itself as one of Europe's most important sales fairs for contemporary arts and crafts. And felt. It also spawned Designers' Open and always invites a wide range of art and design schools to present a selection of their students work; consequently, and although as a matter of principle we can't get excited about jewelry, pottery or
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On the opening day of Orgatec we managed to grab a quick 10 minutes in an Alcove Sofa with Erwan Bouroullec. Aside from not showing us what was in his sketch book, Erwan told us about one of the brother's forthcoming projects. A sail boat. Yeah, yeah we thought, the cheeky Breton is having a bit of fun with the naive (smow)blog crew. A sail boat! However, and despite our doubts, we're professionals and so we sought independent verification. The problem with the secretive world of
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At the 2010 Marianne Brandt Contest, Halle based designer Caspar Huckfeldt won the (smow)/Vitra Special Prize for his "Damensattel" In essence a removable plastic saddle that attaches to the crossbar, Damensattel allows a bike passenger to carried sitting side saddle. Think of the scene with "I'm singing in the rain" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and you've got the idea. In selecting Damensattel the Vitra judges praised the design as being "a real charmer" that draws people
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Mannno! If we're honest we didn't expect Orgatec 2010 to be such fun, or to be so sorry to leave. For us Orgatec is one of those "must dos" Not must do as in the sense of, "If you don't go you'll regret it for the rest of your life" but more "your going, stop your bleating and accept it!" But at the end of the day we could have happily spent another couple of days in Cologne. Aside from a range of interesting new products at Vitra and Thonet, we discovered a host of new office
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The good news for Rui Alves is that he remains our favourite Portuguese furniture designer..... ..... but the competition is out there. Made Out Portugal is a show from 6 young Portuguese designers who all live, work and study in Holland. During our conversation with some of the participants it turned out that the Portuguese government offers it's design students extremely generous grants to go and study overseas. Which of course they all then do. As a consequence a network of Portuguese
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Manno! We've only just got here and now we've got to go! Despite the number of shows, products and designers we've seen, tested and talked to - we can't shake the feeling that we've only scraped the surface of what can be found in Eindhoven. Which if we're honest isn't a negative feeling - because it implies that the Dutch Design Week is a very healthy event. And makes us all the keener to return next year! But for now its a train journey to Cologne, Orgatec and contemporary office
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Under the title YP - Young Professionals SintLucas College of Applied Design is running four shows at the 2010 Dutch Design Week. Two of them in Pennings Inside, even if we say so ourselves a very agreeable designer furniture store on the edge of Eindhoven city centre. YP (Young Professionals) - Out of the box, is a collection of stools from fourth year students made using differing materials. So a standard student project exhibition. As such the exhibition is full of the sort of fanciful
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According to the ever accurate wikipedia Eindhoven has a population of some 214,000. On Sunday's the population of Eindhoven is around 214. Eindhoven on a Sunday morning is a lonely and forbidding place. Gesloten is Dutch for "Closed" The parallels - typographic as well as semantic - with Get Lost are unmistakable. Even the bakers are closed. We can't remember the last time we were in a century, sorry city, where bakers close on a Sunday. Eindhoven on a Sunday morning is not for the faint
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At a gala ceremony in the Eindhoven Muziekgebouw Frits Philips on Saturday evening the Dutch Design Awards 2010 were presented. In its 8th year the 2010 Dutch Design Awards attracted over 700 entries from which the International Jury awarded 17 16 awards in the three main categories - a small scandal being caused by the jury's decision not to present an award in the category "Fashion, Jewelry, Accessories" - numerous special awards and the "Golden Eye" for the "Best in Show" In addition
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