Twenty four hours before Sebastian Vettel sealed his second F1 drivers title in Japan, Markus Jehs and Jürgen Laub were securing victory in an event that stands a vertical cliff face higher than F1 on Mount Motor Sport and to which Vettel himself hopes to ascend, once he gets a bit better at driving: The Bookinist Cup. For many the Bookinist was developed as an armchair in which one could sit and read; surrounded by your favourite literature. This however is one of the crueler droplets in the
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One of the most original, and entertaining, exhibitions at Vienna Design Week 2011 was kidsroomZOOM. Curated by Paola Noè from Gallery Unduetrestella Milan and Thomas Maitz from Austrian kids furniture producer Perludi, kidsroomZOOM was a delightful, turn of the century, downtown Vienna flat furnished especially for kids. Adults were allowed in; but hadn't been considered in the planning of the exhibition. Featuring works by producers and designers as varied as Thorsten van Elten, Rijada or
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As we stood in a cold-storage centre in west Vienna looking at Ljod by Copa, somehow we knew it was also training for the rapidly approaching winter. We just didn't realise how quickly it would come. A mere 72 hours later we found ourselves standing on the station platform at Prien in Chiemgau. Air temperature 4 degrees. By the time we reached Aschau, the first snow of the winter was busy dusting the tops of the Chiemgauer Alpen. And we began considering if it wasn't, slowly, time to swap
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At Fuori Salone Milano 2011 we helped Moormann construct their stand. And of course took the opportunity to chew the fat a little with company founder and eponym Nils Holger Moormann. Variously described as being an autodidact, pioneer or provocateur, for us Nils Holger Moormann is simply pleasant company and the guarantee of well considered and soundly opinionated discussion. In the course of the Milan interview we covered the new products, the current state of the furniture industry and,
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We've long since accepted that there are more design weeks in a year than actual weeks. But we still can't accept the poor coordination between the various festivals. June, July, August.Basically nothing. September, October. Every day Copenhagen, London, Brussels, Budapest, Istanbul, Vienna, Eindhoven, Leipzig, Lodz, Zürich.... Every 2 years Orgatec in Cologne. And in the midst of all this Berlin sprouts Qubique. Hallo! We however have no choice. Or at least little choice. Our October
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As if it wasn't hard enough to keep up with the various project strands that twine together to form Droog. They've launched an imaginary brand. We did consider marking the moment by penning an imaginary post. But that would be to completely miss the point. Again. Created from the Moscow leg of the Droog Lab "Here, there, everywhere" project, Fantastical Investments is both a response to consumer habits in Russia and a vision of how the world of the future could look. The Droog Lab team
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On Monday September 5th the Universität der Künste Berlin designtransfer centre hosted a talk with the Italian designer, design critic, design linguist and, somewhat paradoxically, design disdainer, Enzo Mari. Preparing for the event we read page upon page about the man, his ideas, his work but mainly about his well documented rants against.... well pretty much everything as far as we could ascertain. Which made the sight of a gentle, elderly man, walking amongst the audience, shaking hands
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Once a month we visit a trade fair. We don't always want to - but we always have to. We look at furniture. We think up some cheap jokes. We take some out of focus photos. We come home. But what is actually involved in organising a trade fair stand? How important are trade fair stands? Is our weak humour and poor photography disrespectful? In an attempt to try to answer these and similar questions we helped Moormann with the construction of their stand at Milan 2011 Although "helped" is
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The winner the Dark Lime Vitra Panton Chair Summer Cocktail Competition is Alessandro Barison. Congratulations !!! His "Spritz Upgrade" - essentially a classic Spritz with sparkling water and orange juice - or a Bucks Fizz with Aperol as one jury member commented - was the unanimous victor. The principle reason given being that the addition of the orange juice and water lightened the drink, or at least the perception of the drink, making it a wonderful accompaniment to a hot summers
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Tilbage i februar fejrede VitraHaus i Weil am Rhein sin første fødselsdag. Vi talte med Vitras chefdesigner Eckart Maise om VitraHaus og om planerne for fremtiden. (smow)blog: VitraHaus er nu ét år gammelt, er du tilfreds med det første år? Eckart Maise: Ja, VitraHaus har været en stor succes og 'resonansen' har været meget positiv, både med hensyn til antallet af besøgende samt den feedback vi har fået. Eksempelvis er besøgstallene for 'Vitra Campus' nu tredoblet i forhold til tiden før
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A quick tram and S-Bahn ride from Rundgang at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee brought us to Rundgang at Universität der Künste Berlin. Similar concept. Different worlds. Whereas Weißensee exudes an almost parochial innocence, the UdK feels like The New York School of the Performing Arts in the early 1980s. At any minute a nimble framed, leotard and leg-warmer attired youth could leap down the stairs and complain about Mr. Shorofsky not understanding the modern world before pirouetting
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London based design studio Barber Osgerby stands as a testament to the fact that high quality work will always win through, with or without the media status "star designer" While its fair to say that many of their contemporaries have been placed on international glossy magazine pedestals, Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have remained largely in the shadows, quietly producing consistently high quality work for both international producers and private customers. That is however slowly changing
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Until July 31st we are giving readers the chance to win a limited edition Dark Lime Panton Chair. In effect we are swapping a Dark Lime Panton Chair for a summer cocktail/mixed drink recipe. The best wins! In order to give you some ideas and inspiration we have asked several Vitra VIPs for their favourite recipe. Today Vitra Chief Design Officer Eckart Maise shares his Caipirinha recipe He obvioulsy can't win - but he can share a recipe!!! As the man who commissioned works such as Tip Ton
read moreIf A. C. F. Beales is to be believed, Leopold George Christian Frederick is probably the only person ever to have walked out of the job of King. Only to pick up an equal post some 2 months later. In his article "The Irish king of Greece" (The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 51, 1931 Part 1 pp. 101-105) Beales argues that Leopold accepted the job as King of Greece in February 1830, but then changed his mind in May 1830 following disputes with Britain over loans to help Greece out of its
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Summer. Sun. Cocktails. In order to allow you to enjoy this combination to the full (smow) are giving away a Dark Lime Panton Chair. To be in with chance of winning a limited edition summer 2011 version of Verner Panton's classic cantilever chair, simply tell us your favourite summer cocktail or mixed drink recipe; alcoholic or non-alcoholic. The only rule is that it must contain a slice of lime! And be perfect for a long summers evening in a Vitra Panton Chair! The competition is open
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Luddites! Not a phrase normally associated with (smow) To the best of our knowledge no (smow)employee has ever smashed an iPad or capped a WiFi service in protest at the creeping and increasingly obsessive proliferation of technology into our lives. Despite that, the early summer weeks in the (smow)HQ were dominated by the preparation and production of the very first (smow)catalogue. That's print catalogue. So on paper. With ink. Luddites? Au contraire nos amis! Not only is the
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Da vi for nylig var på en lille rejse fik vi øje på en ægte Eames fiberglasbænk fra Herman Miller i en lufthavn. Tager man stedets ret begrænsede faciliteter i betragning, forekommer betegnelsen 'lufthavn' faktisk noget optimistisk, og vores hektiske fotografering af bænken og Herman Miller-klistermærkerne resulterede også i en del latter fra folk omkring os - altså folk, som bruger deres tid på at fotografere fly!! Herefter, da vi var faldet lidt ned efter den hektiske fotografering,
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For all those looking to make their summer balcony even more exclusive, Vitra are currently offering the Panton Chair in a one-off summer 2011 Dark Lime edition. The offer is strictly limited on a first-come-first-serve basis, and only available online. That said, the dark lime Panton Chair costs the same as all other colours! An "exclusive" product at no extra cost. So to say. As with all Vitra Panton Chairs the „Summertime in dark lime" special edition is constructed from a special UV
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Among the new Vitra products launched in Milan one of the most eye-catching was Waver by Konstantin Grcic. Following an initial cooperation in the form of a Vitra Edition project, Waver is Konstantin Grcic's first commercial product for Vitra. Created for outdoor use Waver borrows heavily from the visual aesthetics of "lifestyle" sports to create a product that not only goes its own way formally but is also remarkably comfortable. In the second part of our interview with Konstantin Grcic we
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Back in February the VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein celebrated its first birthday. But was it all worth it? To find out more we spoke to Vitra Chief Design Officer Eckart Maise about one year VitraHaus and the plans for the future. (smow)blog: The VitraHaus is now one year old, are you satisfied with the first year? Eckart Maise: Yes, the VitraHaus has been a huge success and the resonance has been very positive both in respect of the number of visitors as well as the feedback. The Vitra Campus
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One of the unseen aspects of the furniture industry is the relationship between dealer and producer. For most people their only contact with a furniture dealer is when buying a new sofa. Or bookshelves. And so most people assume that that it is all furniture shops do. Sell sofas. And bookshelves. However an important part of a, quality, furniture shop's business is concerned with larger scale contracts; for example fitting out offices, hotels or working with architects on a redevelopment
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In addition to his Kids Only Collection, Richard Lampert presented two new products in Milan: Stijl by Alexander Seifried and Stak by Patrick Frey. Just as developing a kid's range was long a wish of Richard Lampert, so too was the rehabilitation of the much-maligned kitchen corner bench, once so popular in alpine homes. We know people who are of the opinion that there is no need to rehabilitate the unparalleled genius that is the corner seat bench. Why have your kitchen chairs standing in
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At the 2011 Milan Furniture Fair Vitra are presenting a range of new products from designers including Konstantin Grcic, Antonio Citterio and Barber & Osgerby. Ahead of the official launch we caught up with Vitra Chief Design Officer Eckart Maise to discuss the new products and the Vitra Home Collection in general. (smow): Herr Maise, before we discuss the new products, and maybe as a little helpful background. How does a company like Vitra develop a collection? Do you go to a designer and
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Bo Bech is a baker in Copenhagen. Bo Bech bakes one kind of bread. It's available in one size. At one price. Bo Bech bakes one batch and when that batch is sold out he closes the shop. As a business concept it could not be simpler. Just try explaining it to an average German who has heart failure if presented with a choice of less than 17 types of bread. A baker ? With one type of bread ? How does it survive !?!? Which, to paraphrase the late Rabbi Lionel Blue, is a lot like USM Haller.
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