The Faculty of Applied Arts Schneeberg is by no stretch of the imagination Germany's largest design school; however, that in context of design education size is less important than how creativity is nurtured, supported and encouraged can currently be explored in the exhibition "Offspring – Graduates of Schneeberg present furniture and product design" at the GALERIE Rüdiger SchaackAngewandte Kunst Schneeberg in Schloss Lichtenwalde. Presenting works by eleven graduates from Schneeberg's Wood
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Born in Leverkusen Glen Oliver Löw initially studied Industrial Design at the University of Wuppertal before moving to Milan in 1986 where he completed a Masters degree at the Domus Academy. Following his graduation from the Domus Academy Glen Oliver Löw remained in Milan where he took up a position with Antonio Citterio, becoming a partner in the practice in 1990, and developing a wide range of projects for companies as varied as, amongst others, Vitra, Kartell and Flos. In 2000 Glen Oliver
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The Swiss architect Fritz Haller famously developed a space colony as a means to allow him to explore his ideas of architecture in an extreme environment, and thus help him to better understand the possibilities of terrestrial architecture. To explore Fritz Haller's USM furniture system in an extreme environment, and thus better understand the wider possibilities, you need go little further than your local airport. Established in 2011 USM Airportsystems develop, as the name implies, tailored
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If the Light + Building trade fair in Frankfurt is home to exhibitors the majority of us have never heard of, Passenger Terminal Expo as Europe's leading trade fair for airport infrastructure is home to exhibitors you never knew you were aware of: the developers of airport signage systems, for example, or manufacturers of airport security gates, baggage carousels, airline ticketing systems or self-check in terminals, and of course that sweet female voice who informs you that your gate has
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As the name implies the Light + Building Trade Fair in Frankfurt is largely about architectural lighting rather than domestic lighting or office lighting; were it largely about the later it would be called "Light + Living" or "Light + Working" It's called Light + Building. And as such the biggest stands belong to company's you will never have never heard of unless you spend your days planning the construction of hotels, hospitals, shopping centres et al and searching for appropriate
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In the famous Thonet Card Catalogue from 1930/31 the image of the B 9 side table and B 25 lounge chair is augmented by a small lamp atop the B 9. Whereas the Thonet B 25 and Thonet B 9 are credited to Marcel Breuer, there is no credit for the lamp. But then it isn't a Thonet lamp. Thonet don't do lamps. Thonet do tables, chairs, shelving and other furniture. Thonet don't do lamps. Or at least didn't. In 2010 Thonet released the LUM reading lamp by Ulf Möller as a floor version, adding a desk
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In addition to the exhibition of their work in Cologne, the A&W Designer of the Year crown also allows the recipient to select one young designer for the so-called A&W Mentor Prize: essentially a chance to invite a young designer whose work they admire to share the spotlight with them. Previous mentees have included Stefan Diez, selected in 2005 by Richard Sapper, Oskar Zieta, selected in 2011 by Tokujin Yoshioka, and the very first mentee, Konstantin Grcic, selected by Achille Castiglioni in
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Back at Milan 2009 we stumbled by chance across "My Bauhaus is better than yours", an exhibition featuring works by a group of Bauhaus University Weimar students. Although not unimpressed by what we saw, indeed we remember finding one or the other project very good, the majority of the works were for us a little too "student", a little too obvious, which is not a criticism, it just meant we didn't feel the need to write about the exhibition. Seven years, and a legally obliged change of name
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2016 sees Augsburg based manufacturer Müller Möbelfabrikation celebrate their 20th anniversary, and to mark their round birthday the company have gifted themselves, and by extrapolation us all, a new round(er) form. Round(er) for despite their inherent quadraticness Müller Möbelfabrikation objects have always had a curvaceous soul; be that as expressed through the subtle contours of the grandiose TB 229 desk from the company's original 1996 Classic Line collection, or more obvious as with, for
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According to Brigitte Eiermann her late husband, the German architect and designer Egon Eiermann, would work so long on a furniture design project until he could say "Das ist nicht besser zu machen" - "That cannot be improved". It was, so Frau Eiermann, rare that he said such, so great was his striving for perfection. Everything could, somehow, be improved.1 However we imagine Egon Eiermann would be very satisfied with the new table trestle Egon from Stuttgart based manufacturer Richard
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As we noted in our post from the 2015 Garden Unique Youngstars competition, the contemporary outdoor furniture market is a largely forgotten world as far as quality design is concerned. And as we also noted, it needn't be. At IMM Cologne 2016 Thonet are presenting with the new All Seasons collection their alternative vision. Thonet @ IMM Cologne 2016 The (hi)story of Thonet furniture is, as with the wider (hi)story of furniture design, essentially one of indoor furniture. Although not
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2016 sees the 20th anniversary of German architecture and design magazine A&W's "Designer of the Year Award." Following on from previous recipients including Achille Castiglioni in 1997, Paola Navone in 2000, Gaetano Pesce in 2006 and more recently Werner Aisslinger in 2014 and Michele De Lucchi in 2015 the 20th recipient is Jasper Morrison. And that, joyously, means a Jasper Morrison exhibition during the 2016 Passagen Cologne interior design week. A&W Designer of the Year 2016 - Jasper
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December is famously a half month - no one does anything useful in the second half of the month, unless eating, drinking and stressing can be considered useful! We however managed to more than fill the first half of December 2015 with Berlin based Bora Hong's cosmetic surgery of the Eames LCW, the architecture of Ferdinand Kramer in Frankfurt and a very long chat with Köln International School of Design director, and neuen Deutschen Design protagonist, Wolfgang Laubersheimer. Cosmetic Surgery
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November 2015 was a month of exhibitions, including Konstantin Grcic at the Grassi Museum Leipzig and Anton Corbijn at C/O Berlin, but we did also find time for a very long chat with Budapest designer András Kerékgyártó about life as a contemporary Hungarian designer. The Work Space, as seen at Konstantin Grcic – Panorama, Grassi Museum for Applied Arts Leipzig Biela by András Kerékgyártó Moderne in der Werkstatt - 100 Years Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle @ Kunstmuseum
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Normally October is all about design festivals, October 2015 wasn't. On the one hand we weren't at that many this year, and on the other those we were at didn't impress us that much. What did impress us was the new collection by Ateliers J&J. Oh yes! In addition October 2015 saw us consider questions of housing provision at Wohnungsfrage at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, the oeuvre of Charles and Ray Eames at the Barbican Art Gallery in London and Art Nouveau at the Kunst und Gewerbe
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The end of design's summer hibernation is traditionally marked by the opening of the Vitra Design Museum's winter exhibition, which for 2015/16 is the fulminate The Bauhaus #itsalldesign Elsewhere September 2015 saw us discuss photographing Le Corbusier with Margret Hoppe, the challenges as young designer in Berlin with Gunnar Søren Petersen, how design can be used for social change with Pepe Heykoop ...... and become completely obsessed with a steel horse from Prague. Vitra Design Museum:
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As we noted in our 5 New Design Exhibitions for August 2015 post "Everyone, but everyone, it would appear is on holiday." We weren't, even if the relatively meagre number of posts tends to imply otherwise. A meagre number of posts which elegantly prove that reduction can lead to higher quality... Eliel Saarinen's entry for the 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower competition Havina by Samuli Helavuo, as seen at Garden Unique Youngstars Cologne 2015 The Shrine by Sigurd
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The older we get the more important July becomes as it allows us to return to college to view design schools end of term exhibitions - a genuine highlight of our year. In addition July 2015 saw us celebrate two of the most important representatives of concrete construction, two completely contrasting representatives of concrete construction: Ulrich Muther und Le Corbusier. Rescue station on Binz Beach, Rügen, Germany by Ulrich Müther (completed 1968) Garderobe7 by Juliane Huhn as seen at
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June 2015 saw the DMY Berlin festival re-launch after the original organiser ran into financial difficulties; a re-launch which we took as a chance to study Berlin design in a little more detail..... Turtleneck Christof Flötotto & Sven Funcke, as seen at Pet Market, Galerie erstererster, Berlin during Berlin Design Week 2015 The Shrinking Office Project by Roy Yin, as seen at DMY Berlin 2015 Structural Skin New material by Jorge Penades, as seen at DMY Berlin 2015 Summus Aqua by Song
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May is traditionally the month in which the furniture design industry starts winding down towards summer.... fortunately, because after Milan all are flat broke. We took the opportunity to speak to Annemoon Geurts from Kazerne Eindhoven,view the Floris Wubben showcase Low Tech Crafts at DAD Galerie Berlin and wish English designer Robin Day a Happy 100th! The Poly side chair by Robin Day for Hille (bottom right), here with its contemporaries from Charles & Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen in the
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Just as January means Cologne, April is Milan. And normally only Milan. In 2015 however we managed to spice things up with an interview with Michael Geldmacher from Neuland Industriedesign on the method by which designers are paid and organising a survey of designers attitudes on how they are paid. Didn't change the world. Made us feel a little better however..... USM Haller Privacy Panels, as seen at Milan Furniture Fair 2015 Michael Geldmacher and Eva Paster a.k.a Neuland Industriedesign
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Browsing in our Pictorial Review archive it appears March 2013 was “a month of travelling: Stuttgart, Chemnitz, Weimar, Dessau….. its amazing we found time to actually write anything…….” And March was 2014 was "....the same. Just replace “Stuttgart, Chemnitz, Weimar, Dessau” with “Frankfurt, Münsingen, Berlin, Weil am Rhein” March 2015 was mainly spent in the office. Did however mean we managed to pen a little more than in previous Marches, including a birthday tribute to Harry Bertoia and
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February 2015 saw us break new ground and make our first visits to Munich Creative Business Week, the magnificently monikered 's-Hertogenbosch in Holland and Ekumfi-Ekrawfo, Ghana. The latter albeit only virtually. Sadly. And Nils Holger Moormann used our pages to call for a revolution......... How We Work, new Dutch Design at the Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch Dry-lacquer vessels by Chung Hae Cho, as seen at Tools for A Break - Korean Crafts and Design, Galerie Rieder Munich during
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January being what it is we spent most of the month in Cologne attending the 2015 IMM Cologne Furniture Fair and the parallel Passagen Design Festival. The undisputed highlight of Passagen 2015 for us was the show case MAD ABOUT LIVING – 24 Designers from Brussels, which introduced us to numerous interesting Belgian creatives, and Ateliers J&J, who we feel certain will crop up a couple of times in the course of our review of 2015. In addition we were very impressed by the Objects in Between
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