Here's something that doesn't happen to us everyday... finding a product good, without even knowing what it's called. Or indeed who makes it. We discovered these delights in Hall 7. And there great. Just Great. You can sit on them. You can lie on them. You can hide in them. You can relax on them. You can work on them. You can sleep on them. Theoretically you could use them as a form of summer house; assuming you lived in a warm climate. It's not that unusual that a product causes
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Truth be told we'd expected a bit more bravery from our favourite Amsterdam anarcho-artisans. But no, no tree-trunk bench on the droog presence in Cologne. At least there was people - in comparison to their stand at ICFF 2009 in New York where they made do with a shadylace. High-point for us, however, was without doubt the Rag Chair. And especially the woman who sat on it, looked at her companion and said "Hard as stone!!" And Rag Chair is; which is of also why it is comfortable. The
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Our preparations for the 2010 IMM in Cologne are advancing apace and one particular highlight looks like being the Richard Lampert stand which will be celebrating the 100th birthday of Herbert Hirche. Born in Görlitz Hirche is in many ways the "forgotten" Bauhaus student; and that despite his considerable contribution to post-war architecture and design in Germany. After completing his carpentry apprenticeship Hirche enrolled in Bauhaus Dessau in 1930 and moved with the school to Berlin
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We don't know how it is with you, but with us there is always- but always - someone who does things effortlessly more successfully than us. Whether its passing exams or negotiating an escalator: they turn up everywhere. And so it came us no real surprise when checking our (smow)flickr account we discovered that the most viewed picture is not one of the many excellent photographic essays lovingly formed by the (smow)blog collective, but a quick snapshot taken by the (smow)boss while on a visit
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...and the mistletoe and wine will almost certainly be in abundance - so why not give someone the gift of time this Christmas. Puns, we love 'em One of the true greats of clock design was former Herman Miller design director George Nelson and his classic 1950s clock designs are a gift that one can always give with confidence. A new addition to the range is the three Ceramic Clocks; designed in the early 1950s but which never entered production. On the basis of drawings and other technical
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In the world of designer furniture there are few designers for who "home" and "family" played such a central role as Charles and Ray Eames. From the design of their "Eames House" as a combined living and working space for a young family and on through their many works for and with children, Charles and Ray Eames always presented themselves as "domestic" rather than "industrial" designers. And so it is little wonder that so many of their designs can be so easily recommended as Christmas gifts.
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A few weeks ago we premiered our new film featuring USM Haller in the leading role. This however was not our stars first major film role. In 2001 USM Haller starred alongside John Travolta, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry in the film "Swordfish". And just as during our production USM Haller also proved to be real diva on the "Swordfish" set and was responsible for various delays during the filming. Most notably in the famous scene when a Hummer breaks through a plate glass window. The script
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Students. We love em! But slightly better than students are poor graduates. For just as a man alone in a forest at night must rely on all his wit and inventiveness to find warmth and food, so must a designer taking his first tentative freelance steps rely on all his talents and intuition as a designer not to freeze to death. Or starve. So, or at least similar, is how we like to imagine Eero Aarnio developing probably his most defining design: the Ball Chair Helsinki. 1962. The young Eero
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One of the most exciting moments of our trip to the ICFF, New York was our visit to the droog flagship store in SoHo. For those who don't know droog, firstly forget everything you accept about the separation between art and furniture design. And then having convinced yourself there is no divide imagine your Dutch and design something. OK droog also have some fantastic "normal" designs - but their real strength is pushing the borders of absurd until they become the most obvious thing ever.
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Back in June we started a campaign to encourage election officials to improve the furnishing of their polling stations. We can't claim a great deal of success, or indeed any, but we remain committed to the cause and so will be using Sundays General Election here in Germany to further promote our demand for more stylish and aesthically pleasing polling stations. However, in comparison to the local election where we made use of the practical Eames Elephant from Vitra as our urn, for the more
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For a lot of people USM Haller make units where you can store lever arch files. True. They do. And that very successfully. However, the beauty of System USM Haller is such that with a little imagination, and the correct professional advice, one can also create just about any object to suit your needs. We believe we even once saw a photo of a USM Haller bed.... Recently, while promenading through one of Europe's finer cultural centres, we were delighted to spot through a window System USM
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In the past week three independent events have occurred which fuse together in one important tale. Firstly, while visiting a student flat in Dresden the (smow)boss noticed an obviously well used, but functioning chair reminiscent of the EA 107 by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra. Despite assuming it to be a copy - student flat, Dresden, etc... - his professional curiosity got the better of him and thought he'd better check .. and Lo and Behold it was an original EA 107 by Charles and Ray
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It's probably fair the say that Maarten Van Severen isn't a particular favourite of the (smow)IT department. Not that they dislike Van Severen's effortless aesthetic, but rather with his .03, .04, etc... Antwerp's finest artisan of designer furniture is the proverbial fly in the ointent of the new (smow)live search. Developed using technology originating from the NASA Mars Programme, the (smow)live search is amongst the most user friendly and responsive search features ever developed. Simply
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First produced in 1936 by Gebrüder Kaiser & Co. in Neheim-Hüsten, the “town of lights” in the Sauerland region of Germany, the KAISERidell 6631 R Luxus quickly became a by-word for product design, choice of materials and precise engineering. Designed by silversmith and Bauhaus Weimar Meister Christian Dell the 6631 Luxus is characterized by the smooth, asymmetrical design of the lampshade and the attention to detail such as the the swivel joints which enable the lamp to be positioned in
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In the next week or so we will be introducing here some of the new products from Thonet that are now available at smow.com. But before we get that far, a small video below that explains something of the story of Thonet furniture and the production process involved in bent wood and bent metal furniture. Narrated by perennial smow favourite Nils Holger Moormann. The text is currently only in German - we are however working on a translation - and so until then sit back and enjoy the pictures.
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As all who work in a small office, or perhaps more importantly from home, know, noise is one of the biggest contributors to stress and non-productivity. And we don't mean the radio that you want to hear, but rather the unwanted, background noise generated by others. A little physics tells us that noise travels in waves, and that the most important factor in sustaining and amplifying noise in a room is reverberation and reflection from walls. Ergo, stop the reverberation and reflection and
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One of the classic rules of furniture design is the product must look good, must look appealing. What, however, if you can't see the product. If it doesn't have a visual presence. That would make no sense. Which is probably why it took Philippe Starck to come up with the "Ghost" range of chairs and stools for Kartell. Very few other designers could create a range of chairs that regularly vanish in the light. Starck's motivation was of course somewhat different. With his Louis Ghost,
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There are very few major designer furniture producers who are prepared to risk truly inventive design. The exception, as in so many facets of the industry, is Nils Holger Moormann. Although the basic look and feel of Moormann furniture rarely changes, the functionality and conceptual basis always does. And with Strammer Max, Max Frommeld has helped Moormann, once again, move the borders of what is acceptable in designer furniture. Who else would even consider a design that requires using
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A few months ago our local baker started offering a new bread roll variety called KNAX You can imagine our disappointment when instead of a streamlined, almost invisible product with cleverly integrated features we received a somewhat cumbersome bakery product with the various grains apparently inserted at random. What would Charles and Ray Eames have to say? Although it is a bit harsh to blame the baker, for not everyone can have the talent of Harrit and Sørensen, the design studio behind
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Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor. The Trial by Franz Kafka. Madonna and Child with St John and Angels by Michelangelo. Although there are always ethical and stylistic questions concerning the completion of unfinished works, in principle it is always a joy to see someone who cares as much as the original artist complete a project. And so hats off to the Vitra Design Museum for it's decision to finally bring George Nelson's Ceramic Clocks onto the market. In 1945 George Nelson
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Eames DSR from Vitra On a recent trip we discovered a genuine Herman Miller Eames fibreglass chair bench at an airport. Being a relatively small airport - in fact so small that the word "airport" appears optimistic in describing it's capabilities - our frenzied photographing of the chairs and the Herman Miller stickers caused quite a lot of amusement. And that among individuals who spend their spare time photographing aircraft!!! Anyway, once we'd calmed down a little we started reflecting a
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Giorgio by Peter Horn is the chair that almost never was. Having commissioned Horn to create a stackable multi-function chair, the finished design lay for two years in the archive of Stuttgart based designer furniture producer Richard Lampert - in short, although convinced of the quality of the chair, Lampert saw that particular market segment as too crowded. After all how many chair designs does the world need? And so the story would have ended had not one day a request for help not been
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It's Dumfries Show on Saturday. That won't mean much to the most people, but for us it is a sure sign. Winter is coming. We know, we know. Barely have we got use to remembering to take our sunglasses to work, buying ice-creams for lunch or waking up at 5 am because we forgot to shut the curtains - again - than the Dumfries Agricultural Society hold their annual show. And after the Dumfries show the evenings get shorter with increasing rapidity and before you know it the ground will be brown
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As we stood looking at some mighty fine, but horribly over-carved, wooden furniture at the Salone in Milan a female colleague confided in us that all she needs is some leather straps and a few bits of bent metal. Trying not to show our horror at this outburst of candour, we asked if she had a meeting with El Presidente that evening. "No, no" replied our erstwhile colleague, "Bauhaus. That's my idea of good design" Eileen Gray (1878 -1976) We recite this tale here principally to amuse
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