The (hi)story of applied arts is, we believe it's not too impetuous to claim, very closely connected with that of all other visual artistic forms. Therefore it is only logical that the (hi)story of the Grassi Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig is very closely connected with that of the town's Academy of Visual Arts - the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, HGB And so to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the later the former has invited students and graduates of the HGB to disrupt the Museum
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As we've often noted/complained/mocked in these pages, for a town widely lauded as being the most creative in the universe, there isn't that much evidence of design, creativity or innovation to be found in Eindhoven. Or at least not in downtown Eindhoven. Go a little bit outside to the former Philips industrial estate at Strijp on the western edge of the city or the Sectie C complex to the east, and you'll find seemingly inexhaustible communities of creatives holed up like rabbits in warrens,
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Premièred in 2012 as a platform to help connect design with business and to encourage greater design thinking by and acceptance of the value of design for industry, and as a sort of supporting fringe event to envelop and accompany the iF Design Award ceremony following the decision to host the event in the Bavarian capital, Munich Creative Business Week has developed over the years into a very interesting event which, although still largely promotional in character, does from time to time
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As any fool know, Germany's most important contribution to art, architecture and design education was established in Weimar in April 1919. However, some three and half years before Walter Gropius welcomed the first students to his Bauhaus college, a further Germanic education institution was established, an institution which just as with Bauhaus took a new, modern, progressive, approach to art, design and architecture education yet an institution which in comparison to Bauhaus is still
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If we remember correctly, the only Irish designer we have ever included in these pages is Eileen Gray. That may soon change because 2015 has been officially designated the year of Irish Design. Coordinated by the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland "Irish Design 2015" promises a year long series of exhibitions, fairs and conferences both in Ireland and overseas which aim to foster dialogue and collaboration and thus, so hope the organisers, encourage design led investment in Ireland and so
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On one of the very few occasions over the past 12 months when we've put down our axes and stepped, temporarily, back from the coalface of design culture that is the smow blog, we found ourselves on a cool September evening drinking Voll Damm bier underneath Barcelona Design Museum. No, not like that. It was positive. Our hotel was just round the corner and after a hard day on the beach we fancied an urban stroll and subsequently found a nice place to enjoy our Voll Damm against the backdrop
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We recently posted on current research which suggests that not only is sitting for long periods detrimental to our health, but that sport and movement cannot compensate for the negative effects of prolonged sitting. Taking such research as their starting point Amsterdam based architecture/philosophy studio Rietveld Architecture-Art-Affordances, RAAAF, and artist Barbara Visser created the somewhat polemically titled animation "Sitting Kills" from which they have now developed the installation
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As many of you will be aware, for us no post about 20th century American design is complete with the addition of alcohol and George Nelson. And so by way of a reprise to our recent post celebrating Isamu Noguchi's birthday, we present, with thanks to Stanley Abercrombie's ever excellent and easily recommendable George Nelson biography, George Nelson's recollections on Isamu Noguchi and his role in the creation of the famous Ball Clock. An anecdote that in addition beautifully highlights the
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For an institution associated with so many interesting and important figures in the UK furniture industry, there is a remarkable dearth of information on the London College of Furniture. Most of what there is relating to the, obviously fabled, music instrument making department. And so it is perhaps more appropriate than fitting that to mark the 50th anniversary of the London College of Furniture an exhibition celebrating the institution is being staged by its successor Sir John Cass Faculty
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Following three years closure and an investment of some four million Euros the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin - Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts - is once again open to the public. In addition to architectural and interior design adaptations and conversions by Berlin based architects KUEHN MALVEZZI and refreshed displays chronicling the development of popular culture since the middle ages, the past three years have also brought the museum a permanent fashion section and new dedicated special
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As older readers will be aware, one of our all time favourite projects is, was and probably always will be the majestic Spore Vase by Paulo Sellmayer. Not just because as an object it teaches us so much about contemporary society and the absurdity of the perceived control we have over the natural world; but because through discovering and dissecting Spore Vase we learned and understood an awful lot about our job and our responsibilities. Since we saw Spore Vase in Smalle Haven in Eindhoven we
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Until December 20th the Paris dépendance of Galerie kreo is presenting an exhibition dedicated to the vivacious variety of contemporary wooden furniture design. Presented under the sparklingly original title "only wood" the exhibition presents a mix of previously displayed objects and new works. Amongst the older works on show a special mention must go to the Woodwork lamp by BIG-GAME, a work premièred at Galerie kreo's 2008 La Liseuse exhibition, the Cork #3 storage system by Martin Szekely
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Given the urban-centric view of the world most of us posses it's all to easy to forget that social and cultural change, and the associated problems, challenges and opportunities they bring, aren't limited to our cities. An exhibition of photographs of the Ostrach valley in Bavaria by local photographer Christian Heumader attempts to reinforce this point. Presented at the Schwäbisches Bauernhofmuseum Illerbeuren near Kempten im Allgäu as part of the Architekturforum Allgäu's LandLuft programme,
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On seeing a lamp grace a Jean Prouvé desk on the Vitra stand at Orgatec 2014 we termed it "a genuine reminder that good design is often the simplest solution" On seeing a lamp grace a Jean Prouvé desk in the VitraHaus, we concurred. Quietly noting that it was, in addition, "a genuine reminder that a good name is often the simplest solution" Plug Lamp by Form Us With Love for Ateljé Lyktan is both those things. Packaged in the most delightful and engaging object. A desk lamp with an
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Cohesion is a concept with which we are very familiar. Largely because it is a state we never achieve. Much like the geometry's asymptote never touches its associated curve, so to do our lives approach cohesion, without ever achieving such a condition. It remaining something tantalisingly ahead of us. Infinitely so. And so it was with a particular personal interest we viewed the new 2014 Dutch Invertuals' exhibition: Cohesion. As is traditional with Dutch Invertuals the participating
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Established in 1998 by the artist couple Anna and István Regős as a gallery/shop in the cellar of their house in the Hungarian town of Szentendre, since 2013 Palmetta Design have operated a second gallery in Budapest where, in addition to offering a selection of international design items for sale, they present a regularly changing programme of art and design exhibitions. For Budapest Design Week 2014 that of course meant a design exhibition and specifically "Entrance Hall" a showcase of works
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On Friday October 24th the winners of the Saxony Design Award 2014 - the Sächsischer Staatspreis für Design 2014 - were announced at a, no doubt, suitably grand ceremony in Leipzig. Ran under the motto "Mehr Wert durch Design" - "More value through design" - the 2014 edition of the biennial contest looked for projects which help illustrate the potential of design in our modern post-industrial industrial economy. And which we suspect, although it wasn't explicitly stated, was intended to
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In 2010 the spectacularly sinister sounding Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities launched a programme to help promote products made in workshops employing persons with disabilities; and since 2013 the Segítő Vásárlás label - Design that Helps - has been coordinated by the Salva Vita Foundation. In June 2014 the Salva Vita Foundation organised a "Design Date" event which brought participating workshops and Hungarian design studios together with the aim of fostering new co-operations and
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One of the highlights for us of Dutch Design Week 2014 is and was the showcase of works by Eindhoven based studio Ontwerpduo a.k.a. Tineke Beunders and Nathan Wierink. For although in the past we have seen various Ontwerpduo projects individually, there is no real alternative to seeing a studio's collection together in order to build a more complete picture of the designers and their work. In addition to reunions with those Ontwerpduo products with which we were already familiar, including the
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At the risk of overusing the phrase "a concept that grows on us the more XXXX adds to it" and so reducing a genuine sign of respect to irrelevant dribble: Stefan Diez's New Order system for HAY is a concept that grows on us the more Stefan Diez adds to it. What began life as relatively simple contemporary shelving system is being presented at Orgatec 2014 as a fully fledged office system. We've always liked New Order, but the more it grows, the more it appeals. Apart from the systems
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As long as we've been going to Vienna Design Week the festival has always included a focus on social responsibility. Design is not all about large companies presenting their latest projects or young designers developing expensive gallery pieces, design is also about helping to improve our world, be that the direct vicinity or at the global level. Vienna Design Week understand this. And always try to ensure we all do. One of the more interesting projects in this respect at Vienna Design Week
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The presentation of Dirk Vander Kooij's current collection during Dutch Design Week 2014 took place at Kazerne - the new star in Eindhoven's already well illuminated design sky. Established by designers/curators Annemoon Geurts and Koen Rijnbeek who used run the temporary Eat Drink Design "exhibition restaurant" during Dutch Design Week, Kazerne is their new permanent "exhibition restaurant". They obviously having tired of "popping up" once a year. Featuring a combination restaurant cum
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The history of furniture design is famously also a history of experimentation, re-configuring, re-thinking and often of designers changing materials in the course of product development. Charles and Ray Eames' plastic chair family famously began life as a steel chair family, Harry Thaler's aluminium Pressed Chair for Moormann began life as a wooden chair, and in contrast the first USM Haller units were wood, before the switch to steel. And so the fact that Budapest based designer András
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For us the passion, indeed interest, for living in a shared flat ended approximately 18 months before we moved out of our last shared flat. It ceased to be our thing. We needed our peace. We needed our space. We became anti-social. Some people however remain sociable. Even professionally. Some such as the design studios Daphna Laurens, Studio Mieke Meijer, OS ∆ OOS, Studio Maatwerk and Bogaerts Label who since summer 2014 have shared a space in the so-called TAB Building, somewhat inevitably a
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