As many of our regular readers will be aware, we don't like food design. We would say "we can't stomach it", however, that would draw more attention to the subject than it could ever deserve. We're particularly wary of Spanish food design, and the connections that invariably raises to some of the most senseless, egoistic and narcissistic episodes in the recent history of cuisine. Even writing that sentence brings us out in a rage. That said, we've long sought a chance to view the exhibition
read more......and continued over Budapest and on to Berlin - where amongst other delights we partook of the exhibitions Sensing the Future: László Moholy-Nagy, die Medien und die Künste at the Bauhaus Archiv Berlin and Schrill Bizarr Brachial. Das Neue Deutsche Design der 80er Jahre at the Bröhan Museum - and onto Cologne for the Orgatec office furniture trade fair.
read moreEstablished 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
read moreIn 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
read moreThe 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
read moreEver since Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec released their Alcove Sofa for Vitra in 2006 ever more furniture objects have appeared on the market which promise the owner the opportunity to create flexible room partition solutions. To create rooms within rooms and provide a place in which to separate yourself from a home that is becoming ever more an office. To find safety in the midst of the unending data, information and sensory flood. Or just amongst the kid's mess. And with very few exceptions,
read moreMuch like crisps, cardboard furniture is something with which we have a very troubled relationship. However whereas with crisps the problem is saying no: with cardboard furniture it is saying yes. We know that cardboard furniture makes sense, or at least can make sense. We even once developed our own cardboard chair, the (smow) chair But most cardboard furniture simply doesn't appeal to us. There is invariably something about the form, the construction or a pig ugly aesthetic we simply
read moreJust to be clear: Despite posting twice about them in little over week, we're not paid to do PR for Budapest based architecture/design collective Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop. We've never even met AU Workshop. Nor spoken to AU Workshop. Nor had Email contact with AU Workshop. However, during our 2014 Danube Design Voyage we have been introduced to numerous examples of the collective's work. And have generally been very impressed with what we have seen. Such as their table which was
read moreIn 2014 the exhibition "madeinhungary" celebrates its 10th anniversary. What began as a presentation of contemporary Hungarian product design hosted as part of the Budapest "Home Trend" trade fair has existed since 2013 as an independent event staged during Budapest Design Week. And has slowly evolved into a sort of annual family get together for the Budapest design community. For the 2014 edition organisers, curators and project initiators Szilvia Szigeti and Tamás Radnóti have compiled a
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