Mayday! Mayday! Don't panic. It's just a public holiday. You'll survive. Barbecue something...... And afterwards, when everyone else is back at work and things have calmed down a little, why not enjoy one or more of the following design and architecture exhibitions opening around Europe this coming May. "Fritz Haller. Architekt und Forscher" at the S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum, Basel, Switzerland Everyone knows Fritz Haller. He designed one of the few truly iconic and genuinely
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There are a thousand good reasons to avoid travelling through Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport. And a couple of very good reasons. The public transport connections, for example, between Israel's only relevant international airport and Israel's only relevant metropolises are so arduous and poorly co-ordinated it makes one long for the days of The Crusades, when reaching Jaffa or Jerusalem from Europe involved little more taxing than travelling for eight weeks by horse and sailing ship. And then
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144th birthdays aren't occasions all celebrate; however, because Charles Rennie Mackintosh ties in so nicely with so many of the themes we've covered in the past weeks it seems like an occasion we can't ignore. Born in Glasgow on June 7th 1868 Charles Rennie Mackintosh trained as an architect with John Hutchinson before moving to the larger company Honeyman & Keppie following his qualification in 1889. In 1890 Mackintosh was given his first solo project, designing an extension for the back
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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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A recurrent theme, not only here in the (smow)blog but also in general throughout the (smow) global network is the subject of illegal copies of design classics. Or better put when is a design classic a design classic? At the HGB Leipzig Rundgang in February we were confronted with an unexpected and somewhat unusual interpretation of the question in the form of "Eames Lounge Chair" by George Brückmann. And were immediately hooked. And not only we were impressed by Brückmanns work, In
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Perhaps best known for her numerous co-operations with Le Corbusier, the Parisian architect and designer Charlotte Perriand played an instrumental role in developing the European modern movement: Not least as Charlotte Perriand is credited with converting Le Corbusiers modern furniture ideas into reality and so establishing the tradition of minimal, bent chrome steel tube and leather furniture. Among the most famous of these collaborations are the from Cassina produced LC4 Chaise Longue, LC2
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To celebrate their 50th birthday the German furnishings magazine "Schöner Wohnen" have produced a small book entitled "Das Buch der Klassiker“ ("The book of classics") in which the magazine present their 400 furniture and accessory classics. And an exhibition of the selected items forms the basis of the Schöner Wohnen stand here in Cologne. Aside from familiar faces such as Vegetal by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec from Vitra or the Castore lamp by Huub Ubbens und Michele De Lucchi for
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Italian design is, if we all close our eyes for a minute or two and be brutally honest, a lot like English football or French cooking - it's continued association with a particular quality and geniality is largely due to the number of non-Italians(English/French) who have continually contributed to the tradition and so kept it modern, kept it fresh and kept it exciting. Danish design is Danish because only Danes are allowed to do it - Italian design is universal because any one can do it:
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