IMM Cologne kept us busy into February, but the month also saw the opening of an Eileen Gray retrospective in Paris, a visit to the Louis Kahn exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum and the sad passing of James Irvine....
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In 1808 Napoleon had a problem. Or better put, in 1808 Napoleon had a whole continent of problems. Spain, Austria, Finland, England, Russia, Germany, Turkey. Noone it seemed was behaving in a manner that fitted with Napoleon's grand, global plans. How, for example, was he ever to find the time to conquer India if Europe wouldn't just quietly accept French domination? In an attempt to, at least partially, find a way out of the chaos a meeting was organised with Tsar Alexander I of Russia to
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As many of you know we officially gave up reporting on private design awards a couple of years ago - for us the emphasis in such awards is more often than not too heavily biased towards generating income for the organisers rather than helping or otherwise furthering the designers and their works. And as such don't merit our support. While some awards are obviously more honourable than others; we decided ignoring all would be fairest. However as Angela Merkel continues to teach us: what is
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There are few things more pleasing in the world of furniture design than seeing a designer successfully replicating a winning form in a new object from another product genus. Seamlessly translating an idea developed for one project into a new context. A particularly good example of such a translation can be seen in the PS 07 bureau by Berlin based Delphin Design for Müller Möbelfabrikation. If we're honest, when we saw the PS 07 on the Müller stand at IMM Cologne 2013, although we noticed a
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Established in 1996 by three friends with a shared passion for classic metal furniture, Müller Möbelfabrikation has grown steadily over the last decade and a half into one of Europe's most interesting contemporary furniture manufacturers. They don't do anything especially revolutionary, and there is certainly no danger of them ever redefining the fabric of furniture design. However, they are currently producing some of the most interesting, brash and accessible furniture on the market, and
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One of the unfortunate weaknesses of IMM Cologne is the general lack of new products on show - either at the fair itself or out and about at the fringe events. That's not 100% IMM's fault rather the collective failing of a furniture industry that continues to focus, almost paranoid, on the Milan Design Week. Fortunately there are one or two producers who are prepared to use IMM to launch new products - including Augsburg based Müller Möbelfabrikation. Perhaps most eye catching of Müller
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Ten years ago Berlin/Leipzig based design studio Delphin Design developed the S 360 conference and auditorium chair for Thonet. In 2006 followed the slimmer S 260, which not only featured a folding version but much more importantly could be interlocked with the S 360, thus allowing users the opportunity to expand their seating options without having to replace their complete stock. And now Delphin Design and Thonet have launched the S 160. We presume the S 60 will be available in 2016
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