At the end of March the V&A Museum London opened the exhibition "British Design 1948-2012. Innovation in the Modern Age", their major summer exhibition and a central pillar of their celebration of all things British throughout 2012. Documenting the story of design in the UK since the last London Olympics, "British Design 1948-2012" begins in an era when Britain as a nation was recovering from the trauma of the Second World War, yet understood that in the rubble of the war lay the chance to
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Following on from last years "Kids Only" collection, Richard Lampert was/were back at Cologne 2012 with a collection of new outdoor furniture And just as "Kids Only" clearly wasn't. So too can "Living Outdoor" clearly also be used for "Living Indoor" Which is important if you live north of Alicante and can't guarantee your summer will be in any way summary. Featuring four new products from three of the company's roster of young design talents, the new collection can be seen as an extension
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On his 2009 album "Waxing Gibbous" Falkirk balladeer Malcolm Middleton included the song "Red Travellin' Socks" a jaunty - if for us touch too obvious - ode to his love/hate relationship with, well his Red Travellin' Socks. Wearing his socks he's reminded of the freedom of the open road that is currently helping him fulfilling his primitive desires - until such time as the romantic myth of the endless highways explodes and he begins to long for home. The red socks symbolising his frustration
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The last couple of days have seen an endless stream of emails into the (smow)blog bunker asking if we are OK. And if we're OK, why aren't we posting anything? Can't we be bothered? Are we bored? Have we finally be rumbled by the (smow)boss? Far from it, the sad truth is we've been forced into doing some real work for change. We know, we can't believe it either! (smow) ... in stock and ready to go.. The combination of Christmas holidays and heavy snow throughout Europe has meant that
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We're just a touch late with this one, but since July 22nd the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin has been showing the exhibition "Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model". For the first time, the three German Bauhaus institutions - Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Museum für Gestaltung, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and Klassik Stiftung Weimar - are uniting to present a comprehensive Bauhaus retrospective. “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model” recounts the story of the Bauhaus in a comprehensive presentation of the works of its
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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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As a Europe-wide active business we at smow take Europe very seriously. We must, it is our home. And naturally for us the European elections are an important event for which we are more than happy to sacrifice a couple of hours of our time in which to go voting. But don't you also agree that polling stations are frightfully dull locations? We're not snobs, but, you know, one could at least try to, you know, make a little effort. So smow spoke to the responsible authorities in Leipzig and
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There may be no tables in the press room, but there are plenty to be found at ICFF... Eiermann 1 by Egon Eiermann from Lampert....ahhhhh, if only, if only if only. Polished chrome AND a place to rest your feet at hip level. Hhhhmmmmmm, perfection at work Oh my God, a table with its own integrated book holder. Every proofreaders dream. And height adjustable so you can stand or sit to work ... Crescendo C2 maximus from stilvoll where have you been since Saturday at 10... Particularly
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Not good. For some reason which escapes us there are no tables in the press room. That's NO TABLES IN THE PRESS ROOM AT A FURNITURE TRADE SHOW. And to think we complained in Milan once when the beer in the press room fridge was too warm!!! Is there not a producer out there who could sponsor a few for next year. Vitra? Kartell? Lampert? The conditions here are worse than at the Magdeburger Volksstimme or any other village rag. Oh, how we yearn for our asymmetric Eiermann II table.....
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Despite Lufthansa's best effort we made it back to Leipzig yesterday evening. We only hope our luggage will arrive this evening. And despite the joy at being back in our green oasis with our wonderful view over the romantic historical ruins of East Plagwitz, Milan remains very much in our thoughts and we will continue to intersperse the blog with news and updates. As we never tire of telling anyone who will listen to us, furniture needn't be complicated. The design process can be
read moreIn our entry on the designersblock showcase we mentioned a foldable cardboard chair that had caught our attention. Now we know as well as everyone else that are our heads are readily turned by free beer and bagpipes (thanks Calum) - and if you throw in some dub and finest Italian ska and we would lie for you in court. And so we thought we had better wait a day or two before saying anything more about Stuart Miller's fine folding cardboard chair. In case we found something better. We thought we
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In a recent article wired magazine presented their own take on the evolution of office furnishing. From the introduction of the vast, cattle-shed like offices that characterised early office design through the cubicles and "virtual offices" of the 1980s and 90s and onwards the text makes one thing clear: Too many office workers have suffered through bad office design concepts. But one needn't work from home in order to benefit from the advantages of a convivial and stimulating office
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Attractive, practical and child friendly furniture is rare; the new furniture series from Lampert is a welcome exception - not least because the furniture grows with the children. The Egon Eiermann children's desk can be set to a height of 550m (for 5 year olds) and then raised as the child grows. Also the Children's Chair Turtle is height adjustable – being suitable for users between 1,10 and 1,60 m. As companion piece to the desk and chair Lampert also produce the mobile storage container
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At the imm in Cologne the German producer "Richard Lampert" once again proved that they can produce more than just the classic, timeless Eiermann Table. With a prototype of “Landed” by Eric Degenhardt the Stuttgart based company almost completed a leap into architecture. Almost. For while in models and sketches one could easily confuse Degenhardt’s creation with a concept building; close up one realizes that it is in fact an exceptional piece of furniture design. “Landed” with its multiple
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Within the next 48 hours all christmas presents must be bought. Or else it’s back to writing vouchers for your nearest and dearest. And so before it’s all too late a few final gift ideas from smow. In particular we present here the Eiermann desk, the miniature chairs from Vitra and the La Bohème "Vases" from Kartell. Or in other words Christmas gifts for workaholics, designer furniture afficienados and aesthetes... Number 1: "Desk perfection" Designer Egon Eiermann was a perfectionist who
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To end 2008 some tips – and inspiration? – regarding some of the new products that will be gracing the smow selection in 2009. Sadly we can’t present all our new products here – because at this stage even we don’t know how the year will develop. However, by subscribing to the (smow)blog RSS feed or simply regularly visiting smow.com you won’t miss out. Rattan chair from Lampert The rattan furniture from Lampert is the perfect companion for the long winter months. In, for example, the
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