With autum's algid wind in our faces and the promise of mince pies and Glühwein in our tails we approached November and a design tour through Brandenburg, met Napoleon in Erfurt and discovered that the Eames plastic armchairs and plastic side chairs used to be steel......
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Although, according to our strict definition of "design" the work of Leipzig ceramicist Claudia Biehne must be considered handwork, we're delighted Porcelain Studio Biehne & Passig are taking part in the Designers' Open 2013 Spots. When we dropped by the studio Stefan Passig asked how we first got to know the studio's work, and unlike the romance of a casual meeting under an escalator in a former department store, with Studio Biehne & Passig we really can't recall. Suspect however it was at
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Despite the unnecessary unpleasantness on show at Leipzig Messe, (post to follow, awaiting legal clearance) the 2013 Designers’ Open Spots program provides more than enough reasons to get out and explore Leipzig creativity. One particularly good example is Plagwitz Village based collective diefabrik. Our introduction to diefabrik came via their cardboard furniture collection, including the shelf system “Constructo” and the Lounger “Chair777″, shown at Designers' Open 2009. An introduction
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When the yellowing leaves of passing like a carpet over Leipzig lie..... it must be time for "Leipzig Creative Autumn", as the town's marketing bods will no doubt eventually get round to calling it. On Friday we'll be at Designers' Open, the start shot however is traditionally made by the Grassimesse at the Leipzig Museum for Applied Art. Which is only fair. On the one hand Grassimesse is older - tracing its history as it can back to the 1920s and counting many a Bauhaus student and
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Vienna's fine, the sun shines most the time The feeling is "laid back" Plane trees grow and Herr Gruber's beer prices are low But you know we keep thinkin' about Making our way back Well we're Leipzig City born and raised But nowadays, We're lost between two shores Vienna's fine, but it ain't home Leipzig's home, But it ain't ours no more......... Which, and with obvious apologies to Niel Diamond, is a somewhat long, involved and frankly unnecessarily depressive way, of saying that the time
read moreAs we noted in our designer barbecue post "... summer is bidding its final farewells" And with autumn's impudent chill invading ever more our pastoral calm the time for our hibernation approaches. And so we're currently exploring accommodation options. Fortunately it's been a bit of a "small house year" in these pages with, for example, Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Vitra's Diogene or Jean Prouve's Maison des Jours Meilleurs occupying our thoughts. Our first contact with reduced room
read moreThere are some design blogs who simply retype press releases, resize press photos and abracadabra - a blog post. Our standards are a little higher. Which is why we visit design fairs, design weeks, design competitions and design exhibitions. Because only by talking to designers, talking to producers and by actually testing the products can you decide if the PR hype is justified. The minus is of course that design fairs being the new film festivals - our schedule is an absolute nightmare.
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On Thursday April 29th the exhibition "gute aussichten - junge deutsche fotografie 2009/2010" opens at the Haus der Photographie, Hamburg. Established in 2004 as a platform for supporting young, talented photographers gute aussichten has developed into one of Germany's most important and respected contemporary photography prizes. This years exhibition features the work of the 8 artists - Georg Brückmann (HGB Leipzig); Philipp Dorl, (FH Bielefeld); Sonja Kälberer, (HGB Leipzig); Ute Klein,
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A garden is for relaxing in on a summers evening. For growing vegetables. For having a cheeky cigarette when you're supposed to be finishing the accounts. A garden is also a metaphor for growing up, maturing. Getting older. In the final (smow)liest event for the 2010 Leipzig Buchmesse, journalist and author Gerhard Matzig presented his own personal tale of the journey from carefree urban youth to responsible suburban middle age. And to a garden. In front of a potentially illegally
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For us Switzerland means three things. USM Haller Tax avoidance. Phil Collins. With the evening "Neue Stimmen from Switzerland", organised by SWIPS - Swiss Independent Publishers - and supported by Pro Helvetia, the (smow)room in Leipzig hosted the second (smow)liest event during the 2010 Leipzig Buchmesse. And proved that the Alpine Republic, does have more to offer. A lot more. Roman Graf opened proceedings with his debut novel "Herr Blanc". As a young man Herr Blanc left possibly
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It's not easy being German. It really isn't. Fortunately, it can be highly entertaining; as Philipp Kohlhöfer more than eloquently demonstrated to a full house at the opening event of (smow)liest 2010 in the (smow)room in Leipzig. From David Hasselhoff karoake with South-Central LA gangsters to dinner with Nelly Furtado via the moral dilemmas of associating oneself with childless individuals, Philipp Kohlhöfer led the audience through an amusing, and at times highly poetic, evening of
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The snow is finally gone from the streets of Leipzig and that can only mean two things. Dangerously large holes in the roads. And Leipzig Buchmesse. And as in 2009 (smow) is once again taking part in Leipzig Liest - Europes largest public book reading. (smow)liest begins on March 18th with Grillsaison from Philipp Kohlhöfer. Less related to the Cobb Pro, Grillsaison is a humorous, occasionally deeply ironic, journey in search of the real Germany. David Hasselhof included. On March 19
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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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Our new flash has arrived .... and that just in the nick of time. (As the name tends to imply ;) ) For this coming Friday the 2009 Designers' Open will once again present the finest selection in contemporary design from 150 international designers. And that right here in Leipzig. In addition, a series of lectures, workshops, discussions and "hands on" events will not only wonderfully complement the exhibition, but, hopefully, invigorate, motivate and illuminate both industry professionals and
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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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Sometimes we get the feeling no one really wants us here in Leipzig. Not that we are complaining - or at least not when avoiding our company means sending us to the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and New York City. From May 14th until May 19th your (smow)blog team will bring you all the important stories, new products and general lunacy from Vitra, Kartell, Magis, Tom Dixon and all the other exhibitors at North America's premier designer furniture trade fair. And not just from
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This picture shows the moment "Not allowed" pulled away from Neptun to win the Preis der Leipziger Messe at Scheibenholz racetrack on Saturday. Needless to say your smow(blog) team were aboard the 20-1shot and after the race had to explain how we came to back such a horse; simple we replied, a youthful british talent, trained in Leipzig who ignores the rules. How could we not back him.... Sadly we had a less luck in the feature Audi Cup, but despite that many thanks to the Audi Zentrum
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After our turbulent week in MIlan the (smow)blog team is looking forward to the ever faster approaching May bank holiday weekend here in Germany. On Friday we will be at the traditional May Day Horse Racing Meeting at Leipzig Scheibenholz Racetrack, Saturday the Leipzig Spinnerei "Spring Gallery-Tour" with among others Damien Hirst at Gallery Hilario Galguera and then Sunday the exhibition "EAST_for the record" at the Leipzig Museum of Contemporary Art. And there are people out there who
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A cult figure among designers, relatively unknown amongst the general public Joe Colombo is without doubt one of the most important designers of the 20th century. The Vitra Design Museum exhibition “Joe Colombo – Design and the invention of the future” is the first international retrospective of the man, his work and his influence. From April 3rd until the end of June the exhibition is on display at the Grassi Museum here in Leipzig and, as one would expect from an official Vitra partner,
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