Moa by Roberta Wende, as seen at Design Without Borders 2024, Budapest As the chair Moa by Roberta Wende appeared in our field of view at Design Without Borders 2024 in the Kiscell Museum, Budapest, our first thought was "felt". Or more accurately our first thought was "FELT!!!", a reflection of our current obsession with all things wool and the promise (we firmly believe to be) inherent in an increase in small-scale, local, sheep-holding in Europe. And we were right it is felt. But not
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"In the development and designing of furniture one prevailing problem is the means for securing parts of the furniture together particularly when the parts are made of thin materials such as plywood or metal. This problem is particularly difficult when a certain amount of twisting or give between the parts is desired so as to provide resiliency to one of the parts. In general efforts to solve this problem have failed."1 So begins a patent application filed by Charles Eames on 28th July 1958.
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It is indicative of the image of designer furniture in contemporary society that media outlets across Europe have picked up on the fact that in connection with the recently published "Wealth Decelerations" by the French Cabinet, Industry Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg has revealed he owns an Eames Lounge Chair. Indeed the online platform from German magazine Der Spiegel illustrated the publication of the Declarations with an image of an Eames Lounge Chair in one its first reports! While
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Until April 9th the Wasserschloss Klaffenbach Chemnitz is presenting the exhibition Eames by Vitra. As we wrote in our initial post, Eames by Vitra presents a complete overview of the Charles and Ray Eames chair canon complemented by texts, photos and videos that explain the background to the Eames Studio. It is not an exhibition that completely explains the creative phenomenon that was Charles and Ray Eames. But then it doesn't set out to be. It's all about the chairs. Eames by Vitra in
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Tilbage i februar fejrede VitraHaus i Weil am Rhein sin første fødselsdag. Vi talte med Vitras chefdesigner Eckart Maise om VitraHaus og om planerne for fremtiden. (smow)blog: VitraHaus er nu ét år gammelt, er du tilfreds med det første år? Eckart Maise: Ja, VitraHaus har været en stor succes og 'resonansen' har været meget positiv, både med hensyn til antallet af besøgende samt den feedback vi har fået. Eksempelvis er besøgstallene for 'Vitra Campus' nu tredoblet i forhold til tiden før
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Back in February the VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein celebrated its first birthday. But was it all worth it? To find out more we spoke to Vitra Chief Design Officer Eckart Maise about one year VitraHaus and the plans for the future. (smow)blog: The VitraHaus is now one year old, are you satisfied with the first year? Eckart Maise: Yes, the VitraHaus has been a huge success and the resonance has been very positive both in respect of the number of visitors as well as the feedback. The Vitra Campus
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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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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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On account of the horrendous hotel prices demanded during design week the (smow)blog team camp in Milan. And that despite last years near-drowning episode. This year the decision was a real blessing. Spared the torment of those trapped by Eyjafjallajokull at Milan Airport our return journey this year took us via Weil am Rhein, Vitra and the VitraHaus. What a difference the weather makes! When we were there for the opening in February architect Jacques Herzog commented, somewhat solemnly,
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9th February 2010, Brussels Under the motto "Think before you Post" the from the EU funded Safer Internet Day 2010 is focused primarily on how one deals with privacy in the internet, especially as concerns young people, photos, social networking sites and chatrooms. Which is naturally a positive thing. In essence one of the core reasons that people for all kids, run into problems on the internet is because they blindly believe everything they read. Previously "the camera never lied", we
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In the wake of our "warehouse" post we have received numerous emails along a similar vein: "It's OK for yous and your highly trained Eames Elephants; but how do we get our USM Haller furniture into our flat?" The simple answer - assuming you live in Germany - is "PREMIUM delivery" Under normal conditions the Schenker delivery crews are only allowed to deliver to the door of your building. It's a legal thing. With "PREMIUM delivery", however, for a small additional fee not only will the
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From experience we can confirm that photographing furniture is not the easiest job in the world. And getting a picture that captures the spirit and functionality of the object is a true art. And so we were all the more impressed when we stumbled across a series of photos of Vitra miniatures by Dutch photographer Bart van Bussel. All we know about Bart is that he is a photographer, lives in Amsterdam and has more facebook friends than we do. But we do know quite a lot about the chairs he has
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In the world of designer furniture there are few designers for who "home" and "family" played such a central role as Charles and Ray Eames. From the design of their "Eames House" as a combined living and working space for a young family and on through their many works for and with children, Charles and Ray Eames always presented themselves as "domestic" rather than "industrial" designers. And so it is little wonder that so many of their designs can be so easily recommended as Christmas gifts.
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In these pages we have often described the dangers and problems associated with non-licensed copies of design classics. And now thanks to Core 77 a particularly appalling case from the USA has been brought to our attention...as the images below show. OK it is art, and specifically an installation by conceptual sculptor Mark Wentzel for the Global Health Odyssey Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Entitled XLounge x 3 the show is, according to the PR blurb " ... a series of cleverly-adapted
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Idling on the internet the other day we inadvertently clicked on an advertisement. Fortunately. For the link took us to 3 fish studios and these wonderful linocuts. Now we're not going to insult yous by pretending to be experts in graphic art, and so in the words of 3 fish studios: All prints are of the highest possible quality, each one printed by hand with a Conrad Machine Etching Press on Rives BFK paper using Daniel Smith Traditional Black Relief Ink. There are ten designs in total
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One of the advantages of the time delay is that by mid-afternoon New York time the (smow)boss is at home and so we can go out and enjoy New York City. On Friday we took the opportunity for a stroll through Manhattan ... and like every other tourist spent most of the time taking photos of skyscrapers. Regardless how often you take such a photo, the next view seems even better. And don't even get us started on the next..... However, to truly capture the majesty you need much better equipment
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Ray and Charles Eames could happily be described as „multi-talents“. The American designer pair created functional furniture with a global appeal, shot avant-gard films, designed childrens toys and were responsible for the Eames House and Entenza House in Los Angeles. Charles Eames (1907-1978) studied architecture at the Washington University in St.Louis before a scholarship and subsequent teaching position at the Cranbook Academy of Art brought him to Michigan where he met the painter, and
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