Following on from the success of smow Cologne's Passagen Design Week début in 2014 with the USM Haller exhibition Facetten, 2015 sees a presentation of tables from the German manufacturer ASCO. Established in 1998 with the aim of developing tables which radiate a timeless elegance, the ASCO collection combines table tops in a range of hardwoods with bases constructed from wood, metal or concrete to produce objects that are as domesticated as they are rustic and individual as they are
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Back at the end of 2014 we mused as to whether or not this might be an apposite moment to quietly remove ourselves from the high octane world of design blogging and seek out pastures new and a calmer, more sedentary, life. The melancholy of those late December days still lingers, yet with the IMM Cologne furniture trade fair and Passage Cologne design festival standing afore us like some bright eyed, white toothed, flaxen haired vision of our famously promising youth, we have no option but to
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During the 2014 Passagen design festival the Cologne flagship store of Italian kitchen and bathroom manufacturer Boffi presented an exhibition of objects by six young(ish) designers. And no we're not being deliberately provocative or derogative with our (ish). We know a couple of the designers involved. And know that they would admit they're not the youngest cats in the park any more. Presented under the title "Young Perspectives" and curated by the Cologne based "Design Services Agency"
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Revolutions in design and architecture invariably involve a new material. The oldest examples of this phenomenon being found in the context of metals: the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. And in the 6000 years since man first learnt to mix tin and copper the fascination for and desire to work with metal remains as primordial as ever. To celebrate the variety and durability of metal in design Frankfurt based Trademark Publishing recently released "Objects: Alle Metalle" an homage to classic and
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Every two years designers from the Dutch town of Groningen chum together to present a joint showcase during Cologne Design Week. The fourth "Gronicles" edition is being staged in the former Wohn-bar in Cologne Ehrenfeld and features works by Lotte Douwes, Jack Brandsma, Esther Jongsma, Lambert Kamps and Arend Groosman. Among a mix of product, conceptual and graphic design projects two works particularly caught our attention: Spatial Vase by Lotte Douwes and Bedcrate by Jack Brandsma. Created
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When Charlotte Perriand arrived in Japan in 1940 to begin her commission from the Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry to investigate the current state of industrial production in Japan and suggest new ways forward, her guide and translator was a young man by the name of Sori Yanagi. Some 15 years later Sori Yanagi created one of the archetypal and most instantly recognised pieces of modern Japanese design: the Butterfly Stool. There are those who can see Ms Perriand's influence on the
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In 2012 the Berlin based publishers/curators/editors Ilka & Andreas Ruby established BKULT as an online platform for discussing issues in contemporary architecture. Every two weeks a new question is posed and prominent guests are invited to answer "yes", "no" or "jein", and more importantly to justify their position and elucidate their argument. The platform is then opened to all and thus develops a discussion over topics such as "Does architecture need a quota for women?", "Do we need more
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What would IMM Cologne week be without the official enthronement of the A&W Designer of the Year? One day shorter and one exhibition poorer say we. Following on from Patricia Urquiola in 2012 and Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec in 2013 the 2014 A&W Designer of the Year is Werner Aisslinger. And as tradition demands his work is currently being celebrated in an exhibition in the Kölner Kunstverein. In summer 2013 the Berlin gallery Haus am Waldsee presented a Werner Aisslinger solo exhibition under
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For their now traditional IMM Cologne exhibition Ungers Archiv für Architekturwissenschaft is presenting an exhibition devoted to one of the more interesting characters in the story of German furniture design, Stefan Wewerka. Born in Magdeburg on October 27th 1928 Stefan Wewerka studied architecture at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst Berlin under, amongst others, Max Taut and Georg Leowald, left however without formally graduating. Something which in those days was no hindrance to a
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Following on from last year's highly enjoyable Objects for the Neighbour exhibition Karoline Fesser, Kai Linke and Thomas Schnur are back this year with a new show: Objects and the Factory. Time was when the factory was the aspiration of any industrial designer for their projects. A factory meant that project had become a product, and was an industrial product not a craft product. However over the decades changing social and cultural conditions coupled to numerous caesurae in design have meant
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Given that Cologne is geographically closer to Brussels than Berlin, there probably should be more Belgian designers exhibiting at Cologne Design Week than there actually/normally are. Also because a Belgian Frites seller can be found on near every street corner, thus ensuring no Belgian - or indeed Dutchman, Scot or Australian - need go hungry. Among the Belgians who are here this year are old (smow) blog favourites Tim Baute and Stefaan De Croock aka Atelier Bonk who are presenting their
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Aside from death, taxes and heartbreak, the only other certainty in life is that you will, with an unnerving regularity, need new furniture. Not because the old furniture is damaged or no longer en vogue, but simply because your needs and requirements have changed. A furniture system that can adapt to these changing needs is thus obviously advantageous. Developed in the early 1960s by Fritz Haller and Paul Schärer, System USM Haller is such a system. Composed of a steel tube frame
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On Monday January 13th the European design circus rolls into the new year with the opening of IMM Cologne 2014 and Passagen 2014, and against our natural inclinations we'll be there, or as Ride so nearly put it; "If we've seen it all before, Why's this train taking us back again? If we don't need anymore, Why's this train taking us back again?" Yes, the rent has to be paid. But there are easier ways to earn a living than spending a week in January on the banks of the Rhein questioning your
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"Do the books that writers don't write matter?", asks Julian Barnes in his 1984 novel Flaubert's Parrot. In a similar vein, do the posts that bloggers don't write matter? Among Julian Barnes' arguments for not disregarding the unwritten novel is that, "Besides, an idea isn't always abandoned because it fails some quality control test. The imagination doesn't crop annually like a reliable fruit tree. The writer has to gather whatever's there: sometimes too much, sometimes too little, sometimes
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