There is an old adage about turning problems into chances, of every cloud having a silver lining, of every thorn having its rose. One of the best examples of such is the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. In the wake of a 1981 fire at the Weil am Rhein production site, Vitra found themselves needing to quickly rebuild. And needing a fire station. The first problem was solved by Nicholas Grimshaw with his Production Hall. The second by Zaha Hadid with her Fire Station. In the intervening 30+
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If we're honest - and when are we not - the news caused more than little unrest in (smow)blog HQ: Last Wednesday the VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein greeted it's 100,000th visitor. And that in only 12 weeks! And with the VitraHaus now looking likely to attract more the 500,000 visitors in its first year, Herzog and de Meureon's structure is well on its way to becoming one of Germany's leading tourist attractions. Lovely! Admirers and fans of the VitraHaus can interact and share photos, tips and
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When we were still young, fit and healthy, towns and cities existed. Just existed. These days in order to exist a city needs to be the city of something. And so as one drives along a German motorway, every ten metres or so comes a large brown sign announcing the next conurbation as "Chemnitz - City of the Modernity", "Pied Piper City Hameln" or "Prien am Chiemsee - City of the criminally lazy taxi drivers". Not wanting to be the outsider in this age of claims making, Weil am Rhein has
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As announced yesterday we sadly cannot attend this years Stockholm Furniture Fair - because we have to go to Switzerland, and then quickly back over the border to Germany, or better put: The Official Preview of the Vitra Design Museum complex in Weil am Rhein's newest attraction. The VitraHaus. Designed by Swiss star architects Herzog & de Meuron - perhaps best known for the Beijing National Stadium or the extension of the Tate gallery in London - the VitraHaus is principally conceived as an
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It must be a summer thing. Not only are our newspapers and magazines full of authors recommending their chums books, but first design observer portrayed their reading tips and then design sojourn brought out their "30 Essential Books for Industrial Designers" Obviously the design world is planning downing tools and spending the long hot summer that awaits us reading. Which is fine by us. For, in addition to supplying designer furniture, we at smow also stock a wide range of books on and
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The snow is back in Leipzig and so whereas the weekend was spent enjoying the warm spring air - the evenings are now being spent enjoying the warm living room and a good book. And so it's just as well we were recently at Leipzig book fair. Among the seemingly endless piles of new historical novels, travel guides - each, naturally, with the best insider tips - and Harry Potter wannabes there was also a few title that appealed to us. "Project Vitra" from Rolf Fehlbaum und Cornel Windlin for
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The shortlist for the Brit Insurance Design of the Year Award 2009 have been announced; and among the high caliber field one finds designers and producers listed by smow. German designer Konstantin Grcic has been shortlisted for his MYTO chair for Italian producer PLANK, the Italian siblings Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for their Steelwood Family for Magis and Arik Levey for his Workit, work station for Vitra. In addition the graphic designers Cornel Windlin, Rebecca Stephany, Marco Müller
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