The long and winding (hi)story of furniture design is largely one of evolution not revolution, largely one of innumerable, often imperceptible, social, cultural, economic, technical, et al transformations, movements, hindrances and undulations which slowly, continually, combine and interact to widen and deepen the river as it flows. A process aided, abetted and accelerated by irregularly arising confluences where a new tributary flows into the unflinchingly onwards rolling mainstem. One such
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"Since the founding of the museum in 1864 there has been an ongoing committent to honouring the statute of the house, namely, to promote the art industries and the arts and crafts and to develop the taste of contemporary society"1 So noted the, then, Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst's Director Wilhelm Mrazek in the catalogue to the museum's 1969 exhibition Sitzen 69, Sitting 69, an exhibition which sought "to develop the taste of contemporary society" in terms of sitting/seating.
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"...when we shall hear The rain and wind beat dark December, how, In this our pinching cave, shall we discourse The freezing hours away?" asks Arvirargus of his brother Guiderius in Shakespeare's play Cymbeline, before lamenting, "We have seen nothing" Easily solved old boy, a visit to an architecture or design exhibition should not only provide for new, stimulating, impressions but plenty of discourse throughout not only December but for many, many months to come. For all a visit in December
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From you have I been absent in the spring, When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, Enticed us into the following architecture and design exhibitions....... William Shakespeare, Sonnet 98, From you have I been absent in the spring (extended, with apologies) "Bauhaus_Sachsen" at the Grassi Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig, Germany When in 1925 it became clear that Bauhaus would have to leave Weimar, Leipzig was one of the city's to offer it a new home; as history records Walter
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On December 10th 1869 Gebrüder Thonet voluntarily relinquished their 1856 Privilege in respect of "The manufacture of chairs and table legs made of bent wood, the bending facilitated by the action of steam or simmering liquids"; thereby ending not only a thirteen year monopoly during which time Thonet became a firmly established global brand, but also the culmination of a neigh on three decade story which highlights the importance of patent protection in the furniture industry. Biegen oder
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If you are planning visiting an architecture or design museum, anywhere in the world, in 2019, it will be staging a Bauhaus themed special exhibition. Guaranteed. There are literally millions of them lined up. If not billions. Which is no complaint. Or at least not unless they are exhibitions based on formulaic, lazy clichés. Then it is very much a complaint. But if they are exhibitions which take open, honest and unblinkered views on either the institution as a whole or a specific, ideally,
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In the wonderful month of May, As all the buds bloomed, My heart became, With Love consumed In the wonderful month of May, As all the birds did sing, I confessed to her My desire and yearning. Heinrich Heine, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, 1827 And then??? Heinrich, don't leave us hanging! It all started out so positive! It's an awkward month May, the vitality of blooming buds and oratorio of singing birds luring us into hopeful fantasies, utopian visions of what lies ahead: but what will
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1918 was a bad year for the Wiener Moderne, losing as it did with the deaths of Koloman Moser, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and Otto Wagner four of its leading protagonists. To mark the centenary, and help underscore the important role Vienna played at the turn of the 19th/20th century in the development of art, architecture, music and literature, museums across Vienna are staging a wide range of specially themed exhibitions throughout 2018; the Hofmobiliendepot - Imperial Furniture Museum -
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Such are the vagaries of the autumn/spring cycle in the global design exhibition industry, and it is an industry people, let's not fool ourselves otherwise, August is traditionally a very lean month: curators are on holiday, critics are on holiday, exhibition designers are on holiday, protagonists are on holiday. Who wants to open an exhibition? The following five museums. That's who.......... "Dream out Loud" at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland Whereas museum exhibitions generally
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If the (hi)story of 20th century architecture and design is unimaginable without the contribution made by Austria/Hungary/Austria-Hungary; then the contribution made by Austria/Hungary/Austria-Hungary is unimaginable without the contribution of Otto Wagner. Otto Wagner (1841–1918) Otto Wagner: An Architect's Journey from Viennese Historicism to..... Born in Vienna on July 13th 1841 Otto Koloman Wagner studied first at the Wiener Polytechnikum and subsequently the Berliner Bauakademie, before
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Inaugurated in July 212 BC* the Ludi Apollinares were Roman games staged in honour of Apollo and featuring a mix of chariot racing, plays, dances and ritual sacrifice. The following five new exhibitions opening in July 2016 may lack the excitement of the chariot race, but in many respects are much more appropriate means by which to celebrate the Greco-Roman God of the arts, poetry, music and knowledge. And no gilded ox, goat or heifer need suffer. "Fast Forward: The Architecture of William
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December can be a trying month: always having to think of others; always having to patronise bars and restaurants you've spent the rest of the year wishing would return to the parallel hell from whence they came; eating, eating and eating as if trapped in some culinary Groundhog Day. Do yourself a favour, gift yourself a few hours and visit one of the following new design and architecture exhibitions opening in December 2015. We can't guarantee they'll be good, but can guarantee they'll be
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