As regular readers will know one of our favourite design festivals is Vienna Design Week. And one of our all-time favourite Vienna Design Week projects is LacesLamp by Antoinette Bader. Because it delt so playfully with statics. And believe us, we've suffered for statics. And so anything that presents it as something to be enjoyed is to be celebrated. Consequently it was a particular joy to discover Antoinette at Salone Satellite 2012 with three new projects: projects which although
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At Milan 2011 Moormann presented the prototype of Pressed Chair by Harry Thaler. At Milan 2012 the market ready version was/is being officially unveiled. Last year Nils Holger Moormann enthused at great length about Pressed Chair. And so to complete the story, ahead of Milan 2012 we caught up with Harry Thaler in his London studio to learn more about both him and the background to Pressed Chair. (smow)blog: To begin with maybe a little to your background. If we're correctly informed you
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As anyone involved in the designer furniture industry will confirm; it's a secretive old world. Probably only matched in its inherent furtiveness by the Freemasons, Papal Conclaves or the committee responsible for setting petrol prices. Simply saying that you might have heard that designer X may be considering a possible future cooperation with producer Y is to risk a long interrogation by a Product Manager wanting to know who told you what. The situation is even more clandestine when it
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As we've already admitted the first time we saw a Dutch Invertuals exhibition we didn't hang around very long. Since then however we have matured a lot and the show has become a regular feature of our visits to Eindhoven and Milan. Simply put, one always finds something challenging, exciting and beautiful at a Dutch Invertuals show. And invariably something you don't really understand, no matter how often it is explained to you. But that itself is for us reason enough to go. In 2012 Dutch
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Although proud of the number of "issues" we have with Milan design week and furniture fair. It does of course also have its positive sides. Most of which are to be found down quiet, unassuming side streets. Last year we discovered Azucena. This year Villa Necchi. Built in the first half of the 1930s by Italian architect Piero Portaluppi on behalf of a (very) rich Milanese industrial family, Villa Necchi is just about the most "In-your-face" building you are ever likely to set foot in. In
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We suspect the reason we write so much about designer furniture in an airport context is simply because of the amount of time we spend in airports. And consequently the amount of time we spend thinking about and analysing what we are being offered. If you're going to be delayed at Frankfurt for five hours. You want to make sure that your seat is comfy. If you're going to have to spend the night at Copenhagen Airport. You want to make sure your seat is comfy. If you're... you get the idea.
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Ostensibly established as a location for presenting and archiving Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum's private collection of designer furniture, the Vitra Design Museum has developed into one of Europe's most important centres for design, design history but for all, for explaining design and making design accessible. A large part of the museum's success can be credited to founding Director Alexander von Vegesack who led the institution from its opening in 1989 until the end of 2010. In January 2011 Marc
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At the end of March the V&A Museum London opened the exhibition "British Design 1948-2012. Innovation in the Modern Age", their major summer exhibition and a central pillar of their celebration of all things British throughout 2012. Documenting the story of design in the UK since the last London Olympics, "British Design 1948-2012" begins in an era when Britain as a nation was recovering from the trauma of the Second World War, yet understood that in the rubble of the war lay the chance to
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A common misconception is that the term "designer" in "designer furniture" means "exclusive". It doesn't. It just means that a designer has invested time in creating a product that does something new or which represents a further development of existing concepts. Designer furniture is however meant to be used everywhere, everyday, by everyone. Such as the Tom Vac by Ron Arad for Vitra. You could just use it in your dinning room or on your balcony. Or.....
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Much like those who doubted that the Stone Roses would ever get back together; there are also those who doubt we will ever make it to a Depot Basel show. Until now it was the case that the shows inevitably fell at periods when we were otherwise engaged. And the opening of Depot Basel No. 5 on March 23rd was no different. However, this time we're hopeful we can make it, because the show runs until May 5th. Longer than usual, but then they are also showing more than usual. The "main"
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Back in September droog "released" a diamond studded car tyre as part of their Fantastical Investments project. We fear the good folks at ECAL/University of Art & Design Lausanne may have taken the project a bit too literally, for as we learned the other day they offer a Master of Advanced Studies in, wait for it, you won't believe us: Luxury Industry & Design Honestly. Luxury Industry & Design Forget everything you learned from our post on "Warum Gestalten ?" at the HFBK Hamburg. The
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On March 20th the Bauhaus Archiv Berlin opened their spring exhibition "Stühle ohne Beine - Chairs without legs" Dedicated to the development and diversity of the cantilever chair, Stühle ohne Beine is a fairly simple exhibition concept with an equally simple message: designing a chair without legs doesn't mean limiting your possibilities. Less is more not being just a design maxim but also a design challenge. Featuring 25 chairs from the collection of Die Neue Sammlung - The International
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Although we regularly use the term "furniture market", one must technically speak from two furniture markets; domestic and office. OK you could also add retail, hotel, airport etc... but for the sake of convenience let's consider them as genre-crossing mongrels. Like folk-rock. Regardless however of how one categorises the industry, its probably fair to say that the past four years have been no real fun for European furniture producers. Especially not for those involved in the office
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On Thursday and Friday March 15th/16th the ETH Zurich is holding a two day symposium looking at the life and work of Fritz Haller. And we won't be there. Scunner. There are a lot of reasons to want to be there; but the principle one for us is that despite his universally recognised System USM Haller, Fritz Haller himself remains something of an enigma. And so the chance to spend two days listening to experts discuss the man and his work in detail is technically something we shouldn't miss.
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On March 4th 2012 the Grassi Museum for Applied Arts Leipzig opened the final part of their permanent exhibition. An exhibition very close to our hearts. Now you know us, we 've nothing against baroque or ancient Japanese furniture and objects. But our hearts do beat a little faster when we get to the late 19th century. Mies van der Rohe bending metal. Alvar Aalto bending wood. Verner Panton bending plastic. Axel Buether bending light. It's all there in “Art Nouveau to Present” Plus a
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On Wednesday February 29th the Hofmobiliendepot Vienna open their 2012 spring exhibition. We had hoped to make it to the opening; but life being what it is. We wont. Sadly. Not least because the exhibition explores, for us, one of the most interesting periods of design - The Sixties. Not interesting as in, "Wow! Look how bright, spacey and groovy everything is!!!" Obviously. But interesting in terms of what it brought into the design vocabulary and the doors that it opened. And because it
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Bauhaus travelled a lot. Not only itself as an institution, but also in terms of the dispersion of its students and professors. And so, tempting as it can be to limit Bauhaus to a few sites in Weimar, Berlin and Dessau to do so is not only to ignore a lot of the Bauhaus story. But also to deny yourself the chance to experience some truly revolutionary and inspiring buildings. But where to start ? How can one best find the remaining traces of Bauhaus outwith its main centres? And what about
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During the "Summaery" exhibition back in July 2011 we asked Professor Bernd Rudolf, Decan of the Architecure Department at Bauhaus Uni Weimar, about the motivations of the modern architecture student. "It is still the case", he answered playfully, "that they all want to make the world a better place. That remains the principle reason for studying architecture..." And designers ? Can designers make the world a better place? Do they even want to ? What motivates contemporary designers ? At
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For all in our near Copenhagen, and who aren't planning travelling to Weil am Rhein in the coming months, the Designmuseum Danmark is also currently offering the chance to view an exhibition that highlights the role of art in the design process. But featuring works from Finn Juhl. Not Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. One of the most important, if not so universally well known, Danish furniture architects of the mid 20th century Finn Juhl would have celebrated his 100th bithday in 2012. And as
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Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are without question two of the most important designers of their generation and are currently being honoured in two shows. The retrospective "Bivouac" currently on show at the Centre Pompidou Metz, and Album, an exhibition of their drawings and sketches that premiered in Bordeaux and is now on show at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Weil am Rhein, At the opening of "Album" at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery we spoke to Ronan Bouroullec about drawing, getting
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There's nothing quite like a invitation to a vernissage to remind you that you really should get round to finishing of typing up an interview. At Neue Räume Zurich in October 2011 we didin't just speak to Nikolas Kerl and Jürg Scheidegger But also with Moritz Schmid and Rebekka Kiesewetter. And yes the last two interviews have yet to be published. We are working on them. Promise. Back at Neue Räume, Rebekka told us that it was almost certain that she would be co-organising a "Depot Basel -
read moreBack at Qubique Berlin we spoke to Nils Holger Moormann, and in addition to discussing the number of days spent in bed with fever following the Bookinist Cup - three appeared average amongst all participants - he also mentioned that he was busy redesigning a car. At that point he couldn't say more; but in December the results of the project were displayed in Bilbao during the launch of the new Renault Twingo. Inspired by Wagon-Lit, the French for sleeping car and a term that conjures up the
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Having got up in the middle of the night to travel through the depths of the European winter just to get to Weil am Rhein for the "Album" opening, you can imagine our joy when we heard that Erwan Bouroullec had frozen to his core while waiting to board the 6.15 Basel bound TGV. Not because we're cruel, heartless beasts who take pleasure in the suffering of others. At least not on this occasion. But because it is one of these nice reminders of how "normal" the design world is and designers
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As we admitted, "time management challenges" saw us visiting Design braucht Täter 2012 in Cologne before it officially opened. And before all exhibitors had arrived. We know it's not good. And we're still not sleeping properly. And so it was especially nice to receive an e-mail from Julia Pfizenmayer from jp designs - one of those exhibitors we never got the chance to see - introducing us to her modular storage system Outsider. Because it means that the exhibitors don't hold it against
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