(smow)offline: Leipzig Buchmesse – a designer furniture perspective

For people who spend most of their working lives sat at desks, publishers and authors have a frightening disregard for comfort when it comes to chairs.

Or at least they do if the furniture we saw at the 2010 Leipzig Buchmesse was a measure of the industry norm.

Cheap folding chairs, cheap copies of designer furniture classics being presented as originals and general cheap tat as far as the eye could see.

Fortunately one or two of the exhibitors seemed better informed. Below a few snapshots of some of the happier moments of the 2010 Leipzig Buchmesse from a designer furniture perspective:

French/German culture channel ARTE with Swan Chairs by Arne Jacobsen from Fritz Hansen

French/German culture channel ARTE with Swan Chairs by Arne Jacobsen from Fritz Hansen

German news channel Phoneix with Tom Vacs by Ron Arad for Vitra

German news channel Phoneix with Tom Vacs by Ron Arad for Vitra

MDR with LEM by Shin and Tomoko Azumi for lapalma

MDR with LEM by Shin and Tomoko Azumi for lapalma

Reclam Verlag with a USM Haller reception desk.

Reclam Verlag with USM Haller

Reclam Verlag with a USM Haller reception desk

Fachhochschule Potsdam with a tribute to fellow Brandenburger Egon Eiermann. Eiermann table frames from Richard Lampert and SE 68 chairs from Wilde + Spieth.

Fachhochschule Potsdam with a tribute to fellow Brandenburger Egon Eiermann

SE 68 chairs from Wilde + Spieth

And perhaps most impressive of all the students of Bauhaus University Weimar who had, in our eyes, a stand as dedicated to Block by Frank Gehry from Vitra.

Block by Frank Gehry from Vitra

Bauhaus University Weimar

We can only the hope the situation improves for the Leipzig Buchmesse 2011.

But please, with better quality furniture