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Category: Design Investments
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Design Miami Basel 2014 Jean Prouvé Galerie Jacques Lacoste
Design Basel | 23.06.2014

Design Miami Basel 2014

While the art world is awash with anecdotes of cleaners disposing of installations having confused them for rubbish, we're not aware of any works of designer furniture having suffered a similar fate. At Design Miami Basel 2014 however Milan based Erastudio Apartment-Gallery made a very good effort to initiate just such a première with their presentation of a 1950s bedroom ensemble by Ettore Sottsass: piled ungraciously, almost out of hand, in the corner of their stand the bed, chest of

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Vitra Eames Lounge Chair Chemnitz
Design Investments | 17.04.2013

Monsieur Montebourg and his Eames Lounge Chair

It is indicative of the image of designer furniture in contemporary society that media outlets across Europe have picked up on the fact that in connection with the recently published "Wealth Decelerations" by the French Cabinet, Industry Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg has revealed he owns an Eames Lounge Chair. Indeed the online platform from German magazine Der Spiegel illustrated the publication of the Declarations with an image of an Eames Lounge Chair in one its first reports! While

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Design Basel | 23.06.2011

Design Miami Basel 2011

Last week we, finally, made our first visit to Design Miami Basel. Featuring 43 international design galleries, Design Miami Basel is a curious mix of those featuring "old" objects and those featuring new contemporary designs. Those galleries who concentrate on new contemporary design generally make their money in that they organise limited editions of concept pieces by designers - which they then sell. Or they buy up "first editions" of pieces of new works that may, they hope, eventually go

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Design Investments | 26.04.2010

(smow)offline: Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec - Lianes, Galerie Kreo, Paris

No, we don't handle the PR for Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. We would like to. But we don't. It's just the Brothers are not only among the most assiduous contemporary designers, but they also keep producing work that needs to be presented. For one reason or another. Such as Lianes, a lamp that forms part of their new show at Galerie Kreo in Paris. Galerie Kreo has in a way become a sort of "Haute couture" stomping ground for Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec's first

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Design Investments | 24.06.2009

(smow)offline: Heirloom Design

Our (smow)twitter recently brought our attention to an article at worldchanging.com about what the author termed "Heirloom Design" In the article Adele Peters discusses sustainability, durability and for all "What makes something worthy of passing down through generations?" Peters decides that the future monetary value, the usefulness and sentimentality play a role; somewhat bizarrely in respect of sentimentality , she states: "...designers can aim to create products that inspire emotional

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Design Investments | 05.03.2009

USM Haller: Steady as she goes

Reliability and Solidity. For the journalists at German management magazine brand eins these are the two main virtues a company needs in times of global recession; and in this context their March edition includes a report over USM Haller. The Swiss-based company is globally known for its “System USM Haller” modular furniture, an endlessly extendable furniture system based around the USM Haller chrome-plated brass ball. A ball that is considered so iconic it is even included in the MoMA New

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Design Investments | 02.03.2009

Industry secrets: How a classic becomes a collectors piece

The bed “Siebenschläfer” from the Moormann (Design: Christoffer Martens, 2007) is beloved for the simplicity with which it can be constructed. The individual frame elements needing only to be slotted into one another. However, what happens when the carpentry firm responsible for cutting the parts holds the plans back to front? – Then one gets an unplanned innovation, albeit one that causes several “Am I being stupid?” moments for smow customers. Those who are quick of the mark, however, can

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Design Investments | 11.12.2008

Smow: Your guarantor for genuine licensed originals

The discussion around originals and plagiarisms in designer furniture it is not only a dialectic excercise but a real problem for many produces and retailers of licensed furniture. In the previously mentioned article "The Original" by Rolf Fehlbaum we provided a gentle introduction to the theme: That the problem is very real can be seen in the regularity with which cases are heard before various courts. In 2006, for example, an Italian furniture company was banned from calling the

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Design Investments | 05.12.2008

Designer furniture: More than just aesthetically pleasing

Occasionally, just occasionally a curious glance at the price of a piece of designer furniture is enough to take your breath away. Chairs, lamps and sideboards from Fritz Haller, Philippe Starck, Nils Holger Moormann et al are not always something that can simply be casually paid for out of the “housekeeping“. However, once one recovers from the initial shock one has time to reflect that a high quality piece of designer furniture is not to be understood only as a luxury accessory to

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