Last August we made an ill-fated trip to Copenhagen and CODE 10. A trip that caused us to ponder the question if Danish furniture design is still relevant. To help us explore this point a little further we decided to speak to two young Danish designers and ask them for their views and opinions on the current state of furniture design in Denmark. Monique Engelund and Jonas Pedersen both studied architecture in Aarhus, graduating with a degree in furniture design. And no they didn't change
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Once a month we visit a trade fair. We don't always want to - but we always have to. We look at furniture. We think up some cheap jokes. We take some out of focus photos. We come home. But what is actually involved in organising a trade fair stand? How important are trade fair stands? Is our weak humour and poor photography disrespectful? In an attempt to try to answer these and similar questions we helped Moormann with the construction of their stand at Milan 2011 Although "helped" is
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Much as we'd all like to believe product and furniture design is only about aesthetics and "form follows function". There's also a bit of dull old bureaucracy involved. Why do office swivel chairs have a five-foot base and not a four-foot base? Why do all aircraft seat belts have the same fastening system? Why can you plug your headphones into any portable device? The answer is Norms, or Standards - guidelines that define how things should be constructed and tested. Norms aren't,
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Until August 27th Galerie dieschönestadt in Halle is presenting an exhibition of works by Burg Giebichenstein students/graduates. Featuring works from Jan Bernstein, Caspar Huckfeldt, Sebastian Müllauer, Hiroko Oda, David Oelschlägel, Stephan Schulz and Katharina Schwarze, "Addicited to Love" is a delightful mix of what product design is and can be. Regardless if a multi-plug that you want to show the world, a shelving system that you can take with you when you leave a room, a lounge chair
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Following our visits to the Bauhaus University Weimar, Fachhochschule Potsdam, Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee and Universität der Künste Berlin the final stage of our 2011 summer tour was Burg Giebichenstein Halle. It may just be us, but we are firmly of the belief that Burg Giebichenstein students complete more, and more varied, seminars than students at any of the other schools we visit. At least based on the presentations at their end of year show. Be it designing record sleeves,
read moreAs already mentioned one of the projects that most appealed to us at the Universität der Künste Berlin Rundgang 2011 was Scolyt from Marco Merkel. The modern world being what its is - Marco's iPad presentation is available on vimeo. Because it explains everything much better than we ever could, we post it here. And recommend it heartily. (From about 1 min 30 onwards you can see the technique(s) employed by Marco)
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A quick tram and S-Bahn ride from Rundgang at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee brought us to Rundgang at Universität der Künste Berlin. Similar concept. Different worlds. Whereas Weißensee exudes an almost parochial innocence, the UdK feels like The New York School of the Performing Arts in the early 1980s. At any minute a nimble framed, leotard and leg-warmer attired youth could leap down the stairs and complain about Mr. Shorofsky not understanding the modern world before pirouetting
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Returning to Berlin from Einblick at the Fachhochschule Potsdam the next stage on our 2011 summer tour was Rundgang 2011 at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee. The 2011 Product Design Graduate Show was staged in a former supermarket under the title "Kaufhalle wird Kunsthalle" - a name which translates as "A Supermarket becomes an art gallery" and which for us was a very fitting title because although there were a couple of projects that we enjoyed looking at, there was nothing that we would
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Following on from Summaery at the Bauhaus University Weimar our summer tour 2011 took us on to Einblick at the Fachhochschule Potsdam. Or FHP:-) to give it its formal title. One of Germany's newest design schools - the first communication design course at the FHP:-) began in 1992, product design joining in 1993 - the college has quickly built up a strong reputation for the quality of its teaching and research. But not for its logo. Or FHP;-) as witticisms are presumably supposed to be
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Among the most innovative exhibition concepts we saw at DMY 2011 was that from the Holland based Portuguese design platform Made out Portugal. They showed their works in the back of a truck. Or at least they did at the beginning - the combination of location and weather meaning that they did eventually have move indoors. But that's not to distract from the concept itself. Beloved by governments and state institutions looking to increase "participation", or indeed health service providers
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Many of you will no doubt remember our summer tour 2010. We'll it's that time of year again. Our 2011 summer tour kicks of on July 7th with the semester show at the HTW Dresden - the first time we've visited their show. We don't know why, we just feel we should go. Then on July 14th we'll be in Thüringen for the opening of Summaery 2011 at the Bauhaus University Weimar, Friday July 15th is Potsdam and the annual end of year show at the Fachhochschule. Then, as ever, its gets complicated.
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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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Among the projects at Design Miami Basel 2011 that most appealed to us was without question Cloud by London architect Asif Khan. Conceived within Asif's tenure as one of the 2011 W Hotels Designers of the Future Award winners, Cloud can, at the most primitive level, probably be best described as floating foam. But as with all good design Cloud hides its true genius behind a facade of primitive simplicity. Cloud employs a mixture of Helium, soap and water to create irregular forms that rise
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For their 2011 project the Berlin/Milan design group Transalpino chose to explore the "design" tradition that exists between their two cities. The fruits of their research were presented at DMY Berlin 2011under the title "Made in Between". To find out a little more about the project we spoke to Transalpino member Christoffer Martens. (smow)blog: Briefly, what is the background to "Made in Between"? Christoffer Martens: Normally one would only speak of Berlin as a design city or Milan as a
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Among the new Vitra products launched in Milan one of the most eye-catching was Waver by Konstantin Grcic. Following an initial cooperation in the form of a Vitra Edition project, Waver is Konstantin Grcic's first commercial product for Vitra. Created for outdoor use Waver borrows heavily from the visual aesthetics of "lifestyle" sports to create a product that not only goes its own way formally but is also remarkably comfortable. In the second part of our interview with Konstantin Grcic we
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For all in or near Paris this summer the Dutch Invertuals exhibition "Matter of time" is showing at Gallery S.Bensimon from 16.06 until 11.07 One of our highlights of Dutch Design Week 2010, "Matter of time" presents projects from 8 design studios that use 600 year old wood that initially formed an entrance gate to "Old-Eindhoven" to create objects/installations which examine time in all its material and immaterial contexts. A particular favourite of ours is "Drawn by time" by EDHV - a piece
read more.... Greece. Congratulations to Yiannis Ghikas whose Monarchy Stool was awarded the coveted public prize. We caught up with Yiannis during DMY Berlin to find out a little more about the Monarchy Stool, his new coat hanger Game of Trust and the realities of life as product designer in Greece. That's all coming, but until then, here's a short video which beautifully explains the Monarchy Stool
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This year we are finally going to make it to Design Basel. In the past something else always seemed to get in the way; be it illness, other appointments or a feeling deep in our stomachs that it was all just a touch too elitist and too far removed from the world of the normal designer furniture customer to justify the trip. But this year we're healthy, free and a little older and wiser. It in its 6th year Design Basel features exhibitions from 43 international design galleries showing an
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For the last in our series of EuroDesignExhibition previews we travel to the spiritual home of Europe. Belgium. Aside from quite possibly Luxembourg, which only Luxembourgians would be cheeky enough to contend even counts, there can no country that has become more identified with the founding ideals of the European community than Belgium. But has it lost its culture identity? Or is a cultural stronger than politics? The question of creating a piece that represents your country wasn't that
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During this years Leipzig Book Fair (smow) hosted an evening of readings by three Swiss authors under the title "Neue Stimmen from Switzerland" and hosted by SWIPS – Swiss Independent Publishers. Ahead of the readings we spoke with one of the organisations founding members, and former President, Liliane Studer from Dörlemann Verlag about the organisation and its work. (smow) You've been associated with SWIPS since the very beginning, just quickly as background what was the reason for forming
read moreNext week the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 begins in Düsseldorf - and we can't remember the last time we saw Lena? Curious. But before the singing starts, Düsseldorf will play host to an equally important attempt at European understanding: EuroDesignExhibition - Sit down please” 40 Stools from 40 Countries" Featuring the work of young designers from across Europe the EuroDesignExhibition is a unique attempt to see if one can define cultures through furniture. Apparently design is an
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Billed as being an "... experimental, collaborative journalism project that aims to lift the lid on the design world to coincide with next week’s Milan furniture fair." #milanuncut appears to have come down to an article in the Guardian by Justin McGuirk and a side discussion about unpaid interns. Sadly. Because there is without question an urgent need for a more open discussion about the "design" industry. However what #milanuncut does beautifully prove is that before the discussion can
read moreWe can all describe and define a country in terms of food, music or footballing ability. But can designers define their country through a stool? The exhibition “Sit down please” 40 Stools from 40 Countries" in Düsseldorf will attempt to answer the question? Austria will be represented by Alexander Gufler. How will Alexander handle the challenge? Habsburg excess? Art deco aesthetic? Michael Thonet minimalism? When I received the invitation from Anonym Gestalter I started by thinking about
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As you know we're no huge fans of Milan. Love the city. Don't love the size and cost of their furniture fair and design week. A couple of months ago we spoke to Giulio Cappellini, one of those who have been part of "Design Legend Milan" since the earliest moments, and he told us that, in his opinion, Milan had to be careful that it didn't all become too big. For us a design festival where it is physically impossible to see everything is pretty close to our definition of "too big."
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