Colour Rush! An Installation by Sabine Marcelis at the Vitra Design Museum Schaudepot, Weil am Rhein
Amongst the many developments that have influenced and informed the path of furniture and interior design in the past 120ish years one must, without question, count developments in context of colour.
Whereas in previous centuries colours were limited in their availability, range and durability, recent decades have seen not only progress in that availability, range and durability, and as such ever more possibilities in our use of colour, but also seen increasing study of psychology and colour and of developments in understandings of human perception of colour, ever increasing appreciations of how colours exist beyond the physical and chemical. And an ever increasing use of colour in marketing, a creeping commercialisation of colour.
With the installation Colour Rush! Rotterdam based designer Sabine Marcelis transforms the Vitra Design Museum Schaudepot into a space for differentiated considerations on colour and our furniture and interiors, on the colours of our furniture and interiors. And in doing so also allows for some fresh insights not only into the Vitra Design Museum collection, but what that collection can teach us all about furniture and interior design over the past 120ish years…….
Verner Panton – Colouring a New World at Trapholt, Kolding
“Space and form are important elements in the creation of the [interior] environment”, opined the Danish architect, artist and designer Verner Panton in 1969, however, he continues, “colours are even more important”.
And no-one, even those with but the briefest familiarity with Verner Panton, can oversee the colour in Verner Panton’s work.
Yet important as colour and space and form were for Panton, “in the creation of the [interior] environment”, “l’homme reste l’élément central“, man remains the central element.1
With the exhibition Verner Panton – Colouring a New World, Trapholt, Kolding, undertake a search for the human in the colourful new world of Verner Panton.
5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for September 2021
According to the 6th century CE antiquarian John the Lydian, “the oracle recommends drinking milk for the sake of good health all through the month of September”.1
And while milk may have advantages in terms of your physical health, for your spiritual and intellectual health, we’d recommend the following quintet of new architecture, design and art exhibitions opening in September 2021.
Whereby, exhibitions and milk aren’t mutually exclusive, you can partake of both if you so wish……
Design. Colour. Theory.: Verner Panton – Lidt om Farver/Notes on Colour
“One sits more comfortably on a colour that one likes” declares Verner Panton in his 1997 book Lidt om Farver/Notes on Colour.1
A succinct expression of an understanding of colour as more than just a decorative element, and one of many reflections on the function and relevance of colour beyond the merely decorative which, in a myriad guises, pervade the history of furniture and product design.
And contrasting, if at times complementary, reflections, pun intended, we will consider in the coming weeks and months via a selection of texts and pronouncements from a contrasting, if at times complementary, collection of international creatives. And while not all the sources considered represent theories in a classic understanding of the term, and certainly not colour theory in a classic understanding; in representing the respective creative’s understandings of the relationships between colour and form, colour and function, colour and user, colour and artistry, etc, can be considered as contributions to the development of a more formal design.colour.theory..
We start with Verner Panton and Lidt om Farver/Notes on Colour……
Lost Furniture Design Classics: The Panton Bed
“The placing of foam mattresses, spring mattresses, and the like, on bed frames made of wood or metal is familiar”, notes a July 1966 patent application, and it was. However, it continues, “bed frames of this type are heavy, continually take up one and the same space in a room, must be dismantled if they are to be moved to a new location, and represent a major obstacle in context of cleaning the bedroom.”1
Which, certainly in the early 1960s, they were and did.
But what is one to do?
Verner Panton had an idea.
An idea that may not count amongst his better known projects, but is a project that allows one to approach a better understanding of the work and career of Verner Panton…….
smow Blog Design Calendar: October 24th 1969 – Opening Qu’est-ce que le design? @ Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris
Qu’est-ce que le design?
What is design?
A question as old as the word itself, arguably older. But one with an answer?
In an attempt to approach one the Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris asked Charles Eames, Verner Panton, Roger Tallon, Joe Colombo and Fritz Eichler, Qu’est-ce que le design?……
68. Pop und Protest @ the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
Escalating tension between the nuclear powers, public discourses on gender equality/respect, racial equality/respect, religious equality/respect, thousands displaced through war and conflict in South East Asia, destabilising wars and conflicts in the Middle East, warnings about irreversible environmental stability and the long-term habitability of earth, thousands on the streets demanding change…..
And the situation in 1968 wasn’t very different.
With the exhibition 68. Pop und Protest the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg explore the relationships between the social and political developments of the late 1960s and the cultural manifestations of the period……
5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for April 2018
According to the German philologist, mythologist, folklorist and definer of the Germanic Umlaut, Jacob Grimm, an old belief states that the Cuckoo never sings before the 3rd of April; and, “should you have money in your pouch when you hear him sing the first time, you will be well off all that year, if not, you will be short the whole year” 1
Much like the cuckoo, our five new architecture & design exhibitions recommendations for April 2018 begin with their songs after April 3rd; and should you have money in your pouch when in their vicinity, and use it to visit one, we can’t guarantee a year of financial wealth, but they all sound like providing not only a couple of hours entertainment, but a lifetime of joy through helping you develop your understanding of architecture and design, and thereby the world that surrounds you….
smow Blog High 5 Special: When fashion meets design…..
As regular readers will be well aware, here at smow blog HQ we’re very much of the opinion that fashion isn’t design. Never was. Never will be. Design, and without wanting to wade too deep into the definition quagmire, arose from applied craft/applied art, fashion is applied craft/applied art. And so while unquestionably a creative discipline, isn’t design. Neither is Graphic.
Design can however inspire and influence fashion, past decades recalling numerous occasions of fashion houses being motivated by designers’ works, a particularly apposite recent example being the news that Swiss fashion house Akris have based their Spring/Summer 2018 collection on the works of Alexander Girard, news which motivated us to retrieve a few classic items from the smow blog wardrobe……
Passenger Terminal Expo 2016 Cologne: Vitra
If the Light + Building trade fair in Frankfurt is home to exhibitors the majority of us have never heard
(smow) blog compact: Verner Panton – Visiona 1970. Revisiting the Future at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery
Parallel to the exhibition Konstantin Grcic – Panorama, the Vitra Design Museum is revisiting perhaps the daddy of all explorations
(smow) blog Design Calendar: February 13th 1926 – Happy Birthday Verner Panton!
It is almost certainly more by chance than design, but in the week that Verner Panton would have celebrated his
(smow) blog Design Calendar: 25th January 1970 – Visiona 2 by Verner Panton Opens in Cologne
“Wood will be driven out of living spaces; even metal and glass, although much newer in domestic situations, are losing
Vitra Design Museum: Lightopia
“My, my, my, Delilah! Why, why, why, Delilah!”
The morning of Friday September 27th 2013 was one of those misty autumn occasions that cause SANAA’s immense new Vitra Factory Building in Weil am Rhein to merge, almost unseen, with the grey background. Even Herzog & de Meuron’s new Basel Messe complex was reduced to nothing more grand than a continuation of the uncaring monotonous sky. The glitzing, shimmering palace of high summer just the weak shadow of a memory.
And so it was perhaps fitting that the Vitra Design Museum choose this dank September morn to open their latest exhibition, “Lightopia”, an exhibition devoted to light.
For today was a clear warning, in the coming months we will all be in need of a little light.
Lost Furniture Design Classics: Office Furniture by Arne Jacobsen for the American Scandinavian Society
At the same time as he was developing the Ant Chair, Arne Jacobsen created a one-off range of office furniture
Hofmobiliendepot Vienna: Sixties Design
On Wednesday February 29th the Hofmobiliendepot Vienna open their 2012 spring exhibition. We had hoped to make it to the
Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat… if Verner Panton had ever visited us, that is where he would have sat
If purple is the second colour of mourning; then citrus colours are unquestionably the second colour(s) of Christmas. Be it
Alessandro Barison – Panton Remake
Back in the summer we ran a highly entertaining “Summertime in Dark Lime” Panton Chair Cocktail competition. The judging was
Verner Panton to remain at Der Spiegel. At least partly.
For a publication renowned for the quality of its authors, the Spiegel press department write press releases that repeat themselves
Copenhagen Design Week: Monique Engelund & Jonas Pedersen
Last August we made an ill-fated trip to Copenhagen and CODE 10. A trip that caused us to ponder the
Dark Lime Vitra Panton Chair Summer Cocktail Competition: The Verdict
The winner the Dark Lime Vitra Panton Chair Summer Cocktail Competition is Alessandro Barison. Congratulations !!! His “Spritz Upgrade” –
Dark Lime Vitra Panton Chair Cocktail Competition: Jay Osgerby’s Caipirissima
London based design studio Barber Osgerby stands as a testament to the fact that high quality work will always win
Dark Lime Vitra Panton Chair Cocktail Competition: Eckart Maise’s Caipirinha
Until July 31st we are giving readers the chance to win a limited edition Dark Lime Panton Chair. In effect
Win a Dark Lime Vitra Panton Chair !!
Summer. Sun. Cocktails. In order to allow you to enjoy this combination to the full (smow) are giving away a
„Summertime in dark lime“ Vitra Panton Chair Summer 2011 Edition
For all those looking to make their summer balcony even more exclusive, Vitra are currently offering the Panton Chair in