Bike Your Clothes
January 31st, 2012 — 8:20am
Seoul designers HawaSoo have designed a clothes rail, a lamp and a stool that are styled like components of a bicycle, called Breeze.
despoke.com
dezen.com
No brand, good-quality products
January 30th, 2012 — 2:20pm
The abbreviation MUJI stands for “mujirushi ryohin” and can be translated as “No brand, good-quality products“. This phrase reflects the set of values which has guided the company’s activities since its foundation in 1980 – functionality, minimalism and timelessness. Design aficionados across the world are not only attracted by the natural and simple appearance, but also by the environmentally-friendly manufacturing process of the MUJI lifestyle products for home, bath and office. You can now choose from a small selection of products of the Japanese brand MUJI at the Vitra Design Museum Shop.
The new Design Museum
January 27th, 2012 — 7:53pm
The Design Museum today unveiled plans to create the world’s leading museum of design and architecture at the former Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington, London. Designs for the site have been produced by two of the world’s most innovative architectural practices: John Pawson has redesigned the interior of the Grade 2* listed building and OMA has planned the surrounding residential development.
http://designmuseum.org/news
British Design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age
January 26th, 2012 — 12:42pm
The V&A has announced its British Design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age exhibition, which is being curated for a March 2012 opening, a period which today’s designers have been influenced by and one which they have been part of shaping.
Taking in a period which spans the 1948 austerity Olympics to next year’s 2012 London Olympic games, British graphic design, furniture, architecture, industrial products, fine art, ceramics and fashion stand to be included.
The museum will display 350 works – 250 from its own collection and a further 100 borrowed items – telling the story through three thematic galleries.
Exhibition curator Ghislaine Wood has worked with co-curator Christopher Breward to bring the exhibition together over two-and-a-half years.
THE “BROKENSHIP DESIGN” COMPETITON
January 25th, 2012 — 2:47pm
In collaboration with the Croatian Designers Society the Museum of Broken Relationships is beginning its search for new design ideas inspired by the concept of the Museum in its broadest terms.
The focus of the competition is the development of original souvenirs which explore the theme of love and its ruins in an innovative, affirmative, intelligent, emotional, witty or ironic way.
http://brokenships.com/en/news/the_brokenships_design_competition_is_now_open__2
Artek – Art and Technology Since 1935
January 25th, 2012 — 11:57am
Artek was founded in 1935 by four young idealists, Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen and Nils-Gustav Hahl. The business idea of the company was “to sell furniture and to promote a modern culture of habitation by exhibitions and other educational means.” The founders of Artek advocated a new kind of environment for everyday life. They believed in a grand synthesis of the arts and wanted to make a difference in town planning as well as architecture and design.
Today Artek is renowned as being one of the most innovative contributors to modern design, building on the heritage of Alvar Aalto. Functionality and timeless aesthetics are the essential elements in the creation of every product that bears the Artek name. Artek’s comprehensive furniture system is based on the original idea of standards and systems, which has its origin from Alvar Aalto’s L-system. The standard and system thinking makes the furniture range versatile and allows it to be customised for individual projects. Artek’s furniture can be found in various types of spaces; from public spaces to homes, museums to schools and hotels to offices.
Extra Ordinary Design
January 24th, 2012 — 3:25pm
New design exhibition in HDD gallery in Zagreb. Exhibition is result of workshop that was held last year.
Design Classic: Paimio Chair 41
January 24th, 2012 — 9:27am
Aalto’s intriguing and most famous chair, the 41 Paimio armchair can be found in numerous museums including the Museum of Modern Art. The laminated birch frame is bent into a unique closed curve supported by solid birch cross-rails. The seat is molded from one piece of birch plywood and is offered in two high-shine laminate colors. The idea of fixing plywood onto a closed frame was Aalto’s 1931 brainstorm for making a wooden chair “soft” and as a result this wooden chair has a springy quality.
London Art Fair 18.-22.01.2012.
January 19th, 2012 — 1:38pm
London Art Fairpresents over 100 galleries featuring the great names of 20th century British art and exceptional contemporary work from leading figures and emerging talent.
You’ll also find solo shows and curated group displays in our Art Projects section, with galleries drawn from across the world, while Photo50 is a showcase for contemporary photography, this year curated by critic Sue Steward.
http://www.londonartfair.co.uk/page.cfm/NewSection=Yes/GoSection=0
What color eyes global market have? And why?
January 19th, 2012 — 11:07am
David Shah is the publisher of Metropolitan Publishing BV which includes Textile View Magazine, View2, Viewpoint, PANTONE View Colour Planner and View China; co-publisher of United Publishers S.A., Paris’ View on Colour and In View Magazine; and co-publisher with CTDC, China of VIFF and CFCA Colour Planner. He is additionally the owner and director of DRS Consultancy BV, a specialist company dealing in publishing, fashion, lifestyle concepts, future strategies and designing and merchandising for men’s and women’s clothing for leading European and American chain stores and designer labels. view-publications.com/content.html
Here are some interesting parts of his interview for Tones by Pantone…
”Society, in the West at least, has become completely ‘untribal’ in the last few decades. Membership of church denominations, unions and political parties has plummeted. Society has become classless with no identifiable sharing of common values, experiences and grievances. We have become too geographically mobile to belong to a place.
If we are to move from the concept of financial prosperity to the idea of emotional prosperity we are going to have to put a value on things that are increasingly scarce and don’t have price tags – open spaces, security, reductions in pressure, friendship, meaning, communication etc.
That’s easy to talk about! But, in the end, you are always going to have to link ‘happynomics’ to policy. How do you promote down shifting, reductionism and conviviality, at the same time as creating jobs and keeping the economy going? Perhaps there is an answer – an answer, which lies in thinking ‘local’, and ‘neighbourhood’!”
”… colour is always some kind of reflection of what is going on around us. The 1990s were all about ‘green’ – Gaia and mother earth! Now our concerns have switched to fears about water pollution and shortages. Hence the feeling for all those watery and washed out blues that were so dominant this summer.
As we move on a year, blues are no longer associated with fluid and liquid end-uses alone. They also take on more rugged and rigorous characteristics. They are teamed to colours of the land like ochre and sand and are to be seen in firmly ‘constructed’ end-uses. This new strength of character means that blue is rapidly turning into a ‘basic’ building block, usurping the role that black used to play.
Remember, you cannot divorce blue from denim and chambray and with that comes whole stories of pioneering and the traditional American work ethos! Interestingly enough, Levis, whose jeans are a standard for both, has been quick to understand this.”
”…The point is that the concept of colour is touching everything – even those eternal neutrals like sand and beige. The new calling is for basic tones that are shaded and imbued with peaceful and beautiful colour. This sea change in traditional and fundamental parts of the palette will affect all end-uses and sectors of industry. So, get ready for that classic trench coat resurrected in new mid-tone hues with a weight and complexity never fully explored in the past…”
(my favorite part :) )
”Black is typical of the concept of cycle even though it seems to have been an endless cycle starting in the 1980s. Black emerged 30 years ago, evolved from being a ‘fashion victim’ and ‘designer’ uniform colour, grew in influence and power and became a total basic at every level of the market (including table-top T-shirts). Now, at the end of its lifecycle, black seems to be in danger of being pushed out by colour – indeed, fashionistas are saying there’s no room for black anymore in the winter wardrobe.
How wrong they are. Black has not disappeared at all. It is just starting its eternal circle/cycle all over again. And, it looks absolutely new, absolutely avant-garde, re-born not as a one, single black but in many different guises, intensities and militant options thanks to its marriage to light, texture, material and depth. It’s interesting how the Victoria & Albert museum in London has just been celebrating the work of Yohji Yamamoto, whose work and world irrevocably centre around the concept of black. When once asked why, he answered that black was not a colour but ‘all colours’. ”