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Pratt Manhattan Gallery “Bright Futures: New Designs in Glass”
IMM Cologne: Seven Super Storage Solutions
2012 Design Is… Award Competition Gets Underway
10 Questions with… Konstantin Grcic
Gendall in design work at National Trust Modernist icon
Gendall is working on exhibition design for The National Trust’s latest acquisition, High Cross House in Devon.
2012 James Dyson Award open for entries
Entries are being sought for this 2012 James Dyson Award, which challenges young designers and engineers to develop problem-solving inventions.
The Weekend Guide: February 3, 2012 National, Local & Online Sales and Events Calendar
The first weekend of February has us feeling wintry and woodsy. So we looked around at this week's sales and events and pulled out the selection of goods shown here, a picture perfect collection for nesting. From top left, Isola Dining Chair at Jensen Lewis, I.dear Speaker at MoMa Design Store, Wood Shop Placemat at David Stark's Pop-Up, and New England Shaker Nesting Tables at Vermont Wood Studios. Check out these and more sales and events in The Weekend Guide. Then, pass it on and send us your sale or event.
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The Daily Scavenger: Eastern Edition 02.03.12
Unusual finds keep popping up in the Scavenger. New York has not one, but two lamp tables — one of wire with a magazine rack, and another made of marble. Not in New York? Check out the rest of the East, after the jump! More
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Emily's Rochester Merrypad House Tour
Name: Emily Winters
Location: Rochester, New York
Size: 1,350 square feet
Years lived in: Owned for 2.5 years
We saw a sneak peek of Emily's home when we looked at how she dressed up her hearth. We also spied into her closet when we saw her awesome freehand painted ikat walls. Now we're finally getting the whole tour of her house.
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'The nature of things' at Artists' House, UK
It's been just over ten years since London architect Stephen Marshall built Artists' House, the contemporary cottage on the grounds of the New Art Centre in Wiltshire and a modern foil for the grand 1804 mansion and Orangery at Roche Court. Originally conceived as a residence for artists putting in long days in the sculpture park, it was repurposed a few years ago by curator Sarah Griffin for the centre's first design exhibition. This weekend Griffin will launch a second design show, which features work by three Britain-based artists - a juxtapostion of domestic household items with larger-than-life creations.
Swiss-born artist Hans Stofer takes up residence - quite literally - on the ground and lower-ground floors, where he has 'unpacked' his personal miscellany. In reality, he has recreated or photographed these everyday things in the studio, yet he exposes them here in such a raw state that the viewer feels like a trespasser in a very private world.
Jennifer Lee, the London-based potter, occupies the first floor with her delicate, earthy ceramic vessels, mathematical in form and yet anachronistic in appearance. Lee's extraordinary talent is in her process: she uses no wheels or glazes, yet attains a warm, sophisticated result with just a hint of (meticulously planned) asymmetry.
There's a duality to Lee's work that seems to be an overriding theme at the Artists' House. Out in the courtyard, especially, the work of Laura Ellen Bacon is at once monumental and inconspicuous, blending into the bucolic grounds. The Derby-based artist sculpts with willow in the image of enormous hornet's nests and organic baskets. Her work seems to cling organically to the sides of buildings, wrap around trees and drape over ancient stone ramparts like overgrowth years in the making.
And yet it will be in situ only until April, which seems slightly surreal. Emptying the Artists' House come spring will be like an exhumation of objects that have collected there over generations.
Saatchi Gallery collection at Hyatt Regency London
While hotels often double as platforms for new art, few of them can lay claim to a selection picked from one of the most influential contemporary art galleries today. Settling in until 30 April at London's Hyatt Regency Churchill is 'One Giant Leap' - the first of a series of three exhibitions taking place during 2012 at the hotel, featuring an assortment of works from the Saatchi Gallery collection.
Predominantly scattered around the ground-floor lobby and restaurant, the mix of paintings, sculptures and installations - most memorable being a life-sized hippopotamus by Christina Mackie - were selected to allow for increased access and interaction outside gallery norms.
The partnership, Saatchi's first with a London hotel, is a testament to the gallery's inventive approach to art. Highlights include works by Chantal Joffe, Martin Honert and Dexter Dalwood.
Also in the mix, is a limited-edition Saatchi Gallery suite. Available to guests of the Hyatt, the room is filled with art - from Ronin Cho's interactive knocking door and Steve Bishop's taxidermy fox to a bespoke wall-to-wall soap installation in the bathroom by young artist Celine Fitoussi. A collection of lamps and a furniture range from the Danish design company Republic of Fritz Hansen are also on display.
'One Giant Leap' will be swiftly followed by another show. Details are still to be confirmed, so keep your eyes peeled for the news.
New Court, Rothschild London HQ, by OMA
Taken in from Wallpaper* HQ, OMA's new home for Rothschild (the practice's first London building) seems the most exciting addition to the 'City-scape' in years. What makes New Court such a winner, perhaps surprisingly, is its restraint in scale and effect. A ten-storey mesh cube with various annexes, topped by a two-storey 'sky pavilion', it displays a lightness of touch that is certainly missing from the Walbrook Building, Foster's still unoccupied heavy-metal blob it overlooks.
Nathan Mayer Rothschild first moved to the St Swithin's Lane site, just round the corner from the Bank of England, in 1809. This fourth headquarters for the family firm, now a financial advisory company, opened its doors at the tail end of last year. Last week, lead architect Ellen van Loon took us on a tour.
Given the lane is a skinny medieval cut-through, it's hard to take in the façade at street level. What you do get is a marble forecourt and, for the first time in 200 years, views through to Wren's St Stephen Walbrook church.
On the right is an oak-panelled archive and, to the left, a large new lobby. OMA were also commissioned to design the building's interiors, a rare privilege on a big City development. Here in the lobby, and in various meeting rooms, they have had some fun with the company's history.
There is plenty of metal - mostly aluminium and brass as a nod to the bank's long association with cold, hard commodities (the price of gold was, until recently, fixed at New Court). Metal walls are embossed with abstract impressions of the oak panels that were central to the old decorative order. Meanwhile, family portraits and Queen Anne furniture are installed in glass-box meeting rooms.
As one architecture critic pointed out, this does give the building the feel of a boutique hotel in places. Armies of wait staff trundling to and from the large kitchens and the director's dining room add to the effect (Not to mention the whiff of beef Wellington and Eton mess in the air).
This is a building that makes the most of its position, with incredible views across the City and towards St Paul's. And the best views come from the 'sky pavilion', each of its two storeys double height. It is already a popular event space with its just-lofty-enough aspect. In fact, the whole building seems perfectly pitched.
Zurück im Ring – die - Die Kölner Möbelmesse hat ihre Form wieder gefunden und überzeugt mit leichten, spielerischen Entwürfen.
Die Kölner Möbelmesse imm cologne ist an diesem Sonntag nach fünf Fachbesucher- und zwei Publikumstagen zu Ende gegangen. Mit 115.000 Besuchern aus 118 Ländern wurde das Vorjahresergebnis von 138.000 Besuchern zwar leicht unterboten. Doch gegenüber 2010, als die Messe ebenfalls ohne die Küchenmesse LivingKitchen als ergänzendes Zugpferd auskommen musste, markiert der Wert einen Zuwachs von 15 Prozent. Das Fazit: Es herrschte dichtes Gedränge in den Hallen 11 und 3.2, in denen sich die designaffinen Aussteller konzentrierten, während eine respektable Zahl an Neuheiten die einst angeschlagene Messe wieder fit auf beide Beine stellte. Die vorgestellten Möbel zeigten nicht nur eine leichte, fast spielerische Seite, sondern entdeckten ebenso eine Nähe zur Wand. Psychologie ist im Messegeschäft nicht alles. Aber fast alles. Schon im Vorfeld der imm cologne begann es kräftig zu rumoren: Die Ausstellerliste wuchs im Wochentakt weiter an und als im Dezember die ersten Firmen eine Vorschau... |
Köln gibt Gas – Passagen 2012 - Ausstellungen, Vernissagen, Parties & Co.: über den Kölner Veranstaltungsreigen.
Nein, die Passagen in Köln haben nichts zu tun mit Walter Benjamin. Die Passagen in Köln – das waren rund 190 Veranstaltungen, die letzte Woche zeitgleich zur Möbelmesse imm cologne stattfanden. Und nicht nur im kommerziellen Bereich gab es in diesem Jahr einiges Interessantes – so beispielsweise neue Produkte und Prototypen – zu entdecken, auch nicht-kommerzielle Veranstaltungen konnten punkten. Und das ist gut so, braucht Design doch unbedingt den neutralen Blick von außen. Denn gerade, wenn sich immer mehr Design-Veranstaltungen mit dem ruhmversprechenden Prädikat „kuratiert“ schmücken – und dabei doch nichts anderes sind als schnöde Marketing-Events – geht nichts über Ausstellungen, die das Wort „kuratiert“ auch wirklich verdienen. Ort des Geschehens: ein Archiv und ein Museum Davon gab es dieses Jahr in Köln gleich zwei zu sehen. Neben der Schau „Die Architektonik des Möbels – Möbel von O.M. Ungers seit 1950“ im Ungers Archiv für Architekturwissenschaft fand im Museum für... |
SheLLf - Das Regal als Relief: von Ka-Lai Chan für Kristalia.
Dass sich ein Regal und eine Muschel im Englischen lediglich durch den kleinen, aber keineswegs unwichtigen Buchstabe „f“ voneinander unterscheiden, führte die junge niederländische Designerin Ka-Lai Chan zu einer raumgreifenden Idee: Ein Regal, das sich wie eine Muschel im Sand aus der planen Fläche der Wand herausheben und das Diktum des rechten Winkels einfach von den Wellen des Meeres, respektive der Struktur der Tapete hinfort spülen solle. Entstand die Vorlage ihres Regals SheLLf als limitierte Edition, wird das Möbel nun von Kristalia in Serie produziert. So chaotisch die aus weiß lackiertem MDF gefertigten Kuben auf den ersten Blick anmuten, verfügen diese über eine plane Rückseite sowie eine diagonal angeschrägte Vorderseite. Zusammengesetzt zu zwei Gruppen unterschiedlicher Größe, scheint das Regal als konvexe Wölbung aus der Wand heraus zu wachsen und bildet ein differenziertes, geometrisches Relief. nk Unser Special zur imm cologne finden Sie hier. |
Q’s not going to like this!
So comments Bond after his BMW has been sliced in half by a helicopter in “The World is Not Enough.” Maybe Q would feel better if he saw some of the UK technology we will be showcasing on our stand … Continue reading →
Digital Growth and Flying French Fries
When I was a child I had a plan. I wanted to become an inventor. The main invention I was aiming for was to create flying French fries. I thought it would be awfully handy if fried potatoes could just … Continue reading →