manufacturer’s description

barbie (matylda) california girl surfer doll and friends (people I meet). It’s another endless summer (a trip) and barbie (matylda) california girl surfer doll heads off for sun, surf, and sea (wanna find out what and who is going on in california) at one of their favourite beaches (it’s my first time in california). california girl dolls are sporting the ultimate beach styles wearing board shorts, fashion beach tops and cool jewellry. (I wear what I want and ken is a freak)

hm. i forgot to erase the rest of the hair. whatever..

the last post about the design week:

maarten baas is the guy everybody in the ‘design world’ is talking about. sometimes he is a genius, sometimes just an innovative designer from eindhoven. I wanted to meet him in his studio but he wrote via mail that it would be better to meet him in milan for the design week. so I went to the garage (an adequate ambiance for his work) which was the showroom for one week and said ‘hello’. he asked me, like a gentleman, if I want to drink anything, and we sat down outside (that was rather my descision) we talked about his smoke collection, the new collection for contrasts gallery and that setting his work in a garage is a way of feeling home while abroad. I asked if there is something else he would like to do, besides designing furniture. making videos was his answer and again there was this complete satisfaction in his face which shows, that when maarten does something, passion is involved. I was slightly suprised because people described him as a shy person but he was really open and I had the feeling that we had a nice talk. furthermore, he betrayed his 3 favourite designers to me and we even have one in common. that’s all I wanna say.

but there is no design piece of maarten baas, after his smoke and treasure furniture, which doesn’t involve bas den herder. bas was also there and I had the chance for a little chat. the clog wearing guy (he is even driving his car with them) is the one who converts maarten’s ideas to reality. they met each other 3 years ago (through friends) and since then they started to work together. bas is the buddy for all technical problems (I want my one!). he and the rest of the team are working on the technical side.

maarten wanted me to take a picture of him next the chankley bore because I not even asked anything about it. it’s great that established & sons said that he can do what he want but it remembers me of the yellow submarine cartoon with the beatles
(I do not feel bad about my statement)

maarten and 2 prototypes of the chankley bore, a new furniture range for established & sons

chair before, burned chair, chair after - how you make a smoke chair. a drawing from a primary school student.

maarten:
draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

that was his first version of a shower - we decided that it’s not clear

finally a shower

that’s bas den herder, the producer & clog guy

bas:
draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

new work for contrasts gallery in shanghai

sitting, talking, having a beer - bas, me and maarten

A couple weeks ago paul snowden gave me an invitation to an exhibion. unfortunatly the opening was yesterday and I couldn’t be there. 10 artist who already presented their work in a solo exhibition at galerie brügel in berlin are becoming team players in setting a group exhibition. franziska cordes, raphael danke, aleana egan, james evans, alex frost, martina heinz, nina rhode, thomas schroeren, paul snowden and klaus winichner are in the game. the exhibition is till the 30th may. next month I will take a look.

galerie brügel
hedemannstr. 25
d-10969 berlin

open tue-sat 11-18 h

recollections was the name kiki van eijk and joost van bleiswijk gave their exhibition at the design week in milan this year. both are independent designers with different works. but often they presented their work together. obviously there is a link through aesthetic and craftsmanship. the dutch duo prefers to design in a high-quality manner. they think that people appreciate characteristic things more than cheap and easy manufactured design. in my opinion there is a rising demand of higher levels of quality. and these two designers can be seen as a role model.

joost van bleiswijk and kiki van eijk

joost: wall cabinet, 2008

joost: no screw, no glue - trophy, lantern, candelabrum, 2008

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

kiki: stamped and sealed, vase, teapot, vase, 2008

kiki: stamped and sealed jewels, 2008

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

last year kiki was nominated for the award ‘designer of the future’, given out by design miami. and there were just 7 nominees in the world, which is a great honour. unfortunatly I haven’t asked her how this feels. but I am sure this emotion is great.

today I got an email from patrick vogt, a friend. patrick knows that my heart belongs to poland and that I would like this:

gogosian gallery - bialo-czerwona
(white-red - a reference to the colours of the polish flag)
an exhibition by piotr uklanski

the crowned eagle is the national coat of arms of poland.

untitled 2008
steel frame, foam and gesso

untitled (Stach’s Eagle) 2008
steel frame, foam and gesso

he is also the maker of summerlove, the first polish western. I haven’t seen that one but I wonder why val kilmer is playing a role in a polish western? waldek kilmerowsk, the lost polish soul? maybe it has more to do with celebrity than function. to be honest, he not even says anything because he plays a dead person.

pat, by now I think you know me better than I thought.

for the first time I met arnout visser, a designer from arnhem, at a workshop. it was an event in the context of the entry 2006 (this is the dutch/german website - the original doensn’t exist anymore) in essen, zollverein. the worksop was called:’ a dutch insight into innovation processes’. the, so called, crea-lab. we had to collect stuff which we found on the zollverein area and design new products. it was a good experience and a playful day, which was affected by the man who loves to experiment with everything. thereafter I met him at the droog design lunch in amsterdam. It was a ’self food factory’ where the guests had to prepare their own meal and the new range of tableware, designed by the 5.5 designers, was shown. and again, arnout was a very polite and attentive person, who makes you feel that it’s nice to see you again. I had the same feeling when I saw him on his bike in milan. he recognized me and we sat down and talked about the design week and some design gossip. he is a creative with a very specific humour, which he also shows in his work. I had the impression he enjoyed drawing for me.

smiling arnout visser

arnout in a ’shy boy moment’

I enjoy watching another creative drawing

table tap by arnout visser for droog design
he put this object’s function into a new context

at the crea lab workshop in essen, zollverein - november 2006
tom schreuder, arnout visser, philip bilke, laszlo rozsnoki, eefje schenk, salome kleb

self food factory at the droog design headquater - january 2007

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

crea-lab brochure download

Here are some more pictures to give you an idea how great Milan actually was. Wish you were here !

hairdress cloning by 5.5 designers

superma..ahm.. stephan siepermann at tuttobene showroom

karim rashid picks his suit color by his environment

some guerilla in the metro - designmetropole aachen (hey fab and pat!)

my mum said that I shouldn’t talk with alien fruits

for everybody who loves flowers - charles & marie

hugo christiaan/intern at drift and ralph nauta/drift - he calls hugo ‘the best intern of the world’

finally I found my chair

before I went to milan I was browsing through dezeen (online design magazine). I meant no harm by it, but I wrote marcus fairs an email and asked him for an interview in milan during the design week (I was sure that he should be there - he is one of the rainmakers of online design). he replied with the words: ‘I’m sure we can find time to meet up’ and our date was fixed. a few days later I found myself waiting in front of the nhow hotel. I had no clue how this marcus should look like. he was late so I decided to google him. when I went back to our meeting point I heard people talking about him. obviously there were more people waiting for mr. dezeen. after an hour he appeared and was standing in front of our troop. he looked at me and said: ‘you are the lalala girl’ and our interview started.

we sit down in the lobby of the nhow design hotel. marcus told me that he studied furniture design. he was in for his studies but he was always better in writing essays about design than in designing. he was also thinking about becoming an musician but that shouldn’t be either the right choice (another uncertainty of this skills, what makes him more likable). a passoinate writer should write and that’s what he tend to do. in 2003 marcus launched icon (the link belongs to the sister site to icon magazine), the international architecture and design magazine and edited the publication until the end of 2006 (they kicked him out). he was ready for a new ‘baby’. fascinated by internet (’the new medium - accessible by everybody’), he established dezeen in the same month. he started without any expectations. now, in april 2008 (after 1,5 years) he can call his baby ‘world’s most influential and respected design journal’. congratulations to the man who thinks that a lemon is the multifaceted and most exciting object of the world!

marcus fairs - trying to draw a lemon

talking with his camera man, alex

lounging and talking in the nhow hotel reception, alex (the dezeen camera boy), marcus and me

caterina di lorgi (blogosfere) and her collegue interviewing marcus

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

internet is a treat. a special gift. especially when you spend a hole week in italy and you are dependent on italian wireless lan. if it’s raining there is no chance to be online (we had 3 days rainy days).

tomorrow I will fly back to the netherlands. within the next few days I will post more about the design week. there are still some interviews which I couldn’t post without a scanner (arnout visser, kiki van eijk, maarten baas..etc.)(now I recognize that I am quite obsessed with dutch design)(to be honest: I knew before!) so you should be excited like a virgin on prom night!!

design soap in our friends milanish bathroom. I am responsible for the packaging (the design world is waiting for my ideas, as you can see)

there is not so much time.. some fast posted pictures again. maybe I will have some more time to adapt the last 3 posts. maybe..

nacho carbonell - his new collection was exhibited at spazio rossana orlandi

michou nanon de bruijn - a lost product, with lost heat, for lost time. it’s michou’s graduation project, 2008

at the design triennale: finally sitting on the myto chair from konstantin grcic

tejo remy - chest of drawers xs. limited edition of 13 - still a classic. one of these is also in the collection of the museum of modern art/moma in ny

laszlo rozsnoki and tiago sa da costa at the droog design showroom

woman with fish head. pretending to read a newspaper

miss geschick and lady lapsus from hamburg at the designersblock party. click and visit their online boutique.

some people I have met - some design I have seen.

alvin aronson. check out his website. you can see how his d/a clock works

mr.hyde - by pablo crespo, martin franzen, isaac pineiro

selma ostrom and li lundvang (I love these scandnavian names) from lund university. presenting the ‘what can you bring to the table’ project

oliver reinecke and konrad lohöfer from simply concrete

purple, baby

jurgen bey at ‘block - turkish marble meets design’

maximaldesign

polimoda milano

front

rossana orlandi and jeroen wesselink at the design academy party

if you are in milan for the design week you shouldn’t be too obsessed with the idea of seeing everything in a short time. select what you really want to see. affacted by mies van der rohe’s statement ‘less is more’ and by the bad weather we made some sightseeing and shopping and in the end we visited richard hutten for a gin tonic.

on the roof of milan’s gothic cathedral ‘duomo’

torre velasca - much debated at the time of its construction in 1957 but dominant in milan’s skyline

customize your tic tac box

camilla is fashion designer. she names her collection: reale slow-fashion. couple days ago she opened her own shop in the centre of milano. visit her at via brisa 15!

richard hutten elephant’s, his work from 2006, was standing at some places in milano. the ‘fuck’ doesn’t include his design.

fabian von spreckelsen, derya inanici, me and theda shoppe at the richard hutten showroom

richard hutten’s new collection ‘layers’: a table made of books with an epoxy coating

another piece of his collection ‘layers’: a table made of foam with an epoxy coating

margreeth olsthoorn and richard hutten - I also saw them yesterday. they always look great together. some people with sense of style

it feels like the netherlands moved to milan. there is dutch design everywhere. and you hear a lot people talking dutch. we had great weather and some exciting encounters. here are the first.

the ghost collection - nhow hotel - 2nd floor, zona tortona

lonneke gordijn & ralph nauta - drift - presenting their ghost collection

bonjour! french designers in milano: olivier lellouche, julien demanche, najla el zein, nicholas daul and marcus fairs from dezeen

barbara kooij and barbara vos, promoting the royal dutcheese exhibition

sajoscha talira and paul timmer - 2 royal dutcheese, royal academy of art, den haag

mieke meijer, emely hermans and daphna isaacs - girls from eindhoven. presenting their work in a caravan

at the studio job exhibition. me and jeanne van beers, general manager of the designhuis, eindhoven

studio job exhibition. the gap between design and art - I love it

martijn ten bhoner, ivo stuyfzand, thomas de wolf, from tu eindhoven, department of industrial design

niels van eijk next to his blommy buddies. a work of him and miriam van der lubbe

caterina di lorgi and her collegue interviewing me for their blog - blogosfere

at the maarten baas party. good music, good people, great talk

.. it’s late. I am tried. we spend the night at the maarten baas party and had some drinks. I feel overloaded with design. I go to bed now and will post the rest in the morning…. lalala

today we arrived in milano. we spend our first hours in a small italian bar, far away from tourism. sun and red wine made that moment perfect. the designweek starts tomorrow but today was the day for some dolce vita. we just hang out with our hosts, magda pietowska and katrien van besien, both architecture students (they are doing an erasmus year) at the politecnico di milano, to get some energy for the next design obsessed days. we weren’t even motivated enough to go to the party by cassina at the triennale. but why crash a party when sweet life is kissing you.

where is the swimingpool? that’s what a guy asked who came along

buying some prosciutto, pasta and vino

magda piotrowska

katrien van besien

damn, I had some busy days. I wrote my art history essay about the ‘curator in 2008′ in 2 days. yeah. there is still a lot to do but I am looking forward to have my ass in milan. so, write me or give me a call. there are some great events to visit and I appreciate any good company.

I’ve been lately at a discussion round in the netherlands architecture institute in maastricht. we looked into the fact that people are leaving maastricht after studying. it was a 2 hour talk without conclusion. cécile narinx, editor in chief of elle netherlands, was one of the guests. she is the case study of a proud dutch girl who left the small town in the south and moved to the thrilling amsterdam.

richard florida says that his book is an empirical observation, the way the world is, and not the way he wish the world would be. but the truth is that the right city involves the right people and the right possibilities.

so, my dear maastricht, I have to leave you soon. you don’t offer enough.

richrad florida - who’s your city - 2008

cécile narinx | niek bisscherou - architect and director of the academy of architecture maastricht

last month, when I was in munich, I saw this intallation of the interior design department of the academy of fine arts munich. check out here: tie-wrap world.

and here is another jungle. but this one was an experiment. they build a giant handcrafted jungle as a group project with the product design and graphic design departement from the university of applied sciences in aachen. the challenge was: do it within 48h. you can find more information on the weblog. here are some facts:

48 hours | 14 groups | 56 participants

each team:
200 roof panels | 160 cardboard tubes | 180 cardboard boxes | 400 tie wrap (I love these) | 6 m2 amount of space for each group

the beginn

who are the design heroes? they are some creatives from aachen (you might ask yourself where aachen is. it’s in the west of germany, close to the dutch boarder). most of them studied product design. after their studies they were looking for a studio, some workspace. 3 of them opened the design at work studio/shop in the centre of aachen.

last year, at the ambiente in frankfurt, they were exhibiting their products. and because 4 designers from aachen were presenting their work (just 20 people from germany are getting some exhibition area) people use to ask if aachen is going to become the new design metropolitan. First sneered at, the aachen design heroes started to believe into it. now they are going to promote the idea in milan at the designweek. so watch out! - there is an olive scooter driving through the city. and there is a lot of tape involved. if you won’t be attentive you could be sticked to the wall. yeah, designmetropole aachen!

patricia yasmine graf, valentin derksen (trainee), julia graf, jürgen reichert, andrea derichs, daniel tsvetkov (trainee)

in the centre: fabian seibert

hm.. how can we conquer the world? maybe with scooters and tape?

or enter to the design world?

there are people who will travel by bus or will take the train. some do have a car and some prefer to take the plane. and everbody will meet up in milan for the designweek. but these twins decided to go by bike. (we are talking about 900 km)

hansen hoepner is a product design student from maastricht and his brother, paul, a graphic designer from cologne. it sounds crazy but hansen constructed his bike by himself. he used various parts of old bikes and created a bike which is, like he said, perfect to make a tour through the hills. he calls the bike ‘hanneman’. today at 2 pm they left maastricht and their first stopover wil be somewhere between liegé, belgium and luxemburg. they are planning to attend at the designweek on the 19th april. so just 9 days for the trip. I am curious if they gonna hit the goal. but I belive in them.

stay tuned! they will send me some pictures from their trip in the next days!

hansen and paul höpner

the incredible ‘hanneman’ bike

constructing the bike

the scheduling

another must-see is that’s design. various universities and institutions are presenting innovative design made by students at the zona tortona. I would say another platform for the new creative generation.

phillip mann - stainless steel, granite, glassware, plastic bottle
rhode Island school of design

list of participants:

• university of art and design halle
• canterbury school of architecture
• domus academy
• hong kong design centre
• konstfack university college of arts, crafts and design
• lund university, Industrial design
• politecnico di milano
• accademia del lusso
• rhode Island school of design
• scuola politecnica di design
• british higher school of art and design
• strate collège designers
• unitec new zealand- school of design
• university college falmouth

superstudio piu’
via tortona 27