no post since 5 days.
time for a little christmas break. everybody needs some holidays.
me and my family, breakfast on the 25th december. we always look like total twats. especially when we wear our christmas caps.
another restaurant opened in london town. the inamo. I’ve read that people call it new pan-asian bar and restaurant. (yeah, life isn’t complicated enough)
the soho-based restaurant has a feature: virtual menus which have to be navigated via table-top projections. each table has its own projector. basically you order your food (nice pictures are a visual help of choice) by your own and for the rest you can change the graphics on the table, see what the cook is doing, order a cab (if necessary) and see where the next club is. great interactive table which might be helpful by a boring date. (mine wasn’t)
oh, another major point to mention (for beer lovers like me): they just have one sort of beer which isn’t fantastic.
inamo - view from outside
checking out the interactive table
even when I arrived at max lamb’s studio at 9 am on a friday he had a smile on his face. I’ve seen him during london design week couple times. he is constantly talking to people, explaining his work and is always smiling. maybe this positive charism makes him and his work so authentic. max is from cornwall, which is located at the tip of south-western UK. he moved to london after ou baholyodhin offered him a job at his studio. after 1 year work max applied to the royal college of arts, where he did a masters in design products. when he was a kid he was always outdoors. mostly at the beach. that influenced what he is doing in his designs.
so, I popped into his studio, he and his girlfriend gemma hold (also designer, works for martino gamper) got up shortly before I came in. gemma left for work and me and max sat down and enjoyed a tea. I have tried to meet him since months. but he is so busy (design miami, 100% tokyo, solo exhibition at johnson trading gallery in new york. etc) that it took us long to have finally a chat. I have asked him why he hasn’t an intern or an assistant. he just likes to be in control, to do things by himself. (but he is thinking about getting one next year) that gives him the feeling that it is a real max lamb work he represents. not just an idea realized by somebody else. he not even considered producing overseas. he designs by using his british hands.
here is the smile
max and gemma had a tinker day the evening before. they made candles from beeswax
max and his pewter stool, made through pouring molten metal into the sand. he always makes videos of his methods. see his delaware bluestone project here
max bought a wooden chair from fabien carello, student at the rca
home sweet home
draw yourself
describe yourself
draw your favourite product
my first encounter with stephen davids was in july. me and a friend were visiting london for the new designers exhibition. along the way we checked out some other areas in london. we passed the f-art gallery on cheshire st and I saw a rare arne jacobsen teapot which made me enter the gallery. inside I found a little space brimming with loads of stuff. I asked the black guy with the gold-plated teeth if I can take a picture of the teapot and he answers:’ if you buy it, you can take one’. he smiles. then I ask him about who is doing the drawings and he answers: ‘me!’ I left the gallery and the only thing in my mind was:’ I should come back and talk to this guy!’
SAD ring - stephen’s initials - I just forgot to ask what ‘a’ stands for
drawings inspired by the jazz combo nicholas brothers and boxing - 2 of stephen’s passions
kieth haring’s baby rocker by Vilac, 40ies chairs and other precious objects
draw yourself
describe yourself
draw your favourite product
black, thick, graphite pen
last week I went to the royal college of art in london to take a look on the work in progress show which is held twice a year. the show includes models, early prototypes and conceptual design work from the college’s courses in design products, design Interactions, Industrial design engineering and others. here are a few of the projects (I didn’t took many pictures), which will be further developed for the final show next summer.
writing in public by kieren jones
during my internship at dezeen, shortly before london design week, I was browsing through the guide to check out what’s going on. I saw a picture of a bistro chair decorated with neon lights and read the name lee broom next to it. I’ve googled him and persuaded marcus fairs from dezeen to publish it. see the dezeen post here
I was curious about the comments of the readers to the ‘rough diamond’ furniture collection. its probably not the most outstanding work for the most people but I like the simple transformation of something existing to something you are not sure calling art or design. and I simply like the combination of old and new.
lee is not a regular furniture designer. almost 10 years ago he worked for and with vivian westwood (he adores her!) and studied afterwards!! fashion design at central saint martins in london. during studies he and his friend and fellow student maki aoki started to do interiors for various independent bars. they became successful and started their own business called makilee till 2006. lee decided for himself that interior is the right profession for him. he told me that he would love to design a complete concert tour. and I am sure, after designing 30 bars in london he has what it takes to do it!
damn, lee - how do you do it? you are 32 but you look like the young johnny depp in 21 jump street
yes, its how he described himself: happy!
lee was sick when we meet at the 1001 bar in the truman brewery. he cracked me up when he pulled out the pharmacy out of his bag
‘rough diamond’ collection at brick lane gallery
‘rough diamond’ collection at brick lane gallery
below: club chair
draw yourself
describe yourself
draw your favourite product
bistro chair
after the book launch I am still engaged by troika’s work. one of my favorites by far is the digital sculpture for terminal 5 at heathrow airport in london. the piece is five meter long. it’s surface is covered with 4,638 flip-dots controlled by a computer. on one side they are black, on the other side shiny silver.
I love the flick-flick noise as the cloud changes color. reminds me of the sound of the old departure boards in airports. unfortunately this video doesn’t has sound though.
wednesday evening I attended at the book launch of london-based multi-disciplinary art and design practice troika.
conny freyer, sebastien noel and eva rucki have found troika after their studies at the royal college of art. and now they have published a book about designers, artists and technologists who work on the filthy boarders between these 2 disciplines. the lucky ones at the launch could have bought the book for 23 pounds. what a bargain! and I have even heard some people calling the book the bible.
london designer sebastian bergne is exhibiting his new designs for wine consumption at the aram gallery. he is known for design you would put into the category of industrial design. he worked for companies such as authentics, habitat and vitra. but in the current show called cru he plays with cork and makes me wanna have a glass of wine.
corked 4 - trousers glass
I have been at the somerset house here in london. there is an exhibition called ‘wouldn’t it be nice… wishful thinking in art and design’, exploring the common ground between design and art. (ok.. another ‘what’s the difference between design and art’ expo, but isn’t that what creatives do these days. isn’t everything melting together?)
the carcanapé by design duo bless was my favourite. a leather couch in the shape of a car, filled with foam. in my opinion they could have called it ‘carnapé’..
comfort for all pit babes
yeah, london. I kinda like this city. I am here since wednesday. I am enjoying myself and the people around me. some ‘blog able’ things are coming soon..
lalala
I choose for the titel because the german word for mirrow ball is ‘diskokugel’. that means ‘disco ball’.
robert lutz alias kalaman is a german artist from cologne. he was one of the other creatives who were exhibiting at the shopstop event last weekend in maastricht, netherlands. he is doing miscellaneous things with these little mirror pieces. what can I say.. I like the ‘disco ladder’.
vera berg and petra kather are a fashion label. they launched berg & kather during their studies. vera graduated this year. petra in 2006. both at the academy maastricht. last weekend they were presenting their clothing at the shopstop shop in the old wyckerpoort shops in maastricht, netherlands.
vera berg and petra kather in their temporarily (just for that weekend) showroom in maastricht
branko popovic is a fashion designer. he is one of the people who wants to make a difference in maastricht - the city in the south of netherlands, which is located at the belgium border and is just 30km away from aachen, germany, has enough potential to be his favourite city of the netherlands. thats why he stayed there. he studied fashion at the academy maastricht (I am studying there right now) and graduated 3 years ago. before he graduated he did his internship at famous fashion designer icon gaspard yurkevich’s studio in paris - since then gaspard had every year interns from our academy. branko cleared the path ahead for the fashion students - he must have done everything right.
he was always one of the few I admired silently. for the way he is. a cool kid with a passionate heart. he is not just doing fashion, he is also organising fashion shows with fashion designers nawie kuiper and els petite, called fashion clash, is a member of the creative collective maasterclass and is working with his director boyfriend joost horward on projects for stage designs and costumes. but the most important thing is that he is also an eastern bloc kid. he is from croatia and he thinks they make the best candies in the world. isn’t that hopelessly romantic?
‘my friends in belgrade used to call me zeka’ (bunny)
branko
‘transformed star collection’ 2008/2009’
drawings
a postcard he possess since his graduation in 2005 + tito, former president of yugoslavia (what a mix)
draw yourself
describe yourself in one word
draw your favourite product
‘how can I do all this things I do without scissors?’
