german design student anika engelbrecht has designed a series of vases called swell. these ceramic vases have huge holes. so normally, if you poured some water in them, these vases would leak. so in a way they loose their function by having these holes. balloons fill this holes and the vases retain their function of fl using a balloon as water storage.
I do not maintain that dutch designer els woldhek is running off the pictured chair design from 1981. this is just the perfect example of how form or shape is celebrating a comeback in design. again and again.
bastard chair by els woldhek at [d3] design talents, cologne
front cover domus magazine, 1981
kilian schindler graduated in 2008 at the state university of media arts and design (they do not have an english version of their website) in karlsruhe, germany.
he describes the project he was showing at the imm, cologne furniture fair, as follows: ..’extracting well-know elements from their usual context..’ – basically he reduced the well known plastic chair into outlines. the plastic chair is designer’s favourite right now:
berlin-based jerzy seymour has done a redesign for magis, 2004.
see here
the swedish girls from front design covered it in leather, 2008.
see here
dutch designer maarten baas designed a version made of wood, 2008. see here.
I’ve met dan ziglam and elliot brook at the imm cologne, international furniture fair, this week. the uk-based directors of deadgood, a furniture company of young design, started their business after meeting in university. they run their ‘baby’ with a lot of passion and love. ;-)
Belgian designer Raphaël Charles designed a carpet of mousse PE and felt pieces. The elements of the carpet look like black coal. Thrown together the soft pieces form a rug, which looks uncomfortable at first sight, but is probably a pleasure in use. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the whole carpet, but you can easily assume how the whole piece would like.
20/30 Tapis 2008
Diameter: 240 cm
Material: mousse PE, felt
pepe heykoop graduated last year from the living department at design academy eindhoven. I have seen his chair at the graduation show and filmed it. now he has won the [d3] design talents award in cologne. basically its a simple shaped chair with flexible rubber joints.
‘a restless chairacter’ – flexible chair by pepe heykoop
model: derya inanici from designguild san francisco
london-based industrial designer ross lovegrove visited cologne last night to present his istanbul bathroom collection for turkish brand vitra (I know what you think.. ‘doesn’t that name belong to the manufacturer of designer furniture? THE vitra‘)
during his speech the socalled captian organic described the range as ‘digital organic islamic’. what a description. but again he is using a nature based design language. so I really wanted to talk to ross but unfortunately he was so busy with talking to different people that I didn’t get the chance. what a pity..
ross lovegrove (continue…)
I will be in cologne the next days.
check the furniture fair called imm and the other events around. they are presented in context with the passagen cologne. lalala
lutz caesar is a photographer. he is the one who took the picture of me above. lutz parents were on a trip in south america in 1981. they bought this sweater with the lama theme. and now, 28 years ago, lutz felt that its his time to wear it. (I want one with horses or with armadillos)
rest area – highway 40 between bochum and essen, germany
it might not look great, but there is a great intention behind it. this is the xoxo laptop by industrial designer yves béhar. the laptop is part of the ‘one laptop per child‘ project and is manufactured by quanta computer. basically it means that by producing a basic device they ensure that every child from the developing world has access to a personal computer.
the xo is not new, they even brought the xoxo on the market, a version which is half the original size of the xo. and it has also won many design awards. but my friend anna pors, who is doing her internship at eggfilm in south africa, send me 3 links to some videos which are produced by the company she is working for right now.
the $100 laptop at the red dot design museum in essen, germany
olpc mission, part 1: principles and child empowerment
olpc : zimi’s story full
english designer jasper morrison and japanese designer naoto fukasawa are making ‘super normal’ objects visible for us. its the amazing plastic bag, the fascinating paper clip and the nifty vegetable peeler. discover it in super normal – sensations of the ordinary.
the miele products are winner of the red dot design award 2007 and are ‘produced for the north american market’. I wonder if the people in north america are bigger than in europe?!..
miele t9800 tumble dryer – me – w4800 washing machine
moss pencil by bangkok-based I’m curio,
red dot award winner 2008
I’m curio’s product description:
‘the fluffy green jacket plays wit its haptic appeal. curiously, the viewer immediately takes this pencil into his hands’.
and here we have the chocolate pencil by me.
I think I deserve the red dot improvisation award 2009
matylda’s product description:
‘the temptation make you pick up the pencil and put the chocolate in your mouth. curiously, the user can use the pencil afterwards.’
everything is said in the headline. is that necessary? does anybody want flower ornaments in their bathtub?
so, the tub is called igloo I-crylic bathtub by bangkog-based bathroom design team (what an innovative name). It won the red dot product design award in 2008 and the product description says that the flashing leds have a therapeutic and aesthetic value. (it makes me nervous) I get the concept and the fact that they used a special translucent acrylic sheet and integrated led’s at the surface. but if designers do so, please think about simplicity.
today I have been at the red dot design museum in essen, germany. I totally like the idea of a secure usb stick but this product is an overkill. the 007 usb flash drive by taichung-based duck image is waterproof, the product description promises 3 security levels and while looking on the picture I’ve started to think about the bike lock I still need to buy. the stick has won a red dot award in 2006. maybe in 2009 someone wins an award for a data storage with voice identification?! wouldn’t that be great?
concrete – the trusted construction material. my academy in maastricht is a concrete building. maybe one of the reasons why I feel so comfortable there. I like the hard and massive appearance of concrete buildings.
the southbank centre london, europe’s largest centre for the arts is one of my other favourites. next to the barbican. (see my previous post here) the southbank centre consists of the royal festival hall, the hayward, queen elizabeth hall and the saison poetry library. the entire complex is build in the 50ies and located at the thames in southbank. It’s close to the tate modern, which openend in 2000 and is another cultural enrichment in bankside, at the thames.
beautiful 1950s Ivory bakelite telephone – a classic. more black telephones were produced in the 50ies. bakelite is the first plastic in the world invented by belgian-born chemist leo baekeland in 1907.
