I am kinda into chairs at the moment because I have to write my bachelor thesis and as I like chairs a lot I choose for them as the main topic…

so the arched gallery in the nai, netherlands architecture institute, maastricht is showing an installation called ‘living with things’ by rotterdam-based architect rianne makkink & designer jurgen bey. the creative duo evoke the industrial hall, where they lived until recently, in the 3th level of the institute - a space that they regarded as the ideal house.

this chair is a little detail of the hole exhibition and one of my favorites. I like the combination of seating object and private space. armchair in a box. and when you sit inside you look through a tv window and you can observe whats going on outside. the only disruptive element are the black stickers on the box.

this is the egg chair (looks like a halved surprise egg) I saw yesterday in the nai, netherlands architecture institute, in maastricht.

the chair is designed by english architects alison and peter smithsons in 1956 and I couldn’t find it the 1000 chairs book by taschen. even google is almost not giving any informations about it. so, here it is - the egg chair - arne jacobsen has designed the famous version;-) - which colour reminds me of the yolk of the egg in my breakfast.

the plastic egg chair was designed for the smithsons
‘house of the future’, 1956 - an visionary ‘model home’

it’s a pleasure to read the apartamento magazine: no annoying advertising pages, no lifestyle tips, no luxury items I can’t afford, no butts and tits (ok, I do not mind these normally.. ).

just people who show how they life in their private moments and you just think that you want to sit next too them and share a cookie with them.

2nd issue of the bi-annual ‘everyday life interiors magazine’

british designer max lamb, chinese artist terence koh, argentinian artist julian gatto, london-based photographer felix friedmann, and many more..

duesseldorf-based dorlis tellmann is combining everyday’s objects like radiators, that are usually designed to be unobtrusive as parts of a playful installation created by light and movement. she is presenting her work in context of the transversale at the ‘pro forma’ exhibition in the kuenstlerhaus dortmund which runs until 22 march.

british designer ross lovegrove has announced in january during the design week in cologne that he is collaborating with issey miyake. he said that for him a dream comes true that he is able work with the japanese designer. I wouldn’t mind either to work with him.. ;-)

creatives like japanese designer naoto fukasawa or finish designer harri koskinen have already worked for miyake’s watch brand and now I am curious what the appointed captain organic will design. is it a watch in a shape of a waterdrop? or a membranous shape that surrounds the wrist? we will see in march. and as far as I know it is the first watch designed by lovegrove.

a sketch - a result of a telephone conversation -
I just had ross in my mind

I have been at the surface exhibition at the designers fair in cologne last month. see the previous post. I was disappointed that the company responsible for the project - heimatdesign (who describe themselves as a platform for young local talent) - did not actually present any german designs.

2 weeks ago they moved with the exhibition to dortmund, germany to participate in the transversale - an event about art and design. they settled down in a great location and added a new designer. one of them is dortmund-based designer pierre kracht who was one of 30 contributors at the [d3] design contest at the imm.

click here for more (continue…)

I have seen the stool’s of dutch designer willem de rider already last year at the design academy graduation show. but I totally forgot about them and saw them again in the yksi design store in eindhoven. unfortunately I didn’t take a picture with the cow tag on the side..

the (nothing to) HIDE stools are made of identical leather covers, shaped by their own nature, says the designer

when you find yourself in the south of the netherlands and you talk about bathroom facilities you are automatically talking about sphinx. It is an important player in the european bathroom market, which is celebrating 175 years in business.

the amazing things is that you imagine hundreds of people working in the factory. especially because my experiences with ceramics are reduced to making some cups. I’ve expected that working with this fragile material is a primary manual work. but in fact there are just 15 employees in the rotating shifts. basically the hole production is accomplish by machinery. just the technical details and frequent observations are still done by humans.

sphinx factory inside - on the right is the massive oven
around 1000 sanitary arrangements are manufactured every day

toilet mould made of porous plastic material - its more expensive than plaster but can be used about 30.000 times

freshly moulded clay washbasin

air-dried, glazed toilets with a screenprinted logo
which are ready for baking

on the way into the oven - assembly line baking at 1200 degrees

dik scheepers is a product design student at the academy maastricht, netherlands. before he decided to become a designer he worked as chemical laboratory worker in amsterdam and as a fine mechanics toolmaker in leiden. both was not enough for him.

this is his mud lamp. a lamp made of sand, mud and recycled paper. the idea was to make a product that uses as little as possible energy in production and transport. and to make a product that fits into the current hype of ecodesign.

strijp x is a new cross-over store in the industrial area of eindhoven. its a place where different creative disciplines melt together in a single location, an old industrial building.

check the strijp x website for more informations. see the video from designguide.tv for a proper view on the hole concept store. and if you think your work is worth to exhibit and can be sold contact them!

concrete animals by nacho carbonell

wire chaise lounge by dave keune

see more here (continue…)

here some more pictures from the designhuis glass exhibition
in eindhoven.

guerrieres by ghislène jolivet

click for more (continue…)

before I ended up at the design in detail award I’ve visited the exhibition ‘glass’ at the designhuis in eindhoven.

the exhibition explores glass as a medium from a purely industrial approach to an autonomous design. the result is a display of beautiful pieces that range from functional objects to sculptural forms. I will show my favourites in 2 parts because they were to many.

blizzard bulbs by hella jongerius

more here (continue…)

last thursday. design in detail, an event in eindhoven, presented by design concept brainport, platform for design and technology.

the issue: how can a city be considered a design city when it’s appearance suggests it otherwise? ambition: revitalisation of the retailarea.

marie-josée lacroix, design commissioner of the city of montreal, was giving a speech at this event. she described the dramatic improvement of montreal’s image after the city had sponsored a design award. the awards purpose was to motivate designers and the retail industry to work together to make the city of montreal appear more attractive. the resulting concept aimed at improving city life. the goal of her speech was to discuss such an award as an idea for the city of eindhoven. I don’t think that a lot of people would disagree when I say that eindhoven is probably the shabbiest city in the netherlands. so, bring it on. It can’t do any harm.

location: witte dame haal

design in detail award 2009 - will it work?

ingrid van der wacht from design connection brainport

see more here (continue…)

it was hard to find boaz and sayaka’s house. the little back road in eindhoven isn’t mapped on google maps. (and again technology failures) … so, sayaka yamamoto is a jewelry designer from japan who came to eindhoven in 2005 to do her masters at the design academy. boaz cohen is born in israel and raised in the netherlands. he also studied at the design academy. they meet during their studies and fall in love. while being in a relationship they’ve realized that it’s a pleasure for them to work together. therefore, they set up BCXSY - a name consisting of their initials and a x in between.

they live together in a little house on the outskirts of eindhoven. round the corner they hold another little house which became their studio. they see their relationship as a benefit to their creativity. you don’t have to wait till the next morning to talk about your ideas. you are able to release them when they pop into your mind. and you can immediately discuss them. obviously this connection works for this design team, as you can see in their beautiful conceptual products.

boaz cohen and sayaka yamamoto

together they are BCXSY

‘distilled nature’ vases, for flowers which dried out
dutch design week 2008

‘living with dinosaurs’ by sayaka yamamoto, 2008
a collection of soft interior objects made of rubber-coated foam inspired by dinosaur bones

on a trip in asia

sayaka yamamoto:

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word - ’sayaka’ in japanese

draw your favourite product - sketch book

boaz cohen:

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

I am back in the netherlands. maastricht, eindhoven.. lalala

and this is my favourite burger at the dutch mc donalds. I even like the layout of the packaging

interim show 2009, royal college of art, london:

this is a chair, a concept of making individual chairs, by industrial design engineering student adam paterson. the rca student wants to unite the consumer into the production experience. you are allowed to mix the ingredients for your chair and to appoint the form of your own chair.

pack contents:
1 x cleat 480 gauge polythene mold
1 x chair making experience

amsterdam-based sebastian brajkovic doesn’t just make chairs - there is also a table that fits into his lathe concept.
see previous post.

from the press release of the carpenters workshop gallery, london: ‘the evocative sense of movement is conveyed in the spinning lines of the quasi vortex, offering the past impression of a moment of great movement and now stillness. Inspired originally by a child’s spinning top, whizzing around at high speed, it has the same illusion that once at its optimal speed it is no longer moving but standing up straight.’

lathe table, aluminium, edition of 8

see more pictures (continue…)

I am bad. yesterday I went to the exhibition called ‘feierabend’ (german word for home time) at the kate mcgarry gallery in bethnal green, london.

a nice guy from the gallery told me not to take pictures. but he said that it is okay as long as it was for non commercial use. I didn’t mean to put anything about the work of london-based designer martino gamper, his artist girlfriend francis upritchard and jewelery designer karl fritsch on my blog. but the exhibition is a beautiful collaborative installation and I couldn’t resist to publish at least 2 of the pictures I took. In hope to encourage you to see the exhibition in the tiny gallery in east london.

the gentleman by francis upritchard, sculpture, 2008

blue eared by francis upritchard and martino gamper, chair, 2009

this is the spaghetti bench by argentina-born pablo reinoso. I took this picture at the design art fair in london last year. It randomly returned from oblivion in my photographs folder.

spaghetti bench by pablo reinoso

the carpenters workshop gallery in london had another opening yesterday. amsterdam-based designer sebastian brajkovic presents his ‘lathe’ chair collection at the gallery. It’s his first solo show. and the continuation of his graduation project from design academy eindhoven in 2006.

lathe VIII, bronze with nitric-acid burned patina
needle stitched embroidered fabric, 2008 - his recent work

more from the ‘lathe’ collection (continue…)