I travelled with the bus from milan back to maastricht, nl. when I got off the bus I had to walk home in the rain. unfortunatly my bag isn´t that waterproof. all drawings got wet. after 2 days of little frustrations about this misfortune I´ve decided to publish them anyway. I mean, it happend and I can´t change it…
rotterdam-based studio makkink & bey has launched ‘house of furniture parts’ for droog. it is a cnc cutted house with walls of furniture parts which come out and can be easily assembled. a house for everybody who has enough space in their livingroom : )
‘mat, satiné, brilliant’ - the installation of belgium-based fashion designer martin margiela. he recreated his parisian atelier in a large space at zona tortona. beautiful!
its sunday and I just got back from the milan design week.
unfortunately I couldn’t find an internet connection in milan. so no posts the whole week. but now I have enough content for the next few months.
here is a little preview from my spontaneous top 3 from last week.
and when I say top 3, I talk about the whole thing: exhibition, presentation, idea, products..
1 - design miami/ fendi present craft punk
design performances by designers at spazio fendi
2 - ‘mat, satiné, brilliant’ by belgium-based fashion designer maison martin margiela at zona tortona
amsterdam-based designer joris laarman has launched the first version of the bone chair 3 years ago - developed on a computer and then cast in aluminum. joris took advantage of software that car manufacturers use to develop shapes for auto parts. it’s a collaboration with the research lab of the International development centre adam opel gmbh.
In 2008 he has designed a beautiful version moulded from a mixture of marble and porcelain mixed with resin which is now on display at the z33 during the superstories design triennale in hasselt, belgium, till 10th may.
bone chair, 2008, molded marble resin, 75 x 80 x 100 cm
edition of 12
my friend robert andriessen from designguide.tv has made a movie about the eindhoven-based atelierdorp.
I have previously covered some stories about the design family which robert describes as a place ‘where people get a chance to explore their true creative potential.’ but this movie unveils the real and authentic atmosphere in the church.
I received the official press release and now I feel free to publish the snapshot I took the other day. the modular furniture consists of ‘a thin, closely adhering and elastic layer that allows the user to place objects underneath it. I am very curious about nacho’s work. he is also exhibiting at spazio rosanna orlandi and designmiami’scraft punk exhibition for fendi.
work in progress:
nacho and his intern alejandro sánchez in the workshop
the product design and jewellery department of the academy fine art maastricht, netherlands, shows ‘various works of ceramic fascinations related to the human body and mind’ at the salone satellite22-27th april in milan.
the 2nd and 3rd year product design students are coached and refined by designer tomáš gabzdil libertiny from studio libertiny. last week I went to the work review. now I present a little preview on the pieces that will be shown at pavillion 22/24 stand 20.
jo sijen, tutor for autonomic design and tomáš gabzdil libertiny
tomáš gabzdil libertiny and chequita nahar,
coordinator jewellery and product design
when I decided to do my internship at dezeen, online design and architecture magazine, I wanted to stay 3 months at marcus fairs office. afterwards I planned to do a practical internship at studio libertiny … if london wouldn’t have treated me so good, it might have happend. but it doesn’t.
at least I had the chance to meet the slovakian-borntomáš libertiny in person. I came back to maastricht and found out that he will work with the 2nd and 3rd year students in my product design department at the academy. It is a ceramic project that will be presented during the design week in milan later this month. more about the project in my next post.
tomáš graduated with the honeycomb vasein 2007 at the design academy in eindhoven. he told me about his fear of failing in his graduation project. his concept was clear, but it wasn’t in his hands. he constructed a vase-shaped hive and let the bees make the rest. and as a surprise the vase was made by 40,000 bees over the course of one week. it was a great and quick success at the end. now he is based in rotterdam and is busy having 5 interns. damn, I am dreaming about having one.
paper vases, 700 identical prints,
gallerie image paper, white glue, 2007
limited editions of 10 sets of 5 vases spazio rossana orlandi, milan in 2008
writting table no.3
22.000 pages of courant paper
american walnut veneer, wood, metal, 2007
limited edition of 20 pieces spazio rossana orlandi, milan in 2008
shin azumi is raised in japan. he worked for the personal computer department of nec in japan before he came to london to study product design at the royal college of art. In 2005 shin set up a solo practice with the name ‘a studio‘.
the japanese culture is not used to be bounded to materialistic objects. chairs are also a rarity. shin described his first seating design experience as follows: ‘It took quite a long time to be confident enough to design a chair.’ In my humble opinion he he has gotten there. I like his attitude about design. for him, designers are eternal optimists. furthermore he likes using his created designs. not because he thinks they are the best, just because he can find out how it is to use them.
shin azumi and his trace armchair for desalto
distributed by bonluxat
snowman milk pitcher, snowman container, snowman cups for authentics - the green cup is his favourite
tableware paper maquettes for the yauatcha restaurant
in soho, london
japanese designer oki sato, his studio is called nendo, has designed the cabbage chair for the XXIst century man exhibition. the show was curated by Issey miyake at 21_21 design sight in tokyo in 2008.
nendo transformed a roll of pleated paper into a small chair that appears naturally as you peel away its outside layers, one layer at a time. and this year the chair was nominated for the brit Insurance furniture award 2009.
one day I received an email from central saint martins design student vincenco di maria. it was a group email. he let some people know that there is some large desk space to rent at imperial works, seven sisters, north london. (contact oscar if you are interested!) I answered and asked if I can move in instead. the good price made me ask that. In the end I couldn’t move in but I got an invitation for a cup of tea in the studio.
so, I had the pleasure to meet oscar diaz from spain. he has studied fine art in his homeland, holds a diploma in Industrial design from the école des beaux-arts de bordeaux, and did his master in product design at the royal college of art. what a mix. he was attending the rca with some of the guys from the okaystudio.
oscar’s favourite movie is luc besson’s léon: the professional. maybe because he is from the spanish city léon. he loves to drink his tea without milk and fancies paella. when it comes to his work you discover an approach of graphic design. right now oscar works on a movable suspended lamp. I hope that he will find the right manufacturer for it - its a nifty one, the lamp.
this sunday morning I’ve been browsing through my pictures from last years design week in milan. I found these pictures of me and my friends sitting on konstantin grcic’s awarded cantilever chair. we were having a rest at the triennale design museum and decided to take some of the myto chairs out on the terrace.
you can have this umbrella for an affordable price of 59,95 €. netherlands-based senz have designed this umbrella that ‘always finds the best position in the wind’.
gerwin hoogendoorn, gerard kool, philip hess and niel heiijman are surely proud of their design: it has won the brit insurance awards, red dot design award, if awardand many more. congratulations.
she came came up with the idea while watching the jiska rickels film, 4 elements in which mine workers had to hoist their coats back up because the space was so limited.
the red and white fairground carousel is made from plastic pulley blocks. fire hoses and metal weights were used to make the mechanism, which is simple to use – just pull on the rope, hang the coat and fasten the lock. the metal weights ensure that the hoisting up and down works automatically.
