herdecke
some people might wonder where herdecke is. it’s a little town, located south of dortmund, germany.
that’s where I am now. with my family. my brother and I had a little photo shoot the other day because my parents wished to get a nice picture of both of us. finally they see us the way they want us to be.
‘mr. and mrs. business’ - picture by mueller3000
london
regina peldszus invited me to her house, an old, narrow building with 5 floors situated not far away from the brick lane in east london. regina is german. she deserted berlin when she was 20 to turn over a new leaf. now the girl is 27 and next month’s blueprint magazine featured her as one of the 25 who will change architecture and design in 2010. not bad.
the london-based designer is a researcher at the design research centre and the astronautics and space systems group at kingston university. lively regina has a background in design studies and human factors. since going into space for long, isolated periods is a psychological challenge, she’s finding out ways of how design can address the emotional survival of an astronaut. even after 50 years of humans exploring space, we don’t really know yet what we might need for an extended mission to mars. testing designs is difficult and expensive, regina adds, although habitation in other extreme environments, like antarctica, is a great petri-dish.
her 3 favourite space habitation designs in movies are kubrick’s 2001, andrei tarkovsky’s solaris and ridley scott’s alien 1 from 1979. she recommends to pay particular attention to the clever colour scheme and complex wall design in the spaceship nostromo in alien 1. regina will finish her research project next year, and she is hoping to carry on working on space design research in london, similar to more established research hubs in milan and vienna.
regina in her studio
‘her toys’ : )
regina’s ‘bible’, ‘living aloft’, by mary connors (nasa)
blueprint jan. 2010
25 who will change architecture and design in 2010
don petitt, experiments of a nasa astronaut
draw yourself
describe yourself in one word
draw your favourite object
maastricht
yesterday I visited my friend theda schoppe at her new studio. theda is currently working for maarten baas. in her spare time she and 2 other young designers are trying to establish a design workplace, studio 33, for product and interior in maastricht. all of them are recent product design graduates of the academy maastricht. more about the upcoming studio soon.
theda at the new studio
los angeles
last year I did a long trip through california. I was driving through los angeles when I saw this unusual gas station at the corner of olympic and robertson. I didn’ t know what it really was. now I found the answer.
It is called helios house, is a commission of bp and is designed by office dA with johnston marklee. the slick metallic constructions produces energy via photovoltaics, which converts solar radiation into direct current electricity. another feature is that the geometric angles capture rainwater for irrigation, and reduces the urban heat island effect with a drought-tolerant green roof. I also found an extract that says that they used recycled and sustainable materials to build the station. whatever this material is, I just know that I want this eco-friendly innovation experience that makes me feel better when I fill up.
london
golan levin describes himself as an artist and engineer. his work is part of a new discipline which is called digital design or interactive design. recently I have even heard it referred to as performance media.
I have read a lot about golin’s work after I received his press release from the decode: digital design sensations exhibition at the v&a museum, but I have to admit that before that he was unknown to me. as I said, it’s a fairly new discipline… even if computer aided art has been around for decades.
when I went to the decode: digital design sensations exhibition at the v&a, which opened last week, I was lucky enough to bump into him. he was standing next to the ‘opto isolator’, his exhibited work and was just finished talking to some journalist. I introduced myself, and pittsburgh-based golin was very welcoming. I told him about my drawn interview concept. he said ‘it sounds like fun’ and started drawing. he told me about his eastern european wife and the fact that his beard isn’t usually that long. he made me take a picture of his driver’s license to prove this!
the ‘opto isolator’ (see video below) is a mechanical eye. the object follows the gaze of the person that stands in front of it. basically the viewer directly influences the work. golin writes on his website ‘what if artworks could know how we were looking at them? and, given this knowledge, how might they respond to us?’ I don’t know the general answer but this one is blinking.
golan at the decode: digital sensations exhibition
‘opto isolator’ and his creator
golan’s drivers licence. you can actually see his face :)
‘opto isolator’ 2007
the sculpture looks its viewer directly in the eye and responses
‘dialtones (a telesymphony)’ 2001
concert performance by ringing of the audience’s own mobile phones
draw yourself
describe yourself in one word
draw your favourite objects
golan likes surprises
london
yesterday was the opening of the decode: digital design sensations exhibition at the v&a. It is a collaboration between the v&a museum and onedotzero, a digital creativity studio.
the aim is to show-off the latest developments of digitally mediated environments and experiences, basically of digital design. when you enter the exhibition you walk through a dune of lights that follow your movement. you arrive in a quite dark space that leads you from one to the other 35 pieces of international designers who probably shape the next generation of designers.
shane walter, director of onedotzero and louise shannon, v&a
press gathering + bit.code, 2009 by julius popp, grand entrance
london
thorsten van elten, ‘manufacturer and distributor of design-led furniture, lighting, and accessories’ had a sample sale this weekend in his warehouse in bethnal green, east london. I could have published this information before, but I had a busy weekend. anyway, join his mailing list and get informed on time.
I got myself 3 t-shirts from designers anonymous and a black domoor cup by richard hutten for just a 10er!
thorsten van elten and the slippers
mechano chair by andre klauser
war bowl by dominic wilcox
candle #1 by frederikson stallard
amsterdam
after I contacted maurice scheltens I expected to meet him - only him - in his amsterdam studio. surprisingly there was a blond woman as well. maurice introduced her as his partner, for business and life. her name was liesbeth abbenes. We sat down and they told their story.
this cooperation came about naturally, it turns out. maurice scheltens, photographer and liesbeth abbenes, visual artist, have been helping each other with their respective projects for a long time. at some point they realised that it was time to make this professional cooperation official: scheltens abbenes. the timing was just perfect. maurice recently released his book, which is a basically a summary of his work. these are mainly editorials for magazines and commissioned photographs for large companies.
I asked them why they never take pictures of people, which is possibly the most asked question they heard. the duo smiled. the answer is clear. items are uncomplaining. they can be in the studio for days. a person can’t. also they love working in their own studio as opposed to traveling. they don’t need to go abroad all the time because most objects get send by the clients.
the couple has been working for 15 years in their style. they have a lot contacts. but both agree that it is important to keep also personal contact to clients. they have worked for vitra, nike, hermes, wallpaper magazine, another magazine and many more. big names. when it came to the drawn interview, I really liked that they wanted to draw together on 1 paper. they sat close together, put their hands on each others hands while grabbing the black pan. while drawing they were giggling. they were obviously enjoying their company. it’s official now.
see here a previous story about maurice scheltens
liesbeth and maurice drawing together
studio
still ‘victims’
vitra cittero, 2009
maurice scheltens first book ‘on display‘
draw yourself
describe yourself in one word
draw your favourite object
their new house
