arne quinze, belgian designer, has done another wooden installation called the sequence in the center of brussels. I’ve been at the opening last sunday. it looks basically like the one he did a while ago. also in bruxelles. it is called city scape and was opened last summer. the difference between both is that he added some red painted wood to the new installation crossing the parliament with the house of flemish representatives. not just plain wood, like he did the first time. basically an installation of timber wood. something that looks like a floating forest of mikado sticks. I guess its very hip to do random designs right now. besides the red light associated a red light district to some of the visitors …is that bruxelles chance to become the new amsterdam?! haha.. sorry for my sarcasm

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comme des garçons, the avantgard of fashion, created a collection for hm, the mass market of fashion. today was the official launch of the work of rei kawakabu, the japanese designer of iconic status. also here in london. hm is selling its clothes in 32 countries. a huge chain of 1600 stores. commes des garcons have no stores. some guerilla stores ( see my previous story about the los angeles guerilla store which I’ve visited in may 2008 - greetings to brett westfall, co-owner of the store) their collection is hard to get and over the edge. so opposites attracht.

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another ‘I need to mention it’ design from the london design festival… the design weeks and festivals just have so much content to show… the first piet hein eek pop-up store was launched at the rabih hage gallery in south kensington, london. it was the biggest solo showcase the dutch designer ever had. piet became famous through his furniture built from recycled wood.

the new trend - the pop-up shop: not so long ago people called it guerilla store. a temporary showroom

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there is an exhibition with the title ‘cold war modern’ at the v&a museum, london right now. yesterday I was there and took some illegal pictures, forgot to switch off my flash and was almost kicked out. it was thrilling.

installation view oasis 7 by hans-rucker-co at documenta 5, kassel, 1972

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I saw esther stocker’s work at the liftoff, (location was the office of buro philip van den hurk financial consultants) at the dutch design week in eindhoven, which ended last month. the title of the exhibition was ‘the truth of basics, resetting the history of living between four walls’ and different artists and designers were presenting artwork or designs in a room.

one of my teachers at my academy, academy maastricht, use to say to me: matylda, I really wanna know where your black and white obsession is coming from. I didn’t find an answer yet but I do know that it’s true. what I like about esther stocker’s installations: they are black and white and geometrically well thought out (like a system she wants you to be in).

lift 2008

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another post from the saatchi gallery (the current exhibition ‘the revolution continues’ about chinese art is worth to visit!) here is the ‘old persons home’ installation by sun yuan and peng yu. they are renown for working with extreme materials such as human fat tissue, live animals, and baby cadavers to deal with issues of perception, death, and the human condition.

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I was already familiar with bart and lucy. I guess that mireille de koning, a friend I met in maastricht, told me about them. but I saw their work again at the mu eindhoven during the dutch design week. I am quoting the text about their work. why should I try to explain their work when they describe it best?

The following is from lucyandbert: lucy and bart is a collaboration between lucy mcrae and bart hess described as an instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. they share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. unconsciously their work touches upon these themes, however it is not their intention to communicate this. they work in a primitive and timeless way creating future human shape, blindly discovering low-tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.

the 3 pictures above are from shape + clour

another event at the dutch design week. the designhuis (eindhoven’s design museum - some people would even say that it is another playground for lidewij edelkoort, ex-chairwoman design academy) presents a detailed exhibition of works of 180 students from over 30 european design colleges and universities. the good thing: it covers all disciplines that contribute to the creative industry. here is a little selection..lalala - some work, like jon stam’s curiosity cabinet and joni neelen’s preparing dreams bed were also exhibited here (and at the design academy graduation show).

karakters by leon de lange (design academy, eindhoven) - its a series of furniture meant to lean against, sit on or lie on. they weight only 7 kilo’s and are made for different arrangements.

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some fashion in between - itske van deursen graduated this year at the willem de kooning academie hogeschool rotterdam. her collection was exhibited at modebelofte in the krabbedans, eindhoven. I saw this outfit and I fell in love. itske, you made a matylda outfit.

see my previous entry about the modebelofte 2007, during dutch design week (early beginning of my blogging)

here is my selection of work from the graduation show at design academy, which is located in the witte dame, eindhoven.

perfect for me and my travels!
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after 2 months in london I am back (not really back but just here again.. for a while, I guess ). with a little stopover at my parents in germany, I am on my to the dutch design week in eindhoven. Its the seventh edition of the largest design event in the netherlands. around 1500 designers from home and abroad will show their work in more than 50 locations all over the city. I will attend maarten baas party at the smalle haven tomorrow evening. so, see you there.. or give me a call and meet me somewhere else. lalala, matylda

last night lacoste unveiled zaha hadid’s ne footwear collection. It is some very special footwear capsule collection which were designed in collaboration with the zaha hadid architects - a preview during london’s frieze art fair. (continue…)

on saturday I poped into the carpenters workshop gallery to check out the work of american furniture artist wendell castle. (continue…)

yeah, thesedays it’s very trendy to do a pop-up shop (temporay shops, showrooms - at that time people use to call it guerilla store but now it’s the pop-up shop) or to build a pavilion (like frank o.gehry did for the serpentine gallery). this is another in south bank in london. (continue…)

yesterday evening I attended “an evening spent understanding how to add value to your innovation and design process” at the soho gallery, west london.
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I came back from dublin on sunday. I’ve felt a bit sick but I needed a little walk and went to the hyde park in london. next to the serpentine gallery, in the park, frank o. gehry has build his first ‘object’ in uk. I call it an object on purpose because I think this is the poorest thing from gehry I’ve ever seen. think about the walt disney hall in los angeles, guggenheim museum in bilbao, the dancing house in prague and his beloved chairs and compare this.

so here are 6 pictures and the reasons why I don’t like the pavilion at all. but before I wanna quote this: ‘the architect has likened the complex glazed roof structure to a network of stylized wings’.

serpentine gallery pavilion - let’s play mikado

oh, I see - nice wings. innovative.

oh, they realized that it’s not leak proof

it’s always good to have a snack stall next-door.
luckily some wood was left

hey, when I am planning to a unique piece of design I always use do-it-yourself store balustrades

and because I am at the do-it-yourself store I can buy some other nice widgets to make my work perfect

just see what olafur eliasson did last year and you will get what I am taking about.

I was browsing through the pictures I took during the london design festival and found some more designs. this was exhibited at designersblock on covent garden. chooi-leng is a industrial design MA student at central saint martins, london.

pouring light by chooi-leng tan

limited edition design dolls’ is the graduating project of olivia lee a recent graduate from central saint martins college of art and design. you can have your very own zaha hadid, jaime hayon or karim rashid.

karim rashid ‘I want to change the world’

opened at london design festival this exhibition is still on at the biscuit building (where is the chocolate one? haha) from now to eternity presents designs (most people would tend to call it art) which celebrate plastic. you can discover ways to re-think our growing mountains of discarded plastic or just how versatile plastic is - transparent or opaque, hard or pliant, able to take on a myriad of colours and forms.

millenium light by stuart haywarth
1000 used party poppers

plastic nostalgia by raw edges
fisher price toys from the 70ies transformed to furniture

musical chair by committee
I guess it’s just an object. and it makes music

british designer debbie smyth created ‘pins and threads’ a drawing of electrical pylons. to create the piece she stretched threads between pins. each point was plotted and measured to ensure that the pylons were illustrated accurately. her ‘pins and threads’ drawing was on display as part of tent london. debbie, it’s a shame that you don’t have a website!

debbie smyth