Bram Boo is a Belgian designer whom I always liked for at least two things:. his his ‘overdose series‘ and also his ‘lazy table‘. When you look at them for the first time the stacked elements from the overdose projects feel randomly placed. But there is obviously some thought behind it. When I recognised these pattern, that was the moment when I started to like them.

Still Life Desktop Monitor
(The mirroring boxes reminiscent of his Overdose series)

But at this year’s Design Week in Milan this feeling got even stronger. Still Life Desktop Accessories are basically abstract versions of regular Desktop Accessories like monitor and keyboard but their preciousness is created by the use of copper and by transforming its function to a storage possibility. Bram definitely scored with his new collection. Aesthetics and use of material receive full number of points from me. Maison Martin Margiela is probably annoyed that they didn’t think of that first.

Bram’s work was part of an exhibition presented by Belgium’s Z33 in the Ventura Lambrate district in Milan. Shortly after Milan the Belgians appointed him designer of the year 2010. Congratulations!

Draw yourself

Describe yourself in one word

Draw your favourite object

Back in June I visited the DMY, international design festival in Berlin. During a little Press Tour with the DMY Bus we visited the HBC which was presenting ‘Salon de meubles’, an exhibition by 4 French designers. Clemence Seilles was one of them. She gave us a guided tour and presented one of her pieces. ‘Osmose Lamp’ looks like a painting. Ink passed through the fabric and left a colourful pattern. I checked sightunseen.com, where she shows that she discovered this process by pressing felt pens on paper till they bleed. The result is attached to a circle, light is fixed behind and shines in faded colours.

The other French designers are:
Francois Dumas, Olivier Lellouche, Victoria Wilmotte

The Worker Armchair by Hella Jongerius

During this year’s Milan Design Week Jeanne Tan from design.nl took me to a beautiful place. The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum is an original 16th century mansion, located in the centre of Milan. Redecorated in the Neo-Renaissance style in the 19th century by the Barons Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi (apparently they wanted to recreate a life of a Renaissance prince), the house was opened to the public as a museum in 1994. The original interior and their art collection is still displayed as the brothers wished them to be seen.

Rosemary cradle with seat by Ineke Hans

Since then it has been possible to visit the house’s many rooms. You can find there paintings, furnishings, weapons and armour, artefacts in gold and ivory, tapestries and contemporary design furniture. How beautiful it is that the modern pieces embed themselves into the historic surrounding so easily. These unexpected guests are more than welcome.

Recycled Favelan Wood Chair by Campana Brothers

But maybe we weren’t welcome that day. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in the museum. We were told so when we were about to leave the rooms. But that was after I took the pictures. When I googled why the design furniture was added to the italian domestic setting I couldn’t really find anything. How can you know about this place if nobody tells you? That’s why I decided to publish it.

Stitch chair by Adam Goodrum

domestic jewels blanket by Kiki van Eijk

A friend of mine visited me for 2 days. It was her birthday a while ago. My present for her was the black diamond ring by New York-based Alissia Melka-Teichroew, known as byAMT. I always liked the shape of it because it reminds me of the golden ring I got from my mother. I wrote ‘A girl should wear diamonds’ on my friends birthday card. Right?

The flat acrylic jewelry shaped in the classic form of a diamond ring is available in various colours. A simple idea, which was launched in 2005 but doesn’t loose its charm. I got 2 rings, a black and a transparent one, because I already have another girl in mind who deserves a diamond ring.

Valentin in his studio, which could be mistaken with a garden centre.
He even bought a 50 year old lemon tree 2 weeks ago.

I know so many things about Valentin Löllmann that I don’t know where to start. First of all Valentin is a friend. The kind of person you do not call for a while, but will still be one of the people you can easily hang around with, no matter how much time has passed.

For years, during our product design studies, he was my neighbour. Steping in his apartment was always a different scenario. He regularly redecorated his surrounding. Sometimes he would build a new shelf, a new bed or a new table out of material that was lying around. Other times he would make his living room into a lounge, which was full of plants.

He hasn’t changed since then. When you enter the studio he established with some friends last year, you find the same aesthetics. The only difference is that he has grown with confidence about what he does. Valentin started off with the passion of making things. His creative family didn’t leave him too much choice but furniture. Anything else was already covered by the rest of the Löllmann’s. His father Uwe and his mother Cordula are artists, his brother Jonas is a Photographer and his sister Marei is about to work in fashion. Valentin became a product designer. He wants people to bond with the pieces and he wants to evoke emotions. Ideally they are pieces you look at with dreamy eyes and you feel comfortable with. And eventually you will think about your memories.

Valentin’s graduation project from 2009 is called ‘Past Memories‘ (white pieces) a furniture series made of discarded furniture pieces which he collected in abandoned buildings in France, Belgium and The Netherlands.

Right now he is working on some similar pieces for the Dutch Design Week (work in progress on 2nd picture) and a series of stools (front right) made of burned branches and wood.

Draw yourself

Describe yourself in one word

Draw your favourite object

London-based Libby Sellers wrote a book about the growing obsession of collecting contemporary design and the trend of creating personal histories around us. HSBC Private Bank commissioned the curator to write a book about the design collecting market, which was launched during this year’s Design Miami Basel. The title is: WHY WHAT HOW – Collecting Design in a Contemporary Market:

Why – why we collect and why we might collect design
What – what is design and also collectible design
How – a rough guide to maintain a design collection

The book is designed by Studio Frith and was available exclusively at the HSBC Lounge. According to the Press Preview the book will be available ‘to the wider public audience in 2011′. You have to wait till next year.

‘Working with an gallery is like breathing again’, says Ronan Bouroullec. The famous designer thinks the gallery system allows you to do research and to make pieces you are normally not able to do. You can take more risks and feel freer. Good point, Ronan. Libby collected (here is the word again) a lot of statements of people related to the design industry for the book.

After I picked up my personal copy at the HSBC Lounge, I asked Libby to sign the book for me. Somehow, I was collecting my personal memory in that moment. Possessing a signed copy of a book has a similar status of buying (does gifts count?) and collecting design, isn’t it?

TABI
Silver chromed
Inspired by Japanese ankle-high socks with a split for the big toe

I visited ‘20’, a major exhibition celebrating 20 years of Maison Martin Margiela’s work at Somerset House, a while ago. It’s nice to look back, browse through the pictures and point out what still feels the best object in the whole show. The Tabi wins but the rest of the show takes second place. A third place is pointless here. Great aesthetics win always. Thank you, fashion’s most influential designer!

TRENCH COAT
A/W 2005-2006

THE ARTISANAL COLLECTION
S/S 2008
Production Time: 19 hours
A plaiting of elastic bands creates a jacket

XXXL
S/S 2009
Black evening dress ‘longuissime’

TROMPE L’OEIL – an entry
The 1996 S/S collection consisted of printed articles of clothing with a very simple cut. This idea lead him to not just use this idea on clothing, but also on interior

LABEL
A massive hand stands in the entry and holds a list of all labels. Each fashion line of the Maison is designated by a different number. from 0 to 23. All on a white rectangular label. Go and see all by yourself. The show runs till the 5th September 2010.

Daniel Charny at the storage room of the Aram Gallery. The curator and senior tutor on the RCA’s Design products course holds a model of Martino Gamper’s Total Trattoria in his hands. 2 year’s ago he commissioned Martino to create a dinner including the whole necessary set-up of table, kitchen and dishes.

This is just one example of the over thirty exhibitions he and his assistant curator Ellie Parke presented on the 3rd floor of the Aram store. The gallery focuses on contemporary design and is keen on presenting experimental and early career works of designers. The combination of being a tutor and a curator must be perfect in his case.

Daniel and I talked about the upcoming London Design Festival. The next show at the gallery will be dedicated to Dutch designer Ineke Hans, which opens during the festival. The multitasker is also involved into the Anti Design festival, which aims to be a direct response to the pretty commerciality of the London Design Festival. Neville Brody, Daniel and some other people had an idea for the need of change. Daniel is also consultant curator of the Design Museum and runs his own, independent projects under the name From now on… I would recommend to have a look on his website because I definitely want to stop with the name dropping now. Needless to say, Daniel Charny does a good job and has some good people around.

‘Experimental or new’ is Aram Gallery’s theme – Daniel does the ‘drawn interview’ on Jair Straschnow’s table, one of the pieces of the bamboo furniture designer, which were exhibited at the gallery

Draw yourself

Describe yourself in one word

Draw your favourite object

T 539 table

Danish-born American designer Jens Risom launched his new work at Rocket Gallery in London. Jens is credited with blending traditional Scandinavian values and American post-war furniture design.

With such a good feeling for the use of colours (check his website) and a sense of how everyday furniture can enlighten your day, you would expect the designer to be a blend of youth and experience. Jens certainly has experience… The man is 94 years old. When I read his age, I couldn’t believe it.

T 621 bench

The tables above don’t strike with color but are probably my favourites in the show. All furniture is made by Benchmark Furniture, one of the most technologically advanced furniture-making companies in Britain.

This design is a simple idea. It’s a device used by the nomadic Ayoreo indians of Paraguay and interpreted by Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena for Vitra.

Sometimes simple things become something unexpected. ‘Chairless‘, a woven strap that slips around your knees and back while you’re sitting on the floor, is comfortless. It was simply not possible to find the right position and to relax.

At the end we decide that even the cheapest Vita chair (19,90 Euros) doesn’t satisfy us. It is definitely more comfortable to sit on the floor without ‘Chairless’.

Model with the Vitra chair: Theda Schoppe

Good old Jasper Morrison loves simplicity. The English designer was comissioned to design the bus stop for Vitra’s Weil am Rhein site in 2006 and he obviously made the design as simple as possible.

Instead of using any of his own chair designs, Jasper has chosen to use 3 Charles and Ray Eames’ Wire Chairs (designed in 1951) for the seating possibility in the 2 stainless steel shelters. A bus stop is ‘just’ a designated place where buses stop for passengers to board or leave a bus. I think this works.

Vita has its own bus stop. Urban Design in Weil am Rhein

Last month recent RCA Graduate Harry Thaler presented a pressed aluminum chair which you can hang on your wall (not really something I would suggest, but it demonstrates the character of the design) or just bent and sit on it.

The aluminum is 2,5 mm ‘thick’ and is strong enough to allow you to sit on it. The material is remarkable for its ability to resist corrosion and is extremely light. Another idea of a one piece chair with own values. Oh, and did I mention that it’s also stackable? I wonder how fat you have to be to not be able to sit on it.. I should ask Harry.

‘Mount Blushmore’ by Item Idem, 2009
at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin

Cyril Duval identifies icons who have made a lasting impact, even for people who are not involved in fashion.

The idea of Dysfashional is not to exhibit clothing, it’s about exhibiting everything that surrounds fashion. It’s a simple concept that allows to show everything that can’t be shown on the catwalk.

The exhibition in Berlin was ok, but the work in the catalogue (it’s worth buying it) exited me more than what I saw in real. Just Item Idem’s Mount Blushmore angled my attention. It embodies the kitsch and the drama of the rich and the beautiful of the industry. 4 icons of fashion. Also I think that laser engraved crystal monolith can look so wrong but here it feels so right.

Watch the movie for more:

It’s been a long time since I’ve met Lucas Chirnside and let him draw for me. It was march, earlier this year. I went to the Brit Insurance Design Awards press preview at the Designmuseum and had a little chat with him. After my encounter someone said that it must be hard to be an Australian designer. It’s far away from the industry and apparently the island on the other side of the world doesn’t have anything to say in design. Well, it’s surely easier to be one among loads in Europe because you have a lot of other fellow struggling designers but Lucas seems to do alright other there.

The Australian designer presented ‘Polytopia’, a seating design which allows it to participate in the physical and social play of its environment. It awaits interaction. Basically the concept comes with three basic forms to facilitate the ease of production in recycled plastic using standard rotational moulding techniques. A modular seating system that creates a landscape. Check his website for more images.

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite object

note: sorry for the shitty quality of the scans. since I am in london I do not have access to a good scanner anymore. : (

Object of Kostas Murkudis

In Central Berlin, on Linienstrasse 160, you can find a new gallery space. Berlin Weekly is a shop window. It’s open 24/7 and various artists and designers can show their work for 1 week of time.

Inside the gallery window
‘objects of desire from ten fashion designers’ by styleproofed
Exhibited during Fashion Week

Object of Leyla Piedayesh from Lala Berlin

Stefanie Seidl, photographer and owner of the new concept gallery, offers also a presentation of the artist’s/designer’s work on the Berlin-Weekly blog, which works basically as ‘web gallery’. Stefanie welcomes applications to exhibit at Berlin Weekly. If you are interested, drop her a line! She is happy to discuss good ideas. info@stefanieseidl.com

Stefanie Seidl, owner of the gallery, with her dog Burschi

Julian Bond just graduated at the RCA in design products. His final projects deals with the idea of a moulding machine which produces one-off vases.

That’s a piece of the moulding machine.
Julian calls it ‘rapid manufacturing tool’

Here are some of the pixelated vases. More about the projects on Julian’s website.

Tilman Appel at ‘Appel Vintage’, a next door space where he sometimes shows also design classics. He is holding: ‘Hello There’ by Jeremy Harvey from 1978. The chair is made of molded aluminum.

This guy is the owner of the Appel Design Gallery in Berlin. People say that Appel was the first gallery to present contemporary design in Berlin, opened in 2005. Tilman, who studied economics, is in his Thirties. His Grandparents were collectors and are probably one of the reasons why the he decided to become a gallery owner. How nice that life does not always dependent on what we have studied.

Here are some of the names of the chairs above:

‘Montreal’ stacking chair by Frei Otto, 1967
Ash, canvas, metal. Manufactured by Karl Fröscher & Co

‘Landi Chair’ by Hans Coray, 1939
Chromium plated steel Seat and backrest: perforated aluminium sheet, natural anodised

‘Sandows Chair’ by René Herbst, 1928
Nickel-plated steel tube and elastic rubber cord

‘Stacking Chair’ by Roland Rainer, 1955
Beech base with brown plywood seat

Vibeke Skar embodies anything I think of when I picture a female Scandinavian designer. She has light blond hair, smiles all the time and has a cheerful personality.

The Norwegian designer exhibited her new collection, a collaboration with Jens Praet, at the design district Ventura Lambrate in Milan earlier this year. It’s quite ironic to post this now. I mean, we are blessed with a very hot summer and I am thinking about tables which represent Norwegian melting icecaps. haha.. Anyway, Vibeke lives in Oslo. She tries, like many other young designers, to make a living out of her will to make products. Now she just needs some companies that will pay her for doing so.

tables: Industrial Impact, Arctic Collection
lamps: Industrial Impact, Industrial Collection

Draw yourself

Describe yourself in one word

Draw your favourite object

Iain & ‘Light Bookshelf’, 2010

Iain Howlett graduated with 2 projects at the Design Products department of the RCA. I have seen his paper pulp furniture on some blogs but my winner is his bookshelf.

The shelf is made of a simple wooden frame. You have to put your books in at 30 degrees.

I think the idea is clever and would be useful for many bookstores. What’s nice is that you are able to see the cover in this position. Yes, give the covers more attention, please! Maybe Do you read me? would be interested…

Mr. Clock

I think one of Hye-Yeon Park’s clock graduation projects are my pick of the RCA show this year.

The black cardboard clock just tells you the time if you give it some attention. You need to stand right in front of it and then Mr.Clock pulls himself together and displays the time. The video below, made by the designer, shows the movement of the clock:

Mr.Clock_Hye-yeon.Park_Design Product_2010 RCA from hye-yeon.park on Vimeo.

Laura in the ‘Fabrik’, her new studio

I met Laura Pregger first time in 2008 at Tent during London design festival. She exhibited with her colleagues from cooperation//STANDARD at the annual design event. Laura says by working together they found new interpretations of everyday-objects. The team play made them add ‘cooperation’ to their name. Nifty jewelry pieces are what they make.

The Swiss-based girl is not just working with her colleagues, she is also an independent designer specialised in ceramics. There was always a fascination with the delicate material.

The second time I bumped into her was at the DMY Design Festival in Berlin this year. She exhibited on her own. All her pieces are handmade and everything she knows about porcelain, she has taught herself. The second encounter was followed by an invitation to her studio in Basel. Laura has just build herself a workshop for her objects with the delicate texture. I am curious where I will meet her the next time.

‘LP 08 // D5.1.1′, 2008

Draw yourself

Describe yourself in one word

Draw your favourite object

Oliver Bischoff and Danilo Dürler are Et la Benn, a Berlin-based design duo. The Appel Design Gallery presents their lamp series called ‘Malva’ made of sponge cloth at the moment.

The moistened sponge cloth is formed and hardened by air drying on a mould. Design cannot be imagined without the almost annoying idea of sustainability these days. That’s why the various lamps are also compostable.

Michael Schlotfeld from Gallery Karena Schuessler

During the DMY I went and visited Gallery Karena Schuessler. They had a prototype of the ‘Bamboo’ chair by Dutch Tejo Remy and Rene van Veenhuizen. The armchair is made of bent laminated bamboo and is shaped like a basket.

Jane and her work: both complement each other perfectly

English Jane Bowler is specialised in Mixed Media Textiles. Her graduation collection is called ‘Fusion’.

Shortly before I ran into her at the RCA Show, I admired Lucy and Bart’s recent work for AnOther Man on Showstudio. Jane’s outfits were used in the project.

Photograph of one of Jane’s pictures

Harry Thaler presented his ‘Twist & Lock’ shelf last week during the RCA show in London. The Merano born designer graduated in Design Products this year.

The shelf is made of crates which are stacked on each other and fixed with a black, red or ocher lock.