arne quinze: another wooden installation

Matylda — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:30:58 +0000

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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matylda in bruxelles

Matylda — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:39:24 +0000

so, I am doing a little stopover in bruxelles, the capital of belgium. visiting friends, enjoying various surroundings and still working for dezeen. so why not traveling as long as I can.. in fact I am here since saturday night - (I’ve spend that night in the ‘famous’ cafe central). but there was no scanner around to make my current stay official. and I still had some meetings with designers from london to post.

rabih hage: a creative needs a believer

Matylda — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:11:47 +0000

rabih hage is an architect and interior designer. he specialises in contemporary design, furniture and art. he is the gallery owner of the rabih hage gallery - south kensington, london. (see my previous post about the piet hein eek exhibition and the one about matali crasset) creatives like moritz waldemeyer - light designer, jonathan root - photographer, assa ashuach - designer, are some of the lucky beggars who exhibited in his gallery.

besides rabih collaborated with canadian designer gillian russell and with design writer max fraser by launching detank, a platform committed to providing the latest discussions on design, this year during the design week in milan. It is also open for young talent and established designers to submit their recent work to be curated and showcased on the online exhibition space - an idea which a lot people already had but maybe this gonna be different than the rest.

I like people with humour - and when rabih was drawing himself I realized he his a guy with a special humour. he draws himself and 2 mates in a view from the top. all wearing sombreros and peeing against a wall. rabih stands on the left. he is telling a joke. thats why the other 2 guys pee in a wiggly line. rabih, you don’t look mexican though …

draw yourself

‘rabih’

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

a condom and a wine glass

matali crasset: another logic of… a designer

Matylda — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:40:11 +0000

matali crasset is a french designer. one I once heard of because she was on the cover on icon magazine. (what other people have with hollywood celebrities have design interested students with designers. haha) I meet matali last thursday evening when I went to the opening of her ‘another logic of…’ exhibition at the rabih hage gallery. she is a philippe starck protégé. its something you (talking about myself!) don’t see in her work. at least in her latest designs. the form is flawless. fanciful. I felt like in space station. matali is this woman who radiates this inner peace. a calm person who is confident and obviously want to share experiences with others. when I asked her to describe herself in one word, she immediately wrotes ‘a mother’. on the face of it you could tell that she has found her luck in creating her daughter.

exhibition at gallery rabih hage in south kensington, london

matali crasset - her hair is her trademark

chandelier by matali crasset - interactive light. the light changes the colour to the colour of the food

matali demonstrating the chandelier, 2008

interior element by matali crasset, 2008

spring city video installation by matali crasset, 2008

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

matthew plummer-fernandez: the brave one with engineering skills

Matylda — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:26:37 +0000

It was like a natural decision to meet matthew plummer fernandez. first I saw his sound chair and then I was fascinated by his window installation at selfridges department store in london - another project for designersblock (rory, you really boost this kid).

matthew is born in colombia but raised in england. his name is a symbiosis of his cultural background. he studied mechanical engineering and graphic design and will graduate at the royal college next year, where he is doing his ma in design products. he calls himself multidisciplinary designer. he can do that! before he came to the rca, he was working for rolf sachs studio, julia lohmann and had a part time job in catering - he was working more than a doctor. matthew was talking with sebastien noel from troika, his tutor, when I popped into the rca. he was discussing his ideas for his current assignment which could become his graduation work. matthew reads books from the back because he is left-handed and he thinks that things have to beautiful in the beginning and reach a meaning level when you look closer. that sounds almost romantic.

‘oh..’

‘helou..’

he likes his sneakers. yes, he does.

at his desk at the royal college of art

first sketches/ideas of his graduation work

concept for an installation for designersblock which will be shown at covent garden next week - a project with vahakn matossian

sound chair - photo from matthew’s flickr

the apifera, window installation at selfridges for designersblock - during london design festival 2008 - photo from matthew’s flickr

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

‘the brave one’

draw your favourite product

how nice - a kebab lover

unfortunately I do not have a scanner here. I had to take a picture of the drawings. that explains why they look so weird.

comme des garçons for the masses

Matylda — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:31:37 +0000

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.

click here to read my fashion story (more…)

piet hein eek: pop-up shop in london

Matylda — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:52:57 +0000

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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vic & bert show what war brought afterwards

Matylda — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 02:18:57 +0000

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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esther stocker: there it is, in black and white

Matylda — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:45:54 +0000

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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oliver klimpel: I hugged a clown today

Matylda — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:23:55 +0000

oliver klimpel is a graphic designer. he was born in germany. after studying at the royal college of art he decided to stay in london. maybe because he thinks that german tv sucks and that the english tv programs are much better. it’s not the real reason. it’s my theory. in 2000 he set up a project called ‘büro international’ with the intention of work with 2 colleagues who are based in berlin and copenhagen. it was fine in the beginning but now they run the business separately.

the first time I saw him he was wearing blue sneakers, which reminded me of smurf feet. I met him because he was doing the corporate identity for a friend’s club, bosch bobby, in dortmund. he also did it for another project, called stranddeck. so it was the second time that I was confronted with his work. oliver was also an associate lecturer at central st martins college london and kensington & chelsea college. he has now been appointed professor for system-design / graphic design at the academy of visual arts leipzig. I give you one advise about oliver: do never ever play german schlager (like rex gildo or marianne rosenberg) when he is around. that doesn’t cut any ice with him.

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

rice boiler

sun yuan and peng yu: world leaders in weelchairs

Matylda — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:14:04 +0000

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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the diet chip

Matylda — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:27:53 +0000

I am in london since friday, had a great halloween evening at the no. 5 cavendish square hotel, get to know the cold and rainy british weather and didnt see anything designish worth to post. but I present ‘the diet chip’, an invention of stephan siepermann during the dutch design week.

Erdnussflips — a light brown, peanut-flavored corn snack in the shape of a small pellet

london: you were calling

Matylda — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:00:23 +0000

call me crazy or scream at me because I cant stay somewhere for long. but I feel home in different places. sometimes I just think that it is just nicer somewhere else. you learn a lot while traveling and meeting people. that’s what I do. london was good - london wants me back. here I come. lalala

dutch design week: lucy mcrae + bart hess and their mutants

Matylda — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:10:39 +0000

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

dutch design week: show me the talent in 2008

Matylda — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:45:57 +0000

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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jeroen wesselink: design with a laugh

Matylda — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:22:48 +0000

he is a ‘fun-loving designer’ - at least you can read this in articles about him… to be honest, it’s true! jeroen wesselink is a little boy (I don’t want to measure that with his real height) with curly hair and a contagious smile. he graduated at the design academy in 2006 and opened a studio with stephan siepermann afterwards. I was visiting him and the other designers from the laboratory bazaar during the dutch design week at their stand in the strijp-s, eindhoven.

I guess jeroen is mostly known for his my deer chair, a chair in a shape of a deer which you can also hang up like a deer head. or for his floco stool, a seating object with a rubber ball as its seat.

jeroen is a designer who needs to create or design all the time. its more about doing something than about thinking. the process is the way. and when you watch him casting his ‘mini willie magnets’ you noticed that he is doing it with an incredible easiness. even when he is talking to the visitors at the stand it looks like he can give everybody a good feeling about what he does.

jeroen wesselink

the real wesselink and his ‘my deer’ stool

one of his new products

jeroen was making mini willie …

… magnets during the dutch design week at the stand in the strijp-s

the stand at strijp-s of the laboratory bazaar, a collective of designers
stephan siepermann, jeroen wesselink, beerd van stokkum

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

floco + chick

modebelofte: a promise again - itske van deursen

Matylda — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:29:13 +0000

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)

jon stam: how simple things can make a difference

Matylda — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:23:45 +0000

I met jon stam and his curiosity cabinet at the design academy graduation show during the dutch design week. I passed the cabinet without noticing it. at first glance it looks like an ordinary cupboard. but I went back because some people were standing there, starring at it. I found out that there are 2 hidden values in this piece of furniture.

1: 16 drawers store objects and pictures.
2: the other 16 drawers have a RFID reader. if you put one of them on a dock station your computer automatically shows the content which was saved on it. It also connects via an USB port for those who don’t have the RFID reader … the cabinet itself becomes his portfolio of his time at design academy.

jon recieved the rene smeets award 2008 for the cabinet - an award for the best graduated project, handed out by the academy. he told me that he would love to do his master at the royal college in london and that he lives in antwerp right now. he is also doing freelance work for the z33 (art and design centre) in hasselt, a place I use to visit sometime because maastricht isn’t far away. I guess we will hear more from jon stam, the canadian guy who brings together physical objects and digital data in one furniture.

jon stam

take a drawer

put it on the docking station

recognize!

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

dutch design week: designer punk

Matylda — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:18:19 +0000

they are maybe famous or know for their furniture, their products and many other reasons: but not for making punk music. joost van bleiswijk, stephan siepermann and jos kranen are a band. but not a regular one. they never do auditions. they think that they call themself ‘4 mouthed barbarelas’ (but they are not sure yet). they perform just once a year, during the dutch design week.

jos kranen

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dutch design week: design academy show off

Matylda — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:06:59 +0000

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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the mission: dutch design

Matylda — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:55:32 +0000

this poster is hanging close to the witte dame, the ‘heart‘ of eindhoven. just a quick post. you will find more tomorrow.

hm.. I should have photoshoped my face into the poster. haha

dutch design week: I am on my way

Matylda — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:19:45 +0000

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

mr. bingo: new age illustrator

Matylda — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:44:54 +0000

london-based mr. bingo is an illustrator and animator. and when I arrived in london 2 months ago, marius claudy, a guy I know from germany highly recommended him for a “meet & greet”. what really made me laugh is the wikipedia entry of mr. bingo. it says for example:”he describes himself as having a “slightly smaller than average” head and “girl’s arms,” plus “the same haircut as his mum”. how many people do you know with such a great self-mockery?

so I popped into his office… he was listening to tv on the radio, made me a tea (surprisingly british) and gave me a little insight in his work. he showed me how he creates his illustration - by drawing them by hand, scanning them and coloring them in photoshop. he worked for different companies like nike, bbc, mtv, the guardian and more. I asked him about his favorite work and he just could not name it. he said that illustrating is the only thing he ever wanted to do and that his hole work is a favorite. it is even his hobby. he could not even think about something else he would do instead.

there is one mysterious thing about mr. bingo - nobody knows his real name. even chris, the guy who is sitting with him in the office was unsure about his name given at birth. mr bingo came into existence through a bingo game years ago, before he became a professional illustrator. It’s his trademark.

yeah

that’s him

one of his favourite pieces, bought in new york

some work in the icon magazine

the boosh t-shirt

mr bingo work: hair portrait’s (in the loo)

his new office

thanks for the pic, mr bingo. the theme is: give me a stupid look

draw yourself

describe yourself in one word

draw your favourite product

dyson - airblade

rose etherington: dezeen blonde no.1

Matylda — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:08:17 +0000

rose etherington is the assistant, co-editor and right hand woman of marcus fairs and rupinder boghal, founder of dezeen, online design and architecture magazine. together we have soup for lunch, chocolate for breakfast and champagne in the evening (at all the receiptions). If you google her name you find loads of design but no picture of herself.. till now! besides, I am the dezeen blonde no. 2.

hello ros(i)e

zaha hadid: bring me a drink

Matylda — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:53:29 +0000

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. (more…)