DesignApplause » Awards

Alessi. The spring/summer 2012 duality preview 1.

PRand — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:32:56 +0000

moka alessi | alfonso mendini | click > enlarge

Only a glimpse of the Spring/Summer 2012 line and our focus ( not Alessi’s ) will be the theme of duality. Let’s start with “old and new” via the “Moka Alessi” by architect Alessandro Mendini’s homage to Alberto Alessi’s maternal grandfather, Alfonso Bialetti, creator of the indispensable Bialetti Moka Express that is a mainstay in many Italian kitchens. [ bialetti moka express ]

all-time | guido venturini

‘All-time’ represents both “formal and casual” with minimal flowing smooth classic lines but designed for daily use and includes all the basic elements of flatware, bone china, and glasses. A re-design of the “Pluto” collection designed by Guido Venturini.”I immediately knew I didn’t want to do anything too different. I’ve got a strong bond with the formal style – for me, it’s a real necessity. The language of shapes has its own priorities, and it draws me into it in a way that I can only control up to a certain point.”

is01 | inga sempé \ 2012

This spoon serves up both “Italy and France” and designed for a competition organized with the magazine “Domus” to celebrate the anniversary of the “Cucchiaio d’Argento” (in English “Silver Spoon”) – the historic recipe book with its 12,000 recipes and as a star of Italian kitchens for the past 50 years. For this special occasion five international designers were asked to come up with a new serving spoon. The winner, Inga Sempé, for her ability to design a very simple, rigorous and yet highly expressive tool which, thanks to its precise details, well fulfills the practical need to gather up and serve risotto. France? The designer is of course French.

Be alert for other examples of duality in the Alessi Spring/Summer 2012 line.

15 Citrus juicers.

PRand — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:11:31 +0000

juicy salif | philippe starck | alessi | 1990 | click to enlarge

Two events prompted this post. Two weeks ago I went on a Bertrand Goldberg architectural tour. Two buildings in Chicago, four owners, all architects. Of interest, all four interiors might have been designed by one person, the furnishings were so similar, mid-century modern. Two of the four had the Salif on sparse kitchen counters. Our galley kitchen falls into the latter category. Anyone’s guess what kitchen tools were in their cupboards. The other event, we made grouper ceviche last weekend, an on-going experiment with different recipes so precise citrus measurements are required. We also have a juicer made for cooking, the OXO Citrus Juicer with a measuring cup as its recepticle. I purchased it directly from OXO when it won a design award in 2007.

citrus juicer | oxo | 2007

Below are promising juicers selected with the following criteria: simple, manual or small electric that’s easily stored, lightweight output, and well-thought-out solutions with great aesthetics. Several in are in the collection of contemporary art museums. Several will have glitches, like the Salif, no problem for me but to Barbara it can behave like a sobriety test; the Orangin and Flash Lemonade Juicer can be a bit labor intensive to fill a quart IMO. Price range from $8 > $100.

Lexus LF LC design concept winner. Detroit auto 2012.

Phil Patton — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:51:33 +0000

click > enlarge

This year, the [ Eyes on Design ] awards were handed out to the Lexus LF-LC in the concept category.

The 2013 Ford Fusion won in the production category. The Fusion’s fellow finalists were the 2013 BMW 3 Series and 2013 Cadillac ATS, while the LF-LC eked out a W over the Chevrolet Tru 140S and Lincoln MKZ.

about phil patton

Goettsch partners honored with aia award for interior architecture.

PRand — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:21:50 +0000

click > enlarge

Goettsch Partners wins a 2012 Institute Honor Award for Interior Architecture from the American Institute of Architects. This national award honors outstanding building interiors worldwide, created by architects licensed in the United States.  The project is located within the Prairie Management Group’s offices in Northbrook, IL. The office was designed for a retired design entrepreneur and founder of a major home furnishings retailer to create a space for the entrepreneur to continue his passion for business through design.  

 Goettsch Partners is an international design practice headquartered in Chicago with additional offices in Shanghai and Abu Dhabi. The firm is led by seven partners who provide a full spectrum of design services—including architecture, interiors, planning and building-enclosure design—supporting a diverse portfolio ranging from exhibit facilities to master plans for entire quadrants of emerging cities. For more information on the firm and award [ goettsch partners ]

Tokujin yoshioka awarded 2012 now! design à vivre.

Perrin Drumm — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:02:09 +0000

Maison & Objet just presented their 2012 Now! Design à Vivre award to Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka. A favorite of the luxury world, Yoshioka has worked with Hermès, BW, Cartier and Issey Miyake as well as museums like the Musee d’Orsay and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. But aside from delivery luxe goods, Yoshioka is known as a “designer of the senses” and for exploring new “technopoetic ground.”

Just what makes something technopoetic? Yoshioka’s 2007 Pane Chair is a good example. Made from small, lightweight fibers baked in a kiln, it’s an excellent model of how rethinking materials can yield both innovative solutions and exciting new forms. I mean, when was the last time you looked at a bunch of fiber shavings and thought, hey that might make a good chair?

Earlier this year Yoshioka unveiled a new furniture collection for Kartell so minimalist the pieces are almost completely invisible. In fact, that’s what Yoshioka named the collection. “Invisibles” plays with our idea of physical space with benches and chairs that make it appear as if the user is seated in mid air. “In the last few years,” Yoshioka said, “I have been thinking about a design that would include natural phenomena and invisible elements such as sense, wind and light. The presence of the object is eradicated and it will create a scenery of a sitter floating in the air.”

Scenery is the key word there; I imagine a room full of “Invisibles” would be much more effective than just one in a cluster of so-called regular chairs. But aside from the coolness and conceptual factor, just how comfortable would these things be? At least Philippe Starck’s Ghost Chair has a smooth, rounded back and a shaped seat. As I’m not in the market for luxe goods I doubt I’ll be test driving one any time soon, but a word to those on the hunt for injection-molded polycarbonate: bring a cushion.

about perrin drumm

Tèo. A special teaspoon by Alessi.

PRand — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:20:47 +0000

click > enlarge

An innovative shiny, special-shaped spoon designed to wring out your tea bag and keep your fingers dry. I’m still in the habit of wrapping the tea bag string around the bag on occasion but now I have my special spoon to make my tea. After all, making the tea is a ritual tea drinkers enjoy. Tèo is $25 at Alessi. You also can find it in retail stores and museum shops both on premise or online.

Tèo won a best product design at the New York International Gift Fair.

designer: karin santorso
producer: alessi

2012 National design awards call for nominations

PRand — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:45:11 +0000

The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is pleased to announce an open call for nominations for the thirteenth annual National Design Awards program. 2012 nominations due: 15 December 2011. Questions? designawards at si dot edu 212 849 8337.

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Artist vincent dubourg wins PAD inaugural award.

PRand — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:48:05 +0000

double buffet nouvelle zéland | 2011, steel | h140 l306 w37 cm | h55 l120.5 w14.6 in | edition of 8 + 4 ap | click > enlarge

Carpenters Workshop Gallery artist Vincent Dubourg’s work, Double Buffet Nouvelle Zéland – a black steel buffet table cut and bent at one end to look frayed – has won a place in the permanent collection of the Museum of Arts and Design. The award, the first of its kind, was announced on November 10 at a dinner honoring the best of the inaugural Pavilion of Arts and Design New York fair.

Commenting on Dubourg’s win, Loic Le Gaillard co-founder and director of Carpenters Workshop Gallery (CWG), based in London and Paris, said of Double Buffet Nouvelle Zéland, ”It’s got everything—emotion, beautiful craftsmanship. It’s wonderful to see a piece of design can stretch way beyond what one would expect for a piece of furniture.” Carpenters Workshop Gallery is renowned as one of the world‘s foremost contemporary design-art galleries. “That’s the beauty of our mission, to really push these young guys into the spotlight. It’s a constant battle to show how great all these young artists are,” Le Gaillaird said of Dubourg and the other artists represented by CWG.

Double Buffet Nouvelle Zéland was designed and crafted by Dubourg in 2009. The work is more of a sculpture than a piece of furniture. Dubourg’s conversations through his sculptural works reflect a dialogue between traditions and nature. The embodiment of the materials and their synthesis of versatility in Double Buffet Nouvelle Zéland deconstruct the archetypes of furniture. By releasing their origins from their natural elements, and by directing its forms with artisanal craftsmanship, the artist presents sculptural works through an alert explosion of intention.

The 2011 PAD New York Jury Panel included Adam Lindemann, Collector / Writer, Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, Christophe Navarre, President of Moet-Hennessy, Anne Pasternak, Executive Director of Creative Time, Beth Rudin De Woody, Collector/ Trustee of Whitney Museum, Andre Balazs, Developer and Entrepreneur, Hamish Bowles, European Editor at Large of Vogue USA, Muriel Brandolini Developer and Entrepreneur, Decorator, Peter M. Brant Industrialist, Businessman and Entrepreneur, Miranda Brooks, Landscape Garden Designer, Michael Bruno, 1st Dibs Founder, Tory Burch Fashion Designer and Accessories, Robert Couturier, Architecture/ Decorator, Alexandra Driscoll, Collector-Historian, Ben Genocchio Editor in Chief Art + Auction, Wendy Goodman, Design Writer , Bill Katz, Architect, Carlos Mota, International Editor at Large AD America, Rodman Primack, Art Consultant and Founder of Blacklots, Renee Rockefeller, Philanthropist, Aby Rosen, Real Estate and Collector, Allison Sarofim, Collector Opinion Maker, Sixty Six Productions, Annabelle Seldorf, Architect, George Simon, Managing Director of Monsoon Accessories USA Inc., Stefano Tonchi, Editor in Chief of W Magazine and Alan Wasenberg Architect, Decorator and Collector.

Some of the works shown by CWG at PAD New York include Sebastian Brajkovic, whose artworks are included in the permanent collection of the New York‘s Museum of Arts and Design. Brajkovic is showing new conceptions from his notorious Lathe Collection. Mathieu Lehanneur, of France, is presenting S.M.O.K.E., a glass orb that encapsulates the diffusion of a plume of smoke, and Daylight Dome, a state-of-the-art light-sculpture/chandelier. Dutch design duo Lonneke Gordijn & Ralph Nauta continue with their wildly successful Fragile Futures series showcasing Fragile Futures 3.10 light sculptures. Multidisciplinary art collective, Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) is presenting Jubilee Tree and two pieces from their latest series of sculptural design objects including the lighting piece Jewel and dressoir Forest.

[ vincent dubourg ] [ carpenters workshop gallery ] [ cwg at 2011 design miami ]

Pappa Mamma Lamp by Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) was also a Jury Panel favorite. AVL is merging art and life, using it as a tool to explore the idea of conception through the Pappa Mamma Lamp, complete with Penis, Vagina and Foetus. This lamp is a provocative illustration of the beginnings of human life. An oversized cross-section of reproductive organs is the substance of Pappa Mamma Lamp. It rests on the scrotum and ovaries as the phallussits inside the vagina and a growing baby lies curled up in the womb from which the lamp is powered. [ avl ]

2009 nylon resin | h32 l41 w32 cm | h12.8 l16.4 w12.8 In | edition of 7 + 5 ap | click > enlarge

James dyson gets ripped off again

Perrin Drumm — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:21:23 +0000

dyson dco2 / click > enlarge images

vax air

Vacuum cleaner mastermind James Dyson has been in the news quite a bit lately, first after he lost a case against a Chinese company that ripped off his eponymous product and again when the winner of the James Dyson Award was announced. Even though Dyson recently won a similar case in France against the same Chinese company, Vax, the British courts failed to find fault with the similarities between the Dyson DCO2 and the Vax Air, which, as you can see from image above, is pretty much a blatant knock-off.

Dyson himself was understandably upset, especially since they won the same case in France (seriously, wtf British court?). “We’ve invested decades, not to mention millions, in creating better technology. And sadly we waste millions more in cases like this. We need to better protect British design.”

On a more uplifting note, the annual James Dyson Award went to Edward Linacre from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, who’s developing the Airdrop, a moisture extractor to help irrigate crops in dry regions. It’s a universal problem, but after the draughts that affected Australia earlier this year it’s especially topical for Linacre. At first glance it looks like a weird lamp stuck in the ground, but here’s what going on beyond its plastic exterior: underground pipes connected to the Airdrop pump air into the soil, lowering the temperature to the condensation point. This creates water that’s then cycled to roots of the surrounding plants. With the £10,000 in prize money, Linacre will develop his project and hopefully get this baby into production in time for the next draught. Check out the other great projects that were nominated this year.

edward linacre | airdrop

airdrop

yes, you’re right if you think there are design knock off awards… [ plagiarius awards 2009 ] [ plagiarius awards 2008 ]

about perrin drumm

2011 canstruction exhibit and design competition. NYC.

PRand — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:45:29 +0000

10>21 november exhibit | left: 2010 mr potato head

Design competition at World Financial Center stacks over 100,000 cans into 26 larger-than-life works of art to help City Harvest feed hungry New Yorkers

2010 babushCAN

2002 marilyn

An annual art show, design competition, and food drive all rolled into one, Canstruction® raises hunger awareness by challenging teams of architects and engineers to create larger-than-life pop art masterpieces made entirely out of unopened cans of food. The creative results are donated to City Harvest for delivery to local community food programs.

This year‘s New York Canstruction® exhibition features 26 teams from the city’s top architecture, engineering and design firms. While each team spends months planning and designing their entries, they are allowed only one adrenaline-filled night to meticulously stack and color-coordinate cans into whimsical, wildly inventive feats of engineering.

The sculptures to be judged by experts that includes Michael Arad, designer of the World Trade Center Memorial; Annie Block, editor at Interior Design magazine; Jeff Andrews, celebrated California-based interior designer; Mary-Jean Eastman, FAIA, MRAIC, IIDA, a founding partner of the international architecture and design firm, Perkins Eastman; Richard Hayden, FAIA RIBA, Managing Principal at Swanke Hayden Connell Architects; Ellie Krieger, New York Times bestselling author, James Beard Foundation award winner and host of Food Networks “Healthy Appetite;” Wade Burch, C.E.C., Executive Chef at SouthWest NY and first-place winner on the Food Network series “Chopped;”and Chip Wade, Master Carpenter on HGTV’s “Curb Appeal: The Block” and HGTV’s “Designed to Sell.”

In New York City, Canstruction® is presented by Arts World Financial Center and produced by Canstruction New York, Inc., and the New York Chapters of the Society for Design Administration and the American Institute of Architects.

Participating Teams
AECOM
American Express
Arup
Cetra/CRI Architecture PLLC
Dattner Architects
DeSimone Consulting Engineers
Eleanor Roosevelt High School / Sandra Forman, Architect
Ennead Architects
Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, LLP
GACE Consulting Engineers PC
Gensler / WSP Flack + Kurtz
Gilsanz Murray Steficek LLP
Gruzen Samton IBI Group
Halcrow, Inc.
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC
Langan Engineering / John Fotiadis Architect
Leslie E. Robertson Associates, RLLP
MKG
National Reprographics, Inc.
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Robert Silman Associates PC
Severud Associates
Skanska USA
Skidmore Owings and Merrill, LLP
Ted Moudis Associates
Thornton Tomasetti

date:       10-21 november
hours:       10a–6p daily |10a – 5p on november 21
venue:      world financial center complex | 220 Vesey Street | 212 945 0505
cost:         FREE – Suggested donation: One can of food per person

[ arts world financial center ]
Since its inception in 1988, over 2.5 million people have attended more than 2,500 free performances and events at the World Financial Center, making Arts World Financial Center the East Coast’s largest presenter of free, year-round performing and visual arts. This is the fourth consecutive year that Canstruction® will turn the World Financial Center into a spectacular food-sculpture gallery. [ arts world financial center ]

[ canstruction® ]
Conceived by the Society for Design Administration (SDA), Canstruction® is a trademarked design/build competition currently held in more than 100 cities around the world. The results are displayed to the public as magnificent sculpture exhibits in each city where a competition is held. The public is invited to donate canned food at the time of the exhibition. At the close of the exhibitions all of the canned food used in the structures and collected from the viewing public is donated to local food banks for distribution to emergency feeding programs that include pantries, soup kitchens, and day care centers.

[ city harvest ]
Now serving New York City for more than 25 years, City Harvest is the world’s first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city’s hungry men, women, and children. This year, City Harvest will collect over 30 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms. This food is then delivered free of charge to nearly 600 community food programs using a fleet of trucks and bikes as well as volunteers on foot. Each week, City Harvest helps over 300,000 hungry New Yorkers find their next meal. City Harvest also addresses issues that surround hunger in New York City by supporting affordable access to nutritious food in low-income communities, educating individuals, families, and communities in the prevention of diet-related diseases, channeling a greater amount of fresh produce into high-need areas, and enhancing the ability of agency partners to feed hungry men, women, and children. [ city harvest ]

note: creatives of respective works below, identify yourself!