In 2009 Alessi initiated a workshop co-directed by Cranbrook 3D Designer-in-Residence, Scott Klinker, and Metalsmithing Artist-in-Residence, Iris Eichenberg. Ten participants were chosen for the week-long, hands-on experiment in metal working. The studio was loaded with metal types from a local supplier that included sheet, rod, tube, solid block and I-beams, and the participants had 24-hour access to the shop to play with the materials and develop product proposals and pre-production samples. They met for loose critiques throughout the week and brainstormed about “American Typologies,” products specific to American culture.

According to Alberto Alessi, “The idea to organize this workshop came to me during a visit to Cranbrook in 2009. This visit gave me the opportunity to experience the existence of a clear attitude typical of the Arts and Crafts movement, and also typical of silver and metalsmiths, that has always intrigued me so much because it is so rare in European design.”

Klinker added that “When Alberto Alessi visited Cranbrook in 2009, he seemed especially impressed with the material experiments in the studios. His vision for a collaborative workshop was very specific: search for new forms in metal through a hands-on, craft process in the metal shop. The workshop addressed two main questions. First, what forms will metal take? Then later, what Alessi products might come from those forms? The final products seem to capture this fascination with the physical manipulation of metal.”

Four the products created during the workshop will be made by Alessi and released later this year. You can see a few of them pictured here, including Scott Klinker’s Patterned Bowl Studies and my personal favorite, the Pinch Vase by Adam Shirley. The banana easel is Dear Charlie by John Truex. Stop by Alessi Soho (130 Greene Street), which was, coincidentally, designed by Cranbrook graduate Hani Rashid (1985) , or follow the project on their blog.

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Zilbers’ design asks the question, “What happens when an ordinary household object like a broom is re-imagined?” His answer is a lamp that “plays with function in everyday objects and engages users in a game that alters perceptions of a common item.” The lamp is controlled by a remote that allows you to change the light to any color of the rainbow, or you can set it to rotate through the spectrum.

You can’t tell from the pictures, but the ‘brush’ part of the broom is incredibly heavy – so heavy that I couldn’t even lift it. Yes, I have weak arms, but I shouldn’t have to be a body builder to lift a lamp. Besides, even if you don’t have a problem with the Moodbroom’s weight and materials, what about that cord? In such a simple design the cord seems like a blaring distraction and a huge flaw. Overall, repurposing the traditional broom shape into a light doesn’t strike me as a real stretch of the imagination, and the finished project has too many unconsidered elements to justify its hefty price tag ($500+).







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about phil patton

In Texas, there is some big sky. It is part of a romantic landscape that serves as a backdrop for that part of American cultural heritage defined by austerity and hard, strong gestures. American minimalism and industrial ingenuity/machismo are phenomena that are complicated and nuanced. But they are also, essentially, informed by American landscape visuals: big sky, vast rolling hills and endless fields, an occasional cow. ~JG

line light


Big SKy represents a series of movements and variations on the theme of light. Johanna Grawunder creates minimal, luminous pieces of functional micro-architecture that express her passion for modern architecture as her credo is: light is architecture’s muse. This show also reveals her passion for the observation of nature and the infinite irisations of the sky.

corner light


corner light


tron platform


Shining matters is analyzed, composed and decomposed by the designer: Through projection, the beams shine from a box and produce a filtered and structured surface; through diffraction, the light recreates the colors of the rainbow on a fragmented and sculptural surface; through propagation, the rays escape through the cracks; through reflection, creating a mirrored effect; through interposition – an opaque glass softens the effect…

Johanna Grawunder is an architect and designer, and splits her time between her native California and Italy where, while working with Ettore Sottsass from 1985 to 2001, she learned more than just style, she gained a vision of the design process as a whole. Johanna Grawunder is a designer of light. Her approach is subjective; her non-allusive shaping invites us to look. | pieces on show: corner light, frame table, half-pipe light,f-box, line light, box light, slab light, torn platform table.

upcoming shows: johanna grawunder – big sky | vincent dubourg
date: 31 may >31 july 2012 | opens thursday 31 may
venue: carpenters workshop gallery | 54 rue de la verrerie 75004 le marais paris
upcoming fair: design miami | basel | 12 > 17 june 2012

• FSC cedar and metal siding
• Heavy gauge steel stud construction with spray foam insulation
• 1″-2″ Energy Shield wrap
• Triple pane Northerm Windows
• FSC hardwood oak flooring, 12? granite tiles in the entrance way and
• ceramic tiles in the bathroom
• Ultralight drywall, clear grain cedar, and birch plywood interior finishing
• 24 inch GE propane range
• Propane instant tank-less hot water heater
• Half size stainless steel fridge
• Full size bathroom with compact bathtub/shower, Kohler bathroom sink
• and Sun Mar Compact Composting toilet
• Recessed cedar slat bathroom door
• LED and dimmable CFL and halogen lighting
• Low and zero VOC wood finishes and paint
• Living area with a pullout sofa, storage, and recessed book shelving
• Loft with queen size memory foam mattress
• Broan high efficiency bathroom fan and kitchen exhaust hood
• 35 Gallon Water tank with outside water hookup or blue water tank
• drain and a RV shurflo water pump

Herbert built it over the course of five months for $40,000, but he’s only asking $44,500 for it. If you’ve ever considered a Winnebago but couldn’t bear the design or wanted an Airstream but couldn’t afford the price, now’s your chance to take your life on road and stay snug and warm, even in the Yukon.

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Cane chairs were popularized with Marcel Breuer’s 1928 Cesca Cane Chair, which paired a rattan seat and backing with a bent metal frame. Blanca’s design is more of a return to basics, not only in his use of traditional rattan, but because he doesn’t combine it with more modern materials. It’s simple and elegant, suitable for the kitchen or for a more formal dining table. I’d also imagine it promotes good posture. While it’s beautifully crafted that back looks none too comfortable. Here’s what Blanca himself has to say about his design:

“The project was born from the desire to take back rattan as a noble material, building on the rich tradition of craftsmanship in our country that supports its use. To that end, we tried to give the hundred-year-old technique a new look, which was achieved by substituting the traditional strutting and joint wrapping for a twinning technique to join one reed to the next. With this innovative option, we created a flexible yet resistant structure that is very lightweight. A light, warm, charming and luxurious, in the true meaning of the world, chair.”

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You can see a Q&A with Autobahn’s Seyhan Ozdemir and Sefer Caglar at 10:30am on Monday, May 21st, at their booth in the Javits Center (#1632). RSVP is required.

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Metal spinning is a bit like using a pottery wheel. Each cup or bowl starts from a spinning piece of metal that’s shaped with a lathe. The technique is age-old, but Kozlovskaya and Tsui had a chance to visit a metal shop during college and witness the process firsthand. In their latest product, the SF (Spin and Fold) Lamp, they incorporated the craft of metal spinning into a flat piece of metal that’s spun into one of three patterns – obtuse, acute or intermediate – but to keep the lamp mass produceable the handmade aspect ends there. Once the flat metal piece is painted in either silver/white or black/bronze, it’s folded along a perforated line and then shaped according to size of the piece of metal it was made from, ranging from very skinny to wide.

Quotes via fastcodesign

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But there’s also a formal elegance at work here. Pugliese lets you see – in fact wants you to see – the joinery between the seat or the table top and the legs, and because this normally concealed aspect of furniture making is exposed, he takes full advantage of it by joining the stools together with fun and whimsical shapes. There’s an exclamation point, an X or a plus sign and a single line with two dots that become a round face.

Pugliese said the design was born from “a formal exercise that explores the mechanical and aesthetic value of plywood paired with black Raystone, which is a 100% organic petrol-free bio composite board produced from the waste of sugar production. Through digital controlled cutting technology and simple finishing work, the project seeks to deliver different solutions starting from a single type of joint. Like all members of a family, all pieces are slightly different but similar.”

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