people – Page 14 – DesignApplause

Norman kelly: wrong chairs. Volume gallery.

Nov 15, 2013

[ volume gallery ] presents the Wrong Chairs by design collaborative Norman Kelley, opening 15 November with a reception from 6 > 8p at 845 West Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607. Norman Kelley’s Wrong Chairs purposefully disrupt the notion of “correctness” through the iconic Windsor chair. The Windsor chair, with its British roots, has become a symbol of colonial America – chairs that are democratic in design, occupying both domestic and public spaces. “At first glance, these are Windsors; they blend into the images we hold of domestic places we’ve encountered at some point or another, but, at second glance, they’re more unreasonable,” says NK.

event> volume 17: norman kelly | wrong chairs
venue> [ volume gallery ] | 845 west washington 3rd floor | chicago usa
date> 15 november 2013 > 25 january 2014
opening reception> 15 november | 6 > 8p

[ Volume Gallery ] is an event-based gallery with a specific focus on American design, and a strong emphasis placed on emerging contemporary designers. The Volume Gallery releases editions, publications and organizes exhibits that showcase the work of American designers to regional, national and international audiences.

Theme announcement. 2nd istanbul design biennial 2014.

Nov 14, 2013

2nd istanbul design biennial | 18 october > 14 december 2014

The second edition of the Istanbul Design Biennial, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), will be 18 October – 14 December 2014. The title of the biennial “The Future Is Not What It Used To Be” was just announced by curator Zoë Ryan. At the opening speech held in FerahFeza in Karaköy, İKSV Chairman Bülent Eczacıbaşı underlined that the Istanbul Design Biennial has attracted high interest in Turkey and in the international arena, received positive responses and has been pivotal in opening up new areas of discussion in the field of design and added: “With the biennial, Istanbul has strengthened its position in the design world. Fruitful dialogues have been developed with highly esteemed design events all around the world in order to initiate new collaborations. Benefiting from the experience of the first biennial, we believe that the second Istanbul Design Biennial will further the success of this biennial and become even more effective, productive, thought-provoking, creative and inspirational. With the aim of contributing to the accessibility and outreach of the event, admission to the next Istanbul Design Biennial will be free of charge.”

The second Istanbul Design Biennial asks “What is the future now?” As Ryan explained, the biennial asks how can we reclaim the manifesto for the 21st century and beyond, not only in the production of texts, but through actions, services, provocations, or objects and seize the potential to incite inventive outcomes? As a platform for generating new ideas, the biennial invites submissions for contemporary design manifestos that explore the complex role of design in today’s society. Ryan also added that the biennial will embrace designs that are visionary, yet grounded in everyday realities—innovative approaches that are transforming how we see, interact with, and understand the world. The biennial will articulate a portrait of design activity today, mapping the often unexpected ways the field intersects with contemporary life: with basic human needs such as food, shelter, health and safety, but also with less tangible issues, including love, play, fear, discord, abundance, sustainability, mobility, accessibility, community, and geopolitics. [ iksv ]

zoë ryan | curator of the 2nd istanbul design biennial

Brazil artfair miami 2013.

Nov 14, 2013

event> brazil artfair 2013
venue> 3501 ne midtown boulevard (old ne 1st Ave) & 36th street miami
date> 4 > 8 december 2013

Brazil ArtFair debuts during art week 4 > 8 December 2013. First Fair Dedicated to Brazilian Contemporary Art and Design.

Housed in a 25,000 square foot exposition center, on Midtown Boulevard, near the Wynwood Art District, Brazil ArtFair will present work from 15 Brazilian art galleries, over 100 artists, an exhibition of work by Brazilian artists curated by Luisa Duarte, and Orchestra Brasil, a selection of innovative contemporary furniture by 18 of Brazil’s leading design studios.

“Our mission for the first edition is to present art and design that reflects contemporary Brazil,” said Brazil ArtFair director, Michel Serebrinsky. “From the selection of galleries and the art that they will exhibit, to Luisa Duarte’s curated exhibition, to the design of our space, we created Brazil ArtFair with the purpose of bringing to Miami not just a new art fair experience but also a new experience of Brazil.”

victoire 1 | khalil charif | artur fidalgo gallery | 2013

no title | nino dais | central gallery | 2013

plantinha | alcides | estação gallery | 1997

paisagem vasta (vast landscape) | sergio lucena | mezzanine gallery | 2013

insonia tropical | toz | movimento gallery | 2013

Brazil ArtFair has gathered a strong group of carefully selected Brazilian galleries, artists, and designers – both established and emerging – and has approached the fair with a strong curatorial point of view. The show aspires to not only inform the world market about the dynamic new work that is being produced in Brazil, but also to educate the attendees about the country’s complex political, social, and cultural realities. Brazil ArtFair’s directors and curators see Brazil’s contemporary art and design as catalysts for change and movement helping to create worldwide awareness for the country. An important part of this mission, the curated exhibition, Tempo Suspenso (Suspended Time) addresses the political concerns that have galvanized contemporary Brazilian artistic practice and examines relationships between art, politics, and civic engagement. The exhibition will feature works, not for sale, by 15 renowned Brazilian artists including Mauro Restiffe, Rivane Neuenschwander, and Pedro Motta.

The design of the pavilion features an inflatable entrance created by Marton Estúdio. Designed to resemble the concrete architecture of Brasilia, the country’s capital, it will rhythmically inflate and deflate as a metaphor for the dynamic new life of the contemporary Brazilian art scene.

The exhibiting galleries will present a wide range of artistic voices including: the sophisticated popular art works from Galeria Estação, street art from Galeria Movimento and Galeria Logo and conceptual contemporary art from Central Galeria de Arte and Emma Thomas. In addition to the work of young Brazilian artists – such as Ícaro Lira, Frederico Filippi and Mayana Redin, from Galeria Um Zero Três (103) – visitors will have the opportunity to acquire work by prestigious established Brazilian artists, such as Claudia Jaguaribe and Vania Mignone. The galleries will also present multiple solo exhibitions. With nearly all of the participating galleries new to Miami, Brazil ArtFair is poised to become a strong international resource for Brazilian galleries, artists, and designers, and a place of discovery for the attendees of Miami Art Week.

[ participating galleries ] Artur Fidalgo, Rio de Janeiro; Central Galeria de Arte, São Paulo; Emma Thomas, São Paulo; Galeria Estação, Rio de Janeiro; Galeria LOGO, São Paulo; Galeria Mezanino, São Paulo; Galeria Movimento, Rio de Janeiro; Galeria Um Zero Três (103), São Paulo; H.A.P. Galeria, Rio de Janeiro; Jo Slaviero e Guedes, São Paulo; Lourdina Jean Rabieh, São Paulo; Marton Estúdio, São Paulo, Mercedes Viegas, Rio de Janeiro; Multiplique Boutique, São Paulo; Paralelo, São Paulo.

[ curated exhibition-tempo suspenso ] curated by Luisa Duarte, one of the most respected curators in Brazil today, this political exhibition features works Berna Reale, Clarissa Tossin, Iran do Espírito Santo, Laércio Redondo, Laís Myrrha, Matheu Rocha Pitta, Mauro Restiffe, Milton Machado, Pedro Motta, Raquel Garbelotti, Regina Parra, Rivane Neuenschwander and Sara Ramo.

[ orchestra brasil ] features a juried selection of 24 pieces including chairs, tables, and home accessories from Alessandra Delgado-Girona Design, Bernardo Senna, Domingos Tótora, Em2 Design, Faro Design, Flávia Pagotti Silva, Índio da Costa A.U.D.T., Gallina e Visentini, Jader Almeida, Lattoog Design, Luiz Pedrazzi, Mameluca, NDT Design, Projeto 3 Design, Quadrante Design, Regis Padilha, Studio B, UNT Intelligence Design and Zanini de Zanine. A number of designers from this highly esteemed group have been awarded top honors and projects, including Zanini de Zanine, who has designed for Tolix and Poltrona Frau; Jader Almeida, recipient of the top award from Museu da Casa Brasileira, Brazil’s premier design museum; Domingos Totora, who creates sustainable furniture and decorative objects using cardboard; and Guto Indio da Costa, who remodeled Rio’s traditional street vendor stands on famed Copacabana Beach.

[ west Encounters east ] a one-hour documentary, which will be shown daily, explores an artistic space where the vibrant palette of Latin America and the silence of the East come together to create something new. Created and developed by filmmaker and art historian Stella M. Holmes of The Brickellian, the film was screened at several film festivals across the United States and broadcast on 280 television stations. It explores the themes of immigration, alienation, and assimilation through work of well-known Latin American artists with Eastern heritage, such as Japanese-Brazilians Yutaka Toyota, Takashi Fukushima, Megumi Yuasa, and Kazuo Okubo, descendants of a century-old diaspora that has given São Paulo the largest Japanese population outside Japan.

[ fair previews ]
press> tuesday, 3 december 3 > 5p
vip> tuesday, 3 december 5 > 10 p

[ general admission ]
4/5/7/8 december 11a > 7p
friday, 6 december 11a > 8p
general admission> $15 students & $10 seniors

Armin hofmann: farbe/color. A+D museum.

Nov 13, 2013

silkscreen

Just in: The A+D museum was kind enough to send images. Detailed captions coming. I met Mr. Hofmann in 1972, at the height of the ebb of the Swiss USA invasion. Seems like 10k AH images through the years. You couldn’t avoid them if you needed an inspiration, taught design and presented his typography / color explorations, went to gallery openings, etc. I’m absolutely not sure that I’ve seen the images in this post though the architectural graphics are new to me. Hope to see this installation in person. The internet is misleading and almost a disservice. Nothing even close to experiencing some things in person.

disentis high school | architects hermann and hans peter baur

color sketch

b/w sketch

More information from an exhibition at Galerie Susanna Kulli (30 August – 28 September 2012  )
“It has always seemed to me that there must be a life of color as such, divorced from any object.” (Augusto Giacometti, Die Farbe und ich, 1933)—Until now, the reception of Armin Hofmann’s oeuvre has focused on this renowned Swiss graphic artist’s posters, which are largely in black and white. The exhibition at Galerie Susanna Kulli now offers the first in-depth look at his intense engagement with color. Its centerpiece is a portfolio of silkscreen prints that is unique in Hofmann’s oeuvre. The silkscreen portfolio is complemented by writings and sketches from Hofmann’s private archive and problems he assigned in his classes.

Recollections of four of his former students—Philip Burton, April Greiman, Aki Nurosi, and Moritz Zwimpfer—open up new perspectives on Hofmann’s close engagement with issues of color. Each of the twelve plates in the portfolio, created between 1989 and 1999, shows four triangles arranged in a square. By eliminating light-dark contrasts, Hofmann was able to focus on color as such and the contrasts specific to it—cold–warm and luminous–dull, as well as contrasts in hue and quantity. As Hofmann emphasizes, the twelve plates should not be regarded as final results; they are guideposts in a process, and their order is variable. The reduction to a single problem held constant led him to a more nuanced vision and a growing awareness of the sensual qualities of color: “When you work in this manner, you become ever more refined, more sensitive.” In his teaching, too, Hofmann sought to raise his students’ sensitivity for the qualities and effects of color.  He had no interest in imparting an authoritative system of color, striving instead to accommodate the individual element in color perception.

Of particular interest in connection with the silkscreen portfolio, which Hofmann describes as “a sort of account of my pedagogical activities,” is a problem he assigned in a class in 1984. The extant sketches produced by the students and their final results bear considerable compositional and chromatic resemblance to the twelve plates in Hofmann’s portfolio.  Two case studies—of the former PTT-Areal in Arlesheim and the high school in Disentis—further illustrate Hofmann’s use of color in three dimensions. Both buildings were designed by the architects Hermann and Hans Peter Baur, early advocates of an “integration of the arts” into architecture; during the almost six decades of their collaboration with Hofmann, they frequently involved the artist in the planning process from the very outset. Art for public spaces was the only field of his practice in which Hofmann employed color as a defining artistic element. As in the silkscreen portfolio and in his classes on color, the study of the relativity of chromatic values was central. The critical examination of the role of the mark in its context pervades Hofmann’s entire oeuvre. The engagement with color added another layer to this complex issue and may be seen as bringing further nuance and elaboration to his teaching of form.

venue> a+d museum | 6032 wilshire boulevard los angeles | 323 932 9393
opening reception> 14 november 2013 | 6p
open to public> 14 november 2013 > 19 january 2014 | los angeles

about ron kovach

Gallery libby sellers: aldo bakker copper. Designer gifts 2013

Nov 13, 2013

Gallery Libby Sellers was established by the former curator of London’s Design Museum in 2007 to support and promote contemporary design in a gallery context. Commissioning new works and curating a program of evolving selling exhibitions, the gallery has earned a reputation for its critical and concept-led agenda. Recent selling exhibitions have included: The Copper Mirror Series by Hunting & Narud, installations by Anton Alvarez of his Thread Wrapping Machine designs; a solo show of glass designer Paola Petrobelli; a psychogeography-inspired series of works by London-based Clarke & Reilly; the Craftica series of works with FENDI by Italian designers Formafantasma; and the ongoing touring exhibition of the works of legendary British graphic designer Richard Hollis.

above> ‘Copper Mixing Bowl’ by Aldo Bakker for Thomas Eyck, 2009-2010
Copper | Edition of 15
Price: £2,100

‘Copper Soy Pourer’ by Aldo Bakker for Thomas Eyck, 2009-2010
Copper & silver | Edition of 15
Price: £3,300

‘Copper Watering Can’ by Aldo Bakker for Thomas Eyck, 2009-2010
Copper | Edition of 15
Price: £2,100

Branding the new american airlines and us airways.

Nov 13, 2013

Ammerican Airlines. US Airways. The odd couple at first glance this is not. Here’s a safe bet: Red. White. And. Blue.

the first plane was painted in the new us airways livery in 2004

The American aircraft fleet overall needs a facelift and they are at the beginning of their fleet renewal vs. US which is nearly done. [ details ]

new american prototype was painted january 2013

[ overheard ]
15 feb 2013
US Airways CEO Doug Parker was non-committal when asked about American Airline’s new livery at an employee meeting Thursday regarding the merger, a transcript shows.

“I just don’t know. I think that’s the kind of thing you want to go spend some time on, talk about what’s the right branding for the combined airline,” Parker told employees Thursday.
The new American Airlines brand, unveiled just weeks before the merger, has drawn a lot of derision. So far, Parker and AMR Corp. chief executive Tom Horton have suggested in public that the new livery would stay with the new merged airline.

Horton was pretty firm on Thursday with my colleague Andrea Ahles in Fort Worth. Here’s what he said about keeping the livery:

[Horton] It looks like something you would design if you were going to put American and US Airways together. But it is a new look. We are rolling it out very quickly. In fact, we have 60 new airplanes coming this year that will be delivered with the new livery. … And I think it’s a great presentation of the new American going forward.

But with US Airways employees Thursday, a securities filing shows Parker isn’t so sure. Here’s what he told employees:

[John McDonald] Doug, lots of questions about that tail and that design right behind you.

[Parker] That is the American Airlines livery and that’s the US Airways livery. I got a lot of questions on this today and I don’t have a great answer, mainly because this is the kind of – kind of a detail we just don’t have answers to yet. I’m not suggesting by any means that we won’t be able to [inaudible]. I just don’t know. I think that’s the kind of thing you want to go spend some time on, talk about what’s the right branding for the combined airline. I haven’t seen the work they’ve done to come up with the branding they have, but I know they spent a lot of time on it and they’re proud of it, so I don’t want to prejudge one way or another. I just want to – that’s a detail that still needs to be worked out and one that we’ll work out together.

20 february 2013
US Airways’ latest employee update on its merger plans is out, and the company has some interesting things to say about maintaining its hubs and whether or not it will keep American Airlines’ new livery.

American and US Airways announced their merger last week, and plan to close on the deal in the third quarter. The new American livery has been a source of much derision, and people have wondered whether the merged airline will keep the tail design.

US Airways CEO Doug Parker will lead the merged airline, and it seems like the US Airways team could be open to a change. American adopted its new branding and livery while the carrier was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Here’s the company’s response from a Q & A in the employee update:
Q> What will happen to the American Airlines and US Airways branding and livery?
A> American Airlines is one of the most iconic brands in the world, and we are excited to operate under that globally recognized brand name. More specific branding and livery decisions will be made in due course as we move forward in the integration-planning process

The company also reiterated its promises not to do major cutbacks – a crucial issue for both travelers and employees.

Q> Will you be downsizing any hubs, reservation centers or facilities?
A> This is a merger premised on growth . Our synergies are derived primarily from the revenue benefits of American Airlines’ and US Airways’ complementary networks . Importantly, we expect to maintain all hubs and service to all our current destinations

designed by massimo vignelli in 1967 | the eagle added a bit later

The design community will pay close attention to how the American brand will morph, if at all. American’s previous brand lasted 46 years.

see more at the kiwi club

USB light: bookman. Designer gifts 2013.

Nov 13, 2013

Here’s a gift I give year-round because of its design and safety features and now it’s green statement: The USB Light is compact, lightweight, weather resistant and surprisingly bright. It fits all bicycles and is quick and easy to attach to the handlebar or saddle pole with an elastic rubber band. Its large button on the upper side makes the light easy to turn on and off, even with gloves. Rechargeable batteries. But don’t limit to just putting these lights just on your fixie. They not only light you up at night, they help you find things when it’s dark. I put them on arms | legs | rollerblades | umbrellas | folding concert chairs | pets | kids. Newer models are getting [ greener ] Run time > 5 hours (steady) 25 hours (flashing) | Visibility > Over 500 meters | Modes > steady/flashing/off | Contents > front light white led rear red [ bookman ]

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Back to front: sebastian bergne. Designer gifts 2013.

Nov 12, 2013

back to front | sebastian bergne | 2007

These ‘Back to Front’ playing cards are a light hearted redesign of the classic bridge format deck. The face of the card has been pushed onto the normally patterned back, leaving the front blank. Players are so forced to use the cards back to front. Produced in 2007 in an edition of 500 packs: exclusively at [ buysebastianbergne ]