• CALENDAR
    • Add Your Event
  • architecture
    • art & literature
    • awards
    • buildings
    • sustainable
    • prefabricated
    • public space
    • residences
    • urban planning
  • design
    • art & literature
    • awards
    • collectables
    • concept
    • fashion
    • sustainable
    • home
    • lifestyle
    • safety & special needs
    • transportation
    • workplace
  • editor’s pick
    • featured
    • gift ideas.
    • interviews
    • opinion
  • events
    • auctions
    • competitions
    • conference & Exhibitions
    • fairs
  • news
    • latest news
    • elsewhere
    • lifestyle
    • people
    • producer
    • retailer
DesignApplauseDesignApplauseyour daily design dose
  • CALENDAR
    • Add Your Event
  • architecture
    • art & literature
    • awards
    • buildings
    • sustainable
    • prefabricated
    • public space
    • residences
    • urban planning
  • design
    • art & literature
    • awards
    • collectables
    • concept
    • fashion
    • sustainable
    • home
    • lifestyle
    • safety & special needs
    • transportation
    • workplace
  • editor’s pick
    • featured
    • gift ideas.
    • interviews
    • opinion
  • events
    • auctions
    • competitions
    • conference & Exhibitions
    • fairs
  • news
    • latest news
    • elsewhere
    • lifestyle
    • people
    • producer
    • retailer

retailer

Home newsretailer (Page 2)
wallpaper* handmade. milan 2014.

wallpaper* handmade. milan 2014.

Apr 30, 2014

above> boxing set | soho house, horween leather and cleto reyes

Wallpaper* Handmade returned to the Leclettico gallery for its fifth celebration of craft and creativity at Salone del Mobile. The gallery is located in Gregorio Docet, the newest go-to design district in Milan and we spent the entire morning looking around the neighborhood after having a long visit at Homemade. What’s captivating about Milan Design Week is the sheer volume and diversity of high-level offerings. From iconic showrooms, Rho’s fairground and pop-ups everywhere. Homemade inspires and entertains us with one-off items of furniture, fittings, fashions, food and more, many exhibitors having only two-three months to conceive and execute. There were over 70 exhibitors. Each has a wonderfully interesting story behind them. Here’s just a few.

milan14-wallpaper-gabrielle1‘room divider’ | gabrielle shelton (pictured) and chris rucker

[DesignApplause] Gabrielle, tell us about yourself and what are you up at Handmade?
[Gabrielle Shelton] I’m from Los Angeles but have been living & working in Brooklyn for 19 years which is longer than I lived in LA so I am a Brooklynite. I collaborated with another artist, Chris Rucker, and we were interested in New York City’s history of metalwork and textiles and collaborating on something a little different than we normally do. We’re both builders and this vanity screen or room divider expresses a typology of a different scale. The screens represents certain areas of a room or divisions between construction or streets. Chris uses old moving blankets, and these blankets have been used to move things from shops to job sites. They’ve been in the back of a truck, they’ve gotten mouldy and stained. And he’s taken them apart, taken all the padding out of them and re-quilted them for this piece. My work is the all handmade brass frame. Everything has been machined, the screws, the turns, the hinges. And it’s all mechanical, no welds, no solders, no brazings.
[DA] You’re a sculpter, a metalsmith, a welder?
[GS] I don’t wear heels in the shop. One of my uncles is a welder and I learned how to weld when I was 12 years old. Now I have a metal shop.

[DA] The extensive amount from scratch of art and craftsmanship is sinking in. How much time from concept to finished piece?
[GS] A little less than two months. Chris and I are very busy and we did this all at night and on weekends. There was some texting and some long studio nights with beers.

[DA] What’s your body of work like?
[GS] I specialize in staircases, walls, hardware, furniture. I most recently did the staircase at the David Zwirner Gallery.

milan14-wallpaper-bracher1

above/below> ‘Cork jacket’ | Todd Bracher and Amorim

milan14-wallpaper-kite1

above/below> ‘Monsieur Poiré’ | Ian Wright and Caran d’Ache

milan14-wallpaper-table1hyunwoo bang and yunsil heo | everyware

above/below> ‘T.Able’ | Everyware and Friends & Founders
[DesignApplause] Yunsil, tell us about Everyware and T.Able.
[Yunsil Heo] Everyware is an interactive media group in Seoul and consists of me and my husband, Hyunwoo Bang. ’T.Able’ is an interactive project in development for two years and is a system where light interacts with objects, in this case cups on a table. You’re looking at a series of programmed graphics guided by infared information that detects both motion and objects.

[DA] What do you see as a practical application?
[YH ] There are opportunities for hotels or restaurants, for example, to incorporate creative art or lighting that enhance interior experiences. There are applications that are only limited by your creativity. If someone asks us to create a specific application for their needs we can accommodate them.

[DA] What’s your background(s)?
[YH ] I studied graphic design and later computer graphics programming (M.F.A. UCLA design/media arts, B.A. and Ph.D. Seoul Nat’l Univ) and my husband studied mechanical engineering (B.S. and Ph.D. mechanical and aerospace engineering Seoul Nat’l Univ and Postdoctoral Fellow biomedical engineering UCLA).

milan14-wallpaper-designtex1

above>below> ‘Clerkenwell’ coat | Wallace Sewell, Gieves & Hawkes and Designtex

milan14-wallpaper-mirror1‘revaluation’ obsidian mirrors | studio drift | ralph nauta and lonneke gordijn | studio drift

[DesignApplause] Ralph and Lonneke, I have a feeling this going to be quite technical.
[Lonneke Gordijn] Yes, get ready. Our concept addresses the excessive chemical waste problem the world is presented with today. We are using obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock. It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth. Our source of obsidian comes from a chemical engineer who’s been working with this material for the past 30 years, extracting 100% chemical wastes in the process. For us we use the ashes from the process and shape, glaze and polish. We can polish to a mirror-like finish. In a way, you have a reflection of yourself in your own waste.
[DA] When you’re wasted.
[LG] (laughing) Exactly! Our engineer currently has a small factory but has the ambition to create a larger commercial factory that extracts waste in great quantity. Our handmade piece for the show is a symbol of this process and his effort and we wanted to make an object that doesn’t relate to or look like waste. Our goal has grown to promote this technology to factories all over the world.

[DA] How did you meet this engineer?
[LG] We met him through mutual friends. Our friend said he makes gold and silver from chemical wastes and we said we must meet this guy!

[DA] How did you approach this challenge?
[Ralph Nauta] We know glass so that was our logical starting point but obsidian has a different melting temperature and cools at a different rate. Once we could liquify the material and understand it we were able to use molds made of sand to take us to the next step. Obsidian also behaves differently than glass as it holds warmth and cools much more slowly. We thought maybe a cool-down of five days but it was still 50 degrees. The trick is too cool it down slowly to reduce all the molecular tension. This piece from liquid to cool enough to touch takes about a week.
[LG] It’s also super heavy. It’s very weird, it sounds like metal when tapped but it works like glass. We’re still in the middle of the process and just have this one piece. And we’re still learning. We will cool down our next piece more slowly. It also feels a bit weird that it’s like baking a cake made with ingredients that make up our planet, that we stand on the ingredients of this cake everyday.

milan14-wallpaper-wood1

above> The floor inside ‘Passage of wood’ consists of humongous planks of douglas fir and it’s not unusual to see cracks deep in the center of the planks. The fix are ‘butterfly’ stitches.

milan14-wallpaper-sign1

[ wallpaper* handmade ] [ leclettico gallery ]

1> ‘Animal Party’ glow-in-the-dark wallpaper | Haas Brothers and Flavor Paper
2> ‘Tou tou’ pet transporter | Mathieu Gustafsson, sponsored by Jaguar, inspired by Jaguar Design
3> ‘SKID’ side table and bench | Sebastian Herkner and Caesarstone
4> ‘Passage of wood’ folly / In Praise of Shadows, Dinesen, Oliver Beer and Werkraum Bregenzerwald
5> ‘Clothes horse’ | Aaron Dunkerton and Kebony
6’>’Chaise longue’ | Monica Förster and Vispring
7> ‘The Structure of Chocolate’ | Pierre Marcolini, Patte
8> ‘Croquet set’ | Edition by Moyard and Adrien Rovero
9> ‘F-TYPE Coupé | sponsored by Jaguar
10. ‘Diptych: Landscape II’ | Fredrikson Stallard, sponsored by Jaguar, inspired by Jaguar Design
11> ‘La Jeune Rue’s concept store & new neighborhood |
12> ‘Dichroicarus’ kite | SO-IL and 3M

volume 20. things-matthias merkel hess. volume gallery.

volume 20. things-matthias merkel hess. volume gallery.

Apr 25, 2014

volumes14-hess1click > enlarge

[ Volume Gallery ] announces its first solo exhibition with Matthias Merkel Hess, Things.

“For all our technical mastery over things, in the end it is the things that have come to dominate us.” ~From The Meaning of Things, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi & Eugene Rochberg-Halton

For his new show, Things, Matthias Merkel Hess has made a decided break with his previous work and created a series of sculptures that are animate, hive-like and gestural, while remaining rooted in the history and traditions of ceramics. Best known for remaking plastic vessels and other consumer objects in glazed ceramic, for this exhibition Merkel Hess has expanded beyond copying readymade forms to make sculptures influenced by diverse sources including the geometric patterns on milk crates, the early sculptures of Peter Voulkos, and the Marvel character and Fantastic Four member, The Thing.

volumes14-hess2thing 1 | 2014 | wheel-turned, carved stoneware | 14D x 23.5H inches | unique

The Thing, who was born Benjamin Grimm, had his skin transformed by cosmic rays into a craggy, orange, rock-like hide. Unlike the other members of the Fantastic Four, Grimm is unable to change back and trapped in his monstrous form. Unhappy with the transformation, Grimm still uses his powers as The Thing for good. In this sense, he’s a modern version of the Golem – the animated being created from inanimate matter in Jewish folklore – and teaches us that you can’t have everything, and that true liberty and freedom comes from accepting yourself.

Created from inanimate clay, Merkel Hess’ Things begin their life on the wheel. Once the initial form is created, it is altered, carved and pierced, taking on characteristics that are both abstract and familiar. The pieces are then fired and glazed, undergoing a permanent transformation in the kiln that echoes Benjamin Grimm’s own transformation into The Thing.

Abandoning his previous work with plastic forms, Merkel Hess has maintained a looser approach to the Things while still allowing references to historical ceramic vessels and glazes. Less literal than his previous work, the duality of sculpture/vessel, animate/inanimate, figure/ground allows Merkel Hess to further free the medium of ceramics from its constraints of tradition and definition by working within and reveling in the possibilities offered by the medium.

event> volume 20: matthias merkel hess | things
venue> [ volume gallery ] | 845 west washington 3rd floor | chicago usa
date> 25 april 2014 > 14 june 2014
opening reception> friday, 25 april | 6 > 8p / rsvp sam@wvvolumes.com

[ 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.

haute living video experience. milan 2014.

haute living video experience. milan 2014.

Apr 24, 2014

thank you [ haute living ] chicago / video: nate ross

Cos x nendo + pop-up good fit for retailers. Milan 2014.

Cos x nendo + pop-up good fit for retailers. Milan 2014.

Apr 19, 2014

We get asked a lot about what’s trending though lately the big topic is who’s putting more emphasis on their online capabilities and what’s driving traffic to the website. For example in March [shades of blue] in conversation with Matteo Alessi, international sales and development director for Alessi, the pop-up concept was mentioned as a way to build face-to-face relationships that transfer to online purchases.

nendo-install8
nendo-install7

Again, a few weeks later, an enticing pop-up presented itself in Milan where clothing label COS and Japanese design studio Nendo created an installation in the Brera district in a very cool space. It was really more Nendo installation than COS. The ground floor space was empty except for the Nendo’s installation (above) and the basement a huge display of Nendo’s work. COS made it’s presence known with just a smattering of simply minimal accessory collections near the ground floor entrance. It was enough.

nendo-storefront1
cos assessories near ground floor entrance
nendo-storefront2

nendo-store1nendo display in basement
nendo-chess1

nendo-su-chair1su | emeco | 2014

We really went to see Nendo but discovered COS. COS (Collection of Style), owned by H&M, a best-kept secret that everyone in fashion seems to know launched with a catwalk show at the Royal Academy in 2007. An up-market brand positioned at a slightly higher price point to that typically associated with H&M’s fast fashion offerings.

H&M started their guest-designer collaborations in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld. Then Stella McCartney and avant-garde Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf in 2005. COS partnering with Nendo works well if you’re familiar with Nendo’s simple and almost timeless solutions. Current without being trendy, very Nendo-like.

Until recently, if you lived in the US you had to go to London or Paris to purchase COS because they were in Europe only and sold nothing online. That’s all changed. COS is currently operating across Europe and Asia with a total of 82 stores worldwide and will open its first store in the USA, New York, in spring 2014. Miami might be the next store.

cos-men1

cos-women1
cos-magazine1

The COS press kit consisted of a well-designed and expensive limited-edition looking spring & summer 2014 magazine (above) and a small creative little brochure with the story behind the pop-up collaboration. The magazine was in English, the brochure in English and Italian, with Italian store locations in back: Bologna, Firenze, Milano, Verona and coming soon, Torino. The details draw you in.[ nendo ] [ cos ]

<a href="527-ronscope200about ron kovach

discover design & gia awards winners. housewares show 2014.

discover design & gia awards winners. housewares show 2014.

Mar 29, 2014

‘Discover Design’ is four years old in 2014 and is a destination of more than 100 design-centric exhibitors from around the world. The confines includes the ‘Discover Design Gallery’ featuring the products submitted for the gia awards; ‘Design Debut’, an incubator program within Discover Design, featuring 10 new companies; and the Discover Design Lounge with Wine Bar and Café. In 2014 nearly 200 entries were viewed by 20 judges to select the 2014 gia awards winners:

[ best Collection Design ]
global honoree
Magisso > Naturally Cooling Ceramics

finalists
Carl Mertens > Verso Collection
Ekobo Ecology & Design > BIOBU Bamboo Kids Collection

[ best product design ]
global Honorees
Crucial Detail > The Porthole
Joseph Joseph > Twin-cut compact 2-in-1 scissors
Sagaform > Mini Greenhouse

finalists
Dreamfarm > Onpot
Monbento > MB LIB
Parallax Horizon > SpreadThat!
Room Copenhagen > Ole Jensen Colander
Savino > Winestor

[ martin m. pegler award for best booth ]
global Honorees
3 Sprouts

1the porthole | crucial detail

2twin-cut Compact 2-in-1 scissors | joseph joseph

3mini greenhouse | sagaform

4onpot | dreamfarm

6mb lib | monbento

7spreadthat! | parallax horizon

8ole jensen colander | room copenhagen

ihhs-dd-winstor1
winstor | savino

5naturally cooling ceramics | magisso

10verso collection | carl martens

9biobu for kids collection | ekobo ecology & design

ihhs14-dd-3sprouts13 Sprouts

[ 2014 judges ]
Specialty retailers, design and consumer editors, trendspotters and independent designers served as Discover Design judges for the gia awards. They are: Asko Ahokas, Asko Ahokas Consulting; Jens Bauerle, Global Brand Vision; Mary Liz Curtin, Leon & Lulu; Meredith Doherty, The Grommet; Mary Rose Gearon, Global Brand Vision; Michael Higdon, National Building Museum; Raymond Hu, Core77; Ron Kovach, DesignApplause; Dan Kraemer, IA Collaborative; Lu Lyndon, Placewares+Lyndon Design; Paul Makovsky, Metropolis magazine; Marco Perry, PENSA; Jamie Rowley, Fab; Billy Shelton, Chicago Architecture Foundation; Michele Tobin, Walker Art Center; Becky Tyre, Gift Shop magazine; Robyn Waters, R W Trend; Adrienne Wheatley, Culture + Commerce, Terri Winter, Top3 by Design; and LinYee Yuan, Mold.

[ official release – winners ]

all silicone is not equal. international home+housewares 2014.

all silicone is not equal. international home+housewares 2014.

Mar 22, 2014

above> misc. storage | finell

above>below What was not so noticeble at Ambiente 14 seemed everywhere at Home&Housewares 14: silicone. Washable/dishwasher safe, flexible, can be non-stick and easily takes colors, silicone has been around and first widely used for protection from heat and ironically, never has seemed to be taken seriously. In 2012 a new ingredient was added to silicone’s many assets and that was design. In 2013-14 silicone presents itself as ‘high-end’ through a new Austin, Texas, [ Finell ] founded by designer Rebecca Finell. The company designs, produces and distributes it’s own products and not exclusively silicone.

ihhs14-finell-facet2facets | finell

ihhs14-finell-silicase3siliase | monbento

above>below [ Monbento ] is a three-year-old French company founded by designer and CEO Emilie Fabien. It’s new ‘silicase’ collection for oven baked items is really beautiful, with a high-gloss inside and high matte outside and both Monbento and Finell offers a refined color palette which dramatically separates them from the pack.

ihhs14-monbento-silicase1silicase | monbento

ihhs14-dreamfarm-chopula4chopula | dreamfarm

above>below [ Dreamfarm ] creates a myriad of silicone solutions. Here’s Chopula (2012). The Australian company created in 2009 by Alex and Cate Gransbury also has a a USA base in San Francisco. The refined function of each product is not hidden by the playfulness of form.

ihhs14-dreamfarm-chopula1chopula | dreamfarm

ihhs14-lexon-obag3o bag | lexon

above>below Though technically not silicone the O bag feels like it but is a great deal less dense, less heavy, and may inspire designers to experiment with less heavy silicone solutions. The bags all come with removable mix-n-match handles as well as a zipper foam-like insert if you wish a little more security and are waterproof. O bag is designed by Italian designer Emanuele Magenta and made by Fullspot. O bag was seen in the [ Lexon ] booth, a French company conceived in 1991 by designer and president, René Adda.

ihhs14-lexon-obag2o bag | lexon

All of these companies were found in [ Discover Design ] a design-centric area at #IHHS14 @HousewaresShow

527-ronscope200about ron kovach

talking to fashion designer elke walter.

talking to fashion designer elke walter.

Mar 13, 2014

above> elke and zaha at zhd gallery | ‘elke is my favorite fashion designer’ ~ zaha hadid

We heard fashion designer Elke Walter was in town, having a pop-up store at Deborah Colman and Neil Kraus’ Bucktown store [ pavilion ]
[DesignApplause] Elke, what brings you here to Chicago?
[Elke Walter] We are here to do a pop-up store. Chicago is a great architecture and design destination and I once showed at Luminaire in 2007. So we thought it would be good to come back.

[DA] Is the pop-up concept new to you?
[EW] Actually we started this year. Let’s go back. Last year we, my husband Alfred and myself, moved from Germany to France. We were in a mood to start something new. In Germany, Hamburg, we had a studio and like other designers we were producing and selling to stores. We don’t have a store and I don’t like to go to fashion fairs which allows us to live in the countryside, in Provence, and everything feels very good, almost magical. It seems I am supported by the nature surrounding our new studio, I don’t know how to explain it, I feel it has an influence on my work. If you feel good you can transport this feeling through your work.

[DA] What’s your new environment like?
[EW] We live next to a vineyard. We have a very big garden. It’s a big place though my studio is very small. I now take the time to devote one-to-two hours to work in the garden.

[DA] Do you work alone?
[EW] I am surrounded by very talented and compatible local help. The conceptual, the creative I do myself and my helpers create the prototypes and some of the products. That said, it was difficult to find women who could respond to my needs. But it’s been a year or less so maybe it wasn’t all that difficult.

[DA] As a designer there is a certain element of control.
[EW] True, but the relationship, the chemistry who you work with is very important. And we are a close, small group. We don’t want to be big, we are in the country and I do feel the reduction in pace and pressure compared to a big city.

elke-essential-photo1essentials collection

[DA] How do you work?
[EW] I don’t work on a computer. I don’t sketch. I just cut. I have my basic patterns in mind and I know when I have a fabric what to use it for. I’m always looking for fabrics and I buy what I like. I have something very abstract in mind when I buy the fabrics. Sometimes the concept comes later but sometimes, it’s very exciting when I use the fabric as soon as I come home. I just cut, do the basic seams, the basic sleeves, the rest is open and then I see what I can do with it. At the start I work on a mannequin.

[DA] Ok, so you create as you go. You know the strengths and weaknesses of the fabrics. When someone asks you to do something you can grab the right fabric.
[EW] Yes and, I do not leave the choice to my customers. I like the idea of someone telling me I need a dress, I need a coat, I need something sumptuous, do what you think is good for this. I may be told what the event is and maybe there are limitations like don’t make it black or silver. I may then send just one piece or a box of things that I curate from what I have on hand.

[DA] What is the lead time for a dress?
[EW] If I have the time and I can concentrate on a piece, it can be created within a week if I have the fabric. If I have to look for the fabric I need one week more.

[DA] I learned that you also do work for the performing arts. Tell us about that experience.
[EW] I did performing arts twice. Once for the German theatre and then for the same director for a Hong Kong presentation. It took me three months to work on each. I would like to do it again and we’ll see if an opportunity presents itself but it’s something I don’t pursue with vigor because my regular work needs time too.

elke-ballet1

[DA] You’ll figure it out. What is your mix within your current portfolio?
[EW] I have a collection called ‘Essentials” which come only in black and there are always pieces available. They are basics and there are many options. Everyone says they feel so comfortable. That’s because of the way I cut. For example, with long sleeves there are no shoulder seams which demands quite a bit more fabric. Production apparel is cut with fabric efficiency in mind, usually at the cost of comfort. I am now spoiled wearing clothes that offer a great degree of comfort and freedom.

[DA] Do you design for men? I’m thin but I’ve worn oversized for such a long time. Now fitted clothes are in and it’s a whole new wardrobe. And I can see a man wearing some of your work.
[EW] Yes, snug clothes are in now, it’s the trend. And the clothes are much cheaper to produce. I am working on a new unisex line. They are coats and jackets and they are loose fitting. I’ve done clothes for my husband and Nasir Kassamali. I’ve done shirts. The men’s jackets look a bit different than what we are used to seeing.

[DA] Do you feel your clothes are designed for a different physique?
[EW] For small people everything looks good. It is difficult if you are very thin. I now have three sizes and they seem to work. One reason is many of my pieces are adjustable or can be worn different ways. You can let it hang loose or cinch it up and make it look best for you.

[DA] How did you get into design?
[EW] I did many things before. Maybe this is not the end. I was a writer, my husband is a writer. We did live in France from 1994 to 2001 and I started designing my own clothes because I couldn’t get what I liked where I lived. There was a day when I needed someone to do something for me and I was forced to do it myself. I placed no restrictions on myself, doing it differently, doing what was possible. I started very simple, then it came closer to the body. Then I got my first customer which I never had in mind to work for other people. But there were other orders and when we went back to Germany I brought my clothes into a shop. At this time I was making one-of-a-kind. And then in 2003 I opened my own store. I would buy fabric and make one-of-a-kind and it was very successful. I couldn’t believe it. One should have studied for what I now do, and the success encouraged me to keep going. I became a member of the German craft council, I am still a member. We went to shows and in New York where I met Nasir and he invited me to go to Miami in 2006. In fact he introduced me to Zaha Hadid and this December I will be showing in her design gallery. Looking back, one day you notice you’re part of the design world and that was never the plan. The plan was to do something for myself.

[DA] Was the craft council responsible for getting you out of your city?
[EW] The council presented opportunities which I followed. For example, the government gives financial support to go to fairs and provides venue to show your work. They also included me in an installation at a Hamburg museum. There were many opportunities.

[DA] What’s the difference between a trunk show and a pop-up store.
[EW] A trunk show typically occurs in a department store or boutique shop and you bring your trunk of work and they bring their customers. With a pop-up you have much more responsibility. It’s your shop within a shop. And you wouldn’t go into a fashion shop because they have their own stable of designers. With a pop-up you can go into many design worlds, an interior world for example and for a brief period of time your work is special within another environment, though design is the common thread.

[DA] Clive Thompson, a writer, says ‘our ideas are inspired by our environment.’ Are you inspired by your environment?
[EW] When I work, what I’m doing, what I like, I cannot say I saw something that inspired me. What should I say? I like certain things of course though I can’t say my dresses are a result of a tangible this or that. You know, it’s here (pointing to heart) and I’ve thought about this and I’ve talked to my husband a lot. For me, when something is done you may give it a name. For example color, some things look like morning dew to me or rain. So you see, my process is the other way around. And the process lives in a claustrophobic place, it’s in my head, and it’s my mirror. It’s me and the fabric. and that’s why, even when we had a studio in Hamburg and we had people working there on staff, I couldn’t be creative there, with people all around me, it was impossible. I took half of the day in my studio and half of the day in my head.

[DA] You mention mirrors. How important are the mirrors in your life?
[EW] Very important. Because I have to see what I’m doing while I’m doing and I want it to be beautiful from all sides.

[DA] So you have a mirror surrounding you?
[EW] No no, it’s one mirror. I am really not complicated, it’s really very simple. And now my space is very small. Me, the mirror, the fabric. And there I am standing, always standing. It’s a very physical exercise when I’m doing one-of-a-kind.

1
one-of-a-kind

[DA] What’s the function and purpose of clothes. To you?
[EW] We should look good in it. We should look good and be comfortable. And not just like everybody because you get clothes, both cheap and expensive, and I don’t see a difference. The clothes should show your personality. If it’s a simple black thing, cut in a different way, people will say, “Oh she must be special” or “she looks so different”. You don’t want to hide in the crowd. You don’t want to be like a mouse or an insect. Or a fish in the sea.

[DA] Ok. I get it. You know when we are talking about fabrics I was recently a guest of Heimtextil and though I didn’t talk to many designers I was almost always thinking how the designer, the fabric, the presentation, how do they arrive at the end product. How do very successful designers, and I include you, get the fabric?
[EW] Very famous designers work with manufacturers, and we talk about this. For instance in Italy, if you have an idea the manufacturer does it for you. I want this print, this texture, this weight, this function, maybe two colors, maybe 14, and the manufacturer shows you this and that to respond to. If you go to a fabric fair, a very good in Paris, Première Vision, on the first day you just walk around looking touching and you choose the companies you like most, and you choose your samples, your swatches which are sent to your studio. Then back at the studio you put together colors and textures. The best is to find your manufacturer. That way you don’t need 20 options you need just one, two, three, and that’s what we are doing now. And there are also wholesalers who deal in smaller quantities and deal with the designers who are yet another resource to choose. If I do a one-of-a-kind I am looking for a very special unique fabric.

[DA] What are trends to you?
[EW] Trends are market related so you have to do something for the next season. So you buy something new. That’s all. It’s fun for people who participate. I don’t want them to stop. For me, a bit foolish because for example, in the 90s everything had to be neon colored. Shoes, jewelry, nail polish, lipstick. And then you have all this stuff in your closet. You know, this is very personal. And then they say, let’s go back to the 80s. Then everything we just mentioned practically goes to black. The trends are primarily the province of less expensive products and everybody wants to fit in. Granted, its good for the economy.

[DA] Do you throw in the creative recipe sustainable, ecological solutions?
[EW] Oh yes, though I don’t use or look for special ecological, organic fabric, because for me sustainable is that I can wear my work for years on end. And I can wash it and not take it to the dry cleaner and it still looks perfect. It remains unchanged in the design, its freshness, its state.

[DA] I’ve changed my attitude a bit. This past year I had to judge a show of new products and my criteria was if there was no sustainable effort, we are talking about material here in most cases, the object could not receive a vote higher than five, no matter how it looked or behaved. My criteria has shifted more in line with your assessment of what sustainable means and now put that in my equation.
[EW] There are many aspects to this issue. You can work with organics but you also may have a worthy self interest to work local and the material and the manufacturing might not be locally available. And I feel, with what I do, I could have trouble always finding a unique, renewable, beautiful, sumptuous, responsive material for every solution. I can rationalize there are not that many one-of-a-kinds in the big scheme of things.

[DA] You know, I am a hypocrite in this matter. At home we don’t use plastic bottles for water, nor plastic bags at the grocery store. We take public transportation when we can and in DA I preach sustainable. But our car, it would be labeled high performance.
[EW] Ok, if we are going down this path, I don’t use cotton because I don’t like cotton. The material I use is, well, high tech.

elke13-popup-hadid1zhd gallery pop-up

elke13-popup2

[DA] Are you on your computer looking at fashion?
[[EW] No, not fashion. I use the computer for music. My son give me music in my dropbox and now I have an extensive playlist and the music goes on before work, during work and occasionally in the evenings. And I enjoy Youtube. The computer is next to my music and I enjoy finding out what the singer looks like, the performance art of the song and I am less interested in what they are wearing.

[DA] When I listen to music I listen to the music, not the words, but the music. I can be following a song for two years and all of a sudden it dawns on me what the song is about.
[EW] When I’m standing, draping and cutting the music needs to be loud. And not classical but edgy. When I’m sitting the volume comes down. I also look at design blogs. I like to look at lighting, installations, I follow Zaha Hadid and enjoy what she creates. I use it for research and follow German and French politics. I read The Guardian online. I’ve looked for shoes. Ah, I don’t have much time to do any of this. I prefer working in the garden. Alfred lives on the computer and tells me everything that’s important. He tells me everything I have to know.

[DA] What’s next?
[EW] Monday we go to France to get ready for Geneva and Hamburg where we are still working with two stores who want our stuff and we do runway shows for their designer week. Then to Berlin where we will be in an art gallery. Then in London where we will be in Hadid’s design gallery. We were also thinking about being in New York at year end where a store wants us to come but we wonder if it’s a good time just before Christmas when everyone, the women who buy our work, are extra busy socially and don’t have the time to come to a pop-up. We are also talking to an artistic photo gallery in Berlin. I like the interplay of photography and my work.

[DA] Anything else?
[[EW] While in Chicago I really enjoyed giving a lecture at the School of the Art Institute fashion department where I was a guest of Katrin Schnabl. In my new space I miss my interns. We had a lot in Hamburg and now I don’t have the space and we live in the countryside and they would have to find a place to live and they would be bored.

[DA] DesignApplause has a roster of about 15 interns and they work when their schedule permits. What’s interesting for me is I pick the ones who are fast at what they do.
[EW] Ah, same here. I don’t pick them because of their portfolio. I first want to talk to them and then I give them a little test. I want to see their practical side and our working chemistry. I am also wanting to get back into objects. Maybe lighting. I am working on a pendant light where the light source is coming from the bottom. I would like to collaborate with a lighting designer and I am looking into that.

elke13-popup-pavilion-mug1at the pavilion pop-up

[ Elke Walter ] is a mainly self-taught designer who has always refused to learn from others. Her aim was to get down to her own creative impact. The inner need to create things and give shape to fabrics was her stimulus.

But after more than 15 years in fashion business, furnishing more than 20 boutiques worldwide, and feeling urged to get back again to her own expressionism Elke and her husband Alfred, decided to make a sharp cut.

In 2012 their 20 boutiques worldwide were informed that they will not be furnished with Elke Walter collections anymore. The Walters gave up store and atelier in Hamburg and moved to Southern France. The reset button was pushed.

In the Provence countryside new expressive design is created that is showcased and sold via a pop up system in Europe and the US. Based on a permanent basic line, the Essentials, one-of-a-kind items are created, as well as a genderless avant-garde and an accessories line. Good form on a base of sustainability.

Innovative design, combined with distinguished craftsmanship is able to produce the thrilling highlights of today.

[ 2014 schedule ]
Hamburg ( private sale ) end March,
San Francisco | Aidlin Darling Architects | 18 > 190 April ( Easter )
London | ZHD Zaha Hadid Design Gallery | 29 > 31 May
Frankfurt | location to be announced | 12 > 14 June

For the 2nd half of 2014 details to be announced
New York
Sao Paulo
Dallas
London
Miami

<a href="527-ronscope200about ron kovach

design plus. ambiente 2014.

design plus. ambiente 2014.

Feb 10, 2014

above> a smart design competition in a very smart venue | galeria 1 messe frankfurt

Companies from 29 countries entered Design Plus 2014. To be accepted the entries may not have been on the market for more than two years and must meet high expectations with regard to function, design and sustainability. The jury selected 30 products from 24 companies from ten countries. Three Design Plus winners were also showcased in ‘solutions‘, an exhibit about innovative functionality.

ambiente14-designplus-alessi-mu1mu | toyo ito | alessi

tea-jay on the rocks | flöz industriedesign | blomus

fissler bionic | professor thomas gerlach via 4 design gmbh | fissler [ solutions winner ]


lucetta | emanuele pizzolorusso | palomar
[ solutions winner ]

ambiente14-designplus-stelton-goto1
to go | niels kjeldsen | stelton

ambiente14-designplus-skagerak-georg1georg | christina liljenberg halstrøm | skagerak denmark

ambiente14-designplus2

[ products 2014 ]

[ jury ]
Designer: Mark Braun, Berlin
Design trade: Volker Hohmann, Ikarus Design Handel GmbH, Gelnhausen, Germany
Design Management: Hugo Macdonald, Studioilse, London
Design Teaching: Hubert Kittel, Burg Giebichenstein
University of Art and Design Halle
Design press: Stefan Nilsson, Trendgruppen, Stockholm
Design manufacturer: Philipp Mainzer, E15, Frankfurt/Main
Sponsor: Andrej Kupetz, German Design Council, Frankfurt/Main
Sponsor: Julia Droege, German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Frankfurt/Main

harry bertoia sculpture. 15 years at wright.

harry bertoia sculpture. 15 years at wright.

Feb 5, 2014

[ Wright ] has celebrated the artworks of Harry Bertoia since their earliest auctions, therefore it is fitting that Wright presents Harry Bertoia Sculpture: 15 Years at Wright in their new New York gallery. This notable exhibition will showcase select works from their history of selling Bertoia at auction alongside works never before offered on the market. From Bush Forms, Welded Forms and Sonambients to experimental works, this comprehensive exhibition will highlight exceptional works from Bertoia’s extensive oeuvre.

wright14-bertoia2

wright14-bertoia3

Exhibition Tour & Conversation with Richard Wright | 6 february 6>8p | rsvp@wright20.com
For pricing and availability of works | 212 585 0200 | wrightny@wright20.com
980 Madison Ave | Third Floor | New York [ wright ]

about phil patton

belated birthday wishes to 30-year-old mac.

belated birthday wishes to 30-year-old mac.

Jan 25, 2014

Mac turned 30 on 24 January. Few recall or know the rocky start that changed computing. The first public words from the Mac itself: ‘Never trust a computer you can’t lift.’ [ more ]

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 14
  • 15

Contact Us

We're currently offline. Send us an email and we'll get back to you, asap.

Send Message
DesignApplause

your daily design dose

Follow Us


about us
contact/help
privacy policy

ADVERTISEMENT

LATEST NEWS

  • a man for all reasons brit architect/designer david chipperfield wins 2023 pritzker architecture prize.
  • the beginning is the most important part of the work. hello 2023.
  • 40m zero-emission domus redefines trimaran concept.
  • this glass is for the birds migratory birds that is.
  • 2023 all-electrifying timeless instant recognition porsche taycan.

All content ©2007 > 2022 DesignApplause