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Design Live is located in hall 4.2, an area devoted to design. There are about 180 international design studios showing beautiful one-off samples of patterns and colors. The designers are selling their designs to textile, wallpaper or even product manufacturers. However, it’s an area where cameras are not very welcome. The reason, unsold one-off creations are valuable and easily copied because artwork is difficult if not impossible to trademark. The designers do not want their unsold designs going into a magazine or even worse, online. Even if the artwork is sold the artwork can’t be photographed because now the artwork does not belong to the designer but someone else and permission is needed.
Constantin Constans, a designer from France clasps his hands, shrugs his shoulders and then proceeds to show us his work while I take the photo. [ studioesco.com ]
Here we have Trend Art, one of several studios from Como, Italy. The work is organized by color and pattern and we are allowed to photograph the cover sheets of each collection [ trend art ]
This photo was a bit maddening and I refused to leave until I got permission to shoot. The shot involved talking to four partners in the studio. My interest was shooting the intricate black and white sweater necklace combination the buyer was wearing. In front of her were many black and white complex patterned samples. Well, I couldn’t photograph the artwork and the partners insisted that I show only a corner of a purple sample. The buyer was interested in taking the photo because her mom made the sweater and she wanted her to see it online. I don’t know if I can find the buyer’s business card.
Despite the quirkiness of this business model, Design Live was really interesting. The designers displayed many styles using pen and brush, CAD, lasers to cut and inkjet. Several studios made complex designs that were 12-inch-square tiles that perfectly linked together. The tiles allowed for precise scaling and arranging. Of course you have to use your imagination or go see the work Design Live in person. Hoping the designers see this post. [ Design Live ]
