design festival – DesignApplause

architecture & design film festival.

Oct 11, 2017

the architecture & design film festival (adff) – the nation’s largest film festival devoted to the creative spirit that drives architecture and design – will take place in new york city from november 1-5 at cinépolis chelsea. through a curated selection of films, director q&as and panel discussions, adff creates an opportunity to educate, entertain and engage all who are excited about architecture and design. the ninth edition will showcase 30+ feature-length and short films offering explorative portraits of architecture icons such as mies van der rohe, glenn murcutt and rem koolhaas, and delving into topics ranging from imaginative solutions for homeless housing and how drones will impact architecture.

natalia geci at the london design festival.

Sep 6, 2016

argentinian architect and designer natalia geci will be presenting the latest in her nomadic furniture collection, lynko – a modular freestanding system designed to transform and created to fill the needs of a contemporary wayfaring lifestyle – at the london design fair (formerly tent london) during the london design festival.

discouraging today’s throwaway culture and changing the notions of the modern day home, lynko is a culmination of geci’s own experiences resulting in a flexible, light and easily transportable storage solution suitable for an individual or a growing family.

talking to michelle boone on chicago’s first architecture biennial.

Oct 2, 2015

It’s hard to believe that 2015 is the launch date of the first Chicago Architecture Biennial. With so many major worldwide architecture & design events going on and with Chicago’s architectural heritage being one of the richest in the world, this event will serve as the epitome of ‘it’s never too late.’ We talked to the biennial’s resourceful, Michelle Boone, Commissioner of the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), after an exhilarant, worldwide audience filled, first press event. Many would say she’s 100% responsible for this inaugural happening.

[DesignApplause] What’s the genesis of the Chicago Architecture Biennal? How far back does it go?
[Michelle Boone] I was appointed by Mayor Emanuel in 2011, and I would say probably that second week of my tenure I got a call from the mayor wanting to work towards identifying a new platform, a major platform to convene the world and celebrate one of Chicago’s multiple assets. And very quickly through the process of working on the Chicago Cultural plan released in 2012, we landed on architecture. That while we had great organizations like the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and others that were doing their part to introduce visitors to Chicago institutions and Chicago Architecture history, the city itself had done very little to really promote architecture. We had great music festivals, engaging theatre programs and grant programs in support of individual artists, but as an agency very little for architecture, one of the city’s cultural strengths. And professions! I mean, just the sector of architecture as a creative industry is really important to the city. So we began to explore and look at biennials and exhibitions around the world.

[DA] And what year was this?
[MB] 2012. We went to Venice, the granddaddy of them all and met with those folks and they were very encouraging. And you know, they were shocked and surprised when we told them Chicago wasn’t doing a biennial. Every time we spoke to someone outside of the city, we heard that over and over. Through this process and along with our very encouraging and supportive local architecture community we’re here today kicking off our biennial. Looking back it was very easy in the beginning pulling the pieces together, but then we had to do the hard work of pulling everything together.

[DA] To summarize, how long has it taken to get to today?
[MB] We’ve been working on it for three years, in different iterations. The exploration, research, the ideas started back in 2012. I think Sarah (Herda, executive director of the Graham Foundation) coming on board, and really starting to massage the artistic vision for the biennial probably started in late 2013. So, yes, I think the work that she and Joseph (Grima, an architect and writer who co-curated the 2012 Istanbul design biennial) have been engaged in has been at least 18-24 months for sure.

[DA] Venice started in the 80s. The experts say you have 10 years, and with the biennial occurring every-other year, that’s 20 years. Are you going to hang in there?
[MB] Well, the Biennial will hang in there (laughing) I don’t know if it needs me to hang in there all that time. What’s very important, we started right from the beginning establishing the Chicago Architecture Biennial as an organization, an independent non-profit to ensure the sustainability of the event. It’s not dependent on me being here at the city of Chicago, or Mayor Emanuel being here, but that the organization will build the institutional intrastructure to be able to carry this on.

[DA] You’ve been able to see all the installations, can you point me to one or two?
[MB] There are a lot of cool things here and one of the coolest to me is the installation with spider webs, so the spider as architect (Tomas Saraceno, Berlin) is pretty interesting to see.

above> – click image for slide show; Tomas Saraceno, Berlin – When entering into Saraceno’s installation, a visitor’s perception is reoriented in a darkened environment dotted with glowing sculptures that are articulated in silvery spider silk. Formed of complex interwoven geometries suspended in air, each piece appears as a unique galaxy floating within an expansive, infinite landscape. The work’s titles reveal the technical basis for each sculptural element, like the genus and species of the spider collaborators and the amount of time needed to construct their webs – one four months. During the building period of a sculpture, each cube is turned onto its different sides, dislodging gravity and interweaving concepts of freedom of control within the work.

[DA] Anything else you wish to say?
[MB] It’s free! One unique thing about our biennial in comparison to some of the others around the world, is that all of the works are free and accessible.

[DA] How did the largest architecture and design festival ever to be held in North America press conference go?

The [ Chicago Architecture Biennial ] launches 3 October 2015, and will run through 3 January 3 2016. @chicagobiennial @grahamfound

2015 chicago architecture biennial opening days public schedule.

Sep 30, 2015

the first chicago architecture biennial is the largest architecture and design festival ever to be held in north america | courtesy iwan baan

Chicago is billing the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) as North America’s biggest survey of international contemporary architecture, but the event is not alone. Besides Venice, whose architecture biennial began in 1980, cities worldwide hold biennial exhibitions of art, design and architecture year-round.

The first biennial, which has secured a $2.5 million lead grant from British oil and gas giant BP, is planned for 3 October 2015, through 3 January 2016. Mayor Rahm Emanuel personally solicited the lead, $2.5 million donation for the biennial from BP. The city’s biennial will present scale models, photographs and more unconventional displays hosted at the Chicago Cultural Center.

The event organizers have Chicago holding its architecture biennial in odd-numbered years with Venice historically presenting even-numbered years. The experts say this is a 10-year, five in Chicago, trial run. DesignApplause is optimistic.

The event will be “the Davos of architecture,” said the co-artistic director of the Chicago biennial, Sarah Herda, referring to the Swiss city that hosts global business and political leaders at its World Economic Forum. Herda is the executive director of the Chicago-based Graham Foundation, a grant-making architecture organization that has partnered with the city to host the biennial. Joseph Grima is the other co-artistic director, an architect and writer who co-curated the 2012 Istanbul design biennial.

There will be no admission charge for the Chicago biennial. The Venice event two-day ticket price is 30 euros ($41). The target audience will be architects and designers, cultural mavens, students and tourists.

Below is a schedule of public events. Some events will require an RSVP. [ chicago architecture biennial ] [ graham foundation ]

[ wednesday 30 september ]

4:30–6 PM Panel: Death and Afterlife of the Post-Industrial City
Location> The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, SAIC Ballroom, 112 South Michigan Avenue

Presented by the Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the SAIC in collaboration with the Department of Architecture and Design at MoMA, New York and the Elkones Institute (Basel), with additional support from the Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration and the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects.
Free and open to the public

5:30 PM UIC School of Architecture, Fall 2015 Lecture Series: Tatiana Bilbao Principal, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Mexico City, Mexico
Location> 1100 Architecture + Design Studios, 845 West Harrison Street
Free and open to the public

6:30 PM Chicago Architectural Club: Burnham Prize & Currencies of Architecture Exhibition Opening
Location> Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 South Michigan Avenue
Free and open to the public

[ thursday 1 october ]

2-5 PM House Housing + We, Next Door exhibit
Location> 1322 West Taylor Street

Presented by the National Public Housing Museum and Columbia University
Free and open to the public

2:30 PM Screening of Infinite Happiness
Location> AMC River East 21, 322 East Illinois Street

4–6PM Outside Design Exhibit Artist Talk and Reception with, David Benjamin, Eric Ellingsen David Hays, Joyce Hwang, and Emmanuel Pratt
Location> The Art Institute of Chicago, 112 South Michigan Avenue
Hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Free and open to the public

5-7:30 PM James Wines: SITE Specific - Architectural Drawings 1979 to 2012 | Opening Reception
Location> Rhona Hoffman Gallery, 118 North Peoria Street
Free and open to the public

5:30-8 PM International Perspectives | Chicago and the Future of Urban Change
Location> The Art Institute of Chicago’s Rubloff Auditorium, 111 S Michigan Avenue

Presented by Van Alen Institute and the Architecture & Design Society of the Art Institute of Chicago
Free and open to the public

5–8 PM Barbara Kasten: Stages Opening Reception
5PM Opening Remarks by Barbara Kasten and ICA curator Alex Klein
Location> The Graham Foundation, 4 West Burton Place
Free and open to the public

[ friday 2 october ]

1-2:15 PM Biennial Participant Roundtable Moderated by Beatrice Galilee and José Esparza
Location> Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 East Randolph Street
Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

2:30-4 PM Biennial Participant Roundtable Moderated by Emiliano Gandolfi and Awarding of the Curry Stone Design Prize
Location> Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph Street
Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

4:30 PM Theatre: Performance by Santiago Borja
Location> Carr Chapel, IIT, 65 East 32nd Street
Free and open to the public

4:30 PM Superpowers of Ten: Performance by Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation
Location> The Tank, Chicago Athletic Association, 12 South Michigan Avenue
Free and open to public. Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

6 & 6:15PM We Know How to Order: Performance by Bryony Roberts and South Shore Drill Team
Location> Federal Plaza, Chicago
Free and open to the public. Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

6:30 – 10PM New Horizon_architecture from Ireland at the Chicago Design Museum
Location> Chicago Design Museum, Block Thirty Seven, 108 North State Street, 3rd Floor
Irish Design 2015 in partnership with the Chicago Design Museum
RSVP to rsvp@chidm.com

8 PM Superpowers of Ten: Performance by Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation
Location> The Tank, Chicago Athletic Association, 12 South Michigan Avenue
Free and open to public. Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

8 PM Theatre: Performance by Santiago Borja
Location> Carr Chapel, IIT, 65 East 32nd Street
Free and open to public

lekker architects’ proposal was a finalist in the [ lakefront kiosk competition ] | courtesy lekker architects

[ saturday 3 october ]

12:30 PM We Know How to Order: Performance by Bryony Roberts and South Shore Drill Team
Location> Federal Plaza, 219 South Dearborn Street
Free and open to the public

1 PM We Know How to Order: Performance by Bryony Roberts and South Shore Drill Team
Location> Federal Plaza, 219 South Dearborn Street
Free and open to the public

12:30-2 PM Metropolis Preserving Postmodernism Panel: postmodernist architecture: preservation’s new frontier
Location> Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph Street
Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

4:30 PM Superpowers of Ten: Performance by Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation
Location> The Tank, Chicago Athletic Association, 12 South Michigan Avenue
Free and open to the public. Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

5-8 PM Night of Illumination: Opening Celebration at Stony Island Arts Bank
Location> 6760 South Stony Island Avenue
Online RSVP via https://night-of-illumination.eventbrite.com

[ sunday 4 October ]

7 AM Amanda Williams’ Color(ed) Theory House Painting: Flamin’ Red Hots
Location> 5703 South Lafayette
The event is free but requires RSVP. Inquire at www.awgallery.com

2–3:30PM Thinking into the Future: A Conversation with John Ronan
Location> Preston Bradley Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 East Randolph Street
Presented in Collaboration with the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
Online RSVP via Chicago Architecture Biennial Website

faye toogood invites visitors to explore the v&a wearing a custodian’s coat. LDF15.

Sep 19, 2015

photo > french and tye

10 custodian-style coats by London-based designer with Kvadrat Faye Toogood invite visitors to delve deeper into the permanent collection of the city’s iconic Victoria and Albert museum.

A visit to a museum usually starts with checking your coat into a cloakroom. At the V&A throughout the London Design Festival, visitors were instead invited to exchange their coat for one of 150 custodian-style compressed-foam Kvadrat coats, designed by Toogood. “Each coat has been hand-painted emphasising the seam, the pattern and the pattern cutting,” said Toogood who launched her first fashion collection with pattern-cutter sister Erica two years ago. “But we’re not asking everyone to look the exactly same, because on the backs of the coats are faces, so you can pick your little face.”

Hand-illustrated maps sewn into the pocket of each coat led visitors to 10 different “coats” – specially commissioned sculptures that responded to specific items or spaces within the museum. “One of the main ambitions of the project was to get people to go to parts of the museum they might not normally go to – not just to put a piece within a space, but to really engage with the exhibitions,” said Toogood.

photo > french and tye

All created by British fabricators, artisans and manufacturers, and named after the trade they reflect, the coats are made from unexpected materials from studded industrial rubber to intricately carved wood.

The Wood Carver (above) was hand-formed from European Oak by Stuart Interiors in response to the strapwork ornamentation of the 16th-century Old Palace in Wax Gallery 58, where this sculpture could be found. Scaled-up markings of the original clay maquette can be seen in the finished form, leaving a legacy of the design and making process.

Overlooking the veined marble “Staircase A,” outside the Arebascato Marble Gallery 58, The Stone Mason (above) made by Lapicida features flowing fabric forms dictated by the digital scanning process on the front and precise machine-cut incisions on the back.

The Welder (above), formed by Newcastle-based Novocastrian, comprises a blue aluminum rod outline of coat encased in a blackened mild-steel mesh box, complementing the 1990s steelwork of the Wendy Ramshaw screen displayed nearby. Pivoting discs of mirrored glass at its collar and cuffs encourage a moment of literal and metaphorical reflection.

Inspired by the Victorian casts of Salisbury Cathedral’s medieval stonework displayed in nearby Gallery 64b, and created by fiberglass First, The Sculptor (above) comprises ten layers of flat coat-shaped fiberglass in varying tones, bound together with galvanized steel bolts standing in for the coat’s buttons.

The Astronomer (above) resembles a flattened and creased leather coat, but on closer inspection it is in fact cast from patinated bronze, the reverse side revealing its supporting structure and cerulean blue hue inspired by the trompe-l’oeil mastery of Alessandro Pampurino’s Renaissance ceiling grisaille in Gallery 64a.

In Gallery 62, The Blacksmith (above) is a heavy-duty industrial rubber coat pierced with hundreds of steal studs and mirrored screw-enclosures to create the aesthetic of an armored hide harking back to the specialized apparel of 16th-century tournaments and battlegrounds.

The Tiler (above) in Gallery 143 is made from loosely piled terracotta pottery shards arranged to approximate the form of a coat, with viscous drips of tinted resin oozing down its sides. Its jagged outline references both the heritage of the ceramics industry and pixelated images of the digital era. This sculpture was made by Natural Stone Projects.

Resembling a coat covered in white post-it notes, The Potter (above) was made by 1882 Ltd from fragments of glazed stoneware and earthenware, which have been annotated with words and phrases from the Toogood manifesto, which includes calls to arms like “We hereby reject and reprehend the cruel diktats of the discredited fashionista treadmill,” “We shall… clear the way for a new aesthetic rooted in individuality and honesty,” and “We celebrate the craft and the toil of the workers.”

The Plasterer (above) is more the absence of a coat than a coat. A block of plaster lies on the floor of Gallery 54, with a counter-relief of a coat carved out of its middle. The piece, made by London Mould Makers, was inspired by the 18th-century fashion for intricate plasterwork mouldings – as mastered by the architect James Gibbs – and seen on the ceiling this room, making the coat a reflection of what’s above.

Finally, a bedroom-hanging from Stoke Edith House in Gallery 54 provided inspiration for The Embroiderer (above). Woven from steel wool mesh, the coat merges the results of fine needlework with the tools used in its creation – thousands of stainless steel pins have been stitched into its fabric.

above> faye toogood in her london studio / photo mark c o’flaherty

above / below >the cloakroom concept sketches

The Cloakroom by Faye Toogood at the V&A museum 19 – 27 September 2015 to coincide with the London Design Festival.

2015 clerkenwell design week round-up.

Jun 5, 2015

Clerkenwell Design Week is one of my favorite festivals. It’s small enough to get around in a day (although increasingly, I’m there for all three!), the sun (almost!) always shines, and it has a real ‘festival’ vibe with showroom parties spilling out onto the streets, interesting installations, and of course, ice-cream!

My favorite installations this year: Glaze by Cousins & Cousins in collaboration with Gx Glass – an interactive space made of candy-colored glass panels;

…the Invisible Store of Happiness by Sebastian Cox and Laura Ellen Bacon in collaboration with the American Hardwood Export Council;

…the Johnson tiles transformation of the entrance to the Farmiloe Building created by Verve – an installation of colored and mirrored tiles, arranged so that you saw all the colors of the rainbow looking one way, and your own reflection looking the other;

…and Agora on the Green – a collaboration between Scandinavian Business Seating, Article 25 and Russ & Henshaw, which invited passers by to take a seat, add to its design, and even raising money for the Nepal Earthquake Appeal.

The main hub of the festival is the Design factory at the Farmiloe Building, and this is where the more established brands can be found. Anglepoise launched three new editions of the Original 1227 desk lamp by London-based surface pattern designers Eley Kishimoto.

I loved &Then Design’s limited edition Flora in copper – designed in collaboration with Scarlett San Martin.

Sean Dare of Dare Studio was launching this fabulous pink sofa – I love the gold legs: a grown-up take on a feminine 1970s-inspired corner sofa.

Husband and wife team Baines & Fricker were showing their SB01 and BF02 collections. The latter is their colorful take on a pew – although I think it might raise a few eyebrows in church!

I loved this tailoring detail on Cornish furniture manufacturer Mark’s Fold Sofa.

Next I moved on to Platform, Clerkenwell Design Week’s space for up-and-coming designers – in the spooky subterranean setting of a Victorian former prison. I loved this little orange-legged stool by Amy Whitworth.

The Naive chair by etc.etc. has been stripped down to the bare minimum, with none of the fun removed – each piece comes in a range of bright colors that can be mixed and matched. This all-yellow version is perfect for me.

There is a real trend about at the moment for embracing the imperfections of natural materials, such as ‘waney edges,’ – the wobbly outside section of wood that goes right up to the bark, which is normally trimmed off to create consistent straight planks. What I love about Richard Hardy‘s collection is the way it combines this sustainable approach with a sense of fun.

Ambrose Vevers’ furniture is all hand-made in the South-West of England – he even fells the trees himself.

Additions is the space for small home accessories at the Crypt on the Green, the brick-walled crypt underneath Clerkenwell’s St James’ Church. I spotted Gemma Kay Waggett‘s quilted textiles almost as soon as I walked into Additions and was immediately drawn by their complex patterns and understated palettes.

I am a big fan of Billy Lloyd‘s ceramics. This collection of mugs was being shown as part of a curation by Charlotte Abrahams called This Is Craft.

This is the debut collection from N and N Wares and I’m already a huge fan. This one stopped me in my tracks – just beautiful.

I love Matt Pugh’s little wooden birds, so was interested to see more of his work. These candlestick holders come in a set of five and I think they work just as well without a candle – as abstract forms adding a pop of color to your interior scheme.

Alicja Patanowska hand-throws ceramic forms to turn discarded glassware (which she collects on the streets of London in the early hours of the morning!) into functional plant-pots, in which you can see both roots and stem.

And last but not least, Homeware and paper goods brand Hjem (Home in Danish), is based in the French Alps and run by Emma Richmond – it launched in October 2014 and this was Emma’s debut show, so it was really exciting to see her work. I’m looking forward to seeing more from her at the London Design Festival in September.

events2 london design festival 2014.

Sep 18, 2014

DesignApplause asked #LDF14 @L_D_F experts to point us to items of interest.

From Libby Sellers [ gallery libby sellers ] …

event> [ serpentine pavilion 2014 ]
venue> serpentine galleries | kensington gardens W2 3XA | lancaster gate, knightsbridge or south kensington tubes | 10a > 6p
info> designed by Smiljan Radić
Chilean architect Smiljan Radić has designed the fourteenth Serpentine Pavilion. A semi-translucent, cylindrical structure that resembles a shell and rests on large quarry stones, this yearos Pavilion occupies 350 square metres of the Serpentine’s lawn and is home to and inspiration for the Park Nights series of events. Open until 19 October.

event> [ galerie kreo london ]
venue> galerie kreo | 14A hay hill W1J 8NZ | | green park tube | tues / sat 10a > 6p
info> Founded by Clémence and Didier Krzentowski, Gallerie Kreo produces shows and original creations by The Most major contemporary designers, operating like a ‘design laboratory “dedicated to research. Opened in September, the London debut is for now a low-key affair, with a small edit of lighting pieces aptly titled ‘A Light Introduction’.

event> [ urban plunge ]
venue> roca london gallery | station court, townmead road SW6 2PY | imperial wharf tube | mon / fri 9a > 5:30p Sat 11a > 5p.
info> Urban Plunge explores the growing urban swimming movement through a series of proposals for river and harbor baths in London, New York and Copenhagen that envisage imaginative new ways to enjoy urban water environments. Curated by Jane Withers for Wonderwater, showcases five architectural interventions for swimming in clean natural waters in the heart of our cities.

[ design districts ]

events1 at london design festival 2014.

Sep 16, 2014

library: private members club / see below

[ exhibitions | installations | open houses ]

event> [ ama 2014 ]
venue> v&a | cromwell road SW7 2RL | south kensington tube | 10a > 5.45p
info> Michael Anastassiades in collaborates with Flos presenting lighting installation Ama, made by mouth blown opaline spheres and brass. An appreciation of the pearl diving mermaids of Japan.

event> [ disobedient objects ]
venue> v&a | cromwell road SW7 2RL | south kensington tube | 10a > 5.45p
info> As the central hub location for the London Design Festival for the sixth year, the V&A will again house a broad range of commissioned activity which will be spread throughout the Museum and include installations, events, talks and workshops.

event> [ Double Space for BMW – Precision & Poetry in Motion ]
venue> venue> v&a | cromwell road SW7 2RL | south kensington tube | 10a > 5.45p
info> The exhibit is a kinetic sculpture created from huge reflectors measuring around 10 x 15 meters. One side is flat and the other is like a lens, reflecting the gallery in differing ways as they move in a choreographed fashion.

event> [ high street highline camden collective ]
venue> collective | 26 camden high street | 10a > 5p mon>sat
info> Collective invites artists and designers to produce temporary installations for the roof tops of Camden High Street. We explore the creative possibility of these vacant upper corridors and offer an alternative perspective, taking inspiration from New York’s regeneration project, ‘The High Line’.

event> [ library: a private member’s club ‘open house’ ]
venue> 19 greek street | 122 st-martins lane, covent garden WC2N 4BD | charing cross tube | 10a > 6p
info> Designed by Marc Peridis of 19 greek street, LIBRARY is London’s new member’s club targeting an intellectual elite of architects, interior designers, writers, playwrights and more. Opening in September, the exclusive club will open it’s doors to the public For the duration of LDF.

event> [ louis kahn: the power of architecture ]
venue> design museum | shad thames SE1 2YD | london bridge tube | 10am – 5.45pm
info> The American architect Louis Kahn is one of the great master builders of the 20th Century. In this exhibition, discover how Kahn created a modern form of expression for the eternal and essential qualities of architecture.

event> [ off | cut ]
venue> | fritz Hansen showroom | 13 margaret street W1W 8RN | oxford circus tube | 10a > 6.30p / wed 10a > 9p
info> an experimental, deployable structure that investigates the inventive re-use of Fritz Hansen’s material waste. Designed by Chung Tyson Architects.

event> [ open studio ]
date> 20 september | 11a > 6p
venue> sebastian bergne studio | 2 ingate place SW8 3NS | queenstown Road station |
info> Sebastian Bergne will be opening his studio to visitors. Displayed in the context of his working environment will be new and old projects for the arrangement of flowers.

event> [ space and light ]
venue> sir john soane’s museum | 13 lincoln’s inn fields WC2A 3BP | holborn tube |
10a > 5p tue/sat
info> A pop-up exhibition inspired by Sir John Soane’s use of space and light. Leading contemporary designers and artists, including Ab Rogers, Paul Schutze, Sebastian Bergne and Tiipoi install their work in the Museum’s historic interior.

[ party! ]

event> [ heal’s tottenham court road party ]
date> 17 september | 6 > 9p
venue> the heal’s building | 196 tottenham court road SW2 4DR | the goodge street tube |

studio job pussy cats. carpenters workshop gallery london design festival 2014..

Sep 15, 2014

cat fight | 2014 | polished patinated bronze, hand blown glass, hand painting, led light fittings, limited edition of 8 + 3 ap | h65 / l80 x w40 (cm)
h25.59 x l31.5 / W 15.75 (inches)

Dutch artists, Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel of Studio Job have created a new universe made of their own cats. Product design becomes a fulcrum for sculpture in these limited edition art pieces which serve as artistic form and literal function.

the ‘pussy cat’ collection of lamps are available in four positions: ‘cat fight’, ‘cat attack’, ‘cat hiss’ and ‘cat swipe’

Taking joy in creating a myth out of the everyday, these cats remind one of the Greek statues fighting over ancient battles, but here that back story is not needed or wanted. Studio Job commands a studio of artisans that work with traditional craft at the highest level, utilizing materials such a bronze to achieve a level that goes beyond and above Koons. By blowing up to high-art status the everyday ordinary world, the objects alone express the intensity. The day is coming when a single original carrot will give birth to a revolution. Cezanne*. Or a cat…

cat swipe | 2014 | limited edition of 8 + 3 ap | h35 x l70 x w30 (cm) h13.78 x l27.56 x w11.81 (inches)

cat hiss | 2014 | limited edition of 8 + 3 ap | h35 x l80 x w25 (cm) h13.78 x l31.5 x w9.84 (inches)

cat attack | 2014 | limited edition of 8 + 3 ap | h65 / l40 x w30 (cm) h25.59 x l15.75 x w11.81 (inches)

Nynke and I love our cats Paula & Jambe Blanche. Paula is an orphan from a a village call Echt in the southern part of Limburg. Jambe Blanche is a ‘bell dame’, 17 years old. She was born in the cellar of our first studio… Jambe Blanche has four white legs, both spotted with black like little Dutch cows. In fact, we only allow black & white spotted cats in our house in the forest.
Last but not least: They are female, in Dutch slang this can be pronounced as ‘poesje’. Which is equivalent for ‘vagina’.
Cats can be quite ruthless. I believe cats are, as we say, autistic to a certain extent as in they can’t really connect tint others’ emotions.
Let’s be hones: Cats kill birds, butterflies, mice and sometimes a mole. Yet at the same time they sleep in our bed. Some say cats are more closely related to humans than we assume.
They have a point? Bien-sur que non!” Job Smeets, Summer 2014

[ designapplause interview with job smeets ]

dates: 5 sept > 3 october 2014
venue: carpenters workshop gallery london | 3 Aalbermarle street W1S4HE  | +44 (0)20 3051 5939 
opening hours: monday > friday from 10a > 6p / saturday by appointment only

(*)‘What I know or have seen of his life’, in Cezanne – a Memoir with Conversations (1897 > 1906) by Joachim Gasquet, Thames and Hudson, London 1991 p. 68

peter marigold. gallery libby sellers london design festival 2014.

Sep 14, 2014

For the period encompassing the London Design Festival and Frieze Art Fair, Gallery Libby Sellers is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Peter Marigold’s Wooden Tables series.

Born in London in 1974, Marigold first studied sculpture at Central St Martins before enrolling in Design Products under Ron Arad at the Royal College of Art in 2004. Marigold’s fine art training, combined with a series of jobs in scenographic design and production – props, models, costumes and sets for theatre and exhibitions – has led to a pluralistic and resourceful approach to furniture design. Designing and making beautiful objects simply and sincerely – often through improvisation and the logic of geometry – is a major impetus for Marigold. Springing from a desire to elucidate and amplify the rationality found in the natural world, much of his work has been an exploration of the phenomena of nature’s form.

grey elipse 1 | 2014 | jesmonite, steel | 80.5 W x 60.5 D x 57 H cms

The tables relate to a much larger story that Marigold began in 2011 with the Wooden Forms. Through these he made a series of vessels using a single small piece of wood as a mould. The process sees one piece of wood pasted with hot wax in order to create an impression of the wood. This action is repeated so as to intuitively build up a form from the numerable wax impressions, creating an object that is both moulded, yet unique. The wax form is then cast into a final sturdier material through one singular movement. As Marigold has said, “The end result is an amalgam of moments. The forms are ‘wooden’ in that they have been created using wood rather than being made of wood. They therefore reference wood as an active verb rather than a monumental noun; the resulting textures are highly animated and not ‘wooden’ at all.”

wooden vase a, 2011 | cast bronze | 33 H x 23 D cms | edition of 3

purple 1, 2014 | cast jesmonite, metal legs | 94 W x 56 D x 52 H cms

All works will be available to purchase exclusively through the gallery.

exhibition> peter marigold
venue> gallery libby sellers | 41-42 berners street | london WlT 3NB
date> 11 september > 31 october 2014
contact> +44 (0)20 3384 8785 | gallery@libbysellers.com

This exhibition is part of the London Design Festival and Icon Design Trail for 2014.