Superbeauty.
essay on the revival of beauty in the 21st-century design. by julie lasky via designobserver [RK]
Timeline: Time magazine covers.
architects and designers on time magazine covers going back to lewis mumford, 1938. via architizer [RK]
Craigslist sports new look.
some things change. some things never change. what about craigslist ? via techcrunch [RK]
Neville brody's anti-design festival.
in a response to london’s annual design festival, now in its 9th year, and to the “25 years of cultural deep freeze, the anti-design festival will attempt to unlock creative fires and ideas, exploring spaces hitherto deemed out-of-bounds by a purely commercial criteria.” So says founder Neville Brody, who takes the Anti in Anti-Design seriously. “The Anti Design Festival is anti-everything. The Anti Design Festival is anti-nothing. While the ADF is not against design, there is also a need for change. We are not anti-design as much as we are anti-everything.”
If you have any doubts just check out the event website. The ADF logo includes the London Design Festival’s logo – with a big X through it. The front page also does things with kerning and font size any design teacher would shake their finger at. Of course, that’s the point. ADF is not only a chance to play with design without the imposition of clients, bosses or market restrictions, but it’s a chance for your work to rub shoulders with contributors like Jonathan Barnbrook, Stuart Semple and Stefan Sagmeister. It’s nonprofit (i.e. no prize money); If that’s a problem, ADF probably isn’t for you.
ADF takes place in Shoreditch, London from 18-26 September (the last week of The London Design Festival).
Reinventing the light bulb.
ask pieke bergmans a simple question and you’ll get anything but a simple answer.
To the Dutch designer, a light bulb is not a light bulb. When a light bulb, or indeed any simple object, is placed under her personal design imperative, “Design Virus,” it becomes something else altogether. “A light bulb,” she says, “is a light bulb that has gone way out of line. Infected by the dreaded Design Virus, these bulbs have taken on all kinds of forms and sizes you wouldn’t expect from such well behaving and reliable little products.”
The same goes for everything else she designs from tables and cabinets to dinnerware and vases. Still, the Light Bulb series remains her most eye-catching work, garnering plenty of oohs and ahhs at Art Basel this year. The bulbs themselves are made of crystal, but Bergmans has also experimented with glass blowing to create some pieces that look particularly infected by the virus.
designer: pieke bergmans
about perrin drumm
Furniture or art?
bae sehwa fits into that small gap between furniture design and art.
When he presented his work at this year’s Art Basel, he was known as an artist, but Sehwa himself prefers the term ‘furniture artist.’ He first made a name for himself with his series of Lighting Tables that look like plain birch wood until you plug them in to reveal the pattern underneath.
His recent work, however, leans towards more craft-based, one-of-kind furniture, made entirely out of wood. The work that blew away the crowds at Art Basel are from his Steam series that includes lighting and “sittable” pieces made from bent wood.
designer: bae sehwaabout perrin drumm
Spark 2010 summer promo.
summer promo deadline ends august 15.
The Spark Awards celebrate design in all disciplines, from Architecture to Digital, Product to Print–whatever media you dream in. Please consider joining the Spark communities and of course, entering your work. We’ll make sure to “get it out there!”
Chee Pearlman, Chee & Company, Jury Chair
John Barratt, CEO, Teague
Sally Dominguez, Partner, B. Architecture and Rain Water Hog
Rob Curedale, Curedale Design
Adam Brodsley, Partner, Volume Design
Thom Faulders, Faulders Studio Architects
Tucker Viemeister, Lab Chief, Lab at Rockwell Group
Scott Stropkay, Co-Founder, Essential Design
Michael Vanderbyl, Principal, Vanderbyl Design
Dan Sturges, President, Intrago Corporation
Ken Musgrave, Director, Experience Design, Dell
Heather Fleming, CEO, Catapult Design
Margaret Gould Stewart, User Experience Manager, YouTube
Kerry Tremain, Graphic Designer & Author
Mary Yu, Fashion Designer, Mary Yu Design
Susan Rockrise, Brand Design, Susan Rockwise & Associates
Bryant Yeh, Principal, Yeh Studio Architects
Competition deadlines:
Don’t worry–you have lots of time.
Summer Promo ends Aug. 15 – save $100
Standard Deadline: Oct. 10
Late Deadline, Oct. 22
Building the adult playground.
no one blends styles better than hecker, phelan & guthrie.
above: event space at flemington racecourse
above: st. ali outpost
above: ivy venue
The interiors designed by this Melbourne-based firm are a veritable grab bag from the last five centuries. You’re just as likely to see a Louis XVI chair in neon pink as you are a Mies van der Rohe sofa or a floral print lamp shade of unknown origin – often times all in the same room. The result is a feast for the senses.
Their portfolio is vast, ranging from sleek and modern residences and retail spaces to projects like the 65,000 square ft. “hospitality venue,” Ivy, in Sidney, a landscaped public oasis that includes eighteen bars, nine restaurants, two penthouse suites, a ballroom, a rooftop pool and a sunken courtyard. Even more eye-catching is their 2008 event space at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse.
The company hosting the event was tired “of all the bling and superficiality” of most corporate events and hired HP&G to bring their trademark playfulness and sense of humor to the traditional atmosphere. They came up with a “frivolous and cheeky temporary marquee” where guests could experience classic horse racing at its most exaggerated – “think Pimms on the lawn, vintage furniture, English china, strawberries and cream, British fusion tunes and waitresses in 50s-inspired dresses serving high tea.”
A space like this forces you to leave your pretensions at the door so even the stuffiest of stuffed shirts can laugh, relax and have a good time.
designer: hecker, phelan & guthrie
about perrin drumm
21_21 design sight.
founders and board members naoto fukasawa (product designer), issey miyake (fashion), taku satoh (graphic) at their 21_21 design sight museum.
the impulse for the creation of 21_21 design sight originated during the isamu noguchi exhibition in new york. designer issey miyake, architect tadao ando and sculptor noguchi talked about the need for a place where japanese design could be discovered, promoted and shared. above: logo design: taku satoh naturally. photo: masaya yoshimura for nacasa + partners.
above: in 2006, miyake took his biggest leap yet. he and his two collaborators opened 21_21 design sight in a tokyo building designed by tadao ando. “we always dreamed of a space in Japan,” says miyake, who promises “new and unprecedented solutions” from his unusual venture.
above: tokyo midtown is a new development with a range of offices, parks, shopping malls, apartments, restaurants and museums. the area around roppongi is well known for its many pioneering galleries with contemporary art, architecture and design.
below: “xxst century” exhibition starting on the first anniversary of 21_21 design sight’s opening in 2007, the question arises: where are we headed, now that we live in the century once hailed as the future?
in this show, exhibition director issey miyake has done extensive research to prepare for the show, which includes a wide spectrum of japanese and international creators, all of whom address today’s many doubts and insecurities through their own individual form of creative expression. above: yasuhiro suzuki beginning of time tokyo, 2007 – 2008
above: koutarou sekiguchi it’s departure at a bright night. maebashi, 2007
above: the wind installation in issey miyake’s creative room
above: stickman by dui seid
above: “the outline” exhibition – the unseen outline of things. exhibition design by naoto fukasawa and tamotsu fujii.
above: an ‘outline’ is a contour of something. it is also the boundary that delineates an object and its surrounds. since that which surrounds an object is air, the outline of a hole in the air that is shaped like an object is the same as the outline of the object itself. the air is also a metaphor for the atmosphere around that object. this air (atmosphere) is composed of everything that exists around the object – elements such as peoples’ experiences and memories; customs and gestures; time, circumstance and sound; technology and culture; and history and trends. should even one of these elements change, and the outline of the object changes too. people share this outline of the air implicitly. my job is to determine this outline and to design something that slots right into it. ~naoto fukasawa
above: the “post fossil” exhibition brings together over 130 works of 71 participants. this collection poses the question, “how will the designers of tomorrow look to past in order to invent the future?” as it “excavates” and analyzes new creative trends in and for the 21st century, which are embodied in materials, colors, shapes, processes, themes, images, techniques, and other elements, this exhibition searches for clues necessary for the human beings to live and define their future.
above: post fossil curator li ddelkoort.
more about 21_21 design sight
Resources:
architoniciconeye
dezeen
architectural record
Bespoke: Handbuilt bicycles.
This exhibition features the designs of six inter – nationally renowned bicycle builders who have authored some of the most revolutionary developments in their craft.