News & Stories | Salone del Mobile 2012

Clearing out the comfy corner

by Jörg Zimmermann

Architect Ferdinand Kramer not only made his name with modern, unadorned buildings and urban planning, but also, throughout his life, designed furniture whose formal vocabulary was clear and functional. At the Salone des Mobile in Milan e15 is showing a re-edition of Kramer's furniture, featuring eight of his designs.

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News & Stories | Scandinavian Design ‒ Sturdy comes first?

It’s important to know where you’re coming from

Scandinavian design is known for its clear forms, durability and careful craftsmanship. Do students from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland still design in accordance with these principles today? Juliane Grützner asked some of them.

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The townhouse as a palliative

by Heinrich Wefing

The townhouse as a type is evidently very much in line with the times. And so it is hardly surprising that Hans Stimmann, once Municipal Building Director in Berlin, has brought out a book on it. The title intimates that the tome is intended to help planning, and it's a high-end volume of examples of specimen townhouses. Does the townhouse really have the muscle to counteract our inner cities emptying?

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News & Stories | Animals in advertising

Greenpeace, Star Wars and the dog choir

by Thomas Wagner

Sometimes advertising is just advertising. But sometimes things get serious. At least when things get warlike. Or is it just fooling around? At any rate the commercials by VW and Greenpeace are funny and not to be taken too seriously. And there's even a surprise coming up for Game Day.

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A lot of life in one person

by Thomas Edelmann

He is without doubt one of the best-known Frankfurt architects and the German Architecture Museum is rightly devoting a major retrospective to his oeuvre. For Frankfurt, Ernst developed the concept of "The New Frankfurt", which should to this day prompt discussion, for example as regards overcoming bureaucratic hurdles.

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Fascination with the tried and true

by Amelie Znidaric

At Design Miami Basel above all countless classics were on show. But anyone who managed to make their way past all the Jean Prouvés, Bauhaus, Mid Century Modern and Art Deco found contemporary design by the likes of Pierre Charpin and Max Lamb waiting to be discovered.

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Greece, sun, Monobloc

by Dimitrios Tsatsas

Crisis or no crisis, Greece's landscapes not only enchant the locals, but countless tourists, too. Yet there is more to the country than beautiful beaches and olive groves. Have you ever counted the Monobloc chairs on your vacation snaps?

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If you cannot let people try, the distance is really dangerous – part 1

Paola Antonelli is in charge of design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and thus for the department which, in the view of the founding director Alfred Barr was destined to show everyone the opportunities for including art in their own lives. Jochen Stöckmann speaks to Paola Antonelli about design exhibitions in an art museum, about how important it is despite computers to create things by hand, about mobile phones and the criteria for selecting items for inclusion in the collection.

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A traveling house

by Nina Reetzke

One area on which Jean Prouvé focused in his work was prefabricated houses, construction elements and façades. The now legendary Maison Tropicale was one product of this. The prototypes stood in West Africa for almost 50 years and are now on show in a series of exhibitions in Europe and the USA.

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From volcanoes to universe by spaceship

by Nina Reetzke

Jerszy Seymour conjures up a society of amateurs, but not in the sense of "unprofessional", but rather of "lovers and friends". And when it comes to volcanoes, the designer himself becomes an amateur. A trip into a passionate and explosive world.

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Tear down the old to welcome the new?

by Andreas Rossmann

Investors and developers usually have their problems with our aesthetic heritage, especially as the cycles of rejection and appreciation in architecture are unlike those in fashion or design. All the same, the discussion on 1960s architecture is currently growing, becoming more vocal and more differentiated.

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Nothing but water, light and stone

by Heinrich Wefing

In terms of its minimalist hard edges and intellectual rigor, the thermal baths that Peter Zumthor designed for Vals, Switzerland, and were completed in 1996, eschew all the wellness clichés and continue to set the standard. Today, there are various other examples of spa architecture that are equally joyful and modern, and avoid the twin pitfalls of the clinical institution and the high-gloss polished hotel spa look.

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Sushi meets sauerkraut

by Markus Frenzl

When two brands join up you can expect the results to be surprising: At the Tokyo Design Week, Thonet and Muji presented the first fruits of their joint efforts. Do these furniture designs really reflect the two partners' values?

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Flemish sports enthusiasts and Mediterranean digital Baroque

by Sandra Hofmeister

The Interieur Biennale in the Belgian town of Kortrijk dares to question the future of design. And they are finding answers. A Flemish recipe for success.

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How much design can the climate support?

by Thomas Wagner

The issue of eco-friendliness and product sustainability is not only becoming increasingly important but there is a growing debate about how designers can help ensure this type of product is developed. Consequently, the 1st Starnberg discussion round, which ended with the agreement of an agenda, revolved around this subject. Unfortunately it is riddled with platitudes.

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Tobias Rehberger's "the chicken-and-egg-no-problem wall-painting"

by Thomas Wagner

This is the place to enjoy it, the real fun of a productive confusion of the senses and the mind. Because Tobias Rehberger, who together with Claus Richter will this year be creating a major installation in the Frankfurt Festhalle on the occasion of "The Design Annual - inside: showtime", is currently leaving viewers marvelously puzzled, not to say astonished in Amsterdam.

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The design sky over Kortrijk - Opening of Gallery 113 by Arne Quinze

by Claudia Beckmann

If someone can design anything at all, then he will design it: Arne Quinze takes on everything, be it furniture, sports shoes, art objects or luxury hotels. Most of all he would even like to design his very own city one day - all in his style. And that is truly concise.

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Matter of honor

by Sandra Gottwald

Founded in 1954, the Compasso d' Oro is the oldest and most renowned design prize the world over – although it exclusively promoted design Made in Italy.

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News & Stories | Debate: design-education

Plagues by the idea of rebellion

by Michael Erlhoff

Art has a problem with design, proposes Michael Erlhoff, Professor of Design Theory and History at Cologne's International School of Design. He focuses on the social perception of design and hopes that the technocrats will get worn down.

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A successful show

by Jörg Zimmermann

The Stockholm Furniture Fair was dominated by Scandinavian manufacturers offering products that combined high design quality with traditional production in their own special way. An overview of the trade fair that considers itself to be the largest marketplace for Scandinavian design.

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News & Stories | Product typologies

A chair for 40 hours

by Mathias Remmele

We hardly spend as much time anywhere else as on our office chair, other than in bed that is. Only logical that the chair should help us sit comfortably and healthily. That goal may sound simple, but finding the right solution remains a challenge to this day.

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News & Stories | International Motor Show 2011

Hope from Heidelberg Street

by Nora Sobich

The international zeitgeist has uncovered Detroit as America's maltreated "motor city": a growing creative scene is bearing witness to the emergence of new visions and an alternative "do-it-yourself movement" for this post-industrial wasteland.

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Only the copy makes the original

by Thomas Edelmann

It is well known that copycat versions of design objects cause high economic losses. That said, at universities copying is still considered a practical principle in learning. The upshot of this may be surprising – even pirate copies can sometimes lead to new insights.

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News & Stories | 54th Venice Art Biennale – presented by Ligne Roset

Distributing pigeons in the park!

by Thomas Wagner

Clattering tank tracks, any number of pigeons and a church for a dead artist: the Venice art biennial is once again a spectacular show. But this time much is far too sensitive, dripping in pathos and, despite there being several good pieces, essentially too harmless. Which begs the question: where is the international art world heading?

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News & Stories | Salone del Mobile 2011 – supported by Villeroy & Boch Tiles

The evening, the chairs, their designers and their music videos

by Nancy Jehmlich

Konstantin Grcic listens to Elvis, the Bouroullecs to Björk, Sam Hecht grew up listening to Depeche Mode, and Nitzan Cohen, as a music video, would be a mix of Chris Cunningham, Björk and El Gincho. In Milan, a fine exhibition not only displayed new chairs but also revealed the musical preferences of their designers.

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The end of something

by Andreas Ruby

In his two-volume "Die Stadt im 20. Jahrhundert" (The City in the 20th Century), Vittorio Magnano Lampugnani summarizes topographical, historiographic and organizational aspects of urban planning with an impressive wealth of material, a monographic approach to key figures, and great earnestness.

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The City as a Labo for Future Mobility

by Thomas Wagner

The "AUFA Audi Urban Future Award 2010", which is curated by Stylepark, has set itself the task of thinking about the city of tomorrow as regards the issue of mobility. We are running a series of articles in coming weeks on some aspects of automobility and urban planning as relating to the AUFA - the latter will culminate on August 25 with a presentation of the findings in Venice in the form of an exhibition and the selection of the first prize winner.

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Waiting line, dandelion, pajama

by Nancy Jehmlich

China has given the Expo a new lease of life. With enthusiasm and pride, the Chinese presented pavilions from all over the world and the pinnacle of current achievements. However, there are also a few flaws here and there. Observations on the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

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Houdini – a new chair by Stefan Diez for e15

by Thomas Wagner

Stefan Diez is also presenting a new chair in Milan, which he has named after the famous American escapologist and conjurer "Houdini".

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Let's wake up somewhere else -
We will darling, we will.

by Claus Richter

Let's wake up somewhere else -<BR>We will darling, we will.

For all those who love what true, good and beautiful: An exhibition devoted to the Belgian record label "Les Disques du Crépuscule" showing in Kunstverein in Cologne.

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Can-Can or The dance of a thousand pieces of furniture

by Claudia Beckmann

What do you get when you combine a thousand pieces of miniature furniture from different epochs in a single installation? Carolina Kecskemethy tried it out in the "Museum der Dinge" in Berlin.

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Around the world in 554 pages

by Claudia Beckmann

Fly or flee – it might be both at once: Antonia Henschel's 'Flight' takes us with her on her trip round the world. A diary in pictures, which tells of places, people and things. And teaches us to see.

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It’s showtime!

by Nancy Jehmlich

As in the past few years The Design Annual will once again be accompanied by an extremely varied interdisciplinary program of events. The motto for 2008 is “showtime” – a highly expressive and contradictory theme, which we shall be discussing in all its facets. This year as well current trends and the tasks design will face in the future will the subject of talks, lectures and presentations.

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Fundstücke: In the land of plastics with Konstantin

by Daniel von Bernstorff

When an international chemical conglomerate, an Italian furniture manufacturer and a German designer collaborate on the development of new materials and their application then legends are born. For example the new plastic cantilever chair "Myto".

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Battle of Things

by Daniel von Bernstorff

In Berlin, the Werkbundarchiv - Museum der Dinge is opening its doors at a new venue.

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