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Twelve dreams under the big blue sky
To light or to illuminate – that is the question
6 Questions to Claudio Luti
Two brothers in a brilliant game with nature. Hey, boys will be boys

News & Stories | imm cologne 2012

Patricia’s Bohemian Rhapsody

by Thomas Wagner

Patricia’s Bohemian Rhapsody
Shortly before imm cologne opens its doors, the magazine A&W has elected its "Designer of the Year". A quite extraordinary designer has been chosen this year in the person of Patricia Urquiola who has changed the face of middle-class interiors to a greater extent than almost anyone else in the field.
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News & Stories

The bathroom as a functional landscape

The bathroom as a functional landscape
"Axor Bouroullec" is a variable system of washbasins, storage units and fixtures. Thomas Wagner talked to Philippe Grohe, grandson of company founder Hans Grohe and manager of the "Axor" brand, about bathroom landscapes, the integration of the user and the future of the bathroom.

News & Stories

All my sofas are islands

All my sofas are islands
Piero Lissoni’s sofas have an almost legendary reputation. In the design process, he draws inspiration from the Italian lifestyle, and not boring functionalism. Sandra Hofmeister talked to the Italian designer about sofas and royalties, beauty and rituals.
Curved surfaces and oblique lines
Designing the new Vodafone building in Oporto, Portugal, the architects José António Barbosa and Pedro Guimarães of Barbosa Guimarães Arquitectos wished to reflect Vodafone's credo "Vodafone Life, Life in Motion".
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News & Stories

Ghosts walk in the furniture cemetery

by Silke Gehrmann-Becker

Ghosts walk in the furniture cemetery
What happens to furniture that has done its service? It is stored in attics, cellars and in forgotten corners. And sometimes it seems as if the old items had taken on a life of their own.

News & Stories | Salone del Mobile Milan 2010

Homely travel

by Thomas Wagner

Homely travel
What happens if you cross BMW, Kvadrat and Flos with Patricia Urquiola and Guilio Ridolfo in order to try and develop a completely new interior design for an automobile? "The Dwelling Lab" shows you.
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News & Stories

My pillow from Uzbekistan

by Markus Frenzl

My pillow from Uzbekistan
Home living magazines announced the "multicultural furniture" trend, the "ethno-style" and "intercultural design" trend. The new color frenzy is being judged as an expression of overcoming a "design style" which is far too plain and of the need for individuality and unconventionality. The world of design seems to have opened up to foreign creative styles.

News & Stories

Fundstücke: Capriccio Italienne by Patricia Urquiola

by Sandra Hofmeister

Fundstücke: Capriccio Italienne by Patricia Urquiola
Patricia Urquiola’s Retrouvé collection was presented in several colors at the Milan furniture fair. For her design for the garden furniture the Milan-based designer was inspired by the squiggles and flourishes of the 1950s.

News & Stories

Trade fair à la mode - The Maison & Objet in Paris

by Vera Siegmund

Trade fair à la mode - The Maison & Objet in Paris
"Fashion" is as good as a synonym for the City of Paris. For a long time now, haute couture has not only referred to clothing, but the exquisite and tailor-made design of one's own home is often mentioned in the same breath. The Maison & Objet in Paris is an example par excellence of this. Originally a classic specialist fair for interior decorating, tables and gift items, today it is a major event for dealers and creative professionals from all interior design and fashion branches.
Twelve adult playgrounds
Colour Attack!
Good designers, successful products – Milan Marathon part 3
A thousand possible worlds of water

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

Milan in four bags or: Design, theatrical, practical, feudal and universal

by Thomas Wagner

Milan in four bags or: Design, theatrical, practical, feudal and universal
Perhaps everything on show in Milan at the exhibition center in Rho, in the booths of Superstudio Più, in showrooms and back-yard workshops ultimately fits into four bags. Let’s see if it does. What would we write on the movable containers if we were to put in them the things we noticed among all the abundance?
Those small, elegant items
There is a camel here, a small monkey there. And which soap adorns the latest washstands? Some presentations at this year's ISH were real eye-catchers, others simply a bit drab. But all were careful arrangements.
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News & Stories

Reluctant ethnologist

Reluctant ethnologist
Philippe Bestenheider's designs are often reminiscent of the aesthetics associated with primitive peoples. If anything, though, that is unintentional. The Swiss designer simply loves playing with geometry.
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Staying in generous expanses of white
The studio of Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola came up with the interior for luxurious hotel Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona. Scarcely recognizable as a hotel from the outside, inside it is all the more inviting, providing a temporary home for design enthusiasts from all over the world.
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News & Stories | Salone del Mobile Milan 2010

Milan, before the ash came – part 2

by Thomas Wagner

Milan, before the ash came – part 2
Admittedly, the borders of the Zona Tortona are a little frayed at the edges and in the new design district Ventura Lambrate designers are pushing into an area where artists once thronged, but there is a great deal to be discovered here. And, when all is said, when it comes to furniture design, things do tend to go around in productive circles.
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News & Stories

The Pitfalls of Objects – Episode 1: Nature is Super

by Thomas Wagner

The Pitfalls of Objects – Episode 1: Nature is Super
A chair is a chair and a table is a table and so on and so forth... That is correct and yet incorrect. For the symbolic qualities of the things that surround us daily are by no means as functional as a chic hat on a bonehead. Yet even symbolism has its pitfalls.

News & Stories

Molteni & C - Family business and elective affinities

by Vera Siegmund

Molteni & C - Family business and elective affinities
In Italy, the institution of the family traditionally has a high standing, and keeping it together requires a constant, active entrepreneurial spirit. As such it is no wonder that precisely in Italy there is an above average number of family-run companies - and extremely successful ones at that.
In the case of Molteni & C, with a payroll of 250 the family business has long since reached corporate size, and is one of the most important manufacturers in the furniture industry. Its history is typical of such firms.

News & Stories

On the search for meaning

by Claudia Beckmann

On the search for meaning
The Design Annual - inside: private identity: Following the successful debut in May 2006, the Messe Frankfurt and Stylepark will once again this year be bringing the very best of international design to the Festhalle in Frankfurt.