News & Stories | Craftsmanship – nostalgia, innovation or luxury?
Between the poles
by Nina Reetzke
Companies bring in designers to join forces with craftsmen to develop new products, which are subsequently produced in structurally-weak regions. Such approaches are quick to label themselves sustainable, as advocates of ethical consumption. But which projects have actually been consistently done through the years? A selection of ten examples between industry and craftsmanship.News & Stories | Craftsmanship – nostalgia, innovation or luxury?
Out of love for materials
For “design publisher” Thomas Eyck craftsmanship translates into the utmost care in the use of materials. Juliane Grützner spoke to the Dutchman about his collection of hand-crafted objects.News & Stories | Craftsmanship – nostalgia, innovation or luxury?
The experience of nostalgia: Craftsmanship has a future
by Thomas Wagner
Craftsmanship – is it a thing of the past? Not at all. More and more frequently we see designers and manufacturers making recourse to traditional technical know-how and craftsmanship. And not only when it comes to luxury products.An exhibition at Château de Boisbuchet is presenting "naked” aluminum objects from Japan, thereby portraying an episode of cultural history and the qualities of anonymous Japanese design.
The creations of carpet-makers Nanimarquina stand out for their marvelously designed patterns. The company has been designing, producing and distributing textiles since the 1980s. A trip into a fairytale world, on location in Spain and India.
News & Stories
The return of the curved
by Nora Sobich
Be it purses, chairs or roofs: Wickerwork, one of the world's oldest construction methods is experiencing a revival.The symposium on "Regionalism in current industrial design from Japan and Europe" offered an opportunity to converse with designer Makoto Koizumi who does not yet have a presence outside Japan. In conversation with Nina Reetzke he explains what his furniture collection "Tetsubo" and his new interpretations of the "9tubohouse" are all about.
News & Stories
Juuri or the genie of the bottle
by Nancy Jehmlich
One basic design, six variations, three colors, countless combinations: the vessel "Juuri" of young designer Sarah Böttger delights with its special design and material language.Ströhmann Steinkult, a company based in Central Germany, devotes itself to experimenting with stone, especially with stone surfaces. What they achieve by combining the effects of materials, shapes and light is quite astonishing.
News & Stories
Architects, sculptors, painters - we must all return to crafts!*
The current Stylepark Magazine for Product Culture is devoted to the return of craftwork in design.I only caught the tail end of the Salone in Milan this year, so I missed all the parties and the people, BUT I saw a lot and could still feel the hype.
Nicola Stattmann is considered an expert on new materials and technologies. In a joint venture with her brother she is now presenting “Stattmann Neue Möbel” and in doing so takes her family’s joinery into its fourth generation. The first designs illustrate that there are still a great deal of opportunities for development innate in reputedly traditional wooden furniture.
News & Stories
A cobalt blue ship sails across the porcelain sea
by Nina Reetzke
Royal Tichelaar Makkum is one of the very oldest companies in the Netherlands. For some years now the family-owned company has been catching the eye with products created by such renowned designers as Hella Jongerius and Studio Makkink & Bey. A book has now appeared describing the porcelain manufactory.News & Stories
What Bauhaus could never have imagined
by Nina Reetzke
The latest tubular steel product from Thonet is a floor luminaire called "Lum". With its curved shape, it seems to bridge the gap between classic and contemporary tubular steel furniture. Let us take you on a tour of the history, spanning decades, of its development.Architecture
Translucent, folded and perforated
Architects Diane Heirend & Philippe Schmit's expansion of the Luxembourg art gallery in the Villa Vauban adds a metal-clad annex."Go on with your patchwork, like a little lady", wrote George Eliot, a reminder of the socially aspirational art of making quilts. This British artistic practice went on to influence crafts internationally, think of the Amish quilt. Linking art and social life at all levels, it is the subject of an ongoing exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
In Munich, at an exhibition entitled "Architekturchen" Ingo Maurer is presenting surprising works by Italian design star Michele de Lucchi. They show how working with wood can trigger new thought processes and inspire new ideas.


























