In Chair World Any designer worth his salt must at some point in his career design a chair. Even the design theorists constantly refer to chairs when analyzing the latest trends. Despite all the technical innovations, the notion of the substantive and super-normal currently prevails.

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Icy setting instead of earthquakes The prominent line-up for Munich’s “Seismographs of Architecture” symposium kindled great expectations. Kazuyo Sejima, Matthias Sauerbruch, Brendan Macfarlane and others traveled to the Bavarian capital specially for the occasion. Since the event hinged not on dialog but on lectures, many a question went unanswered. And the freezing cold draughty glass foyer of the Academy of Fine Arts certainly placed the audience’s patience under additional strain.

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Triumph of Good Design As the original producer, the Zurich dealer Wohnbedarf is launching a re-edition collection of furniture by Max Bill. A representative of the Zurich school of Concrete Art, Bill played a decisive role in shaping the face of the long-standing company. The re-edition of products such as the "Ulm stool" draws on this past collaboration.

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Everyday objects that are always the same bore me Fernando Brízio has kept every single one of his creations, even from his university years, and now it's paying off: For there is currently an extensive solo show of the Portuguese designer's works in Lisbon including a number of previously unseen pieces. And of course, the "Restart" dress made of fabric colored with felt pen could not be left out. Sandra Hofmeister met and interviewed Fernando Brízio for Stylepark.

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Fringe voice A desire to experiment and a focus on manual production methods are two things that are highly regarded by designers. Now, a scene has emerged beyond the pale of traditional publishing houses and conventional book production, one that produces and distributes more unusual printed matter. Running parallel to the Frankfurt Book Fair, the first edition of "First Issue – Self-Publishing Book Fair for Design and Art" offered an insight into the work of small independent publishing houses.

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+++ NEWSTICKER #206 | 2011 +++ Minimal Art
World Architecture Festival
STADTplus
Architectural positions


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Foam meadow, stays fresh for longer The legendary exhibition “Italy – The New Domestic Landscape” held in New York’s MoMA in 1972 was devoted to the work of Italian designers. To this day, the catalog accompanying the exhibition has been highlighting a creative stance that took social responsibility as second nature. Consequently, many of the issues debated are still surprisingly topical for today’s generation of designers.

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On tranquility and comfort The English armchair was for many years considered the epitome of luxury. So what could a contemporary version look like, freed of all the historical frills and that demonstration of bourgeois power? A stroll through the history of the lounge chair, from the Eames's ideas to the Brothers Campana.

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The secret beyond the demilitarized zone The "Pyongyang Architecture Guide" by Philipp Meuser classifies the design of North Korea's capital as a systematic cabinet of curiosities and also explains the history of the city.

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Do not lean back! Few pieces of furniture are as insignificant-looking as the stool. As a small, handy object with a variety of uses it often has to take a back seat. But a few models really stand out and deserve closer attention. And without wanting to be jump the gun – the trend is stools made of straw.

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+++ NEWSTICKER #205 | 2011 +++ Conference "Who designs design?"
UrbanTec
Tokyo Designers Week
Exhibition "Black and White – Designing Opposites"


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Everything that is furniture Over the next few weeks we are engaging in a daring experiment. We will be presenting important product typologies. Not only in order to inform you about the vast array of different chairs, stool, shelves, armchairs and office furniture there is. But also to explore the ruptures, revivals and reprises in the development of the respective product families.

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Viewing and evaluating It is Hannes Wettstein's former desk that is attracting particular attention at the exhibition currently being held at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule – ETH). The found objects and equipment on display there show the Swiss industrial designer, who died in 2008, to have been an inspired and inspiring person. It is definitely a good thing that all of the sum total of 347 projects he is recorded as having made have for the first time been extensively documented in an exhibition and catalog.

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So anyone who to read the documents … The "German Design Award" is being hotly debated. A new and independent concept, or just an old thing in new wrapping? Jörg Zimmermann asked Andrej Kupetz, CEO of the German Design Council, what he thought.

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The competition heats up When, at the beginning of the 1950s, the federal government launched the first initiatives for the promotion of design, the world of consumer goods was still modest and those in charge of the official competitions had understood their assignment. Today, three major internationally-oriented competitions dominate the arena in Germany. The event organizers make a good profit and each year the participating manufacturers are able to look upon their accolades with pride. Yet the orientation-giving function of such awards for both the end-consumer and participants seems to be hanging in the balance.

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Rock solid Heavy, solid materials, sturdy designs, massively muscular buildings – the current issue of Stylepark Magazine for Product Culture focuses on the issue of “the enduring”.

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Tea silk, Mao Zedong and a Chinese actress’ memories of childhood The name Dashilar stands for an exciting district of Beijing. Several of the Beijing Design Week events tempted visitors into seeing both once magnificent buildings and former Maoist factories. Alongside exhibitions such as Arik Chen's "Silent Heroes", there's also a longer-term modernization project underway here. The plans by Liang Jingyu and his colleagues could turn out to be trailblazing in the battle against gentrification.


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Modernity via Katsura A great many Western artists, designers and architects have looked to Japan for inspiration for their works. Bruno Taut spent three and a half years in Japan and during that time wrote numerous treatises, which were recently published in German for the first time. The Katsura Imperial Villa, for instance, was in Taut's eyes the perfect expression of a refined form of Modernism that had been carefully thought through down to the very last detail.

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