INTERVIEWS What counts: Playability9/4/2015It’s not easy to design furniture and toys for kids. In conversation with Sara Bertsche, Karin Schmidt-Ruhland, who teaches Playing and Learning Design at Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, explains why this is the face.
INTERVIEWS Only the watercolors burned to nothing6/29/2015How to live in orbit? Adeline Seidel talked with Galina Balashova, the interior designer of the Russian space capsules, about green floors, blue ceilings and creating a sense of homeliness in space.
INTERVIEWS Industry is not a dinosaur5/11/2015On irony, provocative designs, Chair One as a grill, finding treasure troves, the necessity of securing contracts and the fun of advancing existing designs. Konstantin Grcic in conversation with Thomas Wagner – part 3
INTERVIEWS Work where you have the freedom do to so5/4/2015On art and design as a way of life, public places, the designer’s responsibility, the culture of Italian manufacturers, taste and breather Marcel Duchamp. Konstantin Grcic in conversation with Thomas Wagner – part 2
STYLEPARK-SPECIAL: RETROSPECTIVE Hieronymus at the airport4/27/2015Konstantin Grcic in conversation with Thomas Wagner – part 1: On "Panorama", the airport as a residential location, glancing sideways, digital tools, physical models, how to design a chair, and why designers cannot simply be replaced by programs.
FAIRS & EVENTS Fixed on the mark2/1/2015Inga Sempé has dragged the winged armchair into contemporary life – with “Beau Fixe” for Ligne Roset. In an interview with Uta Abendroth, the French designer explains what the design has to do with her childhood, why she likes working in a team, and why she feels attracted to small objects.
ARCHITECTURE The Böhms1/29/2015The documentary on the Böhm family is a masterpiece on the psychology of a family in which more or less everything revolves around architecture.
DESIGN Snow White and the Apple10/8/2014Who kissed life into Snow White? Hartmut Esslinger has written a book about the early design years of Apple, the “Snow White” process, his friendship with Steve Jobs and the difficulties with managers.
DESIGN One chair wasn’t enough for him9/19/2014Young designers can still learn a lot from him, even if this year Hans J.Wegner would have turned 100. On the occasion of his anniversary, ChristianHolmsted Olesen has dedicated an insightful book to the life, work andapproach of the exceptional designer.
DESIGN Ata, applied?9/12/2014“Give Love Back. Ata Macias and Partners” in Museum Angewandte Kunst is an attempt to devote a show to a man who shaped Frankfurt’s nightlife with his club, Robert Johnson, and who also transformed the restaurant scene, too.
ARCHITECTURE The new Henninger Turm remains a landmark7/28/2014For the architects Meixner Schlüter Wendt planning a high-rise is normally a fascinating task. In designing the new Henninger Turm in Frankfurt/Main they show how living in a high-rise can be both personalized and attractive.
DESIGN A prize for the wrong decisions7/8/2014The Berlin company “Dark Horse” consists of 30 partners who all have equal status – and has done so for five years. Can a hierarchy-free enterprise really succeed?
DESIGN Viva Lina! An Italian in Brazil5/22/2013Disappointed by political developments in her home country, after World War II Lina Bo Bardi turned her back on Italy. In Brazil, the architect followed the new social trends and took part in designing Modernism there – and to this day has taken a back seat to great colleagues such as Oscar Niemeyer.
MAGAZINE 5 questions to Steffen Kehrle11/16/2012Which challenges are faced by young designers setting up shop on their own? How do they work? Where do they get their inspiration? And how can they organize design processes to suit them? Esther Schulze-Tsatsas and Dimitrios Tsatsas met up with Steffen Kehrle in Munich to learn his answers.
MAGAZINE Enjoying the material7/16/2012In their inhouse Matériothèque the designers at Atelier Oï play around with materials such as birdseed, paper, fabric, ropes and gelatin. The resulting products for Atelier Pfister, Bulgari, Swatch and other manufacturers are now on display in the monograph “Workshop Guide Atelier Oï”.
MAGAZINE Clearing out the comfy corner4/16/2012Architect 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.
DESIGN On the death of Ferdinand Alexander Porsche4/15/2012Chief designer, founder of the Porsche Design Studio as well as Chairman of the Supervisory Board – these are just some of the outstanding stages in the life of Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, who died in Salzburg on April 5.
MAGAZINE About tables and benches3/29/2012Be it park benches, conference tables or outdoor chairs – there's always an additional use to Thomas Bernstrand's designs, even though they stand in the tradition of classic Scandinavian design.
MAGAZINE Simply because it is simple1/17/2012Going by the name of "Neue Tische", Berlin-based Mathis Burandt and Frank Skupin design furniture that is at once simple and sophisticated. The two architects do not consider items of furniture objects that stand in the space, but as physical extensions of the space itself.
MAGAZINE Patricia’s Bohemian Rhapsody1/15/2012Shortly 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.
MAGAZINE A feel for the theatrical11/7/2011Marc Newson originally studied jewelry design and sculpture, then switched to designing spaceplanes, sports boats and even fashion collections. And he has just won the Lucky Strike Designer Award in Hamburg. There, he commented on early influences, on urgency in the fashion industry and on how the present suppresses the future.
MAGAZINE A master’s apprenticeship11/3/2011It seems to be a regular sculptor's chisel. It just happens to have a strangely short blade. Frankfurt-based artist Jürgen Krause needed two and a half years to grind the originally more than ten centimeters long blade down by hand – the chisel has thus become proof of the grinding process.
MAGAZINE A decent guy7/29/2011The work by (interior) designer Francesc Rifé stands out for its clarity and reduction. This is particularly surprising, as if anything, traditional Spanish design is known more for its shrill tones.
MAGAZINE How the gods live2/8/2011Even the architecture gods of classical Modernism are only people, each in his own way. This can be seen -- and smelled - from the houses they lived in. A visit to the Eames House near Los Angeles and to Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan.
DESIGN The world is a sculpture2/3/2011Isamu Noguchi was the first artist and designer in America to open his own museum. This was a good thing - because the premises in 33rd Road perfectly reflect his design philosophy.
MAGAZINE Paradise with a dotted snake1/18/2011The two Eames, George Nelson and Alexander Girard not only worked together on joint design projects, but were also close friends for decades. However, in the public eye, prints designer Alexander Girard has always been in the shadow of his colleagues. One more reason to take a closer look at his oeuvre.
MAGAZINE The 1,001 colors of Nani Marquina1/16/2011The 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.
MAGAZINE American Modernism Dressed up in a Cocktail Dress10/21/2010We have recently seen the 100th anniversary of the birth of US architecture photographer Julius Shulman would have recently turned 100. With Richard Neutra as his patron, in the 1950s the self-taught photographer swiftly emerged as one of the most important architecture photographers in the United States. To this day, the narrative feel if his images is enthralling, evoking a world somewhere between reality and fiction.
MAGAZINE The activist8/28/2010In the 1930s, Charlotte Perriand was convinced that it was necessary to fight for a better future. Not only did she strive for new forms in design, but she also sought to improve social conditions through design and architecture. She employed large photo collages on which she had applied layers of writing to communicate her political and social messages. The Museum of Design in Zurich is now holding an exhibition dedicated to these works.
ARCHITECTURE Raumlaborberlin and the revival of the urban style8/7/2010The projects by the artists' and architects' collective "Raumlaborberlin" are far from being conventional. The group of eight, which is at present developing the exhibition architecture for the "Audi Urban Future Award" that is curated by Stylepark, is currently presenting a very special kind of installation at Kunsthaus Bregenz.
MAGAZINE The house as anchorage for the soul7/20/2010The villas Richard Neutra built in the 1930s and 1940s, primarily in California, are regarded as icons of Modernism. However, the fact that he also completed projects in Europe has to date gone pretty much unnoticed. An extraordinary exhibition at Marta Herford Museum showcases Neutra's European villas, which were built in the last ten years of his life.
MAGAZINE Feeling for design7/13/2010For over ten years now, Eva Paster and Michael Geldmacher have been creating classic industrial design, whereby since 2005 the focus has been on furniture. What makes the designs by the Munich duo who go by the name of Neuland stand out: the profound and logical approach, yet with an easy feel to it, characterized by a strong sense of rhythm and clear structures.
MAGAZINE Living in stacks7/6/2010U.S. American artist Mike Bouchet is showing a dismantled prefabricated house, model "Sir Walter Scott" in Frankfurt's Schirn Kunsthalle. The sculptural exhibit was developed from the installation "Watershed" that Mike Bouchet erected in the harbor of the Arsenale in Venice as part of the Biennial.
ART The Great, Enlightening Illusionist7/3/2010Once again, with his "Innen Stadt Außen" (Inner City Outside) exhibition Olafur Eliasson proves that he is able to achieve great effects with relatively modest means.
MAGAZINE Living in nine tubo6/10/2010The 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.