Archive

The idiosyncratic name “kkaarrlls” is a smokescreen for the Karlsruhe’s design academy, the Hochschule für Gestaltung, or rather for Volker Albus and some young designers. They have now for the third time presented selected projects during the Milan Salone – which will soon go on show at Badisches Landesmuseum, too.

Be it limited editions or series products, jackets or protective goggles – during Milan's Design Week the Ventura Lambrate design district featured well-curated, surprising design displayed between fair-face concrete and car repair shops.

The New Museum’s “Festival of Ideas for the New City” examines – in cooperation with Stylepark and the der Audi Urban Future Initiative – the work of prominent architects as they grapple with questions of mobility and urbanism in a large-scale, three dimensional model of Manhattan along with five neighborhood-specific interventions designed by NYC-based architects.

Two years ago, Foscarini and Diesel presented their first luminaire collection. Initially, the joint venture struggled owing to the fallout from the global economic crisis, but now it is receiving feedback from a recovering market. Sandra Hofmeister spoke to Carlo Urbinati about luminaires between product design and fashion design.

Anyone who digressed from the well-trodden design paths at this year’s Salone in Milan could occasionally experience startling encounters. A small, subjective selection.

What does a luxurious kitchen look like these days? Is it there for show, or does it serve other purposes? "Shifting Contexts" was the motto of an evening at the Bulthaup showroom in Milan's via Durini.

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?

Only 20 years ago the “jeunesse dorée” used to meet in the Zona Tortona. Nowadays the focus is on marketing the area and on advertising brands, careers, and ideas. There was still lots to see, though.

Jasper Morrison is the talk of town right now with his chair “HAL”. Thomas Edelmann met the British designer and spoke with him not about “HAL 9000” from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001. A Space Odyssey” but about maturing into adulthood, working in different locations, shell seats and designs that are conceived in discussions.

How much sense does it make to show prototypes of new products at a fair? Most producers face this question, yet seldom are their thoughts aired in public. However, when you make a point of asking, some of the answers that come to light are surprisingly honest.

Milan, viewed through a splintered mirror: everything that happened, what messages we had to endure, and what else ended up on our note pads. Or: scenes from the Salone, the showrooms and the rear courtyards.

Many of us dream of having a design classic in their living room. Yet often such dreams are simply beyond our budgets. Thus, the one or other lover of design flirts with an unlicensed copy of the desired object which he or she can order for little money on the Internet. We are taking stock of the value of creative achievement.

Times of crisis spawn new ideas, such was the consensus at Salone in Milan two years ago. Today the, back then, new, young furniture labelssuch as Skitch and Moustache, have matured somewhat. We take stock.

Boasting perfect details and serene comfort Hermès Maison came a clear winner. The company's tradition in craftsmanship, its finishing techniques for leather and fabric, combined with singular patterns constitute the brand's image in furniture as well. The collection was presented at Pelota hall in a house installation by Shigeru Ban.

Eco-management systems, eco-labels, sustainability certificates – the need for information on ecological aspects of production is growing by the day. Some companies, such as Italian manufacturer Arper, have already pinned proof of the eco-friendliness of their products to their masts.

Today, hotels are not hotels are not hotels. In cities such as Milan and Berlin, just being a hotel would not suffice to attract the necessary attention. Which is why "nhow" at Berlin's Osthafen has added a spectacular "superstructure" of studios, guitars, music clips, and a lot of pink courtesy of Karim Rashid. Without the singer of the same name, of course.

What is more important, the product or the image that remains of it? The exhibition “Zoom” at the Vitra Design Museum focuses on design photography. Down through the decades, Aldo and Marirosa Ballo recorded the buoyant course of Italian design.

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.

Kurt Weidemann defined the public image of such major companies as Deutsche Bahn and Daimler Benz. The typographer and graphic designer saw himself as an intermediary between content and observer, not as an artist. The master of lettering and language, who himself said he had seen too much to be good, passed away on March 30.