DESIGN Certainties – shaken, not stirred11/17/2013In his discerning but chatty volume, Michael Erlhoff draws our attention to the potential and ideas innate in design. A book for anyone who views aesthetic debate as something more than just a matter of theoretical edification.
DESIGN Atmospheres created from water vapor10/4/2013The bathroom – a little world of wonder made up of technology, light and water. As one of the leading trade shows in the area of ceramics, “Cersaie” in Bologna once again revealed just what can be achieved in the wellness zone.
FEATURED Colorful islands in the office10/1/2013With its spacious atrium, espresso bar and lounge furniture by Arper, Eneco’s headquarters looks like a high-class hotel lobby. It is, however, a workplace.
FEATURED The flexible office9/30/2013BP have relocated their headquarters. Now the staff are enjoying a flexible office space tailor-made precisely to the company’s requirements, with König and Neurath going so far as to develop customized office furniture for their client.
DESIGN And the winner is…9/25/2013Following plenty of sketch-making and puzzle-solving activity, we are now happy to announce the winner of our “Drawing by Numbers” competition marking the 300th edition of our newsletter. Click here to find out…
FEATURED LO Mindports – modular thinking cells9/12/2013Labels such as think tank, meeting point and work lounge put it in a nutshell: Lista Office LO’s Mindport space furniture make for flexible offices.
DESIGN Sense and sensibility in the networked home9/11/2013Drive cleverly, live smarter – at the IAA the symbiosis of electro-mobility and intelligent building automation is a key topic. Efforts have long been underway to develop the smart home. But the market is only slowly picking up pace.
DESIGN Sneaker tourists of the world unite!8/30/2013Nobody need fear such immense naivety: Friedrich von Borries seeks with a novel and a design label to bring on board “shareholders for the revolution”. At his Club Med of revolution culture, you won’t find anything right in the completely wrong world.
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.
DESIGN Escape to the country?4/11/2013Architects, urban planners, hipsters and geeks, all speak of the city and indeed megacities as a place that will prove decisive for the fate of humanity. But a countermovement has been emerging for some time now. Publications such as the German magazine “Landlust” show us “the beautiful side of country life” and depict a fictive rural paradise.
DESIGN What I really wanted to be was an architect3/4/2013Her carpets and striped textiles are counted among the Bauhaus design icons, but there are very few who actually know the designer’s name. Now, an exhibition in Berlin will showcase Gertrud Arndt and her unusual works.
DESIGN James Irvine 1958-20132/20/2013James Irvine, the London-born designer and one of the most eminent product designers of our time, died unexpectedly on February 17, 2013. We are both shocked and deeply saddened by this loss and would like to bid farewell to a great designer and man.
DESIGN Häberli’s Hotel12/3/2012What do you get if you give Alfredo Häberli free rein to design an entire hotel? Well, now you can see just that in the new 25 Hours hotel in Zurich.
DESIGN Let’s become more sophisticated!4/22/2012Volker Albus, who teaches Product Design at HfG Karlsruhe, makes the case for offering a range of subjects with an extremely broad focus. In his opinion, this is the only way to cope with the diversity of social, technical, ecological and economic circumstances, which nowadays present a challenge to design. In his opinion, merely calling for greater artistic freedom does notachieve anything.
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.
DESIGN Design as a pauper’s art?4/3/2012If the content is art it should not be labeled design, says Oliver Schweizer. The product designer is head of Schweizer Design Consulting and regularly teaches at design colleges, believes that everyday work calls for a sound knowledge of the tools.
FEATURED Chairs that mean the world4/2/2012Industrial designer Odoardo Fioravanti created the wooden "Frida" chair for Italian furniture-maker Pedrali – and last year it won the "Compasso d'Oro", the design Oscar. Today, "Frida" is to be found in several renowned Design Museums worldwide. Moreover you will find Pedrali's products in a series of outstanding international reference projects.
DESIGN Plagues by the idea of rebellion3/16/2012Art has a problem with design, proposes Michael Erlhoff, Professor of Design Theory and History at Cologne's International School of Design. He focuses on the social perception of design and hopes that the technocrats will get worn down.
DESIGN Design as a social force?3/11/2012Encouraged by this teaching experiences at European design academies, Harald Gründl of Eoos Design Studio contributes four hypotheses on design to the debate on design training
DESIGN It’s obviously just too complicated for some people3/6/2012Georg-Christof Bertsch, Honorary Professor for Intercultural Design at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach, warns designers against making a laughing stock of themselves by striving to be auxiliary artists. It is in fact the increasing complexity of industrial design as a profession itself that is presenting the challenges facing this sector today.
DESIGN Everyday America3/4/2012Of course, Coca-Cola, Campbell’s Tomato Soup and Zippo lighters are familiar even to Europeans. But have you heard of Lasko’s “Box Fan”, the “Snuggie” fleece blanket or “Little Red Wagon” for kids? If not, then it’s high time for an excursion into the wonderful world of American consumer goods.
DESIGN What can design do? Response to a banana critic3/2/2012Evidently Friedrich von Borries has the one or other problem with bananas. That being so it cannot harm to read exactly what the fruit has to do with design, low sensations and art – and which concept of design will pop out of the banana skin in the end.
DESIGN New formats? Yes please!2/28/2012Are teachers who are themselves barely able to lay claim to noteworthy practical experience in design in a position to train others? This is a question that has been raised by Egon Chemaitis, retired Professor of Design Foundations at Universität der Künste Berlin. He cites four reasons, which from his point of view have contributed to the shift in design education in the direction of art.
DESIGN Why are bananas curved? or “What is design?”2/15/2012"Is design becoming the auxiliary of art?" Thomas Edelmann asked in an article in the Stylepark Magazine where he debated the practice of design training at art academies. Among other things, he specifically addressed current changes at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts. Friedrich von Borries was prompted by the article to outline his ideas on design.
DESIGN Design because a sub-discipline of art2/5/2012New trends in teaching and curricula are influencing future design. In Hamburg design is now only part of art courses. At other art academies, it is becoming a marginal subject. But there's no sign of designers putting up a fight.
DESIGN China and the Bauhaus as a cabinet of curiosities12/11/2011Euro 60 million for a collection plus the cost of investing in a building: Why on earth is the Chinese city of Hangzhou buying an extensive Bauhaus collection and building a special museum to house it in on the Design Campus?
DESIGN Anyone who can build with peas and toothpicks must be a genius6/24/2011At the age of 32 Richard Buckminster Fuller faced disaster: He was bankrupt and his infant daughter had just died. Instead of giving up, he resolved henceforth only to do things that were destined to help mankind as a whole. The fruits of his intentions are now on show at Marta Herford.
DESIGN Greece, sun, Monobloc6/4/2011Crisis or no crisis, Greece's landscapes not only enchant the locals, but countless tourists, too. Yet there is more to the country than beautiful beaches and olive groves. Have you ever counted the Monobloc chairs on your vacation snaps?
DESIGN Merely boredom become chair?5/28/2011The Monobloc chair is considered the epitome of mass furniture. For long treated derogatorily, recently a series of designers have focused firmly on it. The publication on "220°C Virus Monobloc" sheds light on all facets of this realignment.
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.
DESIGN Too much design? Or simply the wrong one?12/11/2010With his book "Total design" Mateo Kries, Chief Curator and future director at Vitra Design Museum in Weil/Rhine, has critically assessed the new and supposedly exaggerated role of design.
DESIGN On the reality of things12/17/2009The world is so full of useful things that they easily escape our notice. Konstantin Grcic's current exhibition "Design Real" at London's Serpentine Gallery directs our attention in innovative and insightful fashion at a particularly intriguing corner of the vast realm of the useful, one where technical innovation and iconic power are held in artful balance.