Magazin

In the wake of "Ploum" Ligne Roset is now presenting another upholstered group based on a shell shape: "Cosse". Martina Metzner talked with designer Philippe Nigro about his new creation, his items for the Hermès fashion house and what he learned during his time with Michele De Lucchi's studio.

Today’s overabundance of plastic waste is the focus of the exhibition “An Ecosystem of Excess” currently on show at the Schering Foundation in Berlin. Artist Pinar Yoldas has designed a laboratory featuring plastic-digesting monstrosities.

London engages modernity on its own terms: hosting modern architecture without ever really entering into the obligation to modernize as a city.

It’s 30 years since Apple launched its first Macintosh computer complete with a spectacular Ridley Scott commercial – laying down the gauntlet for then market leader IBM. The workstation’s user-oriented design is to this day considered revolutionary. Now Apple has presented its new “Mac Pro”, which features a strikingly surprising design.

Maxie Eisen is the latest culinary addition to the renowned district round Frankfurt’s main station. The bistro-and-bar is not only the new place-to-be for fans of pastrami but will – thanks to the stylish interiors by the likes of Jean Prouvé and Ilmari Tapiovaara – equally appeal to lovers of good design. Only the mafia should have been kept outside.

Following the hype about coffee, everyone is suddenly drinking tea. Which brought the teapot back into the designers’ sights. Small, plump and in the Japanese style, it was the shooting star at the Ambiente consumer goods fair in Frankfurt. We present the most stylish examples in a picture gallery.

“Man Machine” is the name of the latest furniture collection by Konstantin Grcic. It is being presented at Galerie kreo in Paris. What is extraordinary about it is that the items are made of glass and have moving parts.

The exhibition “In Beton gegossen” (Cast in concrete), on show in Stuttgart’s Architekturgalerie am Weissenhof from February 27 to April 6, pays tribute to the oeuvre of Ulrich Müther, whose extraordinary reinforced concrete shell structures were a cut above East German architecture at the time.

Symposia – Exhibition – Film Series

A waterfront sullied by Frankfurt Airport’s oil tank farm and a gap in the network of cycling routes that begged to be closed precisely at this spot: Raunheim’s new oil harbor bridge is a structure that self-confidently stands out in what is otherwise a surreal environment.

LED technology has also revolutionized luminaire design. The lighting element proper is getting ever smaller. In Part 2 of the interview Thomas Wagner talks with the founder and CEO of Nimbus, about the magic of light, the positioning of the brand, what he appreciates most about working with architects, and why nature is the measure of all things when it comes to how we perceive light.

Black-and-white camouflage unsettles the eye. Objects and furniture appear familiar and yet remain strange. And outside in the rotunda a Stars n’ Stripes has exploded. Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt presents Tobias Rehberger – a successful home game.

Nimbus – what a wonderfully illustrious name! The company is based in Feuerbach outside Stuttgart and though it doesn’t produce halos, it makes LEDs, which not only emit great light, but are both uncompromisingly functional and look cool. Thomas Wagner met the Nimbus founder, and talked about luminaires, design decisions, the advantages of LED technology, and the interaction of architecture and light.

Although the exhibition “Sensing Spaces” at London’s Royal Academy presents architecture, it doesn’t celebrate the stars of the scene and their prestigious projects. Instead it shows impressive, atmospheric installations on the topic of space, space that wants to be explored and experienced.

Light planner Ulrike Brandi from Hamburg has mixed feelings about the innovations in the lighting industry in recent years, arguing that energy efficiency is not everything. Uta Abendroth spoke to Ulrike Brandi about excessively bright light, light’s comforting aspects and the good old light bulb.

Frankfurt gleams in a new light – in 2014, parallel to the Light + Building trade fair, one of the world’s largest and most renowned light festivals will take place again, the Luminale. Take a look at our preview of the top ten light-installations.

French designer Martin de Bie couldn’t care two hoots about conventional products. Instead of focusing on functionality and usage, he develops instruments that transform sounds into light and entice the senses.

Kvadrat is reaching out into the fashion world: to Alfredo Häberli, Patricia Urquiola and the Bouroullec brothers. With them, Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons has now unfurled a new fabrics collection for the Danish textile experts. And is thus taking fabrics from the cat walk to the sofa.

Architects, designers and professionals are looking expectantly towards this year´s Light + Building, taking place in Frankfurt, March 30th to April 04th - this year focused on subjects as LEDs, networking buildings and the impact of light on the human body. At the same time the Luminale as an exciting event gives with its several highlights opportunity to discover the city.

Assuming the BMW’s i3 electric car is an international success, it will no doubt influence how we buy and use cars – and get from A to B – in the future. Ranges, service packages and even refueling could soon be dictated by the concepts of carmakers.

Google has premiered seven new designs for its Internet glasses: four frames for optical lenses and three pairs of shades. But are they smart enough to convince non-techies to be online at all times, walking through life as part of the digital network?

In recent years, the Stockholm Furniture Fair has morphed into a serious contender that can hold its own alongside interior design heavyweights imm cologne and Milan’s Salone. This is partly the product of the great range of fringe events during the Stockholm Design Week, held at the same time.

It is an ambitious idea to focus an exhibition purely on the aesthetic of objects in their emergent state, but this has been beautifully accomplished by the Design Museum London: Barber Osgerby’s “In the Making”.

In the Netherlands the number of days with strong precipitation increased to 85 percent. What to do with all the water in a sealed city like Rotterdam? With their concept for Rotterdam’s Benthemplein square, the architects and planners at De Urbanisten demonstrate how water management can be incorporated into urban square design.

An exhibition in the Frankfurt Museum Angewandte Kunst focusing on the furniture of designer Ferdinand Kramer. But his product designs remain tied to his architectural legacy, which is well worth taking a look at.

Frankfurt’s Museum of Applied Art presents Ferdinand Kramer – the designer, that is, not the architect. The show focuses on Kramer’s philosophy of creating adaptable, multi-purpose furniture.

“Selfie-ism”, the well-known phenomenon of uploading cell-phone photos onto social media platforms, is now also possible on building façades. Architect Asif Khan has created a façade that portrays three-dimensional faces.

Media façades tend to be viewed with a critical eye – at least by architects. Indeed, many are just a glowing, in the worst case, flashing form of decoration for mediocre architecture. But is everything that flashes instantly bad?

Christian Werner has re-engineered the sofa. Because what people expect of them has changed in the age of Smartphone, tablet PCs, etc. Today, it’s a matter of course to put your feet up, as the sofa trebles up as home office, dining venue and relaxing chaise longue. Uta Abendroth chatted with the Berlin-born designer about his latest creation, “Prado” for Ligne Roset.

The tower of Goethe University Frankfurt’s Educational Department has been demolished. The building was just 42 years old. An obituary.

The legendary statesman had a penchant for luxurious hotel complexes. These and others are now featuring in the illustrated volume “Holidays after the Fall”: A photographic journey to the architectural legacy of the heyday of tourism in socialist Croatia.

Imm cologne attract creative minds from all over the world – this time they included Marc Bailly, interior architect straight from New York. He joined Robert Volhard, Stylepark MD, for a tour of the Cologne interiors fair to find out all about innovative design this side of the Great Pond.

When do we regard things as authentic? Take wood that’s no longer wood, for example, and flooring that looks precisely like wood – how does this make us feel? What are the limitations to emulating natural materials, disassociating them from their familiar contexts and advancing them functionally? Architects Lars Krückeberg, Titus Bernhard, Günter Katherl and Dirk Zweering teamed up with architectural critic Angelika Fitz to debate these and similar issues in the context of “Innovations@Domotex”.

Wildau Technical University of Applied Sciences stands on the grounds of what was once Europe’s largest locomotive factory. The old and new buildings together form a highly attractive campus on Berlin’s doorstep.

What is of interest to a designer at a trade fair like the Domotex in Hanover? Uta Abendroth accompanied Petra Blaisse, founder of Amsterdam studio Inside Outside, on a tour of the fair and discussed traditiony, art works and inspiration with her. Oh, and good taste, as well.