Look up and you see the heavens. And the sheer variety of what you can see there is something Italian luminaire maker FLOS has reinterpreted time and time again and with great poetry. With luminiares by legendary designers - including Achille Castiglioni, Antonio Citterio, Jasper Morrison, Philippe Starck and Patricia Urquiola - the company established in 1962 has brought profane living space closer to the celestial lights.

The highlight of the event, which is held annually within the framework of DOMOTEX, the world fair for floor coverings, is the presentation of the contractworld.awards, the most lucrative architecture prize worth a total of € 50,000.

He plays piano in a jazz band, is a trained carpenter, and studied design in Stockholm: His friends like to call Fredrik Mattson the Chick Corea of Swedish design; although a mere 35 years old this Nordic talent, humorous yet serious has already received many prizes. Only recently Mattson received a Red Dot and some time ago the Golden Chair.

In Istanbul a young and very vibrant design scene starting emerging a few years back and it definitely goes about things with a fresh and witty approach on two continents. It has absolutely nothing to do with ethno-design. Turkish designers are interested in the same questions as their Western colleagues. Aziz Sariyer, the founder of the label Derin Design, puts it clearly as follows: "If I design a toothbrush, why does it have to be Turkish?"

200 galleries from all over the world are specially selected for the art event. And this time, there is a furniture manufacturer from France in their midst. Together with the internationally celebrated designers, the Bouroullec brothers, Ligne Roset is furnishing the Art Collectors Lounge and the Art Guest Lounge at the art show.

The bizarre towers rose to a height of 6.5 meters underneath which visitors could wander - like in a stage setting for Gulliver's Travels. Seating elements in the form of sloping circular cylinders offered places to sit and gaze up at the lengths of gathered material comprising the textile sculptures.

What do the MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the NACT, the National Art Center , have in common? In both cases the seating in the visitor areas comes from Denmark and is as prominent as its designers.

If things could talk, the sound backdrop of the newly opened restaurant Terraza del Casino in Madrid would consist of the excitedly cheerful chatter of a class of children on a school trip. Although the things remain silent, they still tell a great deal and vividly quote one style or another.

When Patrizia Moroso, Creative Director at Moroso, read an article about the pair in a magazine, she wanted to meet "these lovely people" straight away. And, what a coincidence, that very same day a beautiful envelope arrived from India. Ten days later, they met in London - Patrizia Moroso and the designer duo Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien.

Materialworks Zoom: Milled geo relief - workshop report by the company scopulus

This is how it must feel if you were to walk into a cloud. White and fluffy. A little more than nothing and very light. You dive in and start to float. At first glance it is difficult to discern the material properties of these ethereal volumes. Feathers, flakes of foam, snow crystals, not to mention some kind of high-tech fiber - it could be many things. What seems to come from another world consists of millions of perfectly ordinary paper tissues.

German furniture maker ClassiCon has an unmistakable feel for the right timeless design. The company has set itself the task not of pinpointing fashionable trends and styles, but rather designs that outlast current trends and win people over with their timeless quality.

If someone can design anything at all, then he will design it: Arne Quinze takes on everything, be it furniture, sports shoes, art objects or luxury hotels. Most of all he would even like to design his very own city one day - all in his style. And that is truly concise.

They produce legends - and are themselves a legend. In Spanish, you don't need anything more than two letters: BD. Meaning, Ediciones de Diseño Barcelona. They boldly cross the borders between art and design, just as the designers of their products did. And when big names, stories and emotions are involved, objects become unforgettable.

"The basis of the shape memory effect is a thermal-elastic, martensitic transformation in the structure of the alloy." The designer might well think that "shape memory effect" sounds exciting. But what does it actually mean in technical terms? In most cases that is the cue for endless research on the Internet.

Ever since 2001 Axor has been managed by Philippe Grohe, grandson of company founder Hans Grohe, and following Philippe Starck and Jean-Marie Massaud it has now been the turn of architect and designer Antonio Citterio to work for Axor - devising the series named after him with the mysterious "M", which stands for modernity, metropolis and Milan.

Who is not familiar with the tiresome search for the right stereo system? How do I combine speakers, amplifiers and playback devices best? And how do I find a suitable place in my apartment without having to compromise in terms of space and design?

Though you cannot see it you can certainly feel it, in its most pleasant form as heat: electric current. But energy forms also develop quite different currents: of thoughts, imagination, water, wind, and people. Even time has its own currents. Identifying fields of energy such as these and developing new applications and strategies from them was the task given to participants in the Designpreis Halle, which was announced for the first time this year.

Can you find it pleasant being in the element of water if you are not a fish? How can we enjoy the sensory qualities of cold and hot water as it forms pearls over our skin and bodies? And does the glistening of the light, which breaks in drops or torrents, not refresh our minds and senses? In order to combine all this into one experience, Ludovica and Roberto Palomba have designed a special piece of architecture, namely a bright and clear room for an enjoyable water experience.

For decades now the initials "LC" have been sufficient to conjure up in the minds of architects and designers an impressive work which has characterized the 20th century like almost no other: Be it "Villa Savoye", Ronchamp, "Unité d'Habitation" or Chandigarh, "Modulor", "LC"-armchair or -Chaiselongue - the designs of French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier (1887 bis 1965) rate as milestones in architecture and design history.

No a Design category does not yet exist for the most famous American movie award. But British designer Matthew Hilton has already received important prizes in his own discipline, for instance in 2006 the Elle Decoration Design Award in the category best furniture design for his pull-out table "Cross? or in 2000 Design Plus for his plastic chair "Wait".

Next summer, together with five social pedagogues, thirteen girls aged between three and 18 will move from their old domicile in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg to a new home offering sheltered accommodation. In the new building, construction of which is just beginning, they will have twice as much space as previously.

What is the likely result if you have a lot of imagination, a strong feeling for shapes- and one day come across a bicycle saddle and some rusty handlebars among your old things? In this case, Picasso's Bull's Head and the story of Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglionis seat SELLA might have taken a similar course.

Brands are forever changing the world. Is the collaboration between Poggenpohl and Porsche Design? going to do the same? Together the up-market kitchen brand and Ferdinand Porsche's design studio have designed a kitchen, specially for men. In doing so they are catering to the trend whereby more and more are becoming interested in the kitchen and cooking and the "modern kitchen" over the past few years having become a stylish place where it all happens.

"The Essential 100" guide for this year's 100% Design in London London takes up 20 A4 pages and you can't help wondering how you are supposed to manage even this selection in just three days. Once again from September 20 - 23, London was in design fever.

For some people, design is "the next big thing? in the art market or even a worthwhile investment option because if is often seen as a hot tip. Not just since Design Miami and Design Miami/Basle collectors have taken an interest in design and realized signed one-offs, early originals, prototypes or limited editions of creations make items worth collecting.

Though the term "tile manufacturer" is correct, it does not by any means describe the company Bisazza. The Italian mosaic maker creates real worlds of glitter and glamor. The small, square stones make opulent decoration and thanks to their creating the look of ornamental wallpaper have made a triumphant entry.

"Madonna!" you are tempted to shout. After all, this year's logo for the legendary fair in Verona resembles a send up of a design icon: With two eyes and a red mouth the black armchair "Up5" (also named "Donna" for its anthropomorphous shape) laughs at the visitor together with "Up6" ("La palla al piede").

Zelt, Wasserball und Rollkoffer: Die neue Puma-Kollektion kultiviert das Lounging in der Natur und spricht vor allem hartnäckige Großstädter an.

The small "s" in the VIENNA DESIGN WEEKs speaks volumes: A week just would not suffice to present the Austrian capital's lively design scene, invite people to exhibitions, parties, talks, discussions and special tours through museums and still fit in a design conference.

Conventions do not appear to be a fixture in the world of Ronan und Erwan Bouroullec , which perhaps explains the brothers' knack for repeatedly surprising the public with their work.

Long before firms sought to craft a corporate identity with the aid of thick styleguides and design guidelines entrepreneur Fritz Hahne assisted by architects and designers worked on a corporate culture, which defined the corporate image, buildings and quite naturally also the fairness and ecological responsibility of the Wilkhahn brand.

Intent on renovating his freshly acquired castle Schloss Gartow Andreas Gottlieb Graf von Bernstorff had to come up with a plan. It was the end of the 17th century and the bare moorland round about did not even provide timber for renovating the buildings. So he set about reforesting the area, and today this private forest covering 6,500 hectares represents the largest of its kind in North Germany.

Over 100 years ago, in 1895 to be exact, the inventor Daniel Swarovski moved to Tyrol in Austria, where he installed his new machine to cut and polish crystal glass. From these early beginnings, his sparkling crystals revolutionized the world of fashion and transformed the family business into a global market leader for crystal in fashion, jewelry and, since a few years ago, increasingly in the fields of lighting, architecture and interior design as well.

The company Alape was set up more than a hundred years ago by Adolf Lamprecht. Located in Penig, Saxony it initially made enamel products before gradually shifting its focus to the bathroom. Production concentrated on sinks and bathroom furniture, and over the years a close cooperation with designers and architects evolved.