USM Haller delivery: Eames elephants are helpful but not necessary

In the wake of our “warehouse” post we have received numerous emails along a similar vein:

“It’s OK for yous and your highly trained Eames Elephants; but how do we get our USM Haller furniture into our flat?”

The simple answer - assuming you live in Germany - is “PREMIUM delivery”

Under normal conditions the Schenker delivery crews are only allowed to deliver to the door of your building.

It’s a legal thing.

With “PREMIUM delivery”, however, for a small additional fee not only will the furniture be brought into the room where it is required; but the carrier will also take away the packing for environmentally correct disposal.

Premium delivery from smow: Ideal for USM Haller

Although “PREMIUM delivery” is particularly intended for USM Haller deliveries, it can however be booked for all smow orders.
And while we can well imagine it maybe worthwhile for an Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman from Vitra that need to be carried up to a fourth floor flat; for a moooi Rabbitt Lamp it would be a bit exaggerated.

Currently “PREMIUM delivery” is only available for deliveries within Germany.
For deliveries outwith (smow) cannot make any guarantees that a similar service is available; but our experienced logistics team will use all their experience and contacts to make sure the delivery meets your requirements and the local conditions.

And in very rare cases the (smow)blog team will deliver the order personally; but only if the weather forecast is agreeable and you can assure us that you can bake like a Greek God/Goddess.
Full details on how (smow) deliver orders can be found on the furniture delivery page.

As announced yesterday we sadly cannot attend this years Stockholm Furniture Fair - because we have to go to Switzerland, and then quickly back over the border to Germany, or better put: The Official Preview of the Vitra Design Museum complex in Weil am Rhein’s newest attraction. The VitraHaus.

VitraHaus

Designed by Swiss star architects Herzog & de Meuron - perhaps best known for the Beijing National Stadium or the extension of the Tate gallery in London - the VitraHaus is principally conceived as an exhibition space for Vitra’s Home Collection, combined with general exhibition and conference space.

VitraHaus in evening light ... at night the effect is even more enhanced

Resembling several houses built on top of one another, the real majesty of the construction is initially only visible at night; as with, for example,  Herzog & de Meuron’s Alliance Arena in Munich where the illuminated outer panels transform an otherwise unspectacular building into a true art of work.

With VitraHaus the effect however is created by the combination of dark outer walls and 100% glass end facade: when the inside is illuminated the construction is transformed from one building into a collection of houses floating above and around one another in the night sky.

From what we’ve seen so far and form what colleagues who have been there have reported, we think we’ll like it.

The (smow)blog photo equipment being delivered in Weil am Rhein in preparation for the VitraHaus preview

On Friday evening, however, you can read here what we actually think after we’ve seen the VitraHaus for ourselves; or if you can’t wait that long follow our tweets live from the VitraHaus, Weil am Rhein on the (smow)twitter.

And then on Saturday the (smow)wintertour 2010 continues … but more on that later.

This coming Tuesday - 09 Feb - sees the opening of one of our favourite furniture events. The Stockholm Furniture Fair.

Sadly on account of events happening elsewhere in Europe next week - watch this space - we now cannot make it to Stockholm.

And so an appeal: Is anyone going to the Stockholm Furniture Fair who can send us a few photos and a brief report on how you found it?

Or do you live in Stockholm and would you like to visit the Fair.

We know it’s cheeky, but if you can help dig us out of a fairly large hole, do please get in touch.

Thank you.

Stockholm Furniture Fair

The last couple of days have seen an endless stream of emails into the (smow)blog bunker asking if we are OK.

And if we’re OK, why aren’t we posting anything?

Can’t we be bothered?

Are we bored?

Have we finally be rumbled by the (smow)boss?

Far from it, the sad truth is we’ve been forced into doing some real work for change.

We know, we can’t believe it either!

(smow) ... in stock and ready to go...

The combination of Christmas holidays and heavy snow throughout Europe has meant that numerous deliveries from a number of (smow)suppliers have been delayed of late.

Delayed deliveries which all arrived on Thursday.

As we arrived at (smow)HQ on Thursday morning, Vitra were already waiting with a lorry full of products from designers as diverse as Charles and Ray Eames, Maarten van Severen or Verner Panton.

Then USM Haller arrived with a lorry full of Haller tables, USM Haller sideboards and roll containers.  And as they left us to head back to Bühl, moooi arrived from Amsterdam.

Sometimes it really is like the EU car park in the (smow)yard!!!

And then with lunch barely digested Moormann, Lampert and lapalma rolled up.

Fantastic as all this was, it did of course mean that someone had to pack all the new deliveries away.

And that task befell us.

But don’t worry, we weren’t actually forced to sweat.

USM Haller being carried by Eames Elephants into the (smow)warehouse

For such tasks we have a team of specially trained and qualified Eames Elephants; we are simply needed to coordinate the whole exercise.

And so we have spent the past few days directing Eiermann desk, Vitra DSR and USM Haller carrying Vitra Eames Elephants through the endless corridors of the (smow)warehouse.

But everything is now - finally - stored away and our Eames Elephants have returned to the Leipzig Ratsholz to continue helping Leipzig City Council rid the public forests of the plague of nordic walking pensioners who have taken up residence there.

Good luck! We’re counting on you!

And we are back to drinking too much coffee and searching out the finest designer furniture stories for your entertainment.

Vitra Eames Elephants prepare to ambush nordic walking pensioners in Leipzig

Zeeland, Michigan, 1969

The EA 107 from the Charles and Ray Eames aluminium chair range through Vitra

Ten years ago Charles and Ray Eames revolutionised the world of chair design with their “aluminium Chair” range. And now they hope to do it again.

In one of the most eagerly anticipated announcements of the year, Charles and Ray Eames today unveiled their new product range: soft Pad

“soft Pad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device” declared a proud Charles Eames as he unveiled the new range to the specially invited journalists in the Yerba Buena Center in Zeeland, Michigan

With the soft Pad  Charles and Ray Eames have retained the familiar aluminium Chair frames, but added a range of new features: principally individually upholstered, 2 and 3/4 inch cushions. The cushions, so Eames, contrast with the sleek aluminium profile to create a softer, more opulent chair that still maintains the transparency and clarity of the original aluminium Chair.

The EA 207 from Charles and Ray Eames new soft Pad range through Vitra

In addition Eames hope to expand on the success of the some 140,000 “apps” available for the aluminium Chairs and which are available over the so called aluminium Chair appsStore; including the popular foot stool and facebookapps

Critics have however highlighted the lack of USB ports and the fact that the new soft Pad doesn’t support flash as drawbacks. Charles and Ray Eames however remained upbeat and predict that the new soft Pad will find great resonance amongst consumers, will eventually become a design classic produced in Europe by Vitra and be available for purchase on the Internet.

Raimond by Raimond Puts for moooi

G’day!

What with all the excitement about the new iSlate, we missed Australia Day yesterday.

And so wanted to use today to write a post involving words like “Sheila”, “Sheila”, “I can see the pub from here!” and “Sheila”

Then we discovered that we’d also missed the announcement of the shortlist for the 2010 Australian International Design Awards.
And that seemed a much better subject than lazy international stereotypes.

The “Architectural and Interior” products section of the 2010 Awards shortlist is, more or less, dominated by office chairs including new models from Herman Miller and Wilkhahn.

But for us the aesthetic winner is without doubt Raimond by Raimond Puts for moooi.

This was one of the first products we saw at the 2009 Saloni in Milan, and one of the best.

Not least because it is enormous.

Similarly to Richard Sapper’s Tizio lamp fro Artemide, the electricity in Raimond passes through the stainless “spring steel” structure; the various paths being then “joined” by the LEDs.

Resembling an exaggerated Bohr Atom diagram, Raimond brings a wonderful, aesthetic ambiance to every room.

If that is enough to impress the Aussies, we don’t know… but we do hope so.

The winners will be announced in Sydney on June 4 2010.

Sheila.

Raimond by Raimond Puts for moooi ... detail

LED lamp Raimond by Raimond Puts for moooi ... as seen in Milan 2009

In what is quite possibly the most eagerly anticipated announcement of 2010, Apple Supremo Steve Jobs will unveil the companies latest product in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Is this the iSlate?

Rumoured the be called iSlate, or possibly iPad or iTablet, the product is expected to combine the functionality of the iPhone with that of the iMac in a flat, transportable, keyboardless computer; thus allowing the user to write, draw and calculate anywhere.

In effect a chalkboard for the 21st century.

Hence the name.

What may surprise many of you, however, is that not only is the history of the chalkboard itself Germanic, but also Apple’s approach to design has it’s roots in Germany; and indeed even Apple’s nomenclature system is based on historical German syntax.

The iSlate is, therefore, German.

The centre of the global chalkboard industry was Steinach in Thuringen. From this idyll of forest and streams some 30 million chalkboards were produced and shipped to all corners of the globe, before production finally ended in 1968. The towns “Chalkboard Museum” provides a wonderful overview of the history of chalkboard production in the area and is well worth a visit next time you are on the Rennsteig. According to the operators, the decision as to whether the iSlate will feature in the exhibition will be made after Steve Job’s official unveiling.

And confirmation that it is called iSlate.

The classic Eiermann Desk by Egon Eiermann from Richard Lampert

But long before Jonathan iVes started reinventing the way we think about products, the Germans were already doing just that.

The iRmann desk by Egon Eiermann is perhaps the best example of just where the Apple approach to product design originates from.

Just as Jonathen iVes strips products down to the bare minimum before relaunching them in a pseudo-post-Dieter Rams format; so Egon Eiermann stripped desk design down to just the frame before relaunching it in a pseudo-pre-Dieter Rams format.

The name “iRmann” originates from a popular anglo-frisian construction whereby the phonetic “i” was treated as inferior in written forms and so the second letter was written as a capital. The lower case i remaining for sake of clarity alone. Popular in Egon Eiermann’s native Brandenburg and neighbouring Berlin, this practice died out as ingvaeonic languages finally ceded to modern German in the 1980s.

It is generally accepted by academics that Apple’s use of the lower case”i” in front of words such as iPod or iPhone has similar origins and is associated with Steve Job’s Frisian ancestry.

Today the iRmann desk is produced by Richard Lampert; albeit under the name Eiermann Desk

And today both Apple products and iRmann desks are used globally by architects, designers and other creative people.

Which can’t be a coincidence.

The iRmann desk is wonderfully complemented by George Nelson’s iClock from Vitra.

The name iClock is a cheap pun we thought up to fit the article into this post.

But we do like it.

You can read full details on the iSlate here, once Apple have made the formal announcement in San Francisco

iSlate and iRmann desk with a panton chair... is this the future of creative office design?

IMM Cologne 2010

Fear not, we’ve still got a duffel bag full of products and stories from our week in Cologne to bring you.

However we feel it only right to quickly review the 2010 IMM Cologne.

Elsewhere we’ve read that there were no trends to be found at IMM.

Which for us is positive.

Trends have no place in the furniture business.

Trends imply that the role of furniture is to meet some pre-ordained assumption on the part of the consumer as to what their furniture should look like, how it should behave and how it should interact with the world around it.

Such trends generally start from some self-appointed “trend expert” and are then taken over wholesale by marketing departments and lazy journalists.

And is why the product range in some halls was so appalling, and is also one of the reasons why furniture sales are slumping.

214 from Thonet - Innovative German design ... but would it have been exhibited at IMM 1859?

Offer a consumer a choice between 1000 products that fit to a “trend” and you breed lethargy in the consumers - all they see is the same products, being sold with the same pitches… And while a few will fall for the silky sales lines and the promise of a better social image; the majority will realise they are being force fed over-priced tat. And not bite

However, offer the customer something that doesn’t fit any universal plan, but which through its form, functionality and design makes their life easier or simply more enjoyable - and more importantly let the customer decide what the product means to them and how it fits into their world - then you motivate the customer.

And for our money the work of the “trend experts” could be seen on many of the stands and heard in the senseless, contextless use of words like “organic” or “wellness” flowing like honey from the mouths of the sales professionals employed to drive home the message.

The resulting “sameness” in some halls was genuinely shocking.

As was the cheek of some producers.

Despite the IMM organisers assertions that there would be no copies on display in Cologne; there were an awful lot of products where you had to question if the company involved honestly wasn’t aware of obscure designs such as the Barcelona Chair or the Ant Chair.
We know, not everyone can have our encyclopedic knowledge of deign history; but to invite companies to take part who offer on their websites products that are clearly derived from patent protected designs is cheeky.
And does the students in Hall 3.1 a huge disservice as it underpins the quite acceptance in the furniture trade that while creativity is good… copying is cheaper and better for the profit margins.

Students, more than just decoration at IMM Cologne?

The future of the furniture industry lies in good design that breaks moulds and redefines convention.

Not copying and selling cheaper than the competition.

But it wasn’t all bad.

There weren’t a lot of genuinely new products on display, but there were an awful lot of genuinely very good products and among the producers we spoke to a lot of genuine optimism.

We discovered, and even rediscovered some wonderful products and on the whole the trip was more than worth it.

And certainly one to recommend.

However, if the IMM organisers want to make sure that the halls in Cologne are a little fuller in 2011 than 2010 … then they need to improve the incentives for those producers who do offer innovative quality to make the trip.

We’ll let you know if they manage it….

Becherlicht by Martin Neuhaus

It’s not often a product impresses us so much it causes us to swear; but Becherlicht by Martin Neuhaus had such an affect on us we spent our first four hours at Designers Fair cursing like trawlermen who had just hauled a case of whisky on board.

Honestly the looks we got.

But it was worth it.

Because Becherlicht is already well on its way to being our product of the year.

Light shining though a plastic beaker throws a coloured shadow onto a surface.

The idea is so simple, yet only works because of Martin Neuhaus’ faultlessly perfect execution of the design.

Sadly, in away, this perfectness is perhaps the products greatest weakness.

For us Becherlicht is not a product for the home; it’s not an everyday product - exactly because it relies on the “wow”, “a-ha” or “f************” effect.

And good as it is, if you see it everyday, the magic will fade, and it’ll be like having a Barry Manilow record on your wall.
Yeah you can still remember how you felt when you first bought it, but now it’s just the guy with the big nose who sings about how you used to feel….

However, if you own some sort of location where lots of people come, but each person only very occasionally - so a room where weddings or exhibitions are held - then Becherlicht is perfect.

Because you will improve the day of every single visitor.

The beaker itself comes in four colours and the illumination is supplied by a low voltage halogen bulb.

Kölle Alaaf: Becherlicht by Martin Neuhaus

Becherlicht - simple, genial

Becherlicht in our office in Köln

Becherlicht by Martin Neuhaus ... detail

Becherlicht ... more detail

Becherlicht ....

There is little doubt as to who the most popular furniture producers with the exhibitors here in Köln are…. Vitra and Kartell.

Two producers whom the Messe Köln sadly can’t attract to the show in their own right.
And that despite the fact that all the snack bars here in Köln Messe use Maarten van Severen’s genial .03

On the stands here however we’ve seen, for example, Panton Chairs being used to augment otherwise tasteless bedroom suites and the classic Vitra DSR by Charles and Ray Eames standing at more than one table. Across the Rhein at designers open meanwhile, the somewhat less well earning young designers are more modestly kitted out interror.be, for example, with his Elephant Stool by Sori Yanagi.
Many of the more garish room set ups, meanwhile, use Kartell lighting as accessories.

The curious thing is - it works.

That however may just be due to the number of ironic bad taste hotel, spa and casino ensembles that Philippe Starck has organised of late. And not just lamps, Kartell seating pops ups up fairly frequently as well.  Sadly we’ve not seen as many from the Starck “Ghost” range as we like, however, we have seen some excellent ero|s| usage.
And as if all that wasn’t enough, the stands on which visitors fill out their registration forms are finest USM Haller.
But that USM Haller aren’t here is less of a surprise… they don’t do trade fairs.

And so despite our concerns over the aesthetics standards of some of the exhibitors here; it’s comforting to know that at least someone in the organisation can appreciate quality designer furniture.

.03 by Maarten van Severen from Vitra

Vitra DSR by Charles and Ray Eames

System USM Haller at IMM in Cologne

Ero|s| by Philippe Starck from Kartell