In our post about Diogene by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Vitra we noted that a Jean Prouvé house could currently be marvelled at Design Miami Basel 2013.

And we obviously don’t want to deny all who weren’t there the chance to do just that.

Design Miami Basel 2013: Jean Prouve - Maison des Jours Meilleurs at Galerie Patrick Seguin, Paris

Presented by Galerie Patrick Seguin the “Maison des Jours Meilleurs” was conceived in 1956 as a response to the campaigning French priest Abbé Pierre’s call for low cost emergency housing for the Paris homeless.

While the rich Italians and super rich Russians circling it in Basel are clearly in direct contrast to the context of the object’s origins, if you ignore them – and believe us that is really, really easy – you can’t fail to be impressed by the majesty of the work.

On a concrete base stands a shell of wood panels topped by an aluminium roof. The heart of the design however is to be found in the middle of the construction: a kitchen/bathroom/toilet pod which also acts as the central support for the pre-fabricated steel skeleton.

Aside from the construction principle and the wonderful design of the windows, for us the highlight of the object is that because the concrete base is wider than the walls, it forms a seat-cum-shelf that rolls the whole way round the interior of the construction making any furniture other than a bed useful, but not absolutely essential.

All in all a wonderful object, a beautiful representation of Prouvé’s research into social housing, and – as with most of the classic design on show in Basel – completely outwith the price range of mere mortals.

Viewing is however free, or at least costs just the entry price, and as ever the “Classic Design” galleries presented a show worthy of any design museum.

Aside from Maison des Jours Meilleurs and furniture by Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier at Galerie Patrick Seguin, the other classic highlights at Design Miami Basel 2013  for use were the presentation of Alvar Aalto’s fixtures and fittings for his Paimio Sanitorium at Jacksons, the objects by Finn Juhl at Dansk Møbelkunst Gallery
and a huge, violent, beast of a desk by Italian architects whose names we can sadly no longer locate at Galerie Ulrich Fiedler Berlin.

Among the contemporary works there was, if we’re honest, not that much that caught our attention apart from some wonderful objects by India Mahdavi for Carwan Gallery Beirut and the results of the Verbier Mountain Climbers project which asks Swiss designers to create something new from decommissioned Verbier ski gondolas. The new-old gondolas then being auctioned for charity.

The above and of course that fact that Carpenters Workshop Gallery are still looking for a buyer for Fragile Future Chandelier 3.1 by Lonneke Gordijn & Ralph Nauta. We’re still saving……

As ever we still don’t really get Design Miami Basel, but then you don’t have to. It can be simply enjoyed as the most invigorating journey through the realm of 20th century furniture design. And of course a veritable 3D library for our Lost Furniture Design Classics series…..

A few impressions from Design Miami Basel 2013

Since establishing their own design studio in Stuttgart in 1994 Markus Jehs and Jürgen Laub have quietly gone on to become two of the busiest and most successful German product designers of their generation. With a client portfolio that includes the likes of Thonet, Wilkhahn, Fritz Hansen, Authentics or Belux Jehs+Laub are just at home with designing office furniture as with domestic furniture, lighting and accessories.

And in a career splattered with international awards the highlight unquestionably came when the pair won the inaugural, and sadly since then not repeated, Moormann Bookinist Cup.

We know it’s a while here, but back at Orgatec 2012 Jürgen Laub and Markus Jehs launched a new product with German manufacturer Brunner: the A-chair, a modular all-purpose seating system that Brunner pushed with the fact that they had invested some one million Euros in the development of the project.

At that at a time of, relative, financial insecurity.

At Orgatec we took the opportunity to speak with Markus Jehs and Jürgen Laub and started by asking if they approach office furniture projects differently from domestic furniture projects……..

Jürgen Laub: No, not at all, we approach both in the same way, which is that we design objects so that they appeal to us, while at the same time placing ourselves in the position of the end customer with their requirements on and demands for the object.

Markus Jehs: With the “end customer” it’s important to stress that is not just the person who eventually buys the object, we also have the manufacturer who commissioned the work and then one can’t forget the sales and distribution network, they also have requirements and must be able to cope with the product. All this needs to be considered, but we’ve been doing this for “a couple of years now” and understand how it all works.

(smow)blog: With office furniture, is one as a designer limited in what one can do in terms of form or aesthetic on account of the necessary functionality.

Jürgen Laub: Office furniture is certainly more of a challenge in that respect, and yes there are limits, for example, if you know that a chair shouldn’t cost more than X Euro then there are potential limits as to what you can do in terms of using new materials. However, we are in the fortunate position that with many of our partners such limitations don’t apply, and when we have a partner like Brunner who are prepared to invest one million euros in the technology to create the chair, then we know we can go to the limits of what is possible and that gives us enormous freedom in terms of developing the form.

(smow)blog: One million euros. Do you feel the pressure from such a figure or can you ignore the numbers?

Markus Jehs: No there’s no pressure, not least because at the beginning such numbers doesn’t exist. In the course of the product development one invariably reaches moments where such figures arise and questions are posed; and then you consider if it is necessary and sensible and for all if the product has the potential to recoup the investment. And with the A Chair we have a product that offers so many potential configurations and has so many possible uses that we all felt confident with the investment.

(smow)blog: Feeling confident with an investment is obviously largely determined by prevailing economic factors.You work with almost all major German contemporary furniture producers. Are you able to assess the current market situation or is that all something a long way from yourselves and your atelier….?

Jürgen Laub: We hear a lot, but we ourselves haven’t noticed anything. That said what we are aware of is that in the last couple of years the market has become somewhat volatile, one day all is going well, the next it’s all doom and gloom, and then it’s back to sunny. Ten, twenty years ago that was different, everything was much more stable. But nowadays producers are increasingly looking to win market share from one another, and at the end of the day part of our job as designers is to ensure that success. It’s easy to think that as a designer you’re just paid to produce attractive or functional objects, but ultimately manufacturers commission us to produce successful products.

(smow)blog: Moving away from your work, in 2011 you famously won the Moormann Bookinist Cup. We didn’t get the chance to ask then, but what was the secret of that fantastic success?

Markus Jehs: We were so boring, we just drove at a steady speed. I drove, Jürgen pushed, and my biggest fear was crashing at the first corner and so we set off very cautiously and that’s why we won.

Jürgen Laub: Which means we only won because I pushed him properly!

(smow)blog: Which sounds like a nice metaphor for the design relationship, you’ve only come so far because the one pushes the other properly!

Jürgen Laub: Genau!

(smow)blog: And briefly to end, your based in Stuttgart. Can one describe Stuttgart as a design city?

Markus Jehs: What we like about Stuttgart is that it is the middle of Europe and so one can quickly reach any necessary destination. It’s also culturally a very rich city, OK the architecture is perhaps not the most inspiring, after the war, as with many German cities, errors, big errors, were made. But all in all Stuttgart is a creative city not just in terms of design or art but also general tinkering, exploring, finding solutions to problems and developing new ideas through experimentation. Which is something that I think defines Stuttgart.

Jürgen Laub: Stuttgart is also more professional than, for example, Berlin. In Stuttgart you find a lot less people making felt bags, but a lot more internationally active architecture and design bureaus. But in Stuttgart people don’t talk so much about their success: an awful lot of creativity originates in Stuttgart but you don’t necessarily know that because no one talks about it.

A-Chair by Jehs+Laub for Brunner (Photo: Brunner)

Space Chair by Jehs+Laub for Fritz Hansen (Photo: Fritz Hansen)

Graph by Jehs+Laub for Wilkhahn (Photo: Wilkhahn)

If you thought you’d seen the epitome of kitsch, we give you…..

An olive bowl in the shape of Celine Dion’s swimming pool.

Just writing that sentence makes us want one.

And of course the accompanying bowl for sun-dried tomatoes in the shape of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s swimming pool.

Created by Zurich based designer Damian Fopp the Celeb Bowls collection is a series of porcelain bowls based on celebrity swimming pools, or to be more precise the swimming pools of Frank Sinatra, John Travolta, Charlie Chaplin and the aforementioned Celine Dion and Brangelina.

Simply put it is one of the most senselessly irreverent pieces of product design we’ve seen in ages…. and was in our opinion rightly nominated for the 2013 Swiss Design Award in the category Product Design.

Sadly however the judges didn’t see fit to award it one of the coveted prizes.

Similarly the, in our opinion, equally excellent Homework by Tomas Kral wasn’t selected for an award.

We are however delighted to report that among the winners were our old chums U-Turn by Michel Charlot and the team at Depot Basel.

Well done y’all!

And well done to Moritz Schmid who won an award for his sideboards Pile for Glas Trösch and Etage for Röthlisberger. Moritz of course belongs to that elite group of designers with whom we have conducted an interview…  but not yet quite got round to publishing it.

It’s on its way….

During Design Miami Basel a short exhibition of the all the nominated projects was presented. A few impressions….

“You can’t lose ideas in a small space” with this simple piece of almost Confucian wisdom Italian architect Renzo Piano explains part the deeper philosophy behind Diogene, his collaboration with Vitra. And the latest object on the Vitra Campus.

Following quickly on from the public presentation of the SANAA Factory Building – unquestionably the biggest building on the Vitra Campus – Diogene is equally unquestionably the smallest.
In fact, if our maths are correct you could fit around 2,600 Diogenes inside one SANAA.

Diogene by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Vitra

By his own admission one of Renzo Piano’s longest held dreams has been to build a 2 metre by 2 metre house. That may appear a wish at stark odds with his more famous works, including, for example, the Centre Pompidou Paris, Kansai Airport in Japan or most recently the Shard in London. But less famously Renzo Piano has also designed seven boats, a couple of cars and recently designed cells for the nuns at the Community of the Poor Claire Convent in Ronchamp, France.

The idea for Diogene began some ten years ago as a self-initiated concept-work-in-progress. In 2009 the Italian design and architecture magazine Abitare presented the project with an appeal from Renzo Piano that he was looking for a partner.

Intrigued by this novel “Lonely Hearts” advert, Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum answered the call and since 2010 Vitra and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) have co-developed the project.

Constructed from a wood core with an aluminium shell Diogenes is a passive, energy neutral house that offers comfortable accommodation for one, or passable accommodation for two.

And we use the word “house” deliberately because for both Renzo Piano and Rolf Fehlbaum it is and was important that the object is a house: not a container and not a caravan. But a house.

Which is why it has a pointy roof. Which is also why the VitraHaus has a pointy roof. It’s a house.

Kitted out with solar panels for generating electricity and heating water, Diogene also collects rainwater and comes equipped with a compost toilet. As such it is self-supplying and self-sufficient. All it takes from its local environment is a few square metres of ground. A shower and small kitchen allow for the more pleasant things in life, and the living space is equipped with a three part desk that collapses flat against the wall and a sitting bench-cum-bed. There is also a heating option, but if you forgive us, we’ve lost the details.

And although not mobile per se Diogene has been designed so that it can be transported in its constructed form.

The references in the work are manifold, for us the most obvious being Le Corbusier’s Cabonon or the many experimental constructions of Jean Prouve, one of which can currently be marvelled at Design Basel. And in terms of Jean Prouve, the design of the roof lamp in the living space is an unashamed nod to Renzo Piano’s former teacher. Which we like. A lot.

Big Vitra House. Little Vitra House.

At the moment Diogene is a prototype, however Rolf Fehlbaum sounds determined to develop it into a fully fledged product. The plan at the moment appears to be to eventually offer Diogene in a range of models from a very basic up to what could be considered a luxury. And cautious first price calculations have clearly been made, calculations that would price the “standard” Diogene on a par with a mid-lower priced family car.

A fact that of course, finally, raises the unavoidable question as to who actually needs such an object?
The short answer is of course no one.
But then no one really needs a mid-lower priced family car. Or a holiday cottage in the Algarve. Or a portable telephone that takes pictures and plays music.

But given that our modern consumer culture and our innate desire to better our situation aren’t going to disappear anytime soon, it is important that those things we do have and do consume are socially and ethically defensible and that their impact on our world is as slight as possible.
And to achieve that we need research that tackles many of the questions contained in the very simple form of Diogene

So let’s rephrase the question and ask, for whom could Diogene be useful and sensible?

At the launch there was regular talk of using it as emergency accommodation. For that it is in our opinion too complex, too small and too house shaped. Simple containers provide, and will continue to provide, a quicker, more flexible, easier transportable and storable solution.

However as low-maintenance, limited impact, permanent accommodation in a wilderness area, forest or the like, why not? Either as a structure intended to provide emergency accommodation for those who find themselves unwittingly there or as part of a network of huts for staff. We certainly know one vineyard in southern England that would greatly benefit from the use such a structure. Yes you could build wooden huts. But the central element with Diogene is the technology. And you don’t have all that in a wooden hut.

The other major theme discussed was Diogene as a personal place of retreat. And in such a context obvious uses could include as a hideaway in your garden, as a small weekend house on a lake shore/river bank for the keen angler, or as a dream construction for extreme shed-workers who like to sleep near their place of creativity.

Or alternatively we can well imagine its use en mass for a minimal impact, high-end “outdoor” hostel. And certainly looking at the prices some operators charge for “pods” at European music festivals, Diogene could have a future at Glastonbury, Melt, Roskilde et al.

Diogene is ca 3 m x 2.5 m, and as such Renzo Piano hasn’t, yet, achieved his dream. But then the important fact about Diogene isn’t its size, but its construction principle, the technology that has been built into it, its forward thinking attitude and for all what it teaches about the possibilities for building design in the future.

Diogene will never become Vitra’s biggest selling product. But as a small space being exploited to explore big ideas, it is certainly one of the more adventurous, one of the more interesting and potentially heralds the opening of the next chapter in the Vitra story.

We’ll keep you updated.

Design arithmetic is very simple: June + Berlin = DMY

And since Wednesday evening DMY Berlin 2013 is in full swing.

In addition to the Central Exhibition at Tempelhof Airport and the numerous satellite events scattered throughout the city this year’s programme also features a series of events dedicated to 3D printing. Something we fear certain sections of the media will grasp onto as being evidence of a “t****”, oblivious to the fact that it is a subject that has been feature of DMY Berlin for many a long year.

In addition, in addition, as we implied in our post from the exhibition Oskar Zieta – Zukunftsnomaden at the Polish Institute Berlin, this year DMY Berlin has a country focus on Poland and this is reflected in numerous events and exhibitions to be found throughout the city.

Over the coming days we’ll bring you our highlights of the 2013 DMY Berlin festival, but for now a few quick impressions thus far…….

We first came across the work of Polish born, Swiss based designer Oskar Zieta at DMY Berlin 2009.

And in 2010 wrote in the context of DMY’s Swiss country focus:

One of the biggest Swiss stands was that from ETH Zurich with their FIDU technology. Which was displayed at DMY 2009. We like it, find it a fascinating process, like the furniture that they produce and last year had an interesting and long conversation with Oskar Zieta about the process and its development. For us there is no doubt that it has a lot of potential. But the display was simply a repeat of last years. And surely no one can be happy with that, not DMY, not ETH Zurich and also not Zieta.

Which shows just how long we’ve been cross, irritable, know-it-alls. Really is quite scary!

At DMY Berlin 2013 the country focus is Poland, and as part of the festivities the Polish Institute in Berlin is hosting an exhibition by and featuring Oskar Zieta.

An exhibition that appeals to us much more than the 2010 show.

Oskar Zieta - Zukunftsnomaden, Polish Institute Berlin

Exploring the subject of volumetric expansion in design Zukunftsnomaden is split into two sections: the first presenting examples of Oskar Zieta’s own work and the second looking in more general terms at objects that expand, or indeed have to expand to be any use.

And all displayed on the 3+ modular shelving system that Oskar Zieta unveiled during Milan 2013.

Although Oskar Zieta’s name is prominently positioned in all aspects of the exhibition, the most interesting part has nothing to do with him.

The section of the exhibition looking at examples of objects that have to expand to be functional is a genuine revelation. Seeing such a huge collection of varied objects one becomes truly aware of just what a fundamental construction principle expansion is. From car airbags over fishing rods or kids toys and onto furniture and lighting there is barely a genre in industrial design where expansion in some context cannot be integrated.

The reason for the “need-to-expand-to-be-useful” is generally always to reduce the space required for the object in the “unused” form.

The car air bag, for example, can obviously only take up a certain amount of space, similarly only the fact that a shovel can be folded enables it to be taken on expeditions. Flatpack furniture takes up less space, and so fewer resources, when transporting it than its fully constructed cousins and folding furniture such as the stool Falter by dreipunkt 4 can be unobtrusively stored when not required. And effortlessly expanded when it is. Then there are special cases such as insulation foam which would be pretty useless if only available for purchase in its full dimensions, or the Blow Inflatable Armchair by Paolo Lomazzi, Donato D’Urbino and Jonathan De Pas where the expansion is pure provocation.

And sometimes it is nothing more complicated than the expanson brings the fun. As with the Jack-in-the-Box or the party blowout.

Oskar Zieta’s own work stands in the exhibition in many ways as an example of an alternative application of expansion. Through inflating stainless steel sheets to create objects, be it the furniture he is know for, or the industrial applications he will become known for, Oskar allows stable, complex 3D objects to be created from a minimum of materials. Volumetric expansion as a form of optimal resource usage if you will.

Aside from the objects on display the other highlight of Zukunftsnomaden is the 3+ modular system used to present the exhibits. We missed its presentation in Milan – because we don’t frequent the particular show where it was premiered – and so are looking all the more to getting the chance to examine it at DMY Berlin proper where it is being presented in the Central Exhibition at Tempelhof Airport.

Oskar Zieta – Zukunftsnomaden can be viewed at the Polish Institute Berlin until August 30th 2013.

And just by way of an afterthought…….  The Polish Institute also has a branch in Leipzig. It would obviously be fantastic if after its run in Berlin Zukunftsnomaden came to Sachsen.

If only there was a company in Leipzig village that could help support such an exhibition……

Oskar Zieta - Zukunftsnomaden, Polish Institute Berlin

Oskar Zieta - Zukunftsnomaden, Polish Institute Berlin

Oskar Zieta - Zukunftsnomaden, Polish Institute Berlin

Oskar Zieta - Zukunftsnomaden, Polish Institute Berlin

Despite a very personal, and very, very, old, aversion to all things Chemnitz – a situation we really should start getting over – the Chemnitz based Marianne Brandt Contest is without question one of our favourite international design competitions.

We know of no other design competition that could crown an origami hummingbird with a paperclip beak as winner.

And we know of no new product concept of late that has so instantly excited and won as over quite as Mechthild did. Or indeed Damensattel by Caspar Huckfeldt which won a special award in 2010. And of course Stephan Schulz’s Comfy Cargo Chair which was so cruelly overlooked by the 2010 jury.

Until May 26th applications are being accepted for the 2013 International Marianne Brandt Contest: not only a new edition of the triennial competition, but the first under the command of a new organising committee.

Among the first changes made by the new team is the introduction of the category “Cradle to Cradle”, a category we completely misunderstood in our previous post on the 2013 contest.

To find out exactly what the Cradle to Cradle category involves, and what other changes we can expect in the 2013 edition of the Marianne Brandt Contest we met with Linda Pense and Stefan Hannig from the new organising committee and started by asking about the change in command.

Linda Pense: It all really began with a film project that Fran, Stefan and Alexander were working on about industrial design and specifically industrial design in the context of the Marianne Brandt Contest. The research for the film became quite involved and ultimately Ilona Rosenkranz who established the competition and had run it since its conception in 2000 asked us if we wouldn’t be interested in taking on the organisation of the event.

Stefan Hannig: We spent quite a long time time considering the proposition and the final decision to say yes was then a very intuitive, almost gut reaction: for us there is no commercial logic to the decision, it was much more a case of there has been so much effort invested over the years, the contest is an excellent competition that should be kept going, deserves to be kept going and because it exists it wasn’t as if we needed to start from scratch….

(smow)blog: …. which leads to the obvious follow up question, is it a case of “new blood, new competition” or is the plan to keep everything as it was?

Linda Pense: I was very familiar with the competition and always found it wonderful because it had such a sincere atmosphere, was somehow very personal and also the motto “The Poetry of the Functional” is an excellent basis for such a competition. And we wanted to maintain all that… but have slowly realised that we’ve taken it a lot further than we intended! That said the central features are still the same and the central motto “The Poetry of the Functional” remains. What we have altered is a lot in terms of, for example, the communication methods, we are using a lot more digital platforms than was previously the case, but also the selection process is new in that the long-lists will be selected digitally from submitted pdfs before any “real” objects are submitted. Plus we’ve expanded the event from a strictly European contest into a truly international competition.

Stefan Hannig: In addition we have decided against having a formal awards ceremony in favour of a more informal event, loosely based if you like on the famous Bauhaus festivals with music, art, good food and even better conversation. Essentially we wanted to move away from the normal design contest concept where we say, more or less, send us your work, we’ll have a look and decide if you win a prize or not, and wanted much more to focus on the exchange and discourse over design that arises in the context of such a contest. And so this year the jury meeting and the awards ceremony will take place on the same day, in the competition exhibition, which means that all involved have the opportunity to come together and discuss those topics they find important.

(smow)blog: The categories design and photography have been retained, new this year is the category Cradle to Cradle. A category we completely misunderstood in our last post. To correct things, what is the background to the category and what are you looking for?

Linda Pense: Cradle to Cradle as a concept was devised by Michael Braungart, one of our new jurors, and, in effect, involves developing integrated systems where the focus is on the effectivity of ecology not on the efficiency of ecology. That means, for example, not just producing something that can be recycled but rather producing something that can be recycled – and which doesn’t generate any waste either during the production process or at the end of its use.

When we were working on the film project we dealt with a lot of very fundamental questions concerning what is design, what can design do, what should design do, and at the same time what did Bauhaus want to achieve and what would Bauhaus want to achieve if it was around today? Questions that in one way or another have a lot to do with materials and production processes.

Similarly, Cradle to Cradle concerns itself with materials and processes and for all the product as an integral part of the product cycle rather than something parallel.

And for our part we really like the positive, proactive, aspect of the Cradle to Cradle philosophy. Cradle to Cradle is an approach that attempts to facilitate change by saying “do this” or “do that”, in contrast to the restrictions that are normally associated with discussions around “sustainability”, so don’t do this, don’t do that…….

Stefan Hannig:  And when one starts considering such subjects one comes automatically to the question of who is responsible for driving change? Is it the consumer, politicians, manufacturers?  The answer is that ultimately it is the designer. Which is where we come back to Bauhaus. Bauhaus tackled a lot of contemporary questions of the age, perhaps most centrally how to move from handwork to mass production. And it was the designers who tackled such questions, not industrialists, not politicians, but designers. And in essence that is the function of designers: solving problems and challenging conventions. Not simply making a spoon more attractive or designing, yet another, vase, rather the principle function of a designer is accepting responsibility for finding innovative solutions to society’s problems. And so in the Cradle to Cradle section we’re hoping for some exciting new concepts and projects in that direction.

(smow)blog: To end, it’s your first contest as organisers, you’ve told us what we can expect, have you yourselves any targets or general expectations….. ?

Stefan Hannig: We genuinely have no idea what to expect, on the one hand because we have extended it to be a truly international rather than purely European competition and also because we have communicated the event differently from how Ilona Rosenkranz did. It could be that only 100 designers submit their work, which would obviously be a real disappointment, but we genuinely don’t have any set goals. For us perhaps more important is the feedback at the end of the competition and the reaction to the awards ceremony and exhibition event. But now is the point where the work really begins and we’re all really looking forward to seeing how the coming weeks will develop.

More information on the International Marianne Brandt Contest 2013 and how to enter can be found at www.marianne-brandt-wettbewerb.de

International Marianne Brandt Contest 2013

The first object to attract our attention on Atelier Bonk’s stand in the Ventura At Work exhibition in Milan was the candle stick holder.

That is until it was pointed out to us that it is actually a potato masher.

It’s a very simple mistake to make. Especially if you’re as daft as us.

The Potato Masher Stoemp by Atelier Bonk.

Bruges based Atelier Bonk is the result of a co-operation between designer Tim “Interror.be” Baute and graphic artist Stefaan de Croock, a.k.a. Strook.

The name of the atelier may cause uncontrolled sniggering among British primary school children; the work however is worthy of a little more mature respect

The concept is very simple: Strook draws something and Tim then transforms the 2D drawing into a 3D object.

Strook’s art has the impudent rawness of street art, his weapon of choice is the marker pen, and Tim’s metalworking background allows him to transform Strook’s lines and curves into objects that loyally translate the original graffiti narrative into a socially acceptable object without losing any of its boldness.

The collection was, effectively, premiered at DMY Berlin 2012 when Tim exhibited the first result of the co-operation: a powder-coated steel bench that can be used indoors or out. The bench formed the focal point of the Atelier Bonk stand in Milan, and was complemented by a live drawing performance by Strook which illustrated the design process. And the large piece of steel he was drawing on.

In addition the collection includes a powder-coated aluminium coffee table, Merged, an object which in its form language is very reminiscent of many classics from the modern era – yet which has a background that couldn’t be any more different.

Further proof if it were needed that form does follow function, and the path you choose to get there is ultimately what is important and interesting.

We’d love to say that the potato masher Stoemp is our favourite item in the collection. But you wouldn’t believe us. You’d just think we were saying that to cover up our embarrassment.

What we really like about Atelier Bonk’s approach is less the products, delightful as they are, and much more the combination of methods and processes they use and the possibilities that arise through this combination.

As with all good contemporary design Tim and Stefaan have carefully considered the options before them: and from these options devised something new that allows them to create new objects that are as interesting as they are respectful of resources.

Specifically they have created a sort of  “design development system”, a system that is endlessly customisable, and not just in terms of the pattern, but also in terms of form, size and proportion. The creation of objects isn’t automatic, it always involves the creative and experienced input from both Tim and Stefaan.

But from this input comes an infinite number of possibilities.

And in our modern world of consumers looking for individual objects within the context of familiar form languages, we can think of nothing more interesting for the market.

And in our modern economic climate we can think of nothing more valuable for designers.

More details on Atelier Bonk can be found at: www.atelierbonk.be

Milan Design Week 2013: Atelier Bonk

Milan Design Week 2013: Atelier Bonk. Strook doin' his thang....

....and what results from his thang.

With DMY Berlin standing in front of the door like some excited child waiting to be taken to its chums birthday party, all eyes are slowly turning to to the German capital.

The first Berlin design events are already running and until June 9th the gallery “Haus am Waldsee” is presenting the exhibition “Home of the Future” by and featuring Werner Aisslinger.

We already posted a few photos in a (smow) facebook gallery.

Staircase Sofa in cooperation with Vitra and Honeycomb Landscape in cooperation with Kvadrat. As seen at Werner Aisslinger: Home of the Future, Haus am Waldsee.

Delightful as the exhibition unquestionably is, for us one of the more interesting aspects of the exhibition is/was the objects that weren’t on show. For all the Bikini Island concept Werner Aisslinger premiered on the Moroso stand at Milan Furniture Fair 2013.

Essentially a multi-level, multi-component living room/den system Bikini Island combines sofa units with a range of add-ons to create a modern modular system.

Yes it is outwardly more lifestyle than design.

No that shouldn’t appeal to us.

However, just as with the very closely related Level 34 office system for Vitra, Bikini Island is the result of not only careful observation of contemporary society but is also unmistakably the work of a designer looking for solutions for a reality still to come.

As such, for us, it really should have been included in Home of the Future.

Bikini Island by Werner Aisslinger for Moroso as seen at Milan Furniture Fair 2013

Not least because when viewed in the context of Home of the Future Bikini Island in many ways represents the combined realisation of many of the ideas explored in the exhibition.

And also highlights the current limitations of taking experimental design projects into commercial production.

For example:

Bikini Island features space for hanging flowers, but no option for integrating plants into the system.

The publicity material speaks of Bikini Island as being domestic furniture for a digital age, yet the system itself remains confusingly analogue with no options for accommodating modern technology.

Both situations that Werner Aisslinger tackles in projects on show in Haus am Waldsee.

But which, we assume, went a little too far for Moroso and their distribution network.

At the moment Bikin Island is still a concept and we’re not so green behind the ears as to believe that it will appear as an off-the-peg, ready-to-buy product any time soon.

Our hope is that in the coming months Werner Aisslinger can persuade Moroso not to be so conservative and to maybe consider adding one or the other more radical element to the system.

And certainly judging by a conversation we had with another designer in Milan about Moroso we are hopeful that the company are moving away from their more reserved, traditional positions.

Time will tell.

And for all wanting to learn more about how Werner Aisslinger thinks, and what he believes is possible, Home of the Future can be viewed at Haus am Waldsee, Argentinische Allee 30, 14163 Berlin until Sunday June 9th (That’s the last day of DMY Berlin for all planning visiting the festival :))

Bikini Island by Werner Aisslinger for Moroso

We quote:

“It’s probably fair to say the biggest surprise at Salone Satellite 2012 was seeing Rui Alves aka My Own Super Studio. Because we thought 2011 had been the last year he was allowed to exhibit.”

Fast forward 12 months later. And guess what the the biggest surprise at Salone Satellite 2012 was…. ?

He has however promised us that this is his final, final, final year at Salone Satellite. A thought which to be honest doesn’t disappoint or otherwise upset us because 2013 was also the first year in which works by Rui Alves could be seen in the main, professional, grown-up, halls at Milan Furniture Fair.

And if the rumours are correct next year should also see one or the other appearance in the bigger exhibition halls.

Something that would make us very happy.

Milan Design Week 2013: Rui Alves aka My Own Super Studio

For his Salone Satellite swan song Rui was presenting a collection of furniture that once again underlined the quality of his craftsmanship.

For us the highlight of the collection was the sofa. A deliciously effortlessly reduced down piece the sofa combines a turned wooden frame with a pressed felt seat to create a sort of simplified domestic sinkhole in which to vanish of an evening. Or Sunday morning..

With an obvious, and potentially deliberate, Scandinavian inspired form language “Sofa” presents a nice mix of materials in a fresh, unapologetic fashion. A true delight.

The rest of the 2013 collection was for us just a bit too generic; that said the simple wooden chair and “side table with book rest” did attract enough attention to justify a longer, more detailed, look.

In Hall 16 meanwhile Italian manufacturer Valsecchi1918 was presenting two new works by Rui: A_Chair and Tableone.

A_Chair had previously been shown as part of Rui’s presentation at Salone Satellite 2012. For our part we completely ignored it in our post, and would still maintain that LAPA was the better chair. That said in the bright colours on the Valsecchi1918 stand it not only looked like a very self-assured and competent piece of work, but more importantly fitted in well with the complete Valsecchi1918 programme. The extending table Tableone meanwhile was commissioned by Valsecchi1918 and the detail of the finish on the edge of the table top is a real joy to behold.

If an absolute scunner to photograph.

Obviously with Rui’s work there is always going to be the question of in how far his meticulously carpented objects can be recreated in mass production. However the examples on show on the Valsecchi1918 stand in Milan certainly left us convinced that the company understand their craft.

Which given that they’ve been producing items out of wood since 1918 is probably to be expected.

As we said 2013 is officially Rui’s last year as part of Salone Satellite, but is also, hopefully, the first year in which the hard work and commitment to his ideals finally starts to reap tangible rewards.

We certainly hope so.

And we will of course keep you updated.