Herbert Hirche

Our preparations for the 2010 IMM in Cologne are advancing apace and one particular highlight looks like being the Richard Lampert stand which will be celebrating the 100th birthday of Herbert Hirche.

Born in Görlitz Hirche is in many ways the “forgotten” Bauhaus student; and that despite his considerable contribution to post-war architecture and design in Germany.

After completing his carpentry apprenticeship Hirche enrolled in Bauhaus Dessau in 1930 and moved with the school to Berlin 1932 where he remained a student until Bauhaus closed in 1933. Among his lecturers at Bauhaus were Wassily Kandinsky und Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, in whose office Hirche worked after the closure of Bauhaus until 1938. In 1939 Hirche took up a position with Egon Eiermann, with whom he remained until Eiermann departed for western Germany in the final weeks of the Second World War. Hirche himself remained in Berlin and played a key role in the rebuilding of the city as Principle Officer in the Housing Department.

In 1948 Hirche started a second career direction when he joined the teaching staff at the newly established Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Berlin Weißensee. In 1950, partly for political reasons, Hirche moved to Stuttgart where, in addition to his own design work, he also took up the position as Professor for Interior and Furniture Design at the Akademie für bildende Künst, where he also served as rector from 1969-71.

Hirche "deep lounger" from Richard Lampert

Among Hirche’s most important furniture designs are his 457 Sessel for Wilkhahn, his Teewagen for Holzäpfel and his “deep lounger” from 1953 which never entered series production during Hirche’s lifetime, but has been produced by Richard Lampert since 2000.

For 2010 Lampert are expanding their range with two further Hirche products.

We’re excited. You should be too.

In addition to Hirche, the Lampert stand in Cologne will also feature new products from Hirche’s contemprorary Egon Eiermann, including new table tops for the Eiermann table frame and new cushions for the Eiermann E 10 Rattan Chair.

Your (smow)blog will of course bring you reviews, opinions and photos from products old and new.

Egon Eiermann E 10 Rattan Chair from Richard Lampert

Bauhaus signet

We’re just a touch late with this one, but since July 22nd the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin has been showing the exhibition “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model“.

For the first time, the three German Bauhaus institutions - Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Museum für Gestaltung, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and Klassik Stiftung Weimar - are uniting to present a comprehensive Bauhaus retrospective. “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model” recounts the story of the Bauhaus in a comprehensive presentation of the works of its masters and students - including a number of lesser known and not regularly displayed works. In addition the exhibition looks at principles that dominated the school and it’s work: inter-disciplinary, experimental teaching, the concept of practice-oriented workshops, the pursuit of answers to social questions, the propagation of timeless aesthetics as well as experimentation with new procedures and materials in architecture and design.

S 43F Classic by Mart Stam through Thonet. A classic of Bauhaus design.

Few movements have left such a lasting impression on furniture design as Bauhaus from it’s short inter-war intermezzo.

Designs such as Mart Stams cantilever chair, the Bauhaus Lamp from Wilhelm Wagenfeld or the „Wassily“ chair by Marcel Breuer stand as testament to the quality and ingenuity of those involved. In addition popular (smow) products such as the Eiermann table frame or the new Eileen Gray range from ClassiCon have their roots firmly in Bauhaus and the approach to design and functionality that was developed there.

Eileen Gray (1878 -1976) Didn't attend Bauhaus, but had very close contacts with the protagonists

We’ve not seen “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model” , however for the organisers “the early works of the Bauhaus masters are highlights. They document why Feininger, Klee, Kandinsky et al were summoned to the school as masters. Works by masters and students created during their sojourn at the Bauhus demonstrate the fast-paced creative development of the school. Among other objects, the “Gropius Folder” can be seen, which was presented to the director of the Bauhaus as a birthday gift in 1924. The visitor will be amazed by the “African Chair”, created and constructed by Marcel Breuer and the weaving artist Gunta Stölzl in 1921. For eighty years it was assumed to have been lost, and is quite contradictory to Breuer’s wide reputation as the designer of the steel tube furniture. Breuer’s first “Club chair” from 1926 can also be seen, as well as Johannes Itten’s four-metre-high “Tower of Fire” from 1920. The “Draft of a socialist city” by Reinhold Rossig and the “Bauhaus Dress” by Lis Vogler from 1928 are exemplary representatives of the unknown works that originated in the workshops.”

Which sounds fantastic

If your in or near Berlin, Germany the exhibition “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model” runs until October 4 and is open daily. More information at http://www.modell-bauhaus.de/

It’s Dumfries Show on Saturday.

That won’t mean much to the most people, but for us it is a sure sign.

Winter is coming.
We know, we know. Barely have we got use to remembering to take our sunglasses to work, buying ice-creams for lunch or waking up at 5 am because we forgot to shut the curtains - again - than the Dumfries Agricultural Society hold their annual show.
And after the Dumfries show the evenings get shorter with increasing rapidity and before you know it the ground will be brown with dying leaves.

Oh Joy!

And so the time is surely rife to start thinking about lighting for the dark months ahead. Below are a few of our suggestions, in addition to our previous favourites from the spring design shows.

FL/Y by Ferruccio Laviani for Kartell

FL/Y by Ferruccio Laviani for Kartell

In the first half of 2009 Italian producer Kartell invested a lot of marketing effort into promoting their lighting range, or The Kartellights Collection to give it its correct name. Which is no bad thing. For most Kartell is all about Philippe Starck’s chairs, Ron Arad’s Bookworm or Philippe Starck’s chairs, and too little attention is given to their lighting collection. One of the true highlights in the collection is FL/Y by Ferruccio Laviani. Made in transparent methacrylate, the cover of FL/Y is not perfectly hemispherical but, rather, the cut-off is underneath the height of the diameter allowing it to collect the most light.  In addition, the special transparency of the material combined with the sheen of the colours bring to mind a soap bubble, iridescent with reflections of light. FL/Y by Ferruccio Laviani for Kartell is available in 9 transparent colours and opaque black and white.

Talak Lettura by Neil Poulton for Artemide

Talak Lettura by Neil Poulton for Artemide

It takes a brave producer to take what is in essence a table lamp design and scale it up to a floor version. But that is pretty much what the idea behind Talak Lettura by Neil Poulton for Artemide. At 139 cm high, the intention with Lettura is not a lamp to illuminate a whole room, but much more - and as the name implies - it is a floor standing reading lamp. [Lettura is Italian for reading for all who have not been to Milan] The lighting element itself is embedded in the vertical arm, and is available as either an LED or a fluorescent unit. The vertical arm can be rotated round 360 degrees meaning that you can position it over a desk for working/reading and then - assuming your room is correctly laid out - swing it round to allow you to continue to read in your favourite armchair. With its intense, warm light Talak Lettura not only adds an attractive ambience to a room on account of it’s stylish minimal design, but also through it’s illumination.

WA24 by Wilhelm Wagenfeld from Tecnolumen

WA24 by Wilhelm Wagenfeld from Tecnolumen

Having bought Eileen Gray’s Roquebrune chair to place next to your Eiermann Table you will of course be looking for the perfect lamp to complete your informal study corner at home. The WA24 by Wilhelm Wagenfeld was created by the young designer shortly after his admission to the Bauhaus workshop in Weimar. The result of an assignment given to him by Hungarian designer and Bauhaus Professor László Moholy-Nag, the lamp can in many ways be considred as ther starting point of Wagenfeld’s design career. As with almost all famous designs from the Bauhaus period, the Wagenfeld lamp’s are amongst the most copied of all industrialal designs, and purchasers should be wary of buying cheap replicas where quality craftsmanship has been sacrifice din favour of profit. All Wagenfeld lamps sold by (smow) are, as with all products (smow) sell, officially licensed originals - in the case of the WA24 by Wilhelm Wagenfeld that means from Tecnolumen, Bremen.

Clusterlamp by Joel Degermark for moooi

Clusterlamp by Joel Degermark for moooi

If we start a post with a sentence like “And now a lamp for those looking for a little different”, it can only mean one thing … moooi. On this occasion we’re going to forgo the insane beauty of Horse Lamp by Front and instead recommend Clusterlamp by Joel Degermark. If we’re honest when we first saw pictures of the Clusterlamp we thought it was a joke. A big, fat unfunny Dutch joke.

And then felt a little guilty after seeing it “in real life” as we realised that although it unquestionably posses the inventive genius of a Laurel and Hardy or Helge Schneider, it isn’t funny.

The PR text from moooi talks of it evoking experimentation with ambient expression, and while that may be true, for us the true charm of Clusterlamp is the fact that you only notice it when it’s switched off. We’re not going to pretend it looks particularly attractive, or that it is a lamp for every situation, but with it’s pleasant, inoffensive illumination and radical design Clusterlamp by Joel Degermark is definitely a lamp for …. you know the rest. Clusterlmap is available with a choice of three bulb sets (each set conatining five bulbs). The bulb sets can also be purchased separately for those looking to mix and match.

Cushions from Vitra

Cushions from Vitra.

No they don’t light up, but what’s the point in creating a pleasantly lit environment if you can’t get comfortable with a good cushion or six. Vitra offer two ranges of cushions each covered with fabrics from US producer Maharam. The Maharam collection “Textiles of the 20th Century” is a range of re-issues of some of the most important designs in the Maharam archives. These include such classics as Geometri by Verner Panton, Small Dot Pattern by Charles and Ray Eames or Millerstripe by Alexander Girard. “Repeat” is a series of re-workings of classic designs from the archives of a Swiss mill by Dutch designer Hella Jongerius. For the Vitra cushion range three of the designs - stripe, hounds-tooth and dot ring - are available in range of colours. Both ranges offer not only exquisite design to finish off and compliment any interior, but also something soft and friendly to hold when you want to relax of a damp autumn evening after a hard days work. Depending on the design chosen the type of fabric does vary and so please check with (smow) before ordering.

As a Europe-wide active business we at smow take Europe very seriously. We must, it is our home.

And naturally for us the European elections are an important event for which we are more than happy to sacrifice a couple of hours of our time in which to go voting.

A typical polling station....

But don’t you also agree that polling stations are frightfully dull locations?  We’re not snobs, but, you know, one could at least try to, you know, make a little effort.

So smow spoke to the responsible authorities in Leipzig and they let us furnish our local polling station here in Downtown East Plagwitz Village.

First it was important to get the right table. After careful consideration we opted for Eiermann tables with asymmetric Eiermann II frames from Ricard Lampert. Easy to assemble, height adjustable … and they look great. Perfect.

Kleiner Trommler by Sabine Mrasek and Clemens Stübner for Moormann

For the ballot boxes we ideally wanted  Kleiner Trommler from Moormann. Sadly we currently have none in stock, and so, on account of the time limits in which we were obliged to operate, we were forced to choose an alternative.

After a detailed search in the expansive (smow)lager we settled on the wonderful Vitra Eames Elephant - not only can they be relied upon not to reveal how you voted, but as elephants never forget they could, potentially, help should the votes go astray.

And with their simple, natural curves they fit perfectly with Egon Eiermann’s genial table.

Vitra Eames Elephant in action as a ballot box

We were gratified by the positive feedback we received from all the voters who made use of our polling station and are currently working on a concept to furnish all polling stations in Leipzig for the parliamentary elections in September.

Voting is an important and sombre event, but needn’t be a Calvinistic ritual; rather, it can be done in and with a little style.

And as ever smow show the way. And should you need new furniture for our polling station, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The smow polling station - Eiermann II Table from Richard Lampert and an Eames Elephant from Vitra

Despite Lufthansa’s best effort we made it back to Leipzig yesterday evening.

We only hope our luggage will arrive this evening.

And despite the joy at being back in our green oasis with our wonderful view over the romantic historical ruins of East Plagwitz, Milan remains very much in our thoughts and we will continue to intersperse the blog with news and updates.

214 by Michael Thonet - a couple of bits of wood and a little skill.

As we never tire of telling anyone who will listen to us, furniture needn’t be complicated.
The design process can be complicated yes, but not the final product.

The 214 by Michael Thonet, for example, or the S 43 by Mart Stamm both being perfect examples of how simple a good chair can be. And indeed the Thonet stand in Milan perfectly demonstrated not only this maxim, but also how a company such as Thonet can remain innovative and contemporary without losing sight of their heritage. Stools such as the 404 series from Stefan Diez working wonderfully with the Michael Thonet classics such as the 209.

404 H by Stefan Dietz for Thonet

As an addition to the 404 range Thonet now offer it as a delightful, three-legged bar-chair. version; the saddle-shaped seat meaning that seating comfort is guaranteed even over a longer period.

Another German manufacturer who live by the motto that less is more -and certainly more comfortable - is Richard Lampert. The Egon Eiermann table frames, for example, being a fine example of what can be achieved with a few lengths of chrome - if you shape them correctly. On their stand in Milan Lampert reinforced this simple conecpt, and in a similar fashion to Thonet,  also clearly demonstrated how easy good modern design can be mixed with design classics.  Herbert Hirche studied at Bauhaus under Wassily Kandinsky and later worked for Egon Eiermann - and his classic 1950s Lounge Chair shows that he had not only paid attention but also reflected on what he had learnt.

In-out by Eric Degenhardt (and sidetable Flip by Alexander Seifried) both for Richard Lampert

In 2006 the German designer Eric Degenhardt slightly re-worked Hirche’s design - a process that obviously left an impression on Degenhardt as can be seen in in his wonderful In-Out chair. Again based on the simple bent chrome concept, in-out may look supiciously like a cheap angler’s chair, but is a wonderfully comfortable, relaxing armchair in which we could well imagine spending a summer evening in the garden or a winter afternoon in front of the telly. And, as the name suggests, one comes easily in and out - your smow(blog) team having tested it extensively.

Over Easter we had hoped to hoped to get to Karlsruhe to have a look at the exhibition: Interface Desk, or against Thinking in Categories.

Billed - quite rightly - as possibly the first exhibition in history solely devoted to desks, the exhibition examines the role and function of the “desk” and in doing so possess the question “what is a desk?”

But we didn’t. Instead we were in Bad Muskau- which was also fantastic.

And now we are back at our desks…. and still thinking “what is a desk?”

USM Haller Table - sturdy and reliable

The (smow)blog, for example, is written at an asymmetrical Eiermann II (we like the way you can lean back and place your feet on the supports, ridiculously comfy ) while the (smow)boss has a USM Haller table. Both desks that unquestionably belong to the “classic” or “conservative” category.

More “modern”, “mobile” and ideal for home-office types just looking for a secure location to place your laptop, are designs such as NesTable by Jasper Morrison for Vitra or Walloffice 960/110 by Markus Honka for Jonas & Jonas.

NesTable by Japser Morrison for Vitra

While those on the search for a desk that gets noticed as much as the work produced on it, need look no further than BaObab Philippe Starck for Vitra. An absolute delight.

Our favourite desk, however, remains the one we have at home: Kant by Patrick Frey & Markus Boge for Moormann. We love it not only because of its ingenious design, nor because it was originally a graduation piece and as such is proof that students can do useful work… we love it because it took one of the principle problems of  a desk, considered the situation and came up with a simple solution that works. And designer furniture doesn’t have to do any more than that

Kant by Boge and Frey for Moormann

For those with the time and inclination the exhibition “Interface Desk, or against Thinking in Categories” can be viewed in the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe until 26.04.2009

In a recent article wired magazine presented their own take on the evolution of office furnishing.

From the introduction of the vast, cattle-shed like offices that characterised early office design through the cubicles and “virtual offices” of the 1980s and 90s and onwards the text makes one thing clear: Too many office workers have suffered through bad office design concepts.

But one needn’t work from home in order to benefit from the advantages of a convivial and stimulating office environment.

System USM Haller

The Swiss designer USM Haller has been producing its patented - and in the MoMA New York displayed - System USM Haller furniture for over 40 years. Centred around the USM Haller ball the units are not only infinitely expendable but can be designed to suit your individual requirements. And then re-designed as your requirements change. In addition USM Haller tables are available in range of sizes and colours. Or alternatively the Eiermann Table from Lampert also fit wonderfully with System USM Haller units.

Tolomeo Tavalo from Artemide

The Italian lighting designer Artemide has been producing high quality, stylish lighting systems since 1958. With it’s floor lamps, table lamps and hanging lamps Artemide has established a reputation for excellent luminescence in timeless designs that fit just as well in a reception area, office or conference room.

Among the pioneers of office furniture design were Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson and many of their classic designs remain in the Vitra collection - including their Aluminium Series of chairs which offer outstanding quality and versatility with the minimum of material and fuss.

Headline by Mario and Claudio Bellini for Vitra

And while Vitra “adopted” Eames and Nelson through the collaboration with Herman Miller, the company has established it’s own reputation for high-quality office furnishings. Through, for example, collaborations with Mario and Claudio Bellini, including the award winning Headline Chair or Jasper Morrison with his ATM range onto its new Net’n'Nest concept Vitra is one of the most active and innovative office furnishers on the market.

In addition smow stock the Foster Series of desk accessories by Sir Norman Foster for helit.

And with many items in stock and available for immediate worldwide delivery, you may be able to write your own chapter in the development of office design quicker than you imagine.