(smow)liest, Liesmichl holds: Meine Frau will einen Garten by Gerhard Matzig

A garden is for relaxing in on a summers evening.

For growing vegetables.

For having a cheeky cigarette when you’re supposed to be finishing the accounts.

A garden is also a metaphor for growing up, maturing. Getting older.

In the final (smow)liest event for the 2010 Leipzig Buchmesse, journalist and author Gerhard Matzig presented his own personal tale of the journey from carefree urban youth to responsible suburban middle age.
And to a garden.

In front of a potentially illegally overfilled (smow)room, Gerhard Matzig began by outlining and  explaining the problems of family life in a city centre flat. In the following hour he then led the (smow)audience through the stages - physical, mental and emotional  -of the journey that one must complete on the way to becoming a garden owner.

Easy it ain’t.

But amusing.

Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of “Meine Frau will einen Garten” is, at least for us, Gerhard Matzig’s outbursts at designer furniture and contemporary architecture.

In his “real life” Gerhard Matzig is, amongst other jobs, architecture correspondent for the Suedduetsche Zeitung. As such the sarcasm and criticism come from a specialist viewpoint, and so are particularly well aimed.

With his unhurried, personal approach Gerhard Matzig brought each episode perfectly to life and as such ensured both a fitting, and highly enjoyable, end to the 2010 (smow)liest.

More of the same next year!

Meine Frau will einen Garten by Gerhard Matzig is published by Goldmann Verlag.

Gerhard Matzig signing copies of Meine Frau will einen Garten at (smow)liest

(smow)liest, Liesmichl holds: Grillsaison by Philipp Kohlhöfer.

It’s not easy being German.

It really isn’t.

Fortunately, it can be highly entertaining; as Philipp Kohlhöfer more than eloquently demonstrated to a full house at the opening event of (smow)liest 2010 in the (smow)room in Leipzig.

From David Hasselhoff karoake with South-Central LA gangsters to dinner with Nelly Furtado via the moral dilemmas of associating oneself with childless individuals, Philipp Kohlhöfer led the audience through an amusing, and at times highly poetic, evening of anecdotes, observation and memories.

One of the real joys of the reading was that the majority of the stories told would never happen to the majority of the audience. They are the stories that evolve in the work of a journalist. Those side events associated with the real work. “Normal” people don’t go there, can’t go there and if offered the chance probably wouldn’t want to go there.

Journalists often only realise later that they were even there.

And yet despite the fact that the listeners couldn’t always place themselves in the situations Philipp Kohlhöfer found himself in, they could empathise with his handling of the situation, and somehow knew that he had done the right thing.

Or at least assumed he had, largely due to Philipp Kohlhöfers, relaxed, friendly and highly competent presentation style.

If we are genuinely to believe that this was Philipp Kohlhöfer’s first public reading, then we have to ask why.
Grillsaison by Philipp Kohlhöfer is guaranteed not a book for everyone; but if you are looking for a tome to keep you entertained on the journey to work, or as a companion for longer flights, then the format combined with Philipp Kohlhöfer’s easy, flowing style and the absurdity of the stories should make the journey a little more bearable.

Grillsaison by Philipp Kohlhöfer is published by Goldmann.

High above the mean streets of downtown Leipzig, Philipp Kohlhöfer reads from his debut book, Grillsaison.

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.

We’re not going to pretend we’re fans of Carnival. Truth be told, for us Carnival and Oktoberfest belong to a class of cultural events that indicate a nation still struggling to come to terms with the fact that woolly mammoths no longer roam the land.

Or that women are allowed to vote.

However, we’re in Cologne and so we can at least pretend that we find alcohol fuelled violence oh-so amusing.
Especially when presented in conjunction with a Papier-mâché model of Angela Merkel with an exaggerated cleavage.

Obviously.

And so under the title “Kölle Alaaf” we will present those products that particularly catch our attention during Cologne Design Week; products which we feel are worthy of a special mention.

Kölle Alaaf is the traditional  “battle cry” of Carnival goers in Cologne and can be heard throughout the city during Carnival. Roughly translated it means “Everywhere else this would be called Komasaufen, but in Cologne it’s the cultural highpoint of the year!”.

In our case Kölle Alaaf translates simply as quality designer furniture!

smow am Rhein: Kölle Alaaf

As traditional as roasted chestnuts and corked sherry, gift recommendations are what make Christmas for us.

This year, however, we start with a friendly warning.

The lead times for many of our suppliers are creeping upwards - and although we have a well stocked and bountiful warehouse; should you want to order something extra special as a gift for a loved one, and we have to order it - it’s getting tight.

The “traffic light system” in the (smow)shop provides an instant guide to availability; should you however have any queries please contact the (smow) customer service centre in advance of ordering. There a team of highly trained advisers can provide detailed information on availability and delivery times.
Unless they’ve found the Glühwein!

Below we present a selection of suggested festive gifts. Just heed our words, and order early ….

Liesmichl by Nils Holger Moormann for Moormann

Liesmichl by Nils Holger Moormann for Moormann

Nils Holger Moormann’s Liesmichl is not only the ideal side table for all Bibliophiles it is also the perfect gift for all Bibliophiles. With storage space for books, an ingenious holder to ensure you don’t lose your page and a handy shelf for mince pies and sherry, Liesmichl offers everything you need to ensure a relaxed and stress-free reading experience.

Classic Trays from Vitra

Classic Trays from Vitra

That little something different for all fans of 1960s graphic art. The Vitra Design Museum have produced a wonderful range of plastic trays featuring classic designs by Alexander Girard, George Nelson and Charles & Ray Eames. From bold geometric forms over abstract an onto modernistic folk art there is something for everyone in this beautiful collection.

Rabbit Lamp from moooi

Rabbit Lamp by Front for moooi

For all those who don’t have room for the absurdly fantastic Horse Lamp - or who suffer from Equinophobia - Front’s Rabbit Lamp is more than a touch of leporidaen charm for your home or office; it’s also a warming and atmospheric lamp perfect for desk, side-table or bedside table.

Cobb Grill

Cobb Grill

Summer may be gone - but it’ll come again. And in any case with Cobb Grill you don’t need sun, wasps and the great outdoors to barbecue - the patented design of the Cobb Grill means it can be safely and smoke free used indoors. Barbecue Goose… lovely stuff

E 14 Rattan Stool by Egon Eiermann from Lampert

Rattan Stool E 14 by Egon Eiermann from Lampert

For that colonial, South Sea Island feel you can’t beat Rattan furniture. And nothing says W. Somerset Maugham more than Egon Eiermann’s 1950s designs. At 42 cm high and with its concave top the E 14 is perfect as an occasional stool or as an unoccasional side table

The fifth Leipzig Designers Open is well … Open.

For the next three days over 150 international exhibitors will be presenting their furniture, fashion, jewellery and product/communication designs and concepts in the unique atmosphere of the Merkurhaus.

We’re old enough that we can recall numerous Merkurhaus tenants, but none that offered such a varied and high quality selection as at this years Designers Open.

Which is proabably why they all stopped trading and while Designers Open grows and grows… 

We’ll bring you regular updates over the weekend from the 2009 Designers Open and showing you some of our favourite pieces.

2009 Designers Open

It's a dog's life this international designer furniture lark...

Our new flash has arrived …. and that just in the nick of time.
(As the name tends to imply )

For this coming Friday the 2009 Designers’ Open will once again present the finest selection in contemporary design from 150 international designers. And that right here in Leipzig. In addition, a series of lectures, workshops, discussions and “hands on” events will not only wonderfully complement the exhibition, but, hopefully, invigorate, motivate and illuminate both industry professionals and lay visitors alike

Once again (smow) are proud partners of Designers’ Open, but even if they weren’t your (smow)blog team would still take that downtown train to lower Leipzig and the Merkurhaus.

Because it’s worth it.

Updates, comment and photos to follow……

Nils Holger Moormann at Designers' Open 2008

With the clocks all across Europe preparing to be turned back an hour and so cast us all into that unlit world so beloved of poets, painters and cat burglars; a ray of light comes from the US of A.

The organisers of the 2010 ICFF have issued a call for entries for the ICFF Studio and ICFF Design School.

We had a fantastic time at ICFF in 2009 and are thoroughly looking forward to returning to the Big Apple in May 2010.

And so, by way of supporting and helping the organisers of ICFF we would like to take a couple of minutes to offer a couple of tips to those planning entering for either the ICFF Studio or the ICFF Design School.

For the ICFF Studio the organisers invite submissions of product prototypes from designers working on any and all the product categories exhibited at the ICFF. The selected entries will then be displayed in a group area at the ICFF.

Now we’re not sure if we mentioned it in our posts from NYC, but one of the weak points of the ICFF is the dearth of tables. That might be a way to wake the organisers interest. Ideally the table should be large enough to support a laptop with enough space for a couple of professional journalists to sit next to it and promote the designers, producers and retailers who have paid to be included in the ICFF. A second advantage would be if the design was sturdy enough to support the uncouth handling by the ham-fisted unionised workforce at the Javits Centre; otherwise the filigree design may find itself spending four days in a store room because its too “complicated” to risk the wrath of the ham-fisted unionised workforce by getting replacement tables from one of the highly professional designer furniture producers at the ICFF.

The colour is not so important.

Entries for the ICFF design School can be made by all design schools hoping to receive a place at the ICFF. Entries must hold a description of a topic, a singular concept with original products and prototypes, designed by students to be exhibited at the ICFF.

Again here we can make us e of our experience of the hard reality at North Americas premier contemporary furniture show.

If you feel tempted to try your luck, the closing date for both events is January 15th.

The closing date for Table Fights 2010 will inevitably be 10 minutes before the start…….

iglooplay at ICFF - and the closest we got to a table all week....

Back in June we started a campaign to encourage election officials to improve the furnishing of their polling stations. We can’t claim a great deal of success, or indeed any, but we remain committed to the cause and so will be using Sundays General Election here in Germany to further promote our demand for more stylish and aesthically pleasing polling stations.

The Kleiner Trommler from Moormann in action as the smow election urn

However, in comparison to the local election where we made use of the practical Eames Elephant from Vitra as our urn, for the more serious and important General Election we have choosen the excellent Kleiner Trommler by Sabine Mrasek und Clemens Stübner for Moormann.

Not only does the Kleiner Trommler offer that touch more security and secrecy than the Eames Elephant, but offers all candidates the opportunity to - quite literally - beat the election drum while casting their own vote. An excellent photo opportunity regardless if you are casting your vote in Leipzig, Hamburg, Munich or Berlin.

And so our appeal to all election officials, not only in Germany but also Denmark, Holland, Finland and the rest of democratic Europe: For your next election choose designer furniture,  choose smow and vote Moormann

And if your still undecided as to whom to give your vote on Sunday, we make the following recommendation.

Moormann - for a peacful furniture revolution in Europe

After four years of cheap but impractical and low quality shelving the time is ripe for change, and so we at (smow)blog are supporting Moormann in their campaign against the current shelving poverty in Germany:

First Vote FNP, Second Vote Egal.

With their, almost, limitless configuration possibilities and wide range of functional additions both FNP and Egal by Axel Kufus for Moormann offer just what we need in these troubled and uncertain times. More Storage Space, More Order, More Shelving.

Which is surely a cause well worth supporting!!

Egal by Axel Kufus for Moormann - never a wasted vote

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.