London based design studio Barber Osgerby stands as a testament to the fact that high quality work will always win through, with or without the media status “star designer”

While its fair to say that many of their contemporaries have been placed on international glossy magazine pedestals, Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have remained largely in the shadows, quietly producing consistently high quality work for both international producers and private customers.

That is however slowly changing and Barber Osgerby are now getting the public recognition they unquestionably deserve.

The pair first achieved a wider public with their award winning De La Warr Chair through Established & Sons in 2005; however in the course of their career Barber Osgerby have built up strong relationships and delivered highly individual collections for companies as varied as Capellini, Magis or ClassiCon.

In 2010 Barber Osgerby completed their first project for Vitra – the Map Table and Tip Ton Chair.

The launch of Map Table and Tip Ton Chair in Milan came shortly after the announcement that Barber Osgerby had won perhaps their most prestigious contract thus far: the commission to design the Olympic Torch for London 2012.

In July 2012 Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby’s torch will light the Olympic Fire – but here and now in July 2011 you can light your own fire with Jay Osgerby’s Caipirissima

And if you share your favourite cocktail recipe us you could win a limited edition Dark Lime Panton Chair from Vitra.

Full details on how to enter our summer competition can be found here.

Good Luck!

Jay Osgerby’s Caipirissima

2 measures of White Rum

1 measure of Sugar Syrup

1 Lime

0.25 measure of lime juice.

Cut the lime into eigths.

Muddle the lime and sugar to release the juices and oils in the skin of the lime.

Pour rum and extra lime juice into glass, add crushed ice and stir.

The London 2012 Olympic Torch by Barber Osgerby

Tip Ton by Barber Osgerby for Vitra

Back in October 2010 the design blog pixelgangster.de ran a competition with a Richard Lampert Egon Eiermann desk – supplied naturally by (smow) – as the first prize.

Entrants were asked to say why they deserved the desk.

In his winning entry Benjamin asked his friends why he deserved the desk – would your friends be so generous?

Ours probably wouldn’t.

But then we already have an Eiermann Desk!

Benjamin’s winning video (in German with English subtitles)

Chemnitz is without doubt the ugliest city in Sachsen. If not Europe.

And so it is all the more surprising that the town produced one of the most gifted aestheticians of the Bauhaus generation: Marianne Brandt.

A student of, amongst others, László Moholy-Nagy, Josef Albers and  Wassily Kandinsky, Brandt is best known for her home accessories including ashtrays, coffee/tee services and lamps. Many of her works are part of the permanent collection at leading museums including the Museum of Modern Art, MoMa, in New York.

To honour the city’s most most talented daughter, Chemnitz organises an triennial Marianne Brandt Contest and 2010 sees the fourth edition.

Under the motto “Poetry of the Functional” the 2010 Marianne Brandt Contest has three categories: photography, product design and light in public spaces.

The contest is open to all students and other creative youths under 40 years old as of 10.06.2010 and who have their main residence in Europe.

Full details of how to enter and what can be won can be found in the official 2010 Marianne Brandt Contest announcement.

W’ve all been there.

We’ve all suffered.

And so we can all wonderfully identify with Michael #57′s winning entry in the designtagebuch.de Christmas designklassiker Medapal competition.

The judges were praised not only Michael’s concept but also the excellent photo re-working and the wonderful little story that rounded the entry.

Competition winner michael will soon be swapping his old office chair for a brand new Vitra Medapal

Congratulations Michael and hopefully in January you can donate your torture chair to some museum or chamber of horrors and enjoy the ergonomic and environmentally sound sitting experience that is the Vitra Medapal by Alberto Meda.

Places 2 and 3 went to Patrick and Florian #68 and KraenkVisuell #56 who win a €75 and €50 (smow)gift voucher, respectively. In both cases the judges were won over by both the concept and the effort. And who knows how far a short story would have brought both entries.

From us congratulations to all winners, many thanks on all entrants, Michael enjoy your Medapal… and remember don’t wait until your home office chair becomes an instrument of torture, it’s not as if we’re still living in the 20th century.

All entries can be viewed at designtagebuch.de

2nd place went to Patrick and Florian...

... and 3rd place to KraenkVisuell

To celebrate the 150th birthday of Michael Thonet’s “chair of all chairs” Thonet are running a photo competition: 214×214.

The rules are ridiculously simple; whoever submits the best photo of a Thonet 214 wins a 3 day trip to New York. For the second best there is a trip to Thonet in Frankenberg and the chance to build your own 214.

If you don’t own 214, you could always buy one – or more – from smow.

Alternatively, keep your eyes open when your out and about, 214′s crop up a lot more often than you’d think.

All relevant information can be found at on the Thonet homepage.

Thonet 214 - stable and well balanced

Thonet 214 - seating and decoration in one

Thonet 214 - collapsable, though not recommended

In the world of designer furniture the word “individual” is regularly used; with everyone conveniently forgetting that if we all buy the same furniture, nothing is individual.

Montana - Infinite possibilities

Unless that is we all furnish our homes and offices with products from Danish producer, and smow partner, Montana.

According to the good folks over there at Montana there are 5 billion possible combinations of their products – we’ve not counted, and we’re not going to count, but you can check for yourself in the Montana Design Facility – which is more than enough to ensure that everyone can have a truly individual arrangement.

And this coming weekend you have the opportunity to win yourself some Montana furniture.

All you have to do is design your dream Montana arrangement – and be better than the others.

The Montana Design Challenge has been organised to coincide with the International Design Festival Berlin, and the rules are very simple: Design your optimal Montana arrangement, send it Montana Berlin before 1600 on Saturday 06.06.2009, wait.

Everyone is welcome to take part and entries per eMail are welcome.

All the necessary information can be found on the DMY-Berlin homepage.

And if you don’t win, but are still impressed with your design, then please send it to smow and we can organise a quote.

Nice chair…and for free

As a general rule we don’t pay any attention to our (smow)boss; however, as the news fluttered in that Vitra are giving away 20 Vegetal chairs from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec even we were forced to listen.

The Vegetal chair is the culmination of four years development and follows in the tradition of their Algue room divider by combining synthetic materials with natural forms to create a functional, attractive addition to any home. Weather resistant and specially treated to resist UV light Vegetal can be used both indoors and outdoors and stacked in groups of three.

For a chance to win a Vegetal fill out the form here: and for those who can’t wait, the Vegetal chair from Vitra is available immediately from smow

Vegetal by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Vitra