Older readers will be aware that we have often held up the absence of some of Germany’s most important designer furniture manufacturers as an unmissable indicator of an inherent weakness in the IMM Cologne brand.

Those same readers will therefore understand the confusion we felt on seeing that Wilde+Spieth would, finally, be attending IMM Cologne in 2013.

We were delighted they were participating. We however now have one argument less.

Based in Esslingen near Stuttgart, Wilde+Spieth were originally a manufacturer of roller shutters, then in 1948 Egon Eiermann approached the company with a simple request for extra wide blinds for the Ciba AG factory he was building in Wehr, Baden: a simple request that Eiermann then extended with a brief “Kinderchen, can you also build chairs?”.

They could.

And Egon Eiermann’s hopeful question was to evolve into one of the most productive, successful, but for all innovative, partnerships in the chronicles of German furniture design.

Together Wilde+Spieth and Egon Eiermann released over 30 product ranges, and even today some 43 years after Eiermann’s death the two remain inseparable, while chairs such as the SE 18, SE 42 or SE 68 have gone on to take their rightful place in the high pantheon of European design.

Many of Eiermann’s early collaborations with Wilde+Spieth were launched at the International Möbel Messe Köln – the bi-annual forerunner to the current IMM – and so it was somehow more than fitting that for the company’s debut at the modern IMM four Eiermann classics were being presented in new colours from the Le Corbusier “Les Couleurs” collection.

In addition, and in many ways more significantly, Wilde+Spieth also used IMM Cologne 2013 to launch three new products: CU! by Avinash Shende, TG1 by Thore Garbers and Typus by Edelhoff & Nettesheim.

It seemed therefore obvious to take the opportunity to speak with Wilde+Spieth’s CEO Thomas Gerber about the new products and living with Egon Eiermann’s legacy, but we started by asking why, after all these years, they have finally decided to show at IMM Cologne….

Thomas Gerber:  Whereas we have often exhibited at, for example, Orgatec with the Egon Eiermann classics, we never really ever felt we had that many objects that could be seen as “domestic furniture”. This year however we are releasing three new products, products that all fit well into the home furnishings sector and we felt that IMM Cologne would be a suitable place to launch them. On the one hand because of the fair’s international profile, but also we feel the mixture of visitors – so architects, large chains but also small, independent shops – largely reflects our target audience.

(smow)blog: Before we come to the new products, until now Wilde+Spieth have concentrated, more or less, solely on the classic Egon Eiermann chair designs. While that presumably has its benefits, in how far is such a close association with such a famous furniture architect a burden?

Thomas Gerber: While taste itself, fortunately, only changes very slightly over the years, the popularity of design classics is cyclical and so while there are periods when classics such as the Eiermann chairs are very much in, there are also periods where they are very much out. And such phases are very hard for us. A large proportion of our business is contract and so if the project manager tells the architect that they don’t want design classics for a project, then we have a problem. Which is also one of the reasons for the new products.

And that is when the real curse starts, because when we announce we are releasing something new the expectations are so high. It is expected that we will release something that is just as good as what we currently have, is cheaper than what we currently have, and which has the potential be the next classic. And that makes it very difficult. Over the years we’ve co-operated with numerous designers and architects, but until now never had anything that we felt completely comfortable with…

(smow)blog: Until now! This year you have three new products, what “clicked” here that perhaps hadn’t in the past?

Thomas Gerber: Probably that we approached the search from a different perspective! This time we pretty much let the designs find us rather than commissioning someone to develop something. With, for example, the CU! chair by Avinash Shende, we discovered it at Salone Satellite in Milan, were instantly fascinated by it and so decided to explore if it could be something for us. And then once the decision was made to take it on all we really had to do was tweak it a bit so that it can be serially produced.

(smow)blog: Which we presume means you’re confident that it will meet the expectations?

Thomas Gerber: We wouldn’t be showing it if we weren’t! And, for example, before making the decision to take on the project we took the chair to architects showed them it, and got 100% positive feedback, which was then one of the reasons we decided to say yes.

(smow)blog: The one thing we notice immediately with CU! is the colours. Was the decision for such a bright palette also a result of this feedback from the architects?

Thomas Gerber: Partly. But much more CU! is a cheeky, fresh product that simply cries out to be colourful. Also it can be used outdoors, for example, in cafes, bars, etc, and who says cafe chairs can only be black and white?

(smow)blog: To end and, staying with colour. You’re also launching four Eiermann classics in hues from the Le Corbusier “Les Couleurs” collection. Why the Le Corbusier colours?

Thomas Gerber: Because it all passes so well together. When you look at Le Corbusier and Egon Eiermann they are both from a similar age, had similar passions and ultimately the colours look so good on the furniture that it really is a coming together of what belongs together!  And of course a chair is just one part of a room design, inevitably you also have other furniture, wallpaper, floor coverings, etc, and such objects are all available through other manufacturers in the Les Couleurs palette. Consequently, because the shades are all based on natural tones and compliment one another you can either use one colour throughout a project or effortlessly combine colours, and we find this inherent harmony in Les Couleurs a really fascinating concept.

IMM Cologne 2013: Wilde+Spieth Egon Eiermann chairs in new shades from the Le Corbusier "Les Couleurs" collection

The SE 68 and SE 42 in Le Corbusier "Les Couleurs"

IMM Cologne 2013: CU! by Avinash Shende for Wilde+Spieth

The table Typus by Edelhoff & Nettesheim for Wilde+Spieth. Here with 2 SE 68s. (Photo Wilde+Spieth)

In our Orgatec interview with Vitra CDO Eckart Maise we talked about the office system as the central component of the Vitra office furniture philosophy. One designer who has done more than most to establish Vitra’s reputation in the office furniture sector is without question Antonio Citterio. Since his first collaborations with the company in the late 1980s Antonio Citterio has worked with Vitra on numerous key projects including the Ad Hoc system, the AC and ID office chair systems and most recently the Grand Repos lounge chair. At Orgatec 2012 Antonio Citterio and Vitra presented the latest fruits of their cooperation and we took the opportunity to speak to Antonio Citterio about working with Vitra and his admiration for Charles and Ray Eames, but started by asking about his approach to his work.

Antonio Citterio: I like to work on products that are developed over time. I don’t like to work just for the moment. I like to work over long time frames and on long term concepts. My approach is to develop existing systems and to make changes every few years. For example in 2010 we presented the ID Concept Chair and this year we are presenting a new backrest for the system, and we also have some changes to Ad Hoc and a new Visavis. They are still the same products, I don’t want to develop something so that the previous version becomes old or outdated. It should just be another option.

(smow)blog: Old and outdated are interesting keywords. Ad Hoc is now over 20 years old, is it still relevant in modern office environments, or has the office environment evolved quicker than Ad Hoc?

Antonio Citterio: Clearly over time the requirements of a system or a product change. The office environment is changing but a system such as Ad Hoc changes with it. For example the first Ad Hoc was very deep because it needed to take large computers and monitors, but now we don’t need such a deep system for laptops, tablets etc. The system remains the same. It just evolves, and so remains practical and relevant.

(smow)blog: This evolution, or extension, of your systems, is that always purely technical or do aesthetics also play a role?

Antonio Citterio: You become boring if it is just a technical development. The technical element is an important part of the job, but the aesthetic remains a big part. It’s not enough just to develop technically, it’s not enough, for example, just to develop a new back for the ID Concept Chair. Everything must be considered, must fit together and not every project reaches a conclusion, sometimes you have to stop, if you don’t reach a certain “something”

(smow)blog: Can one therefore say that office furniture is more interesting for you than domestic, where one has quicker turn around periods and shorter product life cycles?

Antonio Citterio: No I like to do both. Office furniture I like because of the more sophisticated technology, but then with Vitra I could combine this sophisticated technology in Grand Repos, because Vitra is a company who understand office systems.

(smow)blog: You trained as an architect and still work as an architect, do you also employ this thinking in terms of a long term evolution of systems in your architectural work?

Antonio Citterio: Yes, yes it’s a very similar process. For example I have built three factories for Vitra: the first one fifteen years ago, the second one five years ago and the third one this year. All three factories are the same, just developments of the same system. They are all prefabricated, but you improve them each time and I like that. The second factory for example was built close to the first one. Now if you’re a young architect you would want to create a statement. But Vitra don’t need a statement, Vitra need a productive space, a Vitra factory space. In Weil am Rhein with the Vitra Campus things are different, you have a huge space and a collection of architects and there you can have a more author, expressive, work. But in order to create a creative Vitra space you must remain consistent, and so for the second factory we evolved the first factory concept. Then having developed the system in versions one and two, by the time we built the third I had a good competitive system, that can be built quickly and looks good. So yes it’s a very similar process.

(smow)blog: Changing the topic slightly, you’re often quoted as being a huge admirer of Charles and Ray Eames, what is the fascination for you?

Antonio Citterio: If you look at the Eames’ works, their product is never finished, they were always improving and working on the designs. And this is something I can associate with, every product can be better and you should never stop trying to develop and improve a product. And Charles Eames was an incredible designer and visionary and without question one of the best from the 20th century.

(smow)blog: Which in connection with your own preference for continually developing projects over a long time frame, is that then perhaps a reason why you are so happy with Vitra, because you have the freedom to do just that, to continually improve a product?

Antonio Citterio: Certainly, yes.  I’ve been very lucky with Vitra.

(smow)blog: Final question, we’re at an office furniture fair. What does your office look like?

Antonio Citterio: I have Ad Hoc, and I will soon have the new ID Chair. At the moment we have the Axess chair plus Visavis…..

(smow)blog: ….so it’s a Citterio office….

Antonio Citterio: Sure. A Citterio office in a Citterio building.

Antonio Cittero (Photo: Bettina Matthiesen © Vitra)

Grand Repos by Antonio Citterio for Vitra

The chair Pivot by Antonio Citterio for Vitra

The office system Ad Hoc and the ID Chair by Antonio Citterio for Vitra

Wandering round the Vitra spaceship at Orgatec there was one product that you simply couldn’t fail to notice.

On every table, in every Workbay, in every Alcove stood a lamp.

A Vitra lamp?

Not technically. Technically a lamp from Swiss producer Belux.

However since 2001 Belux has been part of the Vitra family and at Orgatec 2012 they made good use of their family connections to unveil the latest addition to their portfolio, U-Turn by ECAL Lausanne graduate Michel Charlot.

Older readers will remember our complete infatuation with Standing Task Light by Erik Wester, a lamp whose stand and shade can be positioned more or less at will through an innovative ball joint mechanism.

U-Turn by Michel Charlot for Belux is very reminiscent of Standing Task Light – just with a few differences. Differences that are not only as technically brilliant as they are poetic; but much more take the inherent beauty of Standing Task Light to a whole new level.

With U-Turn the lamp head is connected to the stand via a magnet and can not only be angled as required but can also be lifted off and flipped over meaning that the light can be directed either up or down.

The result is a lamp that offers true flexibility, can be pointed in literally any direction and consequently can be used to define the atmosphere in a room.

For example, shining directly downwards on your desk while you work and then backwards and upwards to provide a gentle, indirect light for the evening quiescence.

At the moment U-Turn is available as a desk, pendant, wall or standard lamp, 2013 will see the release of a “Clip” lamp and a dimmable version.

To find out a little more we spoke to Michel Charlot and started by asking about the background to the project…….

Michel Charlot: After I established my own studio in Basel I was in contact with Vitra, Belux is part of Vitra, they needed help with a project, and, thankfully, asked me if I could help. They already had the idea of a lamp based around a ball and a magnet, but it wasn’t really working, and they didn’t really know how to develop it further. It’s one thing to have an idea but another to then develop a product family around it and to give it a character and identity of its own.

(smow)blog: Very Nice! And so what was the first thing you did, throw everything out and start from scratch or…

Michel Charlot: Pretty much! The initial object was quite large, had two spots and worked with a different technology. And so yes I changed pretty much everything and what we have now bears no resemblance to what Belux had then. The basic idea of the ball and the magnet is the same but everything else has changed.

(smow)blog: As a young, relatively unknown designer, to turn up at a company like Belux / Vitra and say “It’s all rubbish! We’re starting again”, doesn’t sound like the easiest thing in the world…..

Michel Charlot: It is of course difficult to do such when you’re young and it is also difficult for the people you are working with. Design and design development is a lot about trust and obviously it is easier to trust someone like Antonio Citterio or Jasper Morrison who have more experience. But when you’re young it can be quite difficult to convince people to follow your ideas, especially if they are risky; however, I think in design it is important to take risks, because that’s how you get to interesting new results. And fortunately Belux were very supportive and open to the new ideas I brought into the project.

(smow)blog: And how long did it take to redesign it?

Michel Charlot: Altogether it took about two years. The challenge in the lighting industry is that technology is moving so quickly you can’t afford to spend too long on a project because there is a risk that if you do, for example, the LED technology will be outdated by the time you are finished. And exactly because the technology changes so rapidly we have constructed U-Turn so that in the future we can upgrade the LEDs. The U-Turn that you buy in two or three years will be the same product, but with the most up-to-date LED technology, which is one way of extending the life cycle of the product.

(smow)blog: You took on an existing idea and developed a product. Are you happy with the end result?

Michel Charlot: Yes, I’m very happy with it. The idea is very simple and it is a very coherent object. A goal for me is always to make a product obvious, in the sense of “Of course it’s like that” or “How could it be any other way”. I like it when people look at an object and find it “normal”, but that is something which is quite difficult to achieve and involves a lot of unseen work. For example in order to ensure that the lamp moves smoothly over the ball, but then remains in place and dosen’t slide down, involved an awful lot of development work on the magnet and the coating.

(smow)blog: A project with Belux is a nice start to your own studio, where do you go from here, can we expect to see other projects from yourself in the near future?

Michel Charlot: I’m currently working on a project with the Italian bag manufacturer NAVA which is also an industrial project that involves injection moulding, welding and other industrial processes. My real interest is industrial design. For me the industrial aspect makes it really challenging, but is also what makes it so fascinating and rewarding. Lots of young designers today tend to do more craft based or gallery projects, but that is not really a direction that interests me.

(smow)blog: Our final, inevitable, question. Orgatec is an office furniture trade fair. What does your own office look like?

Michel Charlot: I have an old industrial table that I have refurbished as a desk and some Vitra chairs from Maarten van Severen. And hopefully I will soon have a new desk lamp!

U-Turn by Michel Charlot for Belux. One lamp. A world of possibilities

The clip version of U-Turn by Michel Charlot for Belux

U-Turn by Michel Charlot in action in a Vitra Workbay

Without wanting to sound too much like Dieter Rams, good design really, really doesn’t have to be complicated or otherwise outrageous.

One of the best examples of this is without question the coat hook system Knax from LoCa.

Created by Thomas Harrit and Nicolai Sørensen the idea couldn’t be any simpler nor the effect any more liberating. Through the integration of a series of self-retracting metal hooks in a piece of wood one creates a hanging system that takes up virtually no space, even when in use.

And now Studio Harrit & Sørensen are threatening to repeat the success of Knax with ZJUP – a wall mounted shoe holder system that is much simpler to use than to say.

In effect with ZJUP your shoes are held in place by a plastic bar: a non-spring loaded bar which consequently exerts no pressure on the shoes. The plastic wall panel meanwhile not only helps secure the shoes but also prevents muddy and/or wet shoes from coming into contact with the wall. The result is the secure storage of shoes in a space little wider than the depth of the shoe. And nothing to trip over in your hall.

At IMM Cologne we caught up with Nicolai Sørensen to quickly discuss the development of Knax, ZJUP and Studio Harrit & Sørensen.

(smow)blog: Starting at the beginning, how did Knax come about, did you approach LoCa or did they approach you?

Nicolai Sørensen: Back then LoCa hadn’t been established yet! And so it was more that Thorkild Lundsgaard, the founder of LoCa, approached us and said he needed a coat hanger. That was in 1993 and Knax was the very first project that our studio undertook.

(smow)blog: Excellent, and so were you fresh out of college, or…?

Nicolai Sørensen: No, no we had both spent three years at different studios and then decided to join forces and start our own studio.

(smow)blog: And did Thorkild come to you with a concept or were you free to create what you wanted?

Nicolai Sørensen: He had some vague ideas of what he wanted and he had actually made his own model of how he thought it might look: we still laugh about it today! It was horrible!

(smow)blog: And so knowing how low the level was, how then how did you develop the idea of the cut open piece of wood?

Nicolai Sørensen: The basic idea originated because at that time we were both living in quite small apartments in Copenhagen, and the hallways were quite narrow. And so the idea with Knax is that it can be used in such very narrow hallways without taking up too much space or getting in the way.

(smow)blog: And the development phase, how long did you work on it?

Nicolai Sørensen: It took about a year, but it has gone through several changes over the years. For example initially it was just small pieces of wood between the metal hooks, but after about two years we changed it so that it is now cut from one piece of wood so that the grain of the wood flows through the object. And then later came the hall stand, and now with ZJUP we have the first completely new project with LoCa since 1993.

(smow)blog: Excellent link, thank you very much! And again was that the case that LoCa came and said, we’ve got a coat hook, we’ve got a bag hook, we need a shoe hook, or….

Nicolai Sørensen: We’ve been trying to devise a shoe holder with LoCa for the past decade or so, but we just couldn’t settle on a really good idea that Thorkild liked and that also matched what we think the public would like and of course what we like ourselves. But with ZJUP we’re confident that we have that. The big problem with storing shoes is the different sizes and shapes of shoes and so the need to make something that can hold any type of shoes. And ZJUP can hold I would say about 95% of all shoe types without any problems.

(smow)blog: And to end. Knax was your first project since then you’ve worked on numerous projects across a range of disciplines. What type of work do you enjoy most, what for you is the most interesting?

Nicolai Sørensen: It’s the mix of projects that’s most interesting. But I also have to say that despite its age, Knax is still the most important and significant product we have.

Knax by Harrit & Sørensen for LoCa

ZJUP by Harrit & Sørensen for LoCa

Back in January Benjamin Hubert was awarded the A&W Audi Mentorpreis 2012. Presented in conjunction with the A&W Designer of the Year Award the Mentorpreis can in many ways be considered as being the “Young Designer” category. The interesting aspect of the A&W Audi Mentorpreis is that the winner is nominated by that year’s A&W Designer of the Year. So in 2012 Patricia Urquiola.

After the award ceremony we caught up with Benjamin for a quick chat; however, we very cleverly managed to lose the interview, and only recently re-discovered it. Hence the delay.

A graduate of the Industrial Design and Technology programme at Loughborough University, Benjamin Hubert first crossed our radar when we saw his “Spinning” lamps for &tradition at CODE10 in Copenhagen: a product that caught our attention on account of its simple, uncomplicated elegance. As an object it doesn’t do very much but has a form and a presence that just makes you feel good about yourself and the world around you.

In addition to &tradition Benjamin Hubert currently works with an impressive roster of international manufacturers including De La Espada, Cappellini and De Vorm who produce his genial “Pebble” series and “Pod” chairs. In April his entry “Juliet” won the Poltrona Frau Centenary Armchair contest in Milan and has since been taken on by Poltrona Frau.

Back in January we spoke to Benjamin Hubert about the A&W Audi Mentorpreis 2012 and his carear path until now. Or until “then”, to be perfectly correct…..

(smow)blog: Firstly congratulations on the award, how did it come about?

Benjamin Hubert: I got an email telling me I’d won the prize…

(smow)blog: …so you didn’t even know you were in the running?

Benjamin Hubert: No. Which is actually quite nice. With most awards you do know in advance, because people want to make sure you’re at the awards show, and so you kind of know what’s happening. But here it was an email out the blue from A&W telling me that Patricia had nominated me and that together with Audi they had selected me and would I like to accept it? To which the answer was of course yes! And it’s just really nice to know that Patricia appreciates the work we do. And so all in all it’s very nice.

(smow)blog: If we understand the situation correctly you used to focus on more “industrial” projects and then later started doing more furniture….

Benjamin Hubert: The studio was started in 2007 and the first three years or so was principally working for other studios while developing my own projects at weekends and evenings, before in 2009 / 2010 I bit the bullet and gave up the day job as it were to concentrate on my own projects. Initially that was mainly lighting and then gradually came more furniture and now we work across a wide range of products from fashion accessories to lights, furniture and onto small installations and bit of art direction. And I think that’s what’s so great about design is that you can move across different disciplines.

(smow)blog: And so was the plan always to set up your own studio, or….?

Benjamin Hubert: No, not all! I had aspirations of climbing the corporate design ladder, if there is such a thing, and becoming director of a company and all those things. But I think it was when I graduated and showed my graduation work at a few exhibitions and visited Salone Milano, that all really opened my eyes to an industry that I wasn’t really aware of. Obviously I knew there was an industry there, but I wasn’t really aware just how big it was, how many possibilities it offered and that was something I think I just fell in love with.

(smow)blog: And presumably now given the roster of companies you work with, you must be learning ever more?

Benjamin Hubert: Yes, all the time. Going to the factories and the workshops and seeing the people actually making things is the most rewarding aspect of the whole thing. And the best companies to work with are the ones who are open to new ideas and new ways of thinking and who, for example, will introduce us to a new material or we’ll present them something new and they’ll be receptive to the idea. That’s how the best projects develop, in co-operation with the producers and the workshops.

(smow)blog: Final question and coming back to the A&W Audi Mentorpreis, Oscar Zieta, your predecessor as winner, is in the current Audi advert. If they ask you, are you available?

Benjamin Hubert: Sure, as long as they don’t ask me to do anything ridiculous. Why not!

The Pebble series and Pod chair by Benjamin Hubert for de vorm. Here at Neue Räume Zurich 2011

Our first experience of Benjamin Hubert's work. Spinning for &tradition at CODE10 Copenhagen

Older readers will remember our post from the opening of the exhibition “Zoom. Italian Design and the Photography of Aldo and Marirosa Ballo” at the Vitra Design Museum back in April 2011.

As an exhibition “Zoom” explores the birth of the Italian furniture design myth/legend – a myth/legend established, propagated, and maintained by photos as expressive as they are timeless. In that post we compared the creation of designer furniture legends with the creation of music legends using the example of Kevin Cummins’ evocative and timeless photos of the Manchester band Joy Division.

All contemporary cultural icons exist on account of a few defining, timeless, photos, being the not too subtle subtext.

Last week an exhibition opened in Berlin featuring some 30+ photos by Kevin Cummins of New Order, presented alongside all Peter Saville’s record covers for the band.

And so at the exhibition opening we took the opportunity to continue the “Zoom” theme and spoke to Kevin Cummins about his work with Joy Division/New Order and the photographers role in helping bands establish themselves.

(smow)blog: Legend has it that you were more or less told to photograph Joy Division only in black and white. Was that really the case?

Kevin Cummins: No, not at all. The main reason that Joy Division were only photographed in black and white is that the music press didn’t publish in colour in those days and so because I was paying for my own film and processing there was little point in using colour film. But also Joy Division weren’t the huge band they are now. In Manchester and London they were relatively big, but in, for example, Huddersfield or Leeds they might only get a crowd of 100. Even when Ian died the Manchester Evening News story was like a paragraph and a half on page 8 – it wasn’t a big story. And so I only had limited output for the photos and couldn’t afford to take shots that no one would or could publish.

(smow)blog: The photos that you did take went on to define Joy Division. When you shot them did you have a “greater concept” in mind?

Kevin Cummins: I think what I was trying to do with those pictures was to capture their sound in the picture. If, for example, you look at the photo of them on Epping Walk Bridge in the snow, there is a lot of space, it’s very bleak and you know what that band are going to sound like when you see that photograph. It’s not a picture of Take That!

(smow)blog: And then came New Order and the first colour photos in Washington DC. Why the decision to move away from black and white?

Kevin Cummins: The reason we did the photos in colour was because I felt their was a renewed optimism in the band. It was a couple of years after Ian’s death and the band’s sound was starting to change; it was coming away from that austere Manchester sound and they were starting to work with people like Arthur Baker and getting a dancier sound to their music. And so I wanted some pictures of almost a rebirth. And so I suggested to the NME editor that we shoot  in colour rather than black and white, and at that time we were still only publishing a few pages in colour. The idea was the Englishmen in America, and it’s almost a tribute to David Hockney with the pool setting, but still cropped quite close on the faces which I had always done. And then we left the film rebate on the edges to give it that Americana, Hollywood feel.

(smow)blog: Which brings us to our real question, do you feel that as a photographer you can influence a musician or bands career?

Kevin Cummins: I think you can definitely. Because when you work with musicians and when you work with them regularly you can take them up another notch each time you photograph them; even if the musicians don’t always agree with that. Most bands think they are in control of their progression, but if you work with a photographer who is sympathetic to your sound and what your doing then, as I say, they can take you up a notch each time they photograph you. It’s a relationship between the image and the music.
You’re not in band unless you’ve got an ego and want to be photographed and so a photographer can help you develop as long as its a sympathetic look. I’m not going to stitch a band up, I want the pictures to have some legacy.

(smow)blog: Legacy is good word to end. You’ve shot a range of classic shots both from live performances and also as portraits. As a photographer do you prefer live shots or “still life”, portrait, set ups?

Kevin Cummins: Portraits, because I like to create a picture. If you’re allowed to photograph a full concert then I think you can make something from that, but, ultimately, if you want to do a career defining image of a band it has to be a portrait. And with Joy Division, possibly New Order, definitely the Stone Roses I’ve been fortunate to achieve that.

New Order – An exhibition featuring works by Peter Saville and Kevin Cummins can be viewed at .hbc Berlin until July 4th 2012

Photos that brought a New Order out of the dark. Kevin Cummins 1983 photos of New Order in Washington

"New Order - An Exhibition" at .hbc Berlin

"New Order - An Exhibition" at .hbc Berlin

"New Order - An Exhibition" at .hbc Berlin

Talk to anyone about design and the furniture industry in the UK and you’ll quickly come to realise that while the British Isles may be home to an enviable wealth of design talent. It ain’t home to that many producers of quality, contemporary furniture. Or at least anymore.

Whereas, for example, the early years of “British Design 1948-2012. Innovation in the Modern Age” at the V&A feature regular examples of British produced furniture, the later years are all but bereft of such.

Britain being, as Edward Barber so neatly put it, a post-industrial nation of estate agents and bankers.

There are however a few brave foot soldiers still fighting the good fight, such as London based SCP.

Founded in 1985 by Sheridan Coakley, SCP were the first company to commercially produce Japser Morrison’s work, and also gave a young Royal College of Art graduate who was working in Morrison’s London studio at that time his first contract. Konstantin Grcic.

In the course of the past quarter century SCP have not only gone on to co-operate with British design luminaries such as Tom Dixon or James Irvine, but have also built-up an impressive roster of young designers including Gareth Neal, Donna Wilson or Peter Marigold.

With their focus on what one could call “traditional crafts”, SCP are never going to be a company that push the limits of innovation. But much like Rui Alves, that’s not really their goal. Their goal is, as they themselves say,  “… [to] create functional and beautiful products that are built to last”

And that they do very well.

Consequently, as part of our small if wholly unscientific exploration of the current state of the British design, and for all British furniture design, industry we caught up with Sheridan Coakley at MOST Salone in Milan to hear his take on the current and future potential for contemporary furniture production in the UK.

(smow)blog: Walking round “British Design” at the V&A one finds very little furniture produced in the UK after the mid-1960s. Are you a dying breed?

Sheridan Coakley: We are breed that died! Furniture production in the UK died after the war and never really recovered. The industry was decimated by the war and those companies who survived did so because, like a lot of British industry, they thought the only way to compete is to produce things cheaply. Which is of course a fatal mistake, trying to compete with cheaper, Eastern producers. By the time people realised that was the wrong way to go, the only option left was to go niche. And so the survivors are those who have specialised. There’s still a few companies involved, for example, in contract office furniture, but in general I think furniture production in the UK has gone. Which is a real shame.

(smow)blog: You established SCP in 1985. Looking back over the years would you say it is getting easier or harder as a UK producer?

Sheridan Coakley: For us it’s getting easier, but that’s largely because of our experience. But also contemporary furniture is more the norm now in the UK, which certainly wasn’t the case when I started. Back then it was all sofas with pelmets and reproduction antiques; the professional classes bought antiques because they liked the idea of almost pretending they had inherited the furniture. It was the days warm beer and cricket. But it’s radically changed since then and nowadays contemporary furniture is much more widely accepted and bought.

(smow)blog: And looking forward….?

Sheridan Coakley: The design industry is very strong, always has been, and certainly as long as I’ve been involved it’s been British designers who’ve been at the forefront, so Jasper Morrison, Tom Dixon, Barber Osgerby, et al. But importantly there is, at last, an understanding in the Government that manufacturing is good. 10 years ago manufacturing was bad and we should all do something else. Now manufacturing is good. So maybe long term there is a glimmer of hope of it all picking up again. Look at Formula One, for example, which is totally dominated by British engineering and specialist manufacturing.

(smow)blog: And does that mean that you yourselves have no problems finding partners in the UK to produce your products. Or is that a problem?

Sheridan Coakley: We have our own upholstery business which when we took over had four employees and now has twenty. Getting wooden furniture made economically in the UK is quite difficult and and will remain so unless companies invest massively in new machinery. But generally in terms of other partners you’ve just got to go and look for it, we, for example we do a lot of textiles which are woven in Wales, our ceramics are made in Stoke-on-Trent. The companies with whom we work with are in a way the end of their industries; but a lot are also becoming powerful small business again. Largely because there is so little real competition.

There are certain things we will never be able to do; but where modern technology, specialist engineering or traditional crafts are involved, I see no major problems.

SCP at MOST Salone Milan 2012

Part of the new 2012 Donna Wilson collection for SCP an MOST Salone Milan

The Josiah pendant lights collection by Terence Woodgate for SCP at MOST Salone Milan 2012

During MOST Salone SCP presented a live upholstery display by their in-house upholstery team

As reported elsewhere in these pages, there is a great deal of hope in the UK that the 2012 Summer Olympics will provide fresh impulse for the UK design industry.

Something we doubt.

But then, what do we know. No honestly. What do we know?

And so we’ve taken the opportunity in recent weeks to talk to some people who are much better placed than us to asses the situation, not just in terms of the opportunities presented by the Olympics, but more generally about the state of the UK design industry in 2012.

Following on from our discussion with Gareth Williams, we caught up with Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby in Milan where, in addition to our standard question about the sense of launching new products in Milan, we discussed their views on the current state of UK design… and why their Olympic Torch isn’t included in the exhibition British Design 1948-2012 at the V&A. Something that’s been bugging us greatly since late March.

(smow)blog: One of the hopes in the UK is that the Olympics will have a positive effect on the UK design industry. Do you expect the Olympics to bring anything positive for UK designers?

Edward Barber: I don’t really think there is any need for a huge revolution in UK design, because it’s already very strong. There is a brilliant design industry in the UK with British designers working behind every important company in the world, and so if anything happens it will more about adding impetus to that movement. But I don’t think it’s that we need to start anything, its already there.

Jay Osgerby: There’s a lot of invention in the UK and Britain is at the forefront of, for example, Formula One or aeronautical engineering. But in terms of production, it is way behind just about everyone else. And that is a shame.

(smow)blog: Which leads nicely to the next question. The majority of the manufacturers with whom you co-operate are based overseas. As UK based designers do you have to look overseas for producers, would you rather there were more UK producers, or is it irrelevant….?

Jay Osgerby: About 90% of the time we have to look overseas for a partner. And of course it would be great if there were more manufacturers here doing contemporary design, but there are only a very few and none who can compete on the scale of the German, Swiss or Italian manufacturers.

Edward Barber: Britain is a post-industrial country, there is no industry left; we’re a nation of estate agents and bankers. There is a great deal of excellent small niche producers in the UK; at one end of the spectrum nanotechnology and specialist engineering and at the other end potters, weavers and other crafts. But the middle is simply no longer there. And so we have to go overseas, which is a great shame.

(smow)blog: One has the impression that at least in terms of furniture design, such isn’t really taken seriously in the UK and that every time, for example, some government institution spends money on designer furniture the press reaction is one of appalled indignation. Is furniture design taken seriously in the UK? Do you yourselves feel that you are taken seriously?

Jay Osgerby: Definitely. And there is great tradition in the UK of government and institutions sponsoring arts and design to create long lasting projects that become important to the nation. Where there is maybe a problem today is that because of all the home makeover shows on TV a lot of people think you can “do” design for tuppence. And so not everyone understands the difference between real design and what they perceive as being design. And so in that respect nipping down to IKEA to get a couple of benches for a government minister is perhaps not really the most helpful way to go.

(smow)blog: And so despite the lack of manufacturers you’re not planning leaving London and setting up a studio overseas.

Edward Barber: Definitely not! I’d rather work in London than anywhere else!

(smow)blog: Turning briefly to Milan, we’ve not seen any lists and so how many new works are you launching here?

Jay Osgerby: Not much really, we’re saving most of our new projects for the London Design Festival….

(smow)blog: Good, so we can skip neatly to the more important question! Is it still worth launching projects in Milan, or is it all just too big?

Edward Barber: It depends on the company, but generally yes. Milan however has become so huge and there is so much noise that you have to have an incredible voice, or a real PR grabbing product, to be heard. As a consequence a lot of designers are now starting to launch products in Cologne, London or Paris, where you can generate a lot more interest.

(smow)blog: Which means your decision for London was then deliberate, or were the products just not ready to be presented?

Jay Osgerby: We thought with the Olympics it would be a good opportunity to launch products in London this year….

Edward Barber: … also London is becoming more important as a design location. The Design Festival in September is very well established and 100% Design are making changes for 2012, and so I think London is becoming a much more interesting place to show.

(smow)blog: And to finish. The V&A exhibition, effectively, ends with the 2012 Olympics, but your torch isn’t in it…

Edward Barber: I know. They didn’t want it…

Jay Osgerby: …said it was too obvious.

Now we know.

And OK it is obvious, very obvious. But would still have been nice.

Or maybe the V&A are saving it and the other Barber & Osgerby works from their permanent collection that aren’t in the exhibition for a special retrospective…. Who knows.

Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby with their, now award winning, Olympic Torch. Looking positively to the future. Like all good Olympians...

On May 3rd the exhibition “Bauhaus: Art as Life” opens at the Barbican Art Gallery London. Organised in co-operation with the Bauhaus Archiv Berlin, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and Klassik Stiftung Weimar, “Bauhaus: Art as Life” presents some 450 works by the likes of as Marianne Brandt, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius et al and is the first major Bauhaus exhibition in the UK since 1968.

We’ll have a full report on the exhibition shortly. But ahead of the official opening we caught with Bauhaus Archiv Berlin Director Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi to talk about the exhibition and the role and relevance of Bauhaus in and to the UK.

(smow)blog:  Firstly as a little background, did the three Bauhaus institutions approach the Barbican with the idea for the exhibition, or did the Barbican approach yourselves?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: The Barbican approached us in 2009 during the exhibition “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model” in Berlin with the request, if it would be possible to show either that particular exhibition or another Bauhaus exhibition in London in 2012.

(smow)blog: The decision was ultimately for a different exhibition. Why not just show the 2009 exhibition?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model”  was a very expansive exhibition and was conceived specifically to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Bauhaus. And although it did travel in a reduced version to New York, it wasn’t really practical to consider it as a permanent travelling exhibition; not least because the objects came from numerous sources, and us holding on to them, effectively on a permanent loan basis, wasn’t reasonable or fair.

So we thought “OK, let’s do things a bit differently”, and so we as the three largest Bauhaus institutions, made our collections available to the Barbican, and they then curated the exhibition. In the end some 70% of the objects come from Dessau, Weimar and Berlin and 30% from English collections in addition to items from, for example, the Centre Georges Pompidou, MoMa New York or Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern.

(smow)blog: A Bauhaus exhibition in the UK, sets a couple of obvious questions in the room. Firstly, in your opinion, did the Arts and Crafts movement play a role in the establishment of Bauhaus, or is there no real connection?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: I’m not convinced it played a direct role. Arts and Crafts was very important for the re-discovery of traditional crafts, specifically a high-quality and pure form of handcrafts. And that had a great influence in Germany in terms of Jugendstil and the Deutsche Werkbund, and in that period the impulses came from England. However, I think for the Bauhaus less so, because that was much more driven by the situation in Germany after the First World War. Naturally there are common convictions, for all in terms of using crafts and manual labour as a tool to learn how one can work with certain materials, what is possible and where the limits of a material are. But also the idea of an honest use of materials; that one shouldn’t work against the properties of a material. And so these are things where one can say, yes there are parallels.

But what ultimately made Bauhaus the institution it became goes in a different direction namely to train designers, or to use the language of the day to train Formgestalter, to work with and for industry. And at that point Arts and Crafts and Bauhaus go their separate ways.

(smow)blog: And the complimentary question. If we see things correctly Bauhaus didn’t have much impact in the UK. For us one could almost speak of the UK as being the land Bauhaus forgot. Is that that the case?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: Current thinking is starting to see that a bit differently. Previously it was accepted that Bauhaus had left little or no trace in the UK – that those Bauhäusler who emigrated to the UK had probably come a little too early. England was firmly rooted in its own tradition and the shift towards Modernism was very hesitant and really didn’t occur until after the Second World War. However, nowadays there is the line of thought that until now we’ve maybe focused too much on the prominent Bauhäusler.  But then what about the numerous other, less well known, Bauhäusler who had to leave Germany? Bauhäusler who, in comparison to Walter Gropius or Marcel Breuer taught at some of England’s most important art colleges, and the results of their contribution to UK art and design can only really be measured after 1945. And that is something that until now hasn’t been fully researched, but which we hope to investigate further, ideally in co-operation with institutions in the UK.

(smow)blog: And so in that context, can the exhibition be seen as a good starting point for a deeper study of the UK/Bauhaus relationship?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: Yes, its a wonderful opportunity to highlight how many areas there are where we need to look deeper and do more research, including areas that are of specific historical interest to the UK. And I hope that this exhibition provides a little impulse in that direction.

(smow)blog: Briefly to end, as already discussed “Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model” wasn’t suitable as a travelling exhibition. Is “Bauhaus Art as Life” more suited. Could it potentially become a travelling exhibition?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: I don’t think so. Many of the objects here are very fragile, and we have, for example an awful lot of paper based exhibits which are very light sensitive. Plus one must remember the works are 80 or 90 years old, and the paper used was of truly appalling quality; the years after the First World War were very hard and miserable years and the quality of the paper reflects that. Or the textiles were dyed with natural dyes, and these obviously fade under light. And so we much prefer to organise a major show every two or three years in one location, rather than take risks with a permanent travelling exhibition.

(smow)blog: Which means the exhibition here is a one-off chance to see this collection of objects in one place?

Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi: Yes. And the last major Bauhaus exhibition in London was in 1968 to mark the 50th anniversary. And so its something unique and very special that is on show here.

Bauhaus Art as Life runs at the Barbican Art Gallery London until August 12th 2012.

Bauhaus Art as Life @ Barbican Art Gallery London

Bauhaus Art as Life @ Barbican Art Gallery London

Bauhaus Art as Life @ Barbican Art Gallery London

Back in October one of our highlights at Vienna Design Week 2011 was the exhibition kidsroomZOOM! Essentially a mid-town Vienna apartment kitted out entirely in furniture for children, we were not only impressed by the objects on display, but by the concept.

Forget adults! We’re doin’ it for the kids! Being the message we got. And one we wholeheartedly approved of.

kidsroomZOOM! originated in Milan, and so this year we not only visited the new 2012 show, but also spoke to curator Paola Noè to find out a little more about the whole concept.

(smow)blog: Obvious opening question, what’s the background? Why the decision to present a designer furniture exhibition specially geared to children and in such a context?

Paola Noè: My day job is as curator of unduetrestella, a contemporary art project for children here in Milan. Two years ago I met Thomas Maitz from Perludi and we created a small kidsroomZOOM exhibition, from which the project has grown. For us it is important to present furniture for kids and art for kids in a real location, in a domestic location. And so last year for the first Milan show, I tried to select works from interesting brands and interesting young designers and created a house for children.

(smow)blog: As curator of the exhibition do you start with the space and think, OK this and this will work well, or do you start with those designers and products you want, and then fit them into the available space?

Paola Noè: It’s a bit of both. Over the course of the year I gather works that I think would be interesting to present. And then when we have the opportunity to present a show I have to consider which of those objects could be presented in context of the space. You can’t show everything that you may want to, but you can try!

(smow)blog: Do you think major furniture producers take children seriously, or can we see this exhibition as an appeal that they should?

Paola Noè: I think there are a lot of brands and designers who do take children seriously. But, for example, here in Italy in its not necessarily the case. Which is strange because in the 1970s here in Milan we had, for example, Enzo Mari or Bruno Munari and so design for children was really born in Italy in the 1970s. But now it’s easier to find really interesting brands in other countries, for example in Sweden, America, Austria, or France.

(smow)blog: You currently show in Milan and Vienna. Would you like to show in other cities or is the six month cycle OK?

Paola Noè: I am always looking for occasions and opportunities to present kidsroomZOOM globally, and am currently, for example exploring possibilities in South America. But it would also be good to find new locations in Europe, but the biggest problem at the moment is the economic situation which makes it harder to organise and finance such an exhibition. And so that is the biggest challenge at the moment.

(smow)blog: And, in that context, the name of the show “We Never Give Up! is that motivation for yourselves as organisers….?

Paola Noè: Organising the second edition of such a show was a lot harder than the first; because of the crises we found it really had to find sponsors and partners. But we thought about children and the future of children. You can’t just think about economic crises. You’ve got to present something else. And so yes we decided not to give up and to ensure that the second edition was realised.