For us the biggest surprise with the announcement that Designers’ Open 2013 would be staged in the Glass Hall at Leipzig Messe was the fact that it surprised us.

The new organisers are after all Leipzig Messe……..

However, somehow it never occurred to us that they would stage it in Schkeuditz.

Yet, according to the official press release, having considered “…a multitude of locations….” in Leipzig they decided to host it themselves.

A decision we can’t pretend to support.

For us Leipzig Messe is simply too remote and involves such an effort to get to that it will inevitably discourage those casual visitors that are so important for such an event.

For a major event such as the Buchmesse or a professional trade fair there is no casual, passing, trade, all visitors have planned to come.

But design fairs of the type respresented by Designers’ Open aren’t so interesting that one gets excited about them weeks in advance.

However Designers’ Open has always been very good at attracting all those just out for an afternoon and looking for something different to do. Families with bikes, students with bikes, Grassimesse visitors with a combi-ticket.

And without the Schleußig bicycle mafia et al ….

We remember very well the disaster that was Designers Fair Cologne 2011, its premiere in the suburb of Ehrenfeld.

Simply put, hardly anybody made the effort to drag themselves that far out of town, and we know several designers who lost faith with Designers Fair on account of the money they lost through the venue choice.

These days the increasing number of events being staged in Ehrendfeld as part of the Cologne Passagen programme means that more people are travelling the path we once trampled alone.

Ehrenfeld has become a destination in its own right.

And therein lies maybe, more or less, the logic in the Messe’s madness.

The press release talks about offering “… more companies the opportunity to participate in Designers’ Open…” and giving exhibitors “… planning security and the necessary space to realise new ideas” Most recent graduates looking to sell a few lamps don’t need “…planning security…” or “…necessary space…” Producers looking to promote their latest collection do.

Consequently a close read of the press release leads us to the conclusion that the Leipzig Messe are possibly planning moving Designers’ Open away from its current student/single designer market concept and introducing more professional producers.

Making Designers’ Open something industry figures visit. Plan to visit even.

Not something we necessarily disapprove of, as we said in our last post the current Designers’ Open needs a few fresh ideas and a better defined, long-term, concept.

There is a lot of good and positive energy in the event. It just needs to be better channelled.

However, if it was our plan we’d pursue that aggressively from the start and not attempt a gradual transition. Especially not when the first year is likely be poorly visited and so provide an unnecessarily negative impression of the event to potential exhibitors.

We didn’t meet that many producers who had very high hopes for Qubique Berlin. Since Qubique 2011 we haven’t met any.

A design fair in Leipzig is obviously a much harder sell.

However as we all know. What do we know?

We will however keep you updated.

Designers' Open 2013 in the Leipzig Messe Glass Hall. Is that a setting sun? Or a rising star?

From 2013 onwards Designers’ Open Leipzig will be organised by Leipzig Messe. The current organisers and festival founders Jan Hartmann and Andreas Neubert will continue to assist with the content and conceptual planning; however, all legal and financial control has been taken on by Leipzig Messe.

More observant readers will have noticed that we didn’t report from Designers’ Open 2012.

The simple reason is that we saw little reason to visit it.  And that despite it being staged about 10 minutes bike ride from our office.

Week in, week out a design festival or trade fair is held somewhere. And week in, week out the fairs not only resemble ever more one another, but we start to question why we go. What is special about that particular event? What do we get from the experience? Why is it worth the trip?

And with Designers’ Open we finally ran out of arguments.

Which shouldn’t be confused with us thinking the festival is in anyway substandard or pointless.

Far from it.

Designers’ Open serves an important function and with, for example, its attempts in recent years to bring innovative technologies and materials to the fore is certainly moving in some interesting and relevant directions.

But something with the complete package currently isn’t right.

The continual change of location has become tiring.

The communication with and from the responsible PR agencies is/was either sporadic or more geared towards promoting sponsors rather than assisting the “normal” exhibitors.

The exhibitors themselves then all too often lacked any genuine sparkle or innovation.

The opening parallel to the Grassimesse Awards Ceremony always poses logistic problems. And we always go to Grassi.

Then, personally for us, there is too much fashion. As professions fashion and design don’t fit together as easily as lifestyle magazines and celebrity TV shows would have us believe. They are different disciplines and in our opinion festivals should concentrate on one or the other. And we certainly don’t want to spend a day walking around a fashion exhibition.

And so for us the whole event became too confuse and confusing … and eventually we just drifted too far from it.

Consequently we like the idea of the Leipzig Messe taking on the organisation. Even if we don’t yet fully know or understand what that means.

But with their relatively automatic procedures for organising such events and their longer term financial planning security, they should certainly be in a position to make the complete package more coherent.

Which should then make the event itself more relevant and enjoyable. For all.

And hopefully they will use the expertise and experience of Jan Hartmann and Andreas Neubert. We hope that the nice words in the press release aren’t … well just nice words.
Designers’ Open has become the wide reaching event it is thanks to the efforts of Jan Hartmann and Andreas Neubert. We hope they continue.

If they do will of course also depend to an extent on which direction Leipzig Messe decide to take Designers’ Open, and for all in how far it remains a mix of market and conference and in how far the event is opened up for larger companies.

We’ll keep you updated.

(And by way of an idle thought….

It could all get really interesting and exciting if the Leipzig Messe also announce that they are stepping is as partner for Qubique 2013.

Berlin Messe don’t want it…… A cooperation with DMY Berlin is as unlikely as ever….. And it would be nice way to “get back” at Cologne for the whole Games Convention episode….

As we say just an idle thought!)

Leipzig Messe as a ray of light for Designers Open Leipzig?

As we always say one of the joys of visiting design festivals is the chance they offer to explore different parts of the host city.

Normally it is the visitors who travel.

In Leipzig, it’s Designers’ Open that travels.

The true minstrel under the European design festivals, Designers’ Open has been annually packing its kit bag and moving on ever since leaving its, figurative, family home in the Grassi Museum in 2006.

Designers Open 2012 will be held from October 25th to 28th in the Ernst-Grube-Halle of the Leipzig University Sport Science Campus.

A location that is grander than it sounds.

The more commercial, product, part of the festival DO/Market features new for 2012 three special foci; “Off/Spring” with design for children, “Open/Air”  for garden/balcony/outdoor products and “Spin/Off”  which promises to present current diploma and masters projects. In addition to a, hopefully, sizable collection of international designers with their latest projects.

The more technological component DO/Industry meanwhile features, in addition to innovative design solutions, a conference under the title “smart technology – new design”

Designers’ Open 2012 also features the exhibition and award ceremony for the “Sachsen Design Prize 2012″. Here’s hoping the 2012 jury do better than the 2009 jury who inexplicably decided to award 2 second prizes and no winner rather than doing the decent thing and proclaiming one entry as being better than all the others

We’ll keep you updated.

And will indeed bring you all the highlights of Designers’ Open 2012.

The obvious question of course now that we all know where Designers’ Open 2012 is being held is where will Designers’ Open 2013 be held.

If you follow Designers’ Open’s tour through Leipzig in recent years from the Merkurhaus in 2009 over Hôtel de Pologne and onto the Spinnerei prior to this years hard right back towards the city center, then for us there is only one geographically logical location for 2013.

Leipzig Zoo.

And then hopefully 2014 they will finally make it to Halle.

For us the better, and much more obvious, natural location for the show…..

Designers’ Open Leipzig 2012 takes place at the Ernst-Grube-Halle, Leipzig University Sport Science Campus from October 25th – 28th 2012.

W1 by Nicolai Gulliksen @ Designers' Open Leipzig 2011. Let's see what 2012 brings....

We imagine most of our readers don’t understand that much about drums.

We certainly don’t. Or at least didn’t.

At Designers’ Open we learnt a lot more.

And it’s a lot more fascinating than you might imagine.

Specifically we learnt about the Zoom Bass Drum System from Leipzig based Rockstroh Drums.

In essence, in order to change the sound of a bass drum, you have to adjust the tension of the skins.

Which involves a lot of work. And takes a lot of time.

Rockstroh Drums, working in collaboration with Studio Harftensteiner – so Jan Hartmann and Andreas Neubert the driving forces behind Designers’ Open – decided to tackle the problem and developed the Zoom Bass Drum System.

A genuinely revolutionary approach to bass drum design.

Employing a sort of trombone principle the Zoom bass drum is designed so that the front part slides back and forward; movement that naturally changes the sound.

And that quickly and effortlessly.

In addition, the opening in the bass drum allows for new microphone positions, which offers more variety in the sounds that can be recorded in the studio.

The “design” in the concept comes firstly in the decision to use the tuning key as the locking mechanism for the system. Every drummer has such a key, and the decision to employ it in the system is one of those “Ohh so simple” ideas that only a designer can come up with.

And secondly the three rods over which the forward part of the drum slides are coated in an anti-friction coating that not only guarantees ease of movement, but also protects against corrosion and accidental damage.

As we say, drums aren’t really our speciality, but we were very impressed by the innovation in the system.

If a bit a bit disappointed that we weren’t allowed to try out the kit in Halle 14.

More information on the Zoom Bass Drum System can be found at http://rockstrohdrums.com/

Designers' Open Leipzig: Rockstroh Drums

Zoom Bass Drum System by Rockstroh Drums

Bass Drum System by Rockstroh Drums at Designers' Open Leipzig

The technical bits, including the all important tuning key

Although it has been quiet around Erik Wester of late, it’s fair to say he remains our favourite Norwegian designer. However he now officially has competition.

At Designers’ Open 2011 a group of 10 Norwegian design students presented examples of their work on a joint stand under the title “Look to Norway”

Quite possibly, the first ever Norwegian design to be seen at Designers’ Open.

For us the most interesting pieces were Le Korpusiør by Jørgen Platou Willumsen – a very simple yet endearing family of wood and copper lamps – and Curious by Caroline Olsson, a lamp that folds away into its own box.

However we were very impressed by the overall quality of the exhibits; and admittedly we didn’t give some of the pieces the time they undoubtedly deserved.

To find out more about the project; and why naming a Norwegian designer is as tricky as naming an important Belgian, we spoke to “Look to Norway” members Thea Nilsen and Fredrik Wærnes.

(smow)blog: Briefly, what is the background to the exhibition?

Fredrik Wærnes: We are all students at Norway’s four design schools and wanted to create a collaborative platform that reached across the institutions and the various fields of design in Norway.

(smow)blog: It’s probably fair to say that most people can name a Swedish designer or a Danish designer, but not a Norwegian designer. Can you explain why that should be?

Thea Nilsen: We ask ourselves the same question! And that’s also one of the reasons we are exhibiting as Look to Norway, because not too many people look to us. However Norway has a design tradition as long as Sweden or Denmark, is currently a blooming environment and there are a lot of interesting things happening in Norwegian design.

(smow)blog: How big is the Norwegian market? Are there producers with whom young designers such as yourselves can work with or….

Fredrik Wærnes: There are a few producers in Norway but the market is very small and so often designers have to go outside Norway to find a partner for their projects.

Thea Nilsen: Which is also a reason to come to Germany as this is a very intersting country in terms of producers.

(smow)blog: Which raises the obvious question, why Designers’ Open?

Fredrik Wærnes: We like the concept of the festival, it’s very open and very varied in its fields of design and so we felt suited our project very well.

Thea Nilsen: Also in some respects we are only exhibiting because of Leipzig. We heard about the festival and started discussing the project because of this. And so maybe without Designers’ Open this project wouldn’t have happened.

More details on Look to Norway and the individual projects can be found at http://looknorway.com/

Its a real Milan feeling in the (smow)blog team at the moment; as we face an impossible number of parallel exhibitions and events.

With Eindhoven and Qubique already running Designers’ Open Leipzig 2011 opened it’s doors to the public this morning.

Although to be fair, it is very nice to be able to get back to the office to type.

The top story is that the move to the Baumwollspinnerei is, at least from a visitors perspective, a full success.

Halle 14 has just a wonderful ambiance that really helps set the work in scene.

Lets see if after several years as a nomadic festival, wandering through the city, they finally decide to become a little more sedentary in East Plagwitz Village.

Continuing on from last year, Designers Open 2011 is running as three events in one DO/Market and DO/Industry at the Baumwollspinnerei and DO/Spots throughout the city.

DO/Market is the larger part and features product and fashion designers and crafts-folk looking either to sell direct to the public or hoping to attract interest from a producer or distributor.

DO/Industry is the B2B section and is more conceptual and theoretical in its exhibits and in 2011 is dedicated to the topic “smart materials – new design”

And the DO/Spots are satellite events being run throughout the city; generally in the ateliers of Leipzig based designers.

Designers’ Open Leipzig 2011 runs until Sunday October 30th. Full details on the programme and exhibitors can be found at http://designersopen.de

And we’ll be bringing you reports and interviews from Designers’ Open 2011 over the coming days.

Designers' Open 2011 at Baumwollspinnerei Leipzig - A ray of light in East Plagwitz Village

Designers' Open 2011 DO/Market

Designers' Open 2011 DO/Market

Designers' Open 2011 DO/Industry

We’ve long since accepted that there are more design weeks in a year than actual weeks.

But we still can’t accept the poor coordination between the various festivals.

June, July, August.Basically nothing.

September, October. Every day

Copenhagen, London, Brussels, Budapest, Istanbul, Vienna, Eindhoven, Leipzig, Lodz, Zürich…. Every 2 years Orgatec in Cologne.

And in the midst of all this Berlin sprouts Qubique.

Hallo!

We however have no choice. Or at least little choice.

Our October 2011 tour begins in Vienna, without question one of our favourite design weeks. An obvious highlight is the annual Passionswege which this year features, amongst others Tomás Alonso, Tomas Kral and Uli Budde. Plus this year we hope to do a little more research on Michael Thonet.  Most of his old haunts have long since been bulldozed; but we’re hoping to find one or the other vestige of his time.

On the way back from Vienna we’ll be stopping of at Moormann in Aschau in Chiemgau. But more on that later.

The next festival highlight is Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. If we’re honest we don’t find Eindhoven as relaxed and pleasant a festival as Vienna; something we, perhaps irrationally, blame on the certain smugness we detect emanating from the Design Academy. That said, experience shows that Eindhoven often has the better products than one finds in Vienna; which as a festival tends to lean more towards concepts and design as a problem solver.

We will of course let you know.

Then things get really hectic with Qubique in Berlin being closely followed by Designers’ Open here in Leipzig.

If we’re honest we don’t really understand why the organisers of Qubique have chosen to set up their show in the middle of the busiest period for European design events.

Its a bit like Red Bull deciding to establish a football team in Leipzig; when Sachsen is saturated with football teams. Rather than in a sporting wildernesses such as Niedersachsen.

In principle we’re all in favour of a high quality designer furniture trade fair in Germany – IMM for us being a show on its way out in that respect.

But October!

We imagine the timing will be a central feature of our reports from Berlin.

That and the question in how far Vitra‘s late decision to attend validates Qubique. Or is it just a brief liaison in an Orgatec free year that happens to fits in nicely with the sales launch of the GStar/Prouvé collection?

Older readers will know what we think.  But also that we will give both parties the chance to respond.

Designers’ Open is, obviously, our home festival and with its move to the Baumwollspinnerei promises to be little more relaxed than last years hand-to-hand combat through the corridors of the Hôtel de Pologne.

And then on November 1st its off to Zürich and Neue Räume, Switzerland’s biggest designer furniture fair – and a great opportunity to assess the situation of  the Swiss producers following the Swiss Francs strong summer and the associated export problems.

And yes on the way back we will stop and take some squint photos of the VitraHaus.

As for Copenhagen, London, Brussels, Budapest, Istanbul and  Lodz. We’ll get to you next year. Hopefully.

Reports, photos, interviews and features from all festivals will be posted here.

Pretty much how our October is going to look.....

Just before we head of to Berlin for DMY Berlin 2011 comes confirmation that our own local design festival, Designers’ Open, has a new home for 2011 – the Baumwollspinnerei in our very own Lower East Plagwitz Village.

Among the more nomadic design festivals Designers’ Open has been staged in numerous wonderful venues throughout Leipzig, but the move to the city’s Baumwollspinnerei promises not only a spectacular backdrop to the festival, but also a slight increase in the festival’s reputation through the association with the other tenants in the sprawling complex. Including obviously Neo Rauch.

And for us, we’ve just inched a little closer to being able to use our favourite joke for the first time….

Entries are now being accepted for Designer’s Open 2011.

More information can be found at http://designersopen.de/

We first saw Becherlicht by Martin Neuhaus at Designers Fair 2010 in Cologne.

And are still in awe.

Our interview with Martin Neuhaus from Designers’ Open will be published soon; but for now a few images.

Becherlicht by Martin Neuhaus - an effect you can't ignore

Becherlicht by Martin Neuhaus @ Designers Open 2010

available in a range of colours

Becherlicht by Martin Neuhaus. So simple. So good.

Becherlicht by Martin Neuhaus - detail

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CASPAR by Perludi @ Designers Open 2010

At Designers’ Open 2009 (smow) first discovered Austrian producer Perludi, who were making their first appearance in Leipzig.

Since when their wonderful MAXintheBOX has been part of the (smow) kid’s collection.

And obviously Designers’ Open 2009 was generally a good one for Perludi, because they came back to Leipzig for Designers’ Open 2010.

On the (smow)blog desk we use a mini MAXintheBOX as a visiting card holder. In real-size MAXintheBOX can be more or less whatever your child wants it to be.

Created some 10 years ago when Perludi designer Thomas Maitz was searching for furniture for his own children, and was confronted by the dearth of child friendly furniture on the market – MAXintheBOX is formed from 2 elements that slide into one another to form an unobtrusive cube.

Separated, each element of MAXintheBOX can be used as a chair, table or storage element.

In addition to MAXintheBOX Perludi were alshowing their new childrens desk “CASPAR” at Designers’ Open 2010.

Height adjustable between 45 and 72 cms CASPAR is conceived as a desk that grows with your child – or indeed as one that can be quickly adjusted depending on which child is currently needing the desk.

CASPAR by Perludi - Detail

The height adjustment is achieved through rubber rings that can moved up or down the leg. The rings sit in pre-cut groves and  provide stable and secure support.

In addition the height of each leg can be set individually – allowing the table to be set at an angle if required.

And because there are no screws or other fixings, the legs can be simply removed and stored within in the table top for simple transport and/or storage.

We’ve seen a few “Grows with your child” desk designs in the last couple of years – CASPAR by Perludi is however without question the least complicated and most user friendly we have seen.

And a wonderful extension to the Perludi range.

MAXintheBOX by Perludi. Click to view the product video