With DMY Berlin standing in front of the door like some excited child waiting to be taken to its chums birthday party, all eyes are slowly turning to to the German capital.

The first Berlin design events are already running and until June 9th the gallery “Haus am Waldsee” is presenting the exhibition “Home of the Future” by and featuring Werner Aisslinger.

We already posted a few photos in a (smow) facebook gallery.

Staircase Sofa in cooperation with Vitra and Honeycomb Landscape in cooperation with Kvadrat. As seen at Werner Aisslinger: Home of the Future, Haus am Waldsee.

Delightful as the exhibition unquestionably is, for us one of the more interesting aspects of the exhibition is/was the objects that weren’t on show. For all the Bikini Island concept Werner Aisslinger premiered on the Moroso stand at Milan Furniture Fair 2013.

Essentially a multi-level, multi-component living room/den system Bikini Island combines sofa units with a range of add-ons to create a modern modular system.

Yes it is outwardly more lifestyle than design.

No that shouldn’t appeal to us.

However, just as with the very closely related Level 34 office system for Vitra, Bikini Island is the result of not only careful observation of contemporary society but is also unmistakably the work of a designer looking for solutions for a reality still to come.

As such, for us, it really should have been included in Home of the Future.

Bikini Island by Werner Aisslinger for Moroso as seen at Milan Furniture Fair 2013

Not least because when viewed in the context of Home of the Future Bikini Island in many ways represents the combined realisation of many of the ideas explored in the exhibition.

And also highlights the current limitations of taking experimental design projects into commercial production.

For example:

Bikini Island features space for hanging flowers, but no option for integrating plants into the system.

The publicity material speaks of Bikini Island as being domestic furniture for a digital age, yet the system itself remains confusingly analogue with no options for accommodating modern technology.

Both situations that Werner Aisslinger tackles in projects on show in Haus am Waldsee.

But which, we assume, went a little too far for Moroso and their distribution network.

At the moment Bikin Island is still a concept and we’re not so green behind the ears as to believe that it will appear as an off-the-peg, ready-to-buy product any time soon.

Our hope is that in the coming months Werner Aisslinger can persuade Moroso not to be so conservative and to maybe consider adding one or the other more radical element to the system.

And certainly judging by a conversation we had with another designer in Milan about Moroso we are hopeful that the company are moving away from their more reserved, traditional positions.

Time will tell.

And for all wanting to learn more about how Werner Aisslinger thinks, and what he believes is possible, Home of the Future can be viewed at Haus am Waldsee, Argentinische Allee 30, 14163 Berlin until Sunday June 9th (That’s the last day of DMY Berlin for all planning visiting the festival :))

Bikini Island by Werner Aisslinger for Moroso

We quote:

“It’s probably fair to say the biggest surprise at Salone Satellite 2012 was seeing Rui Alves aka My Own Super Studio. Because we thought 2011 had been the last year he was allowed to exhibit.”

Fast forward 12 months later. And guess what the the biggest surprise at Salone Satellite 2012 was…. ?

He has however promised us that this is his final, final, final year at Salone Satellite. A thought which to be honest doesn’t disappoint or otherwise upset us because 2013 was also the first year in which works by Rui Alves could be seen in the main, professional, grown-up, halls at Milan Furniture Fair.

And if the rumours are correct next year should also see one or the other appearance in the bigger exhibition halls.

Something that would make us very happy.

Milan Design Week 2013: Rui Alves aka My Own Super Studio

For his Salone Satellite swan song Rui was presenting a collection of furniture that once again underlined the quality of his craftsmanship.

For us the highlight of the collection was the sofa. A deliciously effortlessly reduced down piece the sofa combines a turned wooden frame with a pressed felt seat to create a sort of simplified domestic sinkhole in which to vanish of an evening. Or Sunday morning..

With an obvious, and potentially deliberate, Scandinavian inspired form language “Sofa” presents a nice mix of materials in a fresh, unapologetic fashion. A true delight.

The rest of the 2013 collection was for us just a bit too generic; that said the simple wooden chair and “side table with book rest” did attract enough attention to justify a longer, more detailed, look.

In Hall 16 meanwhile Italian manufacturer Valsecchi1918 was presenting two new works by Rui: A_Chair and Tableone.

A_Chair had previously been shown as part of Rui’s presentation at Salone Satellite 2012. For our part we completely ignored it in our post, and would still maintain that LAPA was the better chair. That said in the bright colours on the Valsecchi1918 stand it not only looked like a very self-assured and competent piece of work, but more importantly fitted in well with the complete Valsecchi1918 programme. The extending table Tableone meanwhile was commissioned by Valsecchi1918 and the detail of the finish on the edge of the table top is a real joy to behold.

If an absolute scunner to photograph.

Obviously with Rui’s work there is always going to be the question of in how far his meticulously carpented objects can be recreated in mass production. However the examples on show on the Valsecchi1918 stand in Milan certainly left us convinced that the company understand their craft.

Which given that they’ve been producing items out of wood since 1918 is probably to be expected.

As we said 2013 is officially Rui’s last year as part of Salone Satellite, but is also, hopefully, the first year in which the hard work and commitment to his ideals finally starts to reap tangible rewards.

We certainly hope so.

And we will of course keep you updated.

As older readers will know a large proportion of the menial labour at (smow) is carried out by a team of highly qualified Vitra Eames Elephants.

In the past we’ve praised them, for example, for their help moving USM Haller units around our warehouse.

(smow) recently moved into a new base in the Leipzig Baumwollspinnerei complex, a former yarn works largely inhabited by artists, sculptors and their ilk.

Being naturally curious beasts our elephants didn’t take long to start exploring the galleries and creative spaces that house our new neighbours.

And one in particular embarked on a trip that involved meeting numerous old acquaintances…..

On Tuesday April 30th 2013 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands steps down as head as the House of Orange.

And Posterous closes down.

One going voluntarily to ensure an smooth transition of power.

The other being closed by its new owners as part of a brutal and unjust conflict for supremacy in the social media market.

We discovered Posterous in 2010 by pure change, were instantly hooked by the effortless simplicity with which one could post and so Posterous became our platform of choice for all that amused or impressed us but for which (smow)blog was too big.

Over some three years and 229 posts Posterous continually reminded why we do this. Especially in those moments when (smow)blog posts were floundering in literary waters like some big drunk celtic whale.

Posterous was never the best visited site we ran. But was the most fun and we’ll miss it.

Just to spite those responsible for closing Posterous we’re moving all content that would have landed on Posterous to the (smow) Facebook page.

But by way of a goodbye, a few of our personal highlights from three years postering….

World's Most Boring Photo ?

Eames elephants in a Leipzig forest

Milan 2012: Donato D'Urbino enjoying the Joe Sofa....

Celebrating Autumn with our Victoria Ghost by Philippe Starck for Kartell

The Vitra Panton Chair Winter Edition..... almost

Burg Giebichenstein Halle: Design can be so simple

In December 2012 Vitrashop, the shop fitting arm of the Vitra Group, and of course the original rock on which the Vitra seed germinated and grew, took formal occupation of their new distribution centre.

Conceived by Tokyo based architects Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa aka SANAA, the imaginatively titled “SANAA Factory Building” is the latest addition to the Vitra Campus and was officially presented to the public on April 19th 2013.

Vitra Campus: SANAA Factory Building.

Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum first approached Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa in 2006 to discuss the possibility of them developing a project for the Vitra Campus. Initially they were pencilled in to build what was to become the VitraHaus; however, Rolf Fehlbaum re-considered and decided that because SANAA had never developed an industrial space it would be an interesting idea to ask them to do just that for Vitra.

SANAA readily agreed, for in addition to the challenge of working in close vicinity to so many buildings from established architects, the scale of the project inspired and motivated the pair, or as Kazuyo Sejima puts it “….we could never build a house with such a large footprint”

And when one considers the construction’s circa 160 metre diameter and total floor space of some 20,000 square metres, it’s very hard to disagree.

Aside from its size, the SANAA Factory Building is defined by two factors: Its shape and its outer facade.

The most most instantly striking of which is the outer facade. Created from double layered acrylic glass the facade is composed of 6 different “wave” patterns assembled to form a non-repeating, apparently random, facade much like a freely hanging curtain and conceived to give the construction a lightness that disguises and reduces its size.

We can’t confirm if that works or not. On the one hand we don’t have any other 20,000 sq metre buildings we can use as a ready comparison. But principally we are unsure as to in how far the curved walls aid and abet such an effect.

The SANAA building certainly doesn’t appear noticeably larger than any of its neighbours, but they are all quadratic. And the SANAA Factory Building is round. In itself a small innovation for a distribution centre.

Initially SANAA developed quadratic and round models for the building, but ultimately decided on the round version in order to make the building on the one hand more accessible for lorries and on the other to improve the work-flow inside. The argument from SANAA being that for distribution centres circles are a better form that quadrats. A not illogical argument.

The SANAA Factory Building is however not a perfect circle, Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa have deliberately distorted the form a little to create a sort of squashed egg. Or perhaps given the way it is connected to the neighbouring Nicholas Grimshaw building, a slightly squashed penicillin fruiting body.

The motivation with the off-circle was to keep the building more organic, not so industrial: despite having finally completed an industrial project SANAA obviously aren’t quite ready to be called industrial architects.

SANAA Factory Building for Vitrashop in Weil am Rhein

Anyone expecting to find in the Vitra SANAA Factory Building a repetition of the undulating floors of the Rolex Learning Center Lausanne or the almost completely transparent landscape of  the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion will be disappointed. Sorely disappointed.

The SANAA Factory Building is an industrial facility and has been designed as such.

Indeed walking round the building we were reminded of what Antonio Citterio told us in relation to his own three Vitra factory projects “… Vitra don’t need a statement, Vitra need a productive space, a Vitra factory space”

What SANAA have created in Weil am Rhein reflects that very well. It isn’t arrogant, isn’t vainglorious, it isn’t a “statement”, it is a space where Vitrashop can work, in the words of Sejima “… a very comfortable space for the workers”. One of the major features in this context is the endless rows of skylights which flood the space with daylight to create a homogeneous working environment, and environment which ideally makes the factory interior appear smaller, friendlier, more personal.

On the day we were there there sadly wasn’t any daylight flooding in, but even in Weil am Rhein a little rain must fall.
And when no rain falls we see no reason to doubt that the sunlight will flood. And that it will create a pleasant working atmosphere.

In the past both Sejima and Nishizawa have repeatedly stated that for them making a structure clear is a central priority in their work. A philosophy they have remained true to with the SANAA factory building; the shelving blends effortlessly in with the structural beams, floor gives way to wall to roof, or as Rolf Fehlbaum puts it “…normally things are hidden, here you can see everything”

Almost.

For although we’re not in the habit of contradicting Rolf Fehlbaum, there is one thing you can’t see.

Outside.

Just as important as structural clarity in the SANAA canon has been the interaction between between a building’s interior and its external environment. The SANAA Factory Building in contrast stands there very much as an object stubbornly determined to keep itself to itself. Even the windows as metaphoric eyes on the outside world are placed too high to allow any meaningful view in or out. Their sole function is aiding illumination.

As such the SANAA Factory Building would appear to be the first time that SANAA have found themselves limited by a brief. Or when not limited then at least forced to approach the project with a different philosophy.

On the one hand there are the economic limitations, an industrial building such as that in Weil am Rhein clearly has a much lower budget than the museums or housing projects SANAA normally develop, but also the practical limitations. Aside from the legal framework that such a building must conform to, especially in Germany, come banal points such as that, ideally, no one should be able to see inside a distribution centre.

The transparent restaurant kitchen or production facility may have become accepted standards, however which company freely presents to the world the contents of its warehouse?

Inside the SANAA Factory Building for Vitrashop

With the completion of the SANAA Factory Building the Vitra Campus has not just been expanded by one building, but has one more Pritzker Prize winning architecture bureau to its name following on from Herzog & de Meuron, Tadao Ando, Avaro Siza and of course Frank Gehry.

Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa won architecture’s most prestigious award in 2010 and in the citation the jury notes that “The buildings of Sejima and Nishizawa seen deceptively simple. The architects hold a vision of a building as a seamless whole, where the physical presence retreats and forms a sensuous background for people, objects, activities and landscapes”

A description that could also be effortlessly applied to the SANAA Factory Building.

Yes, it just looks like a steel warehouse and lazy scribes could portray the glass facade as an architectural Emperor’s new clothes that cloaks an all too apparent conceptual nakedness. However start inspecting closer, analysing for example how the construction has been created, how the roof is supported or how the technology has been integrated, and you will discover a lot of hidden depth and fascinating detail.

SANAA Factory Building is unlikely to go down in history as Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawain’s greatest work, nor is it the greatest work on the Vitra Campus, it is however a captivating object that places it functionality unselfishly above all other considerations, an object that serves the workers rather than the architects, an object that attempts to go new ways and has the bravery to risk new approaches. And as such is a fitting addition to the Vitra Campus.

Below a few images of the SANAA Factory Building. And by way of short explanation, given the truly awful weather on the day we visited we spontaneously decided to start photographing the outside in black and white. Hence the mix. Seemed appropriate given the mood of the day…..

A few weeks ago in our post on the opening of the Droog Lab exhibition The New Original in Guangzhou, China we noted, “….knowing Droog we’re fairly certain that “The New Original” will be presented in Europe before too long. ”

Droog didn’t disappoint and the objects were displayed in Milan as part of the show “Droog 20+, Up to a beautiful future”, 20 years of Droog celebrated by looking forwards rather than the more conventional backwards.

Milan Design Week 2013: Droog 20+ Up to a beautiful future

The background idea to The New Original is relatively simple: copying, according to Droog Lab, isn’t always direct replication, more often than not copying involves a level of alteration, for example to meet local needs or reflect social and /or cultural differences. Since the popular conception is that the Chinese are world champions in copying, Droog Lab visited China and copied everyday Chinese objects, albeit with an adaptation for the European, western market.

The result is a truly engaging collection of objects.

While “Teapot with Handle” by Richard Hutten was chosen as the Poster Girl of the exhibition we were much more taken with Glass Lantern and LED Bulbs, both also from Richard Hutten and both objects which not only represent an excellent interpretation of the brief, but are truly delightful creations. Delightful creations that never would have been realised without The New Original.

Similarly the Family Vases and Five Function Cabinet by Studio Droog are lovely pieces of work and ones that could only have arisen within the context of such a basic research project.

We don’t know what the long term plans are, we however expect you will soon find one or the other in you local Droog shop.

Five Function Cabinet, Family Vases and Glass Lantern from the Droog Lab project "The New Original"

A further highlight of the far too compact “Droog 20+, Up to a beautiful future” was the results of the Rijksstudio project, Studio Droog’s cooperation with Amsterdam based design studio deJongeKalff.

Rijksstudio is a digitalised databank of 125,000 works from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam’s collection and publicly available as a free online resource. Having digitalised the works Droog and deJongeKalff then went a stage further and borrowed images and moments from the databank and transformed them into real objects.

Copying, with an adaptation. If you like.

The highlights of the collection for us is Napkin Collar, a napkin ring inspired by a 17th century ruff, however notable mentions must also go to Tasting Glasses and Rubber Tablecloth.

One of the things we like about Droog is the fact they are essentially a design research agency, a conceptual troupe who sell products to finance the rest of their work.

Older readers will remember the 2011 Why Design ? symposium at the HFBK Hamburg when Andreas Brandolini said more or less the same about the early days of the Neues deutsches Design movement in Berlin: they sold products to raise capital. The products themselves having little or no meaning for their creators.

For ultimately much like there is no show without business, so to can design never completely free itself from industry.

The question is what is produced, how, in what quantities and with what motivation.

You don’t have to like everything Droog do. And we certainly don’t. But you do have to respect and admire the way they do it.

And hope that they continue doing it for the next twenty years.

Rijksstudio with an homage to Johannes Vermeer at Droog 20+ Up to a beautiful future, Milan

Napkin Collar, Tasting Glasses and Rubber Tablecloth at Droog 20+ Up to a beautiful future, Milan

LED Bulb by Richard Hutten at Droog 20+ Up to a beautiful future, Milan

Teapot with Handle by Richard Hutten at Droog 20+ Up to a beautiful future

It is indicative of the image of designer furniture in contemporary society that media outlets across Europe have picked up on the fact that in connection with the recently published “Wealth Decelerations” by the French Cabinet, Industry Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg has revealed he owns an Eames Lounge Chair.

Indeed the online platform from German magazine Der Spiegel illustrated the publication of the Declarations with an image of an Eames Lounge Chair in one its first reports!

The Eames Lounge Chair. Similar to that owned by Arnaud Montebourg.

While the fascination with Monsieur Montebourg and his Eames Lounge Chair is almost certainly related to the fact it is one of the few revelations of what is hidden behind the figures – the revelation isn’t in the official documents but from an interview in Le Monde – it does highlight the widely held view that possession of designer furniture is somehow an indication of unreachable, and potentially unjust, wealth.

Yes, an object such as an Eames Lounge Chair may cost more than most people would normally consider paying for a piece of furniture.

However do a cost:lifetime analysis and it suddenly doesn’t look sssooo much when compared to the alternatives.

The investment in an Eames Lounge Chair is an invetsment in an object that will not only accompany you until your last breath. But also you children. And, and assuming everyone takes care of it, their children.

And then there is the material investment.

If you look at the Ministerial Declarations you will find, for example, that European Affairs Minister Thierry Repentin bought a Renault Scenic in 2009 for Euro 26,700. It is now worth Euro 8,500.

Now while Arnaud Montebourg is unlikely to recoup the ca. Euro 4,300 he paid in 1988 for his Eames Lounge Chair, he’s certainly not going to be looking at a 66% depreciation.

And don’t we want politicians who make sensible economic decisions? Especially in the current climate?

For us part of the problem that leads to such a fascination with the ownership of a design classic such as the Eames Lounge Chair is the way such objects are advertised or generally medially presented.

All too often designer furniture is presented as something other worldly. Exclusive. Not for the likes of you young lady……

As we’ve said before, and will repeat until our teeth fall out, if manufacturers were to reject the tired, agency motivated imagery, and instead concentrate more on explaining the quality of the materials used, the quality of the craftsmanship involved, the length of the design process, the investment in machines required to create their objects, etc, etc, etc the public would understand the price. And would adore the objects even more as a touch of luxury in the midst of their grey, unfulfilled lives.

In this context the Lounge Chair Atelier in the VitraHaus is a wonderful development as it allows visitors to not only see, and feel, how a Vitra Lounge Chair is assembled, but also to speak to the staff and so learn a little more about the people behind the objects.

So we say, lay of Monsieur Montebourg! He had the free capital in 1988 and for us he made a wise and sensible investment.

And in terms of unfettered decadency: Justice Minister Christiane Taubira admits to owning three bicycles.

Three bikes!!!

Qu’ils mangent de la brioche! indeed……

A White Vitra Eames Lounge Chair. As seen at Eames by Vitra, Wasserschloß Klaffenbach Chemnitz

During Milan Design Week 2013 Knoll formally launched the “Tools for Life” collection from Dutch architecture practice OMA, a collection overseen by OMA co-founder Rem Koolhaas.

The collection had previously been previewed as part of the stage decoration for the Prada Fall Men’s show in January, and was formally unveiled in the same location…. the Prada Milan HQ

A location that theoretically the likes of us should never be allowed to enter. But Design Week is Design Week.

Milan Design Week 2013: Tools for Life by OMA for Knoll at Prada Milano

The first thing to say is that the collection looks like it has been designed by an architect.

Just not in the easily accessible way we all know from the likes of Jacobsen, Eiermann or Haller. And certainly not in the tradition of the architects with whom Knoll’s reputation was founded; Mies van der Rohe, Bertoia, Saarinen….

It’s all very much the result of a conceptual thinker, a pure author collection from a designer working on the basis of a theory rather than a specific functional or aesthetic brief. Haute couture to misuse the Prada vocabulary.

For Knoll the signature piece of the collection is the 04 Counter. Three beams stacked on another, the top two can be rotated through 360 degrees thus allowing for a range of variable, fluid uses: seating, presentation, discussion. Innovative and interesting as the functionality unquestionably is, we’re just unsure who actually needs or wants such. And certainly in an object that stands around one metre high and two metres long.

The 03 Coffee Table works on a very similar principle with similar mechanics; however, being smaller in scale the movement makes a lot more sense, is friendlier, more desirable and is something we can well imagine attracting a following. Albeit a very wealthy following.

For us the highlight of the collection is the 11 Floor Seating, a legless chair that at first glance looks as if it is just for relaxing; however, in context of modern working with tablet computers et al, sitting low down, knees raised, slightly hunched is likely to become a much more common option. And high-quality, well considered chairs that allow one to, effectively, sit on the floor are about as rare as Prada jackets in our wardrobe. For us “11″ just needs a slightly higher backrest to be truly functional.

The 11 Floor Seating from the Tools for Life collection by OMA for Knoll (The cushions will be upholstered)

Amongst the further objects the 01 arm chair has a not unappealing form language, albeit takes a little bit of getting use to. When we first saw them we didn’t like them at all, felt they evoked an unpleasant Star Trek meets 80s Miami Beach Nightclub imagery indicative of a designer trying too hard. However, having let them work on us for few days, we are starting to understand and appreciate them a lot more. It’s a bit like David Bowie. Didn’t get him for decades, then suddenly a few years ago we approached his music in a different way and since then find it much more appealing.

The 05 Round Table and 06 Table are technically very, very interesting; however, the less said about their appearance the better. And no, we don’t think we’ll ever get used to them.

Although we imagine they’ll be very well received in Moscow.

The real star of the launch however was Rem Koolhaas, who was followed round the Prada Cathedral by an adoring crowd, hungry for titbits of information, principally on his reasons for the choice of materials. A question he, patiently, answered at least a thousand times.

We of course weren’t part of the mob. At that point we were busy in hospitality eating croissants with a proficiency that would have put Polar Bear Knut to shame.

They were Prada croissants. When are we ever likely to get the chance to eat Prada croissants again?

Never is the answer. And yes they were lovely.

The 01 Arm Chair from the Tools for Life collection by OMA for Knoll. Here in its prototype upholstery.

Tools for Life is the first time Rem Koolhaas has taken on a furniture project. According to Knoll the first contact was made some 15 years ago, but Koolhaas didn’t have any real interest, or perhaps better put the necessary motivation, for furniture at that time. Then a couple of years ago they started discussing the possibility again and Koolhaas said yes, “….because Knoll asked us to do a collection rather than a single object, and that made it an interesting proposition”

And regardless of what you think of the individual pieces or the form language, as a collection Tools for Life works very well. It has a unity, a solidarity that binds the individual pieces together.

In our post from the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln exhibition “From Aalto to Zumthor Furniture by Architects” we hypothesised that what makes much of the furniture designed by architects such as Eiermann, Jacobsen or Le Corbusier so appealing is that it was largely developed for specific projects, it originated in a specific context and so was influenced and formed by this context.

Furniture by Architects also showed what happens when architects develop furniture out of a fixed context, free as it were. Or at least showed what can happen.

Tools for Life by OMA for Knoll is a further good example. An interesting and not-unappealing collection it is, for us, driven too much by a desire to be an OMA furniture collection and as such lacks a certain nonchalance that is necessary to make furniture something that people want to possess and use.

As such we fear that Tools for Life is fated to become a historical footnote in the story of Knoll and OMA, good for a few glossy photos but otherwise culturally and economically irrelevant.

However there is enough genuine technical innovation and interesting new thinking in the collection to be fairly confident that if OMA and Rem Koolhaas are given a more specific brief, then something truly wonderful could result.

Or put another way, having seen the haute couture we can’t wait for the prêt-à-porter

Back in October at Orgatec 2012 Vitra unveiled Workbay, the new concept from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

The latest stage in the brother’s career-long “room within a room” research Workbay is a flexible system based around fleece walls and aluminium supports that resembles a cross between the Alcove Sofa and the Bouroullec’s Communal Cells from Orgatec 2010.

When we saw Workbay in Cologne we thought,  nice idea, nice extension of the Bouroullec programme… and went back to concentrating on their Cork Desk.

In Milan, Vitra and the Bouroullec’s unveiled the full majesty of Workbay.

In an installation specially created for the Salone Ufficio section of Salone Milano, Ronan and Ewran Bouroullec presented Workbay Office: a visualisation of how Workbay can be integrated into an office to create a series of separate areas based around the basic Workbay structure enhanced with very simple add-ons.

Sofas. Shelving. Desks. Storage units. Sinks.

And because the Workbay system can be constructed to practically any length, circumference, diameter or indeed form, it can be integrated as and when required into any office of any size. And then rebuilt as situations dictate.

As such for us Workbay not only offers a completely new approach to office furniture, but as a system offers architects and interior designers a new freedom when designing new office spaces.

And we thought Workbay was just a flexible fleece and aluminum wall!

Ahead of Milan Design Week we received an email from a Belgian designer of our acquaintance letting us know where we could view their work. The email ended with a euphoric “This is finally Belgium’s year!”

A thought that really appealed to us, because as we wrote last year Belgium has the potential to be every bit as successful as Holland. And indeed should be.

And so with an optimistic heart we set off to the Triennale di Milano to view the exhibition “Belgium is Design”

And experienced our first disappointment of Milan 2013.

Belgium is Design was one of our highlights at Milan Design Week 2012, their 2013 show was at best a jumbled, incoherent mess.

Presented under the title “The Toolbox – Belgian Design & the Art of Making: A Tribute to Henry van de Velde” the show promised to present “… a portrait of the mastery of Belgian design”

It may very well have done.

If you could find it.

For much like locating anything useful in our toolbox, Belgium is Design 2013 forced the visitor to root through interminable chaos on the search for if not the Holy Grail that at least the correct screwdriver.

We didn’t. Life is far too short to spend foraging in the aftermath of an over ambitious exhibition designer.

What’s really disappointing of course is that following on from “Henry van de Velde. Leidenschaft, Funktion und Schönheit” in Weimar “Belgium is Design” is the second exhibition in a month associated with the name Henry van der Velde that lacked a sensibly executed exhibition concept.

Henry really deserves better.

Fortuitously that was to be our first and last experience of poorly organised Belgians in Milan.

As with 2012 the second part of Belgium is Design was on show at Salone Satellite. And as with 2012 the highlight for us was design studio Two Designers.

Specifically their “island” Curiosity.

We are at a real loss to find a term to succinctly describe Curiosity and so will have to make do with the less than snappy “A sort of  tray, shelf, table, storage box, fusion thing. With some material.”

Basically an object that stands in a room and fulfills several functions in one, while itself being an optically pleasing structure. A device to aid domestic organisation and give an impression of increased order.

Just delightful.

We admit to knowing very little about Two Designers; but having attracted our attention two years running that may soon change.

Milan Design Week 2013: Curiosity by Two Designers at Belgium is Design, Salone Satellite

In contrast to Belgium is Design the show from design platform “De Invasie” at Ventura Lambrate was a real pleasure to peruse.

Featuring a nice mix of Belgian design studios the highlight for us was without question Collectionnaire by Moupila.

As with Curiosity it’s hard to find an easy term to describe Collectionnaire. A modular storage cabinet Collectionnaire has a form language all of its own, a functionality all of its own and a size that means it will make any room its own.

As a concept we found the idea fascinating, and the realisation in wood works perfectly. In metal, for example, one fears a loss of the personality. Collectionnaire is not an object for everyone or every room. But where space and bravery collide, it should more than justify the, almost certainly, not inconsiderable investment.

Notable mentions must also go to Atelier Belge, a company whose development we have been following for several years and who never fail to produce. The Animal Desk by Fermetti on show at De Invasie perhaps not being being the newest object, but a delightful example of what they are capable off.

In addition we were very taken with the imaginatively named Coat Rack by Bram Vanderbeke, an adjustable coat rack system that can be stored in its own base, and and it was nice to see objects from Tim “Interror” Baute being shown in such a context

Tim Baute himself was presenting his latest collaborations with the graphic artist Stefaan de Croock  round the corner at “Ventura at Work”.  But more on Tim later.

Milan Design Week 2013: Collectionnaire by Moupila

Our final meeting with Belgium in Milan was “Landscapes for living in” by Muller van Severen at LAP Lambretto Art Project.

Premiered at Interieur Kortrijk 2012 Landscapes for living in is the first collaboration between the photographer Fien Muller and artist Hannes van Severen, son of Maarten.

We missed it in Kortrijk and so were all the more looking forward to seeing it in Milan. And it was every bit as delightful as we’d hoped.

Conceived in response to a brief set by the Kortjek curators  “Landscapes for living in” is a collection of objects that combine several functions in one unit: for example bookcase and chair or table and lamp. In many ways similar in concept to some of Verner Panton’s later work, no honest, “Landscapes for living in” has been realised with a charming clarity and honesty that endows it with a real familiarity.

A genuine joy to behold.

And despite the fact we’ve listed three projects here that could be described as being “fusions”. You’re not going to get the T word out of us…..

Against the bold claims of our communicant, 2013 was not Belgium’s year in Milan. It was however a further year that demonstrated the strength in depth and variety to be found squeezed in between Holland and France.

A strength in depth and variety that truly embodies the spirit of Henry van de Velde.