On Friday March 22nd the Ungers Archiv für Architekturwissenschaft Cologne present a new edition of their Ex Libris series.

We first discovered Ungers Archiv when we visited the exhibition Stool 60 by Alvar Aalto during IMM Cologne 2013. And we’re very impressed, especially by the library, or as we put it “…one of the most comprehensive and enchanting private architecture libraries you’re likely to come across.”

However much as the Internet is full of spam until you start looking for something, so to is a library just a lot of old paper until you read the books.

And so in 2011 Ungers Archiv instigated Ex Libris, an series of events in which architects are invited to present works from the collection to the public.

On March 22nd Ungers Archiv welcome the Dutch architect – and former Oswald Mathias Ungers’ student – Rem Koolhaas and the German architect Stephan Trüby.

Sadly as of going to press there is no confirmation as to which books the pair will present, but given the colossal collection from which they have to chose from, we’re certain the good gents will find something both interesting and entertaining.

Ex Libris with Rem Koolhaas and Stephan Trüby takes place in the Dr. Speck-Literaturstiftung, Kämpchensweg 58, 50933 Cologne-Müngersdorf on Friday March 22nd at 7pm

The event will be held in English and tickets cost Euro 8,00 (students 4,00)

Full details can be found at www.ungersarchiv.de

The Library at the Ungers Archiv für Architekturwissenschaft Cologne. (Photo http://www.ungersarchiv.de)

We’re obviously not going to claim that dezeen track what we’re up to, however….

Hot the heels of our brief, succinct, exploration of the current state of the British design industry, dezeen – the leading UK based design and architecture portal – have teamed up with Hackney Council and curator/critic Beatrice Galilee to organise a day dedicated to design from the London Borough of Hackney.

A chance, if you like, to get a feel not only for what is currently happening in the London design community, but also to gauge the mood and expectations of those practitioners from the East London enclave.

For although it is very easy to sink into stereotypes when talking about “Creative Hackney” – and believe us we’re swimming hard against the tide of temptation – the Borough is home to a particularly high density of creative talents, both established and emerging. And as such is a useful barometer.

Indeed, and completely unwittingly, all our interviews in connection with the exhibition British Design 1948-2012 at the V&A have a Hackney connection. And Harry Thaler‘s atelier is also in the very much maligned and misunderstood municipality.

Designed in Hackney Day is, in effect, a physical manifestation of the series of the same name that has been running at dezeen.com since March 2012 and aims to not only profile the diversity of design being practiced in Hackney but also explore and discuss current topics amongst and challenges faced by the creative community as London changes and evolves.

Details are admittedly very scarce at the moment, but the event takes place on August 1st in Hackney House and in addition to talks, discussions, performances and DJ sets a Pecha Kucha evening will help reinforce the variety and vitality of the Borough.

We just hope that all involved seize the opportunity to not only present a united marketing front for the Borough – which is presumably one of the background ideas – but much more, to seriously explore and analyse where the community is and where it is going.

Communities such as Hackney invariably evolve organically; their growth being promoted by a mix of advantageous factors. Then comes the, equally inevitable, moment when the factors cease to be advantageous.

What then?

In addition, as the number of, invariably self-employed, “creatives” grows and they become just as global and transitory as the markets in which they are active, questions as to how communities face up to and respond to challenges of, for example, affordable ateliers, appropriate infrastructure or access to clients will become increasingly important and increasingly urgent.

Regardless of if you are in Berlin, New York, Eindhoven … or Hackney.

And so we find it good that such an event is being organised and are looking forward to seeing what emerges.

Further details, as and when they are announced, can be found at www.designedinhackney.com

Designed in Hackney Day 2012

Storage is Armour by Totan Kuzaembaev. Part of Fantastical Investments by Droog and Metahaven

Back in September droog “released” a diamond studded car tyre as part of their Fantastical Investments project.

We fear the good folks at ECAL/University of Art & Design Lausanne may have taken the project a bit too literally, for as we learned the other day they offer a Master of Advanced Studies in, wait for it, you won’t believe us: Luxury Industry & Design

Honestly.

Luxury Industry & Design

Forget everything you learned from our post on “Warum Gestalten ?” at the HFBK Hamburg.

The future role of design is serving …… well, to be honest we’re not really sure.

In the blurb for the course the ECAL speak about Switzerland as being a vanguard of exclusive and luxury goods. A claim which obviously sets a thousand alarm bells ringing in the (smow)blog HQ and for us flags up the course as little more than an attempt by Swiss producers whose reputation for quality was the foundation for their success to extend their brand through marketing the “Swiss quality” by which they define their brand.

Regardless if they actually offer real quality or not.

As such we suspect that the ECAL’s definition of luxury is heavily centred on price and social association.

And certainly a quick look at one or the other of the “industry partners” would seem to confirm our worst fears.

We’ll not go into details. Lawyers read this blog you know.

We have, in principle, no problem with companies collaborating with young designers to see what results, what new forms of innovation or new approaches to the brand develop.
Such is a central feature of the Passionswege at Vienna Design Week. And Passionswege is for us the highlight of Vienna Design Week.

Fortune by Mark Braun for J. & L. Lobmeyr at Vienna Design Week Passionswege 2010

We do however have problems when colleges charge CHF 8000 for a nine month course covering such topics as “Traditional know-how” or “Luxury and equipment”.

But not the module “Does luxury exist ?”

Probably because it doesn’t.

It’s a marketing term like “controlled farming” or “quality inspected”, and is beloved by estate agents and others for whom the commission on the sale is more important than selling the customer something that is actually good.

We would argue that there are high quality products that have a high-end price because of what they are and how they are created. Products which amongst a large section of society become coveted and through their inevitable unattainability carry the popular label “luxury”.

And then you have the garish socially offensive extravagance most of us probably associate with the Russian nouveau riche und English Premier League footballers.

Yes, you can have your car chrome-plated. But that is simply the confirmation that you are a tasteless oaf best avoided.

In our modern fast moving media driven world marketing bods love to deliberately muddy the borders between the two; expensive being confused with quality and image with substance.

And it is of course in this world that, for example, Bauhaus becomes a by-word for “luxury”, rather than an attempt to realign our approach to the creative and productive industries.

The results of this blurring of reality can of course be seen at every furniture trade fair with producers of hideous leather sofa ensembles or tasteless shelving units presenting them as offering “Luxury in your living room” or “Bringing harmony to your home”

While those furniture producers who offer real quality never use the word “luxury”. Because they don’t have to. They offer quality. And that, at the end of the day, is what we all really want.

Regardless if in terms of our furniture, cars, relationships, holiday hotels or our Wednesday evening pie & pint.

"Wassily Chair" by Marcel Breuer. Luxury ? Or just a Bauhaus era design ?

One could obviously see the course as a response to the current harsh realities faced by designers, and as presenting an opportunity to diversify and to produce items with a higher retail value. We just don’t really understand why a designer would see the need to do a post-graduate course in order to achieve that.

And we’ve played through a thousand scenarios this afternoon.

But then for us it is all in any case just simply appalling.

To be fair we haven’t spoken to anyone involved, be they student, lecturer or industry partner. But we will. Because we do want to know more. To understand the motivations.

And to ask, why.

And for whom.

For most people naming Swiss designer furniture producers is as much of a challenge as naming famous Belgians or happily married English footballers.

USM Haller being the equivalent of Belgium’s Hergé.

However the Confoederatio Helvetica has a lot more to offer than Fritz Haller’s genial system. And a lot more to offer than modular steel and chrome.

One of the greatest contrasts to USM Haller is the cabinet maker Röthlisberger.

Founded in 1928 Röthlisberger’s first contact with the global furniture market came in 1957 when they starting producing furniture on behalf of Knoll International. In 1975 the cooperation with Knoll International ended and in 1977 Röthlisberger introduced their own products onto the market under the name “Röthlisberger Kollektion”

Currently featuring products by designers such as Tomoko Azumi, Hanspeter Steiger or Susi and Ueli Berger the “Röthlisberger Kollektion” combines the companies experience in traditional Swiss carpentry with modern technology and approaches

In Milan (smow) caught up with Röthlisberger Kollektion boss Jürg Scheidegger and discussed the development of new products, the role of the Internet in the designer furniture industry – and the persuasive powers of Swiss chocolate.

Eames Lounge Chair by George Brückmann. A delightful combination of painting, photography and mind games.

A recurrent theme, not only here in the (smow)blog but also in general throughout the (smow) global network is the subject of illegal copies of design classics.

Or better put when is a design classic a design classic?

At the HGB Leipzig Rundgang in February we were confronted with an unexpected and somewhat unusual interpretation of the question in the form of “Eames Lounge Chair” by George Brückmann.

And were immediately hooked.

And not only we were impressed by Brückmanns work, In October 2009 his series “In-Situ” was selected to be part of the 2009/2010 “Gute Aussichten – junge deutsche fotografie” exhibition, one of the most important and prestigious Germanic contemporary photography exhibitions.

After 10 months and 6 stations in 3 countries the final “Gute Aussichten” exhibition of the 2009/2010 tour opens in the Art Foyer DZ Bank in Frankfurt am Main on Thursday July 29th.

Until the September 11th visitors will be able to view not only the work of George Brückmann but the work of the other seven young artists selected from the 91 entries submitted from 33 German colleges.

Ahead of the exhibition opening we caught up with George Brückmann in his atelier in Leipzig-Lindenau. And pretty much got off to the worst possible start.

Just as all forms of “design” rely on innovation and new ideas if they are to survive so to do the visual arts.

We thought George Brückmann painted onto photographs.

He doesn’t.

Still life with beer by George Brückmann. The objects are real, have been painted onto and then photographed

Initially he painted onto objects, coating the objects with paint of the same colour -  and then photographed them. And in doing so created wonderfully, obtuse, voluminous scenes somewhere between reality, painting and photography.

Then he moved onto painting objects which in the consciousness of the viewer were then extrapolated into other objects, before tackling the subject of design classics or better put the relationship between design classics and non-design classics.

We wont spoil the work by revealing the process, but enough to say George Brückmann paints designer furniture classics in such a way that through the composition of the final photograph “normal” objects appear transformed into the iconic pieces.

The paintings of the chairs themselves are not especially accurate, for all the the proportions and form  often vary from the originals. But that plays no role in your observation. You still recognise them, still find them attractive , still give them a value -  a value that then also seems to meliorate the raw and rudimentary settings.

Brückmann’s work is concerned with the “imaginary  extension” of one object into another and is achieved through a combination of perspective, context, art and the viewers innate cognition. Be it a cardboard box transformed into a deck chair or an everyday garden lounger seen as a Le Corbusiers LC 4 chaise longue.

Charles and Ray Eames’ lounge chair, The F 51 by Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohes’ Barcelona Chair being just three of the design classics he has re-interpretied.

Or better put extended from less valuable everyday items into the design classics we all know.

In the words of Brückmann “Here objects are what they could have been, could be, want to be or even should be”

The exhibition “Gute Aussichten – junge deutsche fotografie 2009/2010” can be viewed at the Art Foyer DZ Bank in Frankfurt am Main until September 11.

Le Corbusier LC 4 by George Brückmann part of "gute aussichten - junge deutsche fotografie 2009/2010"

Anyone who has ever visited an art gallery with an elderly relative will be familiar with the phrase “I could do that!!”

A phrase that is normally followed up with “Is that really art?”

Amongst designer furniture philosophers – and elite group to which we like to think we belong – the parallel question is “Is that really design?”

Consumers Rest by Frank Schreiner: Design? Art?

Regularly one is confronted with “concept pieces” that are, if one is honest, art.

They may be packaged and marketed as designer furniture.

Are however art.

Whereas professionals such as us can smell the difference, for lay consumers it can be much harder.

The principle problem is that the border between art and design is thinner than that between say genius and madness or intelligent accounting and tax avoidance.

Indeed the current Vitra Design Museum exhibition “The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction” even has a couple of art pieces nestling between the designer furniture classics.

Thankfully however in the past month we have seen a piece of design in a design studio and a piece of art in an art gallery which beautifully illustrate the difference:

Throwzini by Berlin / Munich design studio Adam and Harborth for Konstantin Slawinski is design

Untitled by Leipzig based artist Marco Voss is art.

Remember these two examples and you’ll never be confused again.

Just don’t expect your grandmother to understand.

Throwzini by Adam and Harborth

Design

Untitled by Marco Voss

Art

Charlotte Perriand with Le Corbusier und Pierre Jeanneret

Perhaps best known for her numerous co-operations with Le Corbusier, the Parisian architect and designer Charlotte Perriand played an instrumental role in developing the European modern movement: Not least as Charlotte Perriand is credited with converting Le Corbusiers modern furniture ideas into reality and so establishing the tradition of minimal, bent chrome steel tube and leather furniture.

Among the most famous of these collaborations are the from Cassina produced LC4 Chaise Longue, LC2 Armchair and LC7 Swivel Chair which Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand originally created for their “Maison la Roche” in Paris.

Charlotte Perriand with Le Corbusier was however only one chapter in a life and career that also involved collaborations with Fernand Leger and Jean Prouvé and stations in Moscow, Japan, Vietnam and Brasil.

LC4 by Charlotte Perriand Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret through Cassina

And it is her time in Brasil that is the subject of an exhibition at the Gewerbemuseum in Winterthur which opens on July 4th.

“Charlotte Perriand und ihre Spuren in Brasilien” is essentially devoted to a flat she designed and built in Rio de Janeiro during the early 1960s. The exhibition curators have rebuilt the flat and its interior in 1:2 scale in Winterthur and use it to explore Charlotte Perriand’s approach to her work and the design philosophies that guided her.

On July 16th the Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich opens its exhibition “Charlotte Perriand: Designer, Photographer, Activist”. With an extensive accompanying programme the Zürich exhibition focuses less on Charlotte Perriand’s architecture and more on her furniture design, photography and her social commitment and activism.

Together the two exhibitions offer a rare chance to learn more about the life and work of one of the few women who could establish themselves in the male dominated, and heavily patriarchal society that was inter-war France.  Women in France didn’t get the vote until 1944 – by which point Charlotte Perriand, as well as the Paris based Eileen Gray, had already not only established themselves but also helped define the modern movement.

Charlotte Perriand und ihre Spuren in Brasilien runs at the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur from July 4th until August 22nd.

Charlotte Perriand Designer, Photographer, Activist runs at the Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich from July 16th until 24th October.

And the two museums are only 25 kms apart. So a nice days walk during a Swiss holiday.

Organic Chair by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen through Vitra

It may not be the most universally recognised example of either Charles Eames‘ nor Eero Saarinen‘s canon however their 1940 “Conversation Chair” is without doubt one of the more important examples of 20th century furniture design.

Designed for the New York Museum of Modern Art’s “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” competition the Conversation Chair was a concept piece and Eames’ and Saarinen’s first attempt at moulding synthetics.

At that time however the technology lagged somewhat behind the designers imagination and it was to be almost a decade before either Charles Eames or Eero Saarinen could transform the lessons learnt into commercial products: Charles Eames with his fibreglass/plastic armchairs for Herman Miller and Eero Saarinen with his Tulip Chair for Knoll.

Tulip chair by Eero Saarinen for Knoll

For the sake of completeness we should also mention George Nelson‘s Swag Leg Chair, a design which relies heavily  – albeit with permission – on both the technology and narrative of the Conversation Chair.

Currently marketed by Vitra as the “Organic Chair” Eames and Saarinen’s pioneer work remains a wonderfully confident yet unassuming chair that can be used in all domestic, commercial and retail settings.

And you can win one.

The designer furniture retailer network Creative Inneneinrichter – of which (smow) is a member – is offering an Organic Chair as first prize in their “My way to the VitraHaus” competition.

Second prize is a Vegetal by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and third prize a Panton Chair.

The rules are very simple: Document your journey to the VitraHaus; the most imaginative, creative and original entry wins.

And so whether your planning skydiving onto the VitraHaus, negotiating the Alps Hannibal-esque with elephants or rafting down the Rhein simply register at the Creative Inneneinrichter website and upload your photos/videos/certificates.

Full details can be found at “Mein weg ins VitraHaus”

Although Jasper Morrison built a bus stop next to the VitraHaus - travelling by bus probably won't win you the Organic Chair.

Verner Panton

Although in the course of his career Verner Panton worked with numerous designer furniture producers, his name is undoubtedly most closely associated with Vitra.

Not least because of his seminal Panton Chair.

The exhibition “Panton by Vitra” at Wasserschloss Klaffenbach in Chemnitz offers visitors an insight into the life and work of one of the most important and influential post-war European designers.

Panton by Vitra at Wasserschloss Klaffenbach, Chemnitz (photo: Heiko Hillig)

While still a student Verner Panton worked in Arne Jacobsen’s Copenhagen office and was involved in the early development stages of the Ant Chair. Following his graduation Verner Panton set out on his own and following brief stopovers in Norway, Tenerife and France, Verner Panton moved to Basel in 1963 and found not only a new home, but in Vitra a producer for his Panton Chair.

A cooperation that benefited both parties.

Verner Panton began the development of the Panton Chair in the mid-1950s but had never managed to convince anyone to produce it; for Vitra the Panton Chair was the first project where they worked together with the designer on the development of the product, and as such defined the start of a new approach by the company.

Panton by Vitra at Wasserschloss Klaffenbach - Panton Chair and Living Tower (photo: Heiko Hillig)

Verner Panton’s relationship with Vitra was however not only professional but also personal; In the late 1960s Verner Panton designed the interior of Vitra chairman Rolf Fehlbaum’s flat in Basel – each room being decorated and furnished in a different colour.

Through examples of Verner Panton’s work and photographs the exhibition “Panton by Vitra” explains the background to some of the most important collaborations between Verner Panton and Vitra and brings the work of the designer and his relationship with Vitra to life.

A, literal, highpoint of “Panton by Vitra” – especially for children – is the climbable Living Tower.

“Panton by Vitra” at Wasserschloss Klaffenbach runs until June 20th

Wasserschloß Klaffenbach
Wasserschloßweg 6
09123 Chemnitz
+49 (0)371 26635-0

Strahlend Grau Herbert Hirche Exhibition, Museum der Dinge Berlin

Because our article on the new London bus has been delayed by a broken water main at Tooting Bec, we’ve decided instead to do an impression of a typical London bus user.

“Typical, wait ages and then two come along at once! I blame Ken Livingstone!”

Ahead of the opening of the Dieter Rams retrospective “Less and More: Das design ethos von Dieter Rams“,  yesterday saw the opening of a second exhibition dedicated to the life and work of a former Braun designer.

The Werkbund Archive Berlin’s Herbert Hirche exhibition “Strahlend Grau” is a beautifully compact overview of a designer who, despite his relative anonymity, is equally as important as Dieter Rams, Egon Eiermann or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: just three of the grand doyens of German design with whom Herbert Hirche collaborated.

Strahlend Grau: Herbert Hirche on the roof of Bauhaus Dessau, 1932

And a fitting event to celebrate Herbert Hirche’s 100th birthday.

Born in Görlitz on May 20 1910, Herbert Hirche studied at Bauhaus in Dessau and Berlin. Following the closing of the institution in 1933 Hirche joined the office of his former professor, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, remaining in his service until Mies van der Rohe fled to the USA in 1938. After a year freelancing, Herbert Hirche joined Egon Eiermann’s Büro where he remained until Eiermann left Berlin in 1945 ahead of the advancing Red Army.

To lose one employer to a totalitarian regime is unfortunate; two starts to begin to look like a curse.

In the post-war years Herbert Hirche was closely involved with the rebuilding of Berlin in addition to teaching; initially at the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst in Berlin-Weißensee and subsequently at the staatliche Akademie für bildende Künste Stuttgart, where he also served as rector between 1969 and 1971.

Curated by Nicola von Albrecht, Strahlend Grau presents a chronological journey through Herbert Hirche’s life, wonderfully illustrated with original letters, documents and photographs. One of the highlights for us being a letter from Egon Eiermann confirming that Hirche could take up a position in his office: little things like that really bringing the otherwise abstract concept that is someone else’s life to well … life.

Strahlend Grau Herbert Hirche's contribution for the exhibition Interbau Berlin, 1957

And Strahlend Grau is full of such moments.

What it is not full of however is furniture.

Largely because much of Herbert Hirche’s work never proceeded beyond the prototype stage, and consequently his legacy is largely only on paper.

The exhibition does however include four Herbert Hirche items from the current Richard Lampert collection; the Hirche Barwagon, 1953 Lounge Chair, H57 armchair and Rattan chair “Santa Lucia”.

As far as we are aware these are the only examples of his work currently in production; and that despite Herbert Hirche working for producers as varied as Knoll, Wilkhahn or Wilde + Spieth.

Rattan chair Santa Lucia by Herbert Hirche through Richard Lampert

Richard Lampert himself was also present and he told us how he came to Herbert Hirche; and fortuitously it was not through long research in a stuffy archive while looking for commercial opportunities in forgotten designs.

No, Richard Lampet’s introduction to Herbert Hirche was during a long evening in the convivial and non-stuffy surroundings of Stuttgart’s legendary Santa Lucia restaurant; a restaurant for whom Hirche not once but twice conceived the interior design and for whom he created the Rattan chair.

Having been initially sceptical about the chair, Richard Lampert was so impressed with it that he returned the following day to ask where it came from.

And so began a wonderful relationship, whose latest chapter was the awarding of the “Classic Innovation” Award at the 2010 IMM Cologne for the relaunched H57 armchair.

Such stories always cheer us up as they prove that good, honest design will always succeed over hype, star names and large marketing budgets. And that gives us hope for the future.

Herbert Hirche: Strahlend Grau

Strahlend Grau is not an expansive exhibition, nor is it an exhibition that can be passively viewed. A visit to Strahlend Grau means actively searching for and considering the presented information. But the effort is worth it and there are some true gems to be found.

And more importantly it is a wonderful introduction to a designer who deserves more credit than he publicly gets and for all to an era of German design that has much more to offer and was much more instrumental in shaping European industrial design than many people are prepared to accept.

Strahlend Grau runs at the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge until September 13th.

Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Ding
Oranienstraße 25
D-10999 Berlin

Opening time: Fr, Sa, So, Mo 12 – 19 Uhr

www.museumderdinge.de

Strahlend Grau: Herbert Hirche's 1953 lounge chair from Richard Lampert