As it was our first event of Milan Design Week 2013, we’re honouring Artemide with the first post from Milan Design Week 2013.

And in specific Empatia by Carlotta de Bevilacqua and Paola di Arianello, for us the stand out object in the Artemide 2013 collection.

It will sound like damning Carlotta and Paola with faint praise when we say that the overwhelming majority of the new Artemide products are architectural lighting – all technically very interesting, just architectural lighting – and that amongst the few new domestic lights Ross Lovegrove was presenting what could best be described as sculptures that illuminate and Ernesto Gismondi was presenting Ilio, an object which to be honest we simply didn’t get.

That however would be to underestimate Empatia.

On the one hand there is the mouth blown Venetian glass outer bowl.

Then here is the technological innovation, The secret to Empatia is a synthetic rod in the middle of the glass bowl.The light is generated by LEDs in the base of the lamp, flows through the rod, is reflected by the opaque top, and ultimately emits a pleasant, even, 360 degree illumination.

We’re fairly certain someone will compare the rod to a candle. It’s the lazy, obvious comparison

Yes, as a glass bowl shaped lamp that comes in table, wall, hanging and floor versions Empatia is very similar to one or the other existing Artemide product.

However, on the one hand it does have an alluring, endearing and new form language combined with an energy saving innovative technological solution, and on the other, why shouldn’t Artemide continuing doing what they do? They do it so effortlessly well.

And as the (smow)boss repeatedly tells us: If you do what you do well you wont need to worry about your financial future.

Quite why he always emphasises the “well” and “wont” remains for us a mystery. But we digress.

At the moment there is no release date for Empatia by Carlotta de Bevilacqua and Paola di Arianello, and so until all is confirmed, a couple of impressions from Milan Design Week.

Milan Design Week 2013: Empatia by Carlotta de Bevilacqua and Paola di Arianello for Artemide

Milan Design Week 2013: Empatia by Carlotta de Bevilacqua and Paola di Arianello for Artemide

As any one who has celebrated as many birthday’s as us knows – there comes a point in every life where you’re just not prepared to compromise on quality any more.

Be it your car, your choice of airline, your hair cut.

Or your office chair.

When starting out in life the vast majority of us put up with cheap, uncomfortable office chairs because its easier.

We know the quality isn’t brilliant. But we’re compromising

The same can be said for desks, desk lamps and filing cabinets.

Those days could soon have an end. (smow) are now offering a complete workspace at an exclusive package price.

The (smow) designer office furniture package – or the “Compromise Was Yesterday Kit” as we’re unofficially calling it in the blog team den – comprises a USM desk, USM Haller roll container, Vitra office chair and an Artemide Tolomeo Tavolo desk lamp.

The individual elements can be mixed and matched to meet your requirements; and regardless of what you choose the package price will come in at circa 8% lower than buying the items individually.

And if all items are in stock, you could be enjoying your new quality designer workspace within a matter of days.

Which is easier, more satisfying and ultimately better value for money than hiring a van and driving to an out of town warehouse…..

Full details can be found at www.smow.com/office-package.html

A possible combination of USM, Vitra and Artemide (Industrial staircase not included!)

Luddites!

Not a phrase normally associated with (smow)

To the best of our knowledge no (smow)employee has ever smashed an iPad or capped a WiFi service in protest at the creeping and increasingly obsessive proliferation of technology into our lives.

Despite that, the early summer weeks in the (smow)HQ were dominated by the preparation and production of the very first (smow)catalogue.

That’s print catalogue.

So on paper.

With ink.

Luddites?

Au contraire nos amis!

Not only is the production of such an analogue catalogue technologically more challenging than coding with that “any-fool-can-do” HTML; but, just as the mechanisation of the textile mills offered the oppressed masses their first, golden, taste of leisure time – so does a print catalogue help us to regain that.

Turn off the computer, enjoy a break, peruse a catalogue. And then turn the computer back on and order.

In addition to featuring a selection of products from the (smow) range the (smow) Designer Furniture Catalogue 2011 also includes biographical information on some of the most important designers and a range of specially commissioned photos of products from USM Haller, Vitra, Moormann, Richard Lampert et al

And is a mighty fine piece of work. Well done to all involved!

If you’d be interested in seeing the finished work, or know someone who would appreciate a copy, please contact service@smow.de (NOTE: It is only available in German)

And at facebook.com/smowcom we have posted a photo gallery documenting the production process.

(smow) Designer Furniture Catalogue 2011

Last summer we spent our annual holiday weekend in a small museum in the north of England discussing the life of a man who had hung himself 30 years previous.

And folk say we don’t know how to relax.

The town was Macclesfield and the subject was Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.

Unquestionably one of the truly iconic figures in music history, the cult around Curtis is based to a large extent on a combination of his early death and the photos of the band.

One of the speakers at the conference in Macclesfield was Kevin Cummins, the man who was responsible for almost all published Joy Division images and who photographed the band on numerous occasions for the music paper NME.

During the discussion he “admitted” that the fact that only black and white photos of the band exist is the result of a “brand marketing” decision made by the record label. A decision which was fully supported by the NME.

Similarly it was also decided that Curtis should look serious and glum in all photos. There are photos in Cummins’ archive that show Curtis smiling and messing about.

But they were never used. Didn’t fit in with the required image.

And so through the contrivance of record company and media Ian Curtis will for ever remain a miserable, monotone figure.

A legend created by photos.

Marirosa Ballo examines the exhibition "Zoom Italian Design and the Photography of Aldo and Marirosa Ballo" at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein

“Zoom. Italian Design and the Photography of Aldo and Marirosa Ballo” examines a similar subject.

Aldo and Marirosa Ballo are perhaps the most important and influential furniture photographers of all time and played a major role in establishing the modern legend of Italian design.

However whereas Kevin Cummins was complicit in creating the Ian Curtis legend; Aldo and Marirosa Ballo’s role was more unintentional.

For Aldo and Marirosa Ballo the object itself was always the most important and the principle aim of their work was concerned with creating the most natural and expressive photos of the pieces possible.

To this end they developed many technical and process innovations that are today standard in industrial and product photography.

However, despite the innovation of the Ballo’s work, for most of us what remains is simply an incomparable and unrepeatable series of photos that helped establish Italy as one of the most important post-war furniture design nations.

Aldo and Marirosa Ballo’s photos graced the title and inner pages glossy design magazines, their portraits of Italian designers were seen by a global audience and against a background of increasing financial stability and economic growth their images spoke to a new European generation looking to move on from the styles and furnishings of their parents.

Through the work of Aldo and Marirosa Ballo Italian design became a by-word for quality. And something highly desirable.

As we say that wasn’t their aim, but that’s how it evolved.

Curator Mathias Schwartz-Clauss guides visitors through the exhibition

Starting in the 1950s “Zoom. Italian Design and the Photography of Aldo and Marirosa Ballo” takes the visitor not only on a journey through four decades of Italian design but also on a journey through the development of professional designer furniture marketing and the establishment of the “star designer”

The exhibition is laid out such that one has the object, the photos and the magazines/advertising material all in close proximity and so the visitor has the complete overview of the process and the context.

The effect is such that one can see that despite the fact that the photos created the legend, the articles themselves are more than worthy of the status they achieved.

It’s also a wonderful collection of over 300 fascinating photos that do the designs justice.

As a collective whose life revolves around furniture, furniture fairs, product launches and the like we are well aware how important photos are in the designer furniture world.

No one really reads texts. We know that.

But everyone looks at the photos. Which is why today’s furniture industry invests such immense sums of money every year in ensuring that the press photos for new products are perfect. That’s whats going to attract the public interest.

The techniques and philosophy they use to achieve this are largely the same and/or permutations of those developed by Aldo and Marirosa Ballo.

And that makes their work just as relevant today as it was then.

And the exhibition well worth a visit.

“Zoom. Italian Design and the Photography of Aldo and Marirosa Ballo” runs until October 3rd at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein.

More information can be found at: www.design-museum.de

Furniture photography. Point. Shoot. Fame and riches. If only!

Selene by Vico Magistretti for Artemide part of "Zoom. Italian Design and the Photography of Aldo and Marirosa Ballo"

For 26 years James Irvine has been quietly and unassumingly influencing European industrial design.

Immediately after graduating from the London Royal College of Art in 1984 James Irvine moved to Milan to take up a position with the Olivetti design studio.

And has pretty much been in the north Italian metropolis ever since.

In 1992 James Irvine left Olivetti and since then has worked with companies as varied as Artemide, B&B Italia, Whirlpool, Magis and WMF. Among his most public projects is without doubt his redesigning of a fleet of Mercedes Benz buses as part of the Expo 2000 trade fair in Germany.

In 2004 Thonet released the A 660 chair, James Irvine’s first cooperation with Thonet; a cooperation that was eventually to see him appointed Thonet art director.

“The thing that would be amazing to try to do is to work with recycled material”

In Milan, (smow) spoke to James Irvine about the challenges and pressures associated with nourishing and administrating the tradition and history one of Europe’s foremost designer furniture brands, as well as where he sees the future of the company.

The Stature of Liberty, New York ...

We’re not in New York for ICFF this year.

Last year was just toooooo traumatic…

Which is a shame because our inbox is full of the most wonderful shows and products – not least the lamp collection from “the new American lighting company” Roll and Hill.

In many ways a vehicle for Brooklyn designer – and our personal highlight from last years ICFF – Jason Miller, Roll and Hill carries a wide range of lighting from contemporary US designers including Lindsey Adams Adelman, Paul Loebach, Sarah Cihat and Michael Miller as well as the design collective Rich Brilliant Willing.

Lighting is one of those complex design fields; whereas choosing seating or storage units is normally a decision based around functionality.

Lamps illuminate.

True technical innovation such as with Richard Sappers Tizio for Artemide or aesthetic innovation such as Nils Holger Moormann‘s Pin Coat Pin Light being rare exceptions; many producers simply assume the consumer doesn’t care, as long as the light illuminates.

With the Roll and Hill collection, however, the lamp is undoubted the star.

And that’s a good thing as it acts as a check on the uniterrupted flow of tat being produced on the basis that no really cares.

Our personal favourite remains Jason Miller’s Modo Chandelier, a product of such dignified elegance it truly blow us away last year in New York.

The complete Roll and Hill collection can be viewed at http://www.rollandhill.com/

Modo Chandelier by Jason Miller through Roll and Hill

Safer Internet Day 2010

9th February 2010, Brussels

Under the motto “Think before you Post” the from the EU funded  Safer Internet Day 2010 is focused primarily on how one deals with privacy in the internet, especially as concerns young people, photos, social networking sites and chatrooms.

Which is naturally a positive thing.

In essence one of the core reasons that people for all kids, run into problems on the internet is because they blindly believe everything they read.

Previously “the camera never lied”, we know now they can; and so we have transferred our faith in the internet.

But it does as well.

And not just children are naive in their relationship with the internet.
Many adult internet users are, psychologically, at an earlier development stage than most children when it comes to computers and modern technology.

Alone the regularity with which users are taken in by so-called “phising” emails illustrates how many adults simply do not understand the risks that can hide behind a little bit HTML or a clever flash graphic.

The webpage looks nice – it must be genuine.

Mart Stam copies awaiting collection... Bauhaus era products are amongst the most copied designer furniture classics

One of the areas that has blossomed over the internet is the trade in illegal copies of designer furniture classics; for all Bauhaus classics and the works of Charles and Ray Eames.

And regardless how often warnings are given thousands of consumers waste their money – and all too often risk their health – by purchasing the cheap copies.

There are however a few pointers that can help you identify who is genuine and who is only looking to make a quick buck at your expense.

As a general rule the copies are described as being “inspired by” or “in the tradition of” the actual designer: That is assuming that the designers name or the producer is even named; for if the crooks don’t use names, it’s more difficult for the license holder to press charges.

Generic names provide safety for the criminals: but also a large clue for the consumers.

The second big clue is the price.

If the price is too cheap to be true – it’s probably an illegal copy.

There are reasons that some designer furniture pieces cost what they do – and they’re not all to do with greed.

In addition to the investment in the development process necessary to bring such a product on the market; designer furniture is made from durable, expensive, materials. Which is also your guarantee of a quality product that should outlive you and possibly even your children.

The cheap copy may not even see the week out.

The third test is the answers you receive from the customer service department. If the retailer is selling officially licensed products they can prove that and will have no problem providing full answers to questions. The crooks will duck and dive and assure you that all is OK…without being able to back it up.

(smow) only sells officially licensed products from producers such as Vitra, Kartell, Artemide, ClassiCon or Tecta.

Beware of illegal Eames Lounge Chair copies!!! (these are however legal artworks, made from Vitra originals....)

And have no problem answering questions and providing proof that the products are genuine.

An interesting side-project of Safer Internet Day is the cooperation with INHOPE, the International Association of Internet Hotlines.

INHOPE acts as a central registration point for reporting websites with illegal content.
Again principally geared towards protecting children in the internet, there is no reason why users cannot report websites offering illegal copies of designer furniture.

Or perhaps better, tell us.
Should you discover a website offering illegal copies of designer furniture classics let us know, and we’ll not only report them to the responsible authorities but also build a databank of such sites to help consumers shop safely.
And then hopefully we can all have an even happier Safer Internet Day 2011

Raimond by Raimond Puts for moooi

G’day!

What with all the excitement about the new iSlate, we missed Australia Day yesterday.

And so wanted to use today to write a post involving words like “Sheila”, “Sheila”, “I can see the pub from here!” and “Sheila”

Then we discovered that we’d also missed the announcement of the shortlist for the 2010 Australian International Design Awards.
And that seemed a much better subject than lazy international stereotypes.

The “Architectural and Interior” products section of the 2010 Awards shortlist is, more or less, dominated by office chairs including new models from Herman Miller and Wilkhahn.

But for us the aesthetic winner is without doubt Raimond by Raimond Puts for moooi.

This was one of the first products we saw at the 2009 Saloni in Milan, and one of the best.

Not least because it is enormous.

Similarly to Richard Sapper’s Tizio lamp foro Artemide, the electricity in Raimond passes through the stainless “spring steel” structure; the various paths being then “joined” by the LEDs.

Resembling an exaggerated Bohr Atom diagram, Raimond brings a wonderful, aesthetic ambiance to every room.

If that is enough to impress the Aussies, we don’t know… but we do hope so.

The winners will be announced in Sydney on June 4 2010.

Sheila.

Raimond by Raimond Puts for moooi ... detail

LED lamp Raimond by Raimond Puts for moooi ... as seen in Milan 2009

Schöner Wohnen present their Neue Klassiker at IMM Cologne - for some it's all just a blur....

To celebrate their 50th birthday the German furnishings magazine “Schöner Wohnen” have produced a small book entitled “Das Buch der Klassiker“ (“The book of classics”) in which the magazine present their 400 furniture and accessory classics.

And an exhibition of the selected items forms the basis of the Schöner Wohnen stand here in Cologne.

Aside from familiar faces such as Vegetal by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec from Vitra or the Castore lamp by Huub Ubbens und Michele De Lucchi for Artemide, the exhibition also presents some items which genuinely don’t get the attention they deserve.

Split by Meike Russler together with the Thonet A 660

Split by Meike Rüssler for Ligne Roset, for example, is just a wonderful piece of desk design.

If you like a nice organised organised desk.

So not for us.

But for everyone else, perfect.

Not only the in-built letter trays, nor the concealed storage, not even the wonderful 360 degree lamp make Split so good. Also the fact that the “back” can also be a “top” i.e. it can either be positioned vertically as a back or horizontally to give a two-tier desk. Then there is the wonderful retro-veneer that always makes our hearts skip a little faster.

Here in Cologne the Schöner Wohnen team have wonderfully married Split with James Irvine’s A 660 office chair for Thonet. Featuring the classic Thonet Bentwood technology, Irvine’s chair offers a delightful, modern interpretation of the traditional Thonet style. And a very comfortable seat.

The A 660 isn’t a chair you’ d want to spend 8 hours sitting at a desk in; but for regular shorter periods or, for example, as a visitor chair in an office it is perfect.

Vegetal from Vitra by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

Having far to much time on our hands we’ve counted and as far we can see among the top producers in the list are Cassina and Vitra and among the best represented designers Antonio Citterio and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.
And so (smow) must be doing something right…..

“Das Buch der Klassiker“ is available with the February issue of Schöner Wohnen – and all featured articles are, obviously,  available via smow.com

It’s Dumfries Show on Saturday.

That won’t mean much to the most people, but for us it is a sure sign.

Winter is coming.
We know, we know. Barely have we got use to remembering to take our sunglasses to work, buying ice-creams for lunch or waking up at 5 am because we forgot to shut the curtains – again – than the Dumfries Agricultural Society hold their annual show.
And after the Dumfries show the evenings get shorter with increasing rapidity and before you know it the ground will be brown with dying leaves.

Oh Joy!

And so the time is surely rife to start thinking about lighting for the dark months ahead. Below are a few of our suggestions, in addition to our previous favourites from the spring design shows.

FL/Y by Ferruccio Laviani for Kartell

FL/Y by Ferruccio Laviani for Kartell

In the first half of 2009 Italian producer Kartell invested a lot of marketing effort into promoting their lighting range, or The Kartellights Collection to give it its correct name. Which is no bad thing. For most Kartell is all about Philippe Starck‘s chairs, Ron Arad’s Bookworm or Philippe Starck’s chairs, and too little attention is given to their lighting collection. One of the true highlights in the collection is FL/Y by Ferruccio Laviani. Made in transparent methacrylate, the cover of FL/Y is not perfectly hemispherical but, rather, the cut-off is underneath the height of the diameter allowing it to collect the most light.  In addition, the special transparency of the material combined with the sheen of the colours bring to mind a soap bubble, iridescent with reflections of light. FL/Y by Ferruccio Laviani for Kartell is available in 9 transparent colours and opaque black and white.

Talak Lettura by Neil Poulton for Artemide

Talak Lettura by Neil Poulton for Artemide

It takes a brave producer to take what is in essence a table lamp design and scale it up to a floor version. But that is pretty much what the idea behind Talak Lettura by Neil Poulton for Artemide. At 139 cm high, the intention with Lettura is not a lamp to illuminate a whole room, but much more – and as the name implies – it is a floor standing reading lamp. [Lettura is Italian for reading for all who have not been to Milan] The lighting element itself is embedded in the vertical arm, and is available as either an LED or a fluorescent unit. The vertical arm can be rotated round 360 degrees meaning that you can position it over a desk for working/reading and then – assuming your room is correctly laid out – swing it round to allow you to continue to read in your favourite armchair. With its intense, warm light Talak Lettura not only adds an attractive ambience to a room on account of it’s stylish minimal design, but also through it’s illumination.

WA24 by Wilhelm Wagenfeld from Tecnolumen

WA24 by Wilhelm Wagenfeld from Tecnolumen

Having bought Eileen Gray’s Roquebrune chair to place next to your Eiermann Table you will of course be looking for the perfect lamp to complete your informal study corner at home. The WA24 by Wilhelm Wagenfeld was created by the young designer shortly after his admission to the Bauhaus workshop in Weimar. The result of an assignment given to him by Hungarian designer and Bauhaus Professor László Moholy-Nag, the lamp can in many ways be considred as ther starting point of Wagenfeld’s design career. As with almost all famous designs from the Bauhaus period, the Wagenfeld lamp’s are amongst the most copied of all industrialal designs, and purchasers should be wary of buying cheap replicas where quality craftsmanship has been sacrifice din favour of profit. All Wagenfeld lamps sold by (smow) are, as with all products (smow) sell, officially licensed originals – in the case of the WA24 by Wilhelm Wagenfeld that means from Tecnolumen, Bremen.

Clusterlamp by Joel Degermark for moooi

Clusterlamp by Joel Degermark for moooi

If we start a post with a sentence like “And now a lamp for those looking for a little different”, it can only mean one thing … moooi. On this occasion we’re going to forgo the insane beauty of Horse Lamp by Front and instead recommend Clusterlamp by Joel Degermark. If we’re honest when we first saw pictures of the Clusterlamp we thought it was a joke. A big, fat unfunny Dutch joke.

And then felt a little guilty after seeing it “in real life” as we realised that although it unquestionably posses the inventive genius of a Laurel and Hardy or Helge Schneider, it isn’t funny.

The PR text from moooi talks of it evoking experimentation with ambient expression, and while that may be true, for us the true charm of Clusterlamp is the fact that you only notice it when it’s switched off. We’re not going to pretend it looks particularly attractive, or that it is a lamp for every situation, but with it’s pleasant, inoffensive illumination and radical design Clusterlamp by Joel Degermark is definitely a lamp for …. you know the rest. Clusterlmap is available with a choice of three bulb sets (each set conatining five bulbs). The bulb sets can also be purchased separately for those looking to mix and match.

Cushions from Vitra

Cushions from Vitra.

No they don’t light up, but what’s the point in creating a pleasantly lit environment if you can’t get comfortable with a good cushion or six. Vitra offer two ranges of cushions each covered with fabrics from US producer Maharam. The Maharam collection “Textiles of the 20th Century” is a range of re-issues of some of the most important designs in the Maharam archives. These include such classics as Geometri by Verner Panton, Small Dot Pattern by Charles and Ray Eames or Millerstripe by Alexander Girard. “Repeat” is a series of re-workings of classic designs from the archives of a Swiss mill by Dutch designer Hella Jongerius. For the Vitra cushion range three of the designs – stripe, hounds-tooth and dot ring – are available in range of colours. Both ranges offer not only exquisite design to finish off and compliment any interior, but also something soft and friendly to hold when you want to relax of a damp autumn evening after a hard days work. Depending on the design chosen the type of fabric does vary and so please check with (smow) before ordering.