We bow to no man in our admiration for the people of Belgium.

Not only have they common sense to make chips their national dish, but they have proved beyond all reasonable doubt that politicians are no pre-requisite for a functioning state in 21st century Europe.

We’ve just always found it a real shame that the various parts of the country have never got on.

It’s so unnecessary in such a small nation.

Fortunately, at least in design, that is starting to change, and in the last couple of years Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders have started working together and presenting common shows.

That wasn’t always the case and we can well remember a couple of years ago attending the Wallonia/Brussels show [Les belges]

A truly frustrating show as we recall; lots of products that looked good. But then proved not to be so upon testing.

Fortunately, as we say, times have changed, and in Milan the triumvirate (more or less) united for two “Belgium is Design” shows – one in the Triennale Design Museum and one at Salone Satellite.

Milan 2012: Belgium is Design @ Triennale Design Museum

The Triennale show was staged under the title Perspectives and claimed to “…. survey the shifting landscape of Belgian design” in the context of five “grids”: industrial design, self-produced design, design art, social design and design as “open work”

We can’t really comment if it did, for that there was simply too little story; however, it did present some wonderful projects.

We were particularly taken with the desk Strates by Mathieu Lehanneur for Objekten, O’Sun portable solar lamp by Alain Gilles, the OS Waterboiler from openstructures and Stein No 1 by Kaspar Hamacher. Kaspar of course being one of the few designers to have produced something we liked at [Les belges]

His shelf “Das Brett” remaining one of those objects we always turn to when the world seems grey and hopeless.

At Salone Satellite “Belgium is Design” presented 10 young designers from Wallonia and Brussels. We hope the absence of Flanders was because there are no good young designers from the north of Belgium. It would be a shame if petty regionalism was at play.
Amongst the exhibits the pieces that most caught our attention was the “Kork Milan” lamps, tables and storage boxes by Liege based studio “Two Designers” With its unapologetic timeless appeal and somewhat cheeky retro language the range simply stood out on its own.

Milan 2012: Belgium is Design. Two Designers Kork Milan @ Salone Satellite

The title of the shows “Belgium is Design” obviously isn’t true.

Belgium isn’t Design. Belgium has never been design.

Maarten van Severn produced some of the most exquisitely elegant and reduced design in post-war Europe.

But small as Belgium is. One designer doesn’t make a tradition.

Tim Baute from interror was for several years one of the true highlights at Designers Fair in Cologne. But was also one of the few Belgian designers you were ever likely to come across outside Milan or Design September Brussels.

Belgium isn’t Design. But Belgium does have potential.

As with British design, we suspect that the potential lies in more co-operations with external producers, but to achieve that potential they need attract more industry people more regularly to Belgium. The Kortrijk Biennale is a good start. But too little.

And for all Belgium needs to raise the profiles of its design schools.

The current flood of high quality Dutch designers is without question related to the status achieved by Eindhoven Design Academy.

Belgium needs a similar institution. And a few more years of shows such as Belgium is Design.

Then they might be in a position to use the name seriously.

Milan 2012: Belgium is Design. O'Sun portable solar lamp by Alain Gilles

We suspect the reason we write so much about designer furniture in an airport context is simply because of the amount of time we spend in airports.

And consequently the amount of time we spend thinking about and analysing what we are being offered.

If you’re going to be delayed at Frankfurt for five hours. You want to make sure that your seat is comfy.

If you’re going to have to spend the night at Copenhagen Airport. You want to make sure your seat is comfy.

If you’re… you get the idea.

However it’s not just us who are spending ever more time at airports. The past decade has seen a dramatic rise in airline passenger numbers: and ever greater passenger numbers obviously means an ever greater demand for airports and airport infrastructure.

And as with all such architectural projects, the owners and operators want an interior that is as familiar as it is unique.

The biggest and most important trade fair for airport operators is Passenger Terminal Expo, and in addition to companies offering baggage handling and signage solutions, designer furniture producers such as Vitra or USM Haller are also a regular feature of the show.

Passenger Terminal Expo 2012 is being hosted by Vienna Airport, and ahead of the show we spoke to Pascal Berberat, Head of Vitra’s Airport Division, about airport furnishings, their collaboration with Alberto Meda and, most important for us, why seats in airports always have armrests? But started by asking why a globally active company such as Vitra needed a specialised airport division?

Pascal Berberat: The airport business is globally very uniform. Where, for example, the choice of home furnishings is often affected by cultural aspects; airports are very similar and have similar requirements regardless of where they are. And so where Vitra has an international network of agents and specialist dealers for home and office furniture, it makes more sense to have a central airport department. Plus an airport isn’t just departure lounges it is more like a small city, with shops, medical facilities, restaurants etc… so a wide range of zones where furniture is required. And so in that respect Vitra can offer a wide range of solutions and experience in all types of furnishings.

(smow)blog: Staying with departure lounges. What for you are the most important criteria for airport seating?

Pascal Berberat: For me it is about combining the, sometimes conflicting, requirements of the passengers need and right for well being with the airport or the operators need for efficiency.

(smow)blog: In that context. In addition to specifically created products such as the Airline Series from Sir Norman Foster, you also offer various Vitra classics from, for example, Maarten Van Severen as airport seating. Is that necessary? Why not just stick with one, specially created, product?

Pascal Berberat: Nowadays everybody is talking about ecology and sustainability. A topic which has been anchored in Vitra’s processes for decades. However, being actively engaged in sustainability doesn’t just mean using renewable resources, optimizing waste management, designing products with a long life cycle, etc. It is also about offering our clients products with a visual sustainability. We’re all guilty of having once thrown out an object that was still working or had been in good shape. We dumped it because it was out of fashion.
Through working with a variety of designers, in particular with the “old masters” like George Nelson, Jean Prouvé or Charles and Ray Eames we learn what is important to successfully develop products which are not only long lasting but also have a visual sustainability. Considering that 90% of CO2 emissions are generated during the manufacturing process of a product, what is more ecological: using a product for decades or replacing it every 5 years because it’s aesthetics seem to be outdated? Vitra’s history with the old masters combined with the freshness of  contemporary designers and engineers allow us to develop products with the potential to become classics of the future.

(smow)blog: Which leads nicely on to the next question. You recently worked with Alberto Meda on the Meda Gate series? Why Alberto Meda, who is after all best known for his office furniture ?

Pascal Berberat: Alberto Meda has worked on numerous projects with Vitra, and has created successful concepts for us in the past. Alberto Meda is a designer and engineer: which makes him perfect for the specific and particular demands of an airport seat. Thanks to Alberto Meda’s engineering excellence we now have in Meda Gate a product which not only responds to the extraordinary heavy use situation in airports; but also offers superior comfort in an very elegant aesthetic. Plus one has to add that in addition to his technical competence he is a very charismatic person and it is a real joy to work with him!

(smow)blog: To end. You’ve already said what you find important in airport chairs. Now its our turn. One thing that annoys us is armrests on chairs in airports. Why don’t you want to let us sleep?

Pascal Berberat: When people lie on benches at airports, one person takes up a whole bench. And then the airport’s capacity calculations don’t work. I have three seats, but only one user. And so instead we offer recliner elements within the Airline and Meda series for use in areas where airports expect higher numbers of transit passengers….

Vitra Airport Division. Here at Passenger Terminal Expo 2011 in Copenhagen

Meda Gate by Alberto Meda for Vitra

In addition to departure lounges airports also have VIP and Airline Lounges that need to be furnished. For example with Suita by Antonio Citterio.

If A. C. F. Beales is to be believed, Leopold George Christian Frederick is probably the only person ever to have walked out of the job of King.

Only to pick up an equal post some 2 months later.

In his article “The Irish king of Greece” (The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 51, 1931 Part 1 pp. 101-105) Beales argues that Leopold accepted the job as King of Greece in February 1830, but then changed his mind in May 1830 following disputes with Britain over loans to help Greece out of its financial crisis.

Greece? Financial crisis?

On July 21st 1830 Leopold George Christian Frederick became Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians.

Which is all a long way of saying Happy Belgium Day to all in Belgium!

While it is all too easy to mock a country that although itself incapable of forming a democratic Government insists it is the best location for many of the European Union’s most important institutions; furniture design, product design and architecture have a lot to be thankful to the Belgians for.

On the one hand there is Henry van de Velde who had the genial idea of suggesting Walter Gropius as his successor at the Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar – which of course became Bauhaus. And changed the world forever.

Van de Velde himself returned to Belgium and established the L’École de la Cambre which went on produce a string of notable Belgian architects and artists whose influence can still be felt today.

However the Belgian designer most of you will be familiar with is Maarten van Severen.

Born in Antwerp van Severen studied architecture in Ghent. He designed his first chair in 1986 – although “shadow of a chair” is perhaps a better way to describe the almost non-existent leather and steel Chair N° I. Over the next decade van Severen concentrated on architecture and interior design jobs – and an awful lot of table designs – before in 1996 he started a very fruitful co-operation with Vitra that only ended with Maarten van Severen’s untimely death in 2005.

One of Maarten van Severen’s key works is his 1998 Chair N° III – or .03 as it is better known.

Created in cooperation with Vitra the .03 contains all those elements of the man and his approach to product design that make him so interesting, important and, arguably, unique.

The Maarten van Severen Foundation recently organised an exhibition looking at the the birth of the Design Icon .03 – and below is a small trailer video from the exhibition that not only provides a wonderful introduction to the story of the the .03, but much more shows just how genuinely loved and appreciated Maarten van Severen was.

We particularly like the quote from Nick Top from Belgian producer Aiki – a man who worked closely with van Severen for many years and who produced many of his earlier pieces – who on first seeing van Severen’s work at Interieur in Kortrijk said “Who do you think you are? What a child would draw, a pictogram, you appropriate as your own design. You’ve got a lot of nerve”

Great stuff!

The video also includes interviews with Maarten van Severen’s widow Marij and Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum

Enjoy!

And Happy Belgium Day!

(smow)chair v1.0

The motivation for the (smow)chair began with Chairless by Alejandro Aravena for Vitra.

Although a truly delightful product we were somewhat irritated by the fact that the design for Chairless wasn’t that, well,  “chairless” : rather replaces the tensions within a chair with the tensions in the users body.

The user becoming the chair and consequently limited in their movement while using Chairless.

But because the “chairless” concept so impressed us we decided to take the opportunity presented by the Vitra Design Museum cardboard furniture workshop and the exhibition “Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction” to develop our own “chairless” chair.

Our criteria:

• 100% cardboard, no other material
• transportable
• as reduced a design as possible

Our first decision was to lose the legs. Chairs don’t need legs.

In western cultures we are so used to chairs with legs that we westerners find it quaint or even patronisingly “authentic” when we travel to other cultures where chairs with legs aren’t in everyday use.

But chairs don’t need legs.

And so the legs went.

MVS Chaise by Maarten van Severen for Vitra.

The basis of our design was Maarten Van Severen‘s MVS Chaise from Vitra.

Its wonderful three sectioned form being the perfect basis for a folding “chair” with a seat, back and support.
The only question was how to gain the stability we required: without resorting to other materials.

After much unsuccessful experimentation the answer came via the (smow)warehouse team.

Not only are the (smow)warehouse team experts in the packing and shipping of designer furniture and the construction of USM Haller units – they also know a little bit about statics.

And it was this input that was to lead to the form of the (smow)chair v1.0

In essence “the chair” has been reduced to “the arms”.

The arms provide the stability and are responsible for the chair.
The back/support/seat section – the part that most understand as a “chair” – is in contrast interchangeable and expendable.

He/she who has the arms can build a chair -  he/she who has only the back/seat/support element cannot.

Two (smow)chairs ready for departure

In addition the longitudinal slit in the arms allow the chair to be safely packed together…. and in the folded form (smow)chair can be readily transported.

We, for example, brought two (smow)chairs back from Weil am Rhein tied to the back of a rucksack.

The development of the (smow)chair has not stopped and (smow)chair v2.0 is finished, v3.0 is expected soon.

A production model is however still some way off.

Over the coming weeks we will not only document the further development of the (smow)chair but also use the (smow)chair to explain a little about furniture design and the designer furniture industry.

(smow)chair and the art of reduction

Following Verner Panton’s red card against Fritz Haller, Denmark were forced into a change and so Arne Jacobsen lined-up against Maarten Van Severen.

And although this was never going to be a high-tempo encounter the crowd in Johannesburg did become somewhat impatient at the incredibly slow pace of the competition.

With both designers endlessly reworking and perfecting their pieces it was well into the second half before the first attack developed: a neat Ant Chair from Arne Jacobsen giving the old master of Danish design the slight advantage. Arne Jacobsen extended his lead with an Egg Chair and seemed to be heading for a clear victory before Maarten Van Severen salvaged a draw with a late .07 and Kast combination for Vitra.

The Group A table and all Group A results can be found here.

"Authorised Vitra Original"? Not yet!! The (smow)chair in development

Having decided on our concept, all we had to do was ensure that the structure had enough stability.

And although we knew that stability was going to be a problem, it always is with cardboard, we had seriously underestimated just how difficult it was going to be to incorporate stability into our plan without compromising weight, volume or indeed the very fabric of our concept.

It took about four minutes before our carefully considered sketches were consigned to the bin.

3D reality and 2D vision not being the most closely related beings in the universe.

Initially our plan involved a chair, based upon Maarten Van Severen’s MVS Chaise that could be converted between a “normal” sitting chair and a recliner.

Nice idea: just completely misplaced within the context of our larger concept.
And so despite the best efforts of the (smow) technical team that part of plan had to be sacrificed.

An early experiment in joining two pieces of cardboard

Shame. But we’ll get it next time.

However even with the new plan, we still had a numerous problems.
The principle one being realising the concept while maintaining a “reduced” design.

Almost all solutions to the stability problem either adding to the volume of the product or requiring the use of a material other than cardboard.

And so our initial 20 minute model building session quickly developed into a day spent in the smow(warehouse) cutting, folding, cursing, doubting, cutting, crying, cursing and folding again.

The decisive input then came from the (smow) USM Haller battalion.

An ingenious solution that not only solved our principle problem; but also opened a range of further options and so both triggered a wonderful late afternoon revival in our spirits and allowed us to dream sweet dreams yet again.

Now, we don’t want to compare our day spent folding and cutting cardboard with Charles and Ray Eames experiments with moulding plywood, Michael Thonet‘s decades spent perfecting the process for bending wood nor the work undertaken in the Kartell laboratories to develop new plastic materials.

But.

Having spent a day turning a, on paper, relatively simple idea into a real product that fulfills a specific function and meets required standards, we are a little bit better placed to understand the problems real product designers have and the talent required to be successful.

And having spent a day turning a, on paper, relatively simple idea into a real product that fulfills a specific function and meets required standards we also have the (smow)chair.

The delightful and practical (smow)chair.

(smow)chair coming soon

Vitra Design Museum: Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction.

Parallel to its exhibitions the Vitra Design Museum organises workshops designed not only to accompany the exhibitions but much more to expand on them and so offer participants a new, active, insight into the theme. Or at least an aspect of the theme.

For the current exhibition “Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction” this means, among others, workshops on cardboard furniture production.

Cardboard is without question one of the more challenging products that one can choose for furniture design.

As a cheap, plentiful and – generally- environmentally responsible product it appears to be perfect for use in modern furniture design.

Perfect that is were it not for its inherent instability and fragility problems.

Loving problems as we do we signed up for the workshop.

Having committed our first task was to decide on the product we wanted to develop.

Three sources of inspiration were to act as our guides.

Firstly the concept of the exhibition: Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction. Reduction. Regardless what we decided upon it had to involve using the design process to help “reduce” the product.

Chairless by Alejandro Aravena for Vitra

Among the current products on the market that make use of reduction in design is Chairless by Alejandro Aravena for Vitra.

As a product Chairless claims to remove the chair from the chair. And as such was our second source of inspiration.

For although we like the Chairless concept, for us what is actually does is take the static equilibrium that exist in a chair and replaces that with the system of muscular forces within the human body.

As such the user of Chairless is restricted in his or her movement, as every movement upsets the distribution of forces within the system thus creating instability. If you want to read your friends magazine, but it’s lying to far away – you have to “break” the chair in order to reach the magazine.

And so we decided to take up the “Chairless” idea and develop it with the intention of creating a truly “chairless” chair system that still allows the user full mobility.

MVS Chaise by Maarten van Severen from Vitra

Fairly quickly we landed upon the idea of a foldable system and taking our guidance from Maarten van Severn, an expert in reduced design, we based our concept on the geometry of his MVS Chaise.

The principle problem was – as always with cardboard – how do we guarantee the stability of the product?

With other materials such as plastic, wood or concrete one has a certain degree of inherent stability.

With cardboard one has to introduce the stability as a component of the design.

Frank Gehry, for example achieved the stability in his “Easy Edges” series through the layering of cardboard: chairs such as the Wiggle Side Chair being created by gluing numerous layers of cardboard together under extreme pressure.

The other “classic” solutions when working with cardboard are folding and insertion.

The question facing us was how could we best design our product, without losing sight of the desire to have it as “reduced” as possible.

And it was this question that was to dominate the development phase.

Vitra Design Museum: The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction

The (smow)blog team outing to the cardboard furniture workshop was coupled with a visit to the current Vitra Design Museum Exhibition: The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction.

We must admit to finding it more than a little ironic that an exhibition on “Design and the Art of Reduction” should be taking place in a building designed by Frank Gehry, especially when Tadao Ando’s Conference Pavilion is only some 10m away.

And after the long journey to Weil am Rhein this thought honestly kept us amused for about 4 hours.

The exhibition itself is divided into 12 thematic sections each of which deals with a different aspect of “reduction”; be it elements that the end customer is aware of, for example, geometry or lightness or those that remain hidden from the customer, for example reduction in logistics.

Stephan Schulz: Concrete Bowl

Some 160 objects illustrate the various themes ranging from design classics such as Michael Thonet‘s Chair No. 14 or the Ant Chair by Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen onto objects that are less well known – if every bit as interesting – such as Stephan Schulz‘s concrete bowl or Marcel Wanders‘ Knotted Chair for Capellini.

Good design needn’t be complicated, less but more, form follows function – the number of design theories that encapsulate the practice of “reduction” are as numerous as they are legendary: yet at design show after design show we are confronted with products that attempt to win us over through their complexity and extravagance.

We also don’t know why that should be, but we suspect it has a lot to do with a saturated market and the associated increasing role that the internet plays in ensuring that your – probably completely superfluous – work is seen.

Which design blog is going to feature Jasper Morrison‘s Ply-Chair when they have photo of a bookcase that looks like to two paradise birds engaging in a mating ritual atop Carmen Miranda?

Ok we would. But not many others.

For us the true art of reduction in design is when the designer reduces the volume of the product down to the absolute minimum – be it through the use of a new material, innovative joining of the individual elements or through reducing the exterior measurements.

.03 by Maarten Van Severen

One particular example that occurs to us being Maarten van Severen’s’ .03 with its integrated compound spring supports that give the chair its comfort and stability without unduly adding to the weight, volume or outer dimensions.

However as the exhibition “The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction” ably demonstrates  reduction can involve other processes.

Joe Colombo’s No 281 lamp, Wilhelm Wagenfeld’s tea service or Donald Judd’s Chair 84 proving nice examples of what can be achieved with the necessary talent and motivation.

On the negative side we must add that for our taste the exhibition highlighted the work of Charles and Ray Eames a little too heavily – specifically the dedication of the complete section “development” to their work looks suspiciously like a bit of editorial shoe-horning on the curators part.

That aside, for all interested in the design process, and especially where the difference between “designer” furniture – i.e. those furniture pieces where a targeted design process occurs- and cheaper, generic products lies, the Vitra Design Museum exhibition “The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction.” is definitely worth the trip.
The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction at the Vitra Design Museum runs until September 19th 2010. More details can be found at http://www.design-museum.de

Following his ankle injury Cesare “Joe” Colombo was replaced for this match by Antonio Citterio, one of the most experienced designers in the Italian squad.

Opening with a quick Mobil for Kartell Antonio Citterio quickly reinforced this with a Follow Me for Vitra. Despite the intensity of the opening Citterio couldn’t break Maarten Van Severn‘s legendary calm and the doyen of Belgian furniture design responded with an elegant LCP for Kartell and MVS Chaise for Vitra combination and so cancelled out Antonio Citterio’s excellent work.

All further attempts by both sides made little headway, and the match ended 0:0

The Group A table and all Group A results can be found here.

Although this encounter was never going to be as extravagant as the opening  match, Fritz Haller and Maarten Van Severen fought a tense, minimalist battle in Durban.

Fritz Haller’s style has changed little since he broke onto the international design scene in the 1960s and his trademark mini, midi, maxi  approach ensured a typically solid Fritz Haller performance. Maarten Van Severen’s occasional forays were always very well considered  and perfectly executed; yet, despite .03 or .04 excellent attempts for Vitra Maarten Van Severen was unable to break Fritz Haller’s solid defence and the match ended 0:0

The Group A table and all Group A results can be found here.