R2B2 by Christoph Thetard

When we visited the “Summaery” exhibition at Bauhaus Uni Weimar one object stood out amongst all the others.

Sadly, at that point we were asked not to say too much about it; for reasons all designers will understand.

But now we can.

R2B2 by Christoph Thetard is well on it’s way to being our “Design of the Year”, and having caught up with Christoph Thetard at Designers’ Open in Leipzig we have to say that the industry could well use a few more designers with his approach.

But more on Christoph later.

R2B2 is currently a concept – not a product. But we’re confident that will soon change.

For his final year project at Bauhaus Weimar Christoph concerned himself with sustainability and principally the problem that “green” electricity still powers electrical goods: Not only are these resource intensive in their production but the problem of electronic waste is one that is both increasing and for which we have no real solutions.

Christoph’s approach is to remove the electricity out of those systems where it is not necessary – a wonderfully simple, obvious, yet brave approach.

The heart of R2B2 is fly wheel powered by a pedal. The user “revs up” the fly wheel with the pedal and the resulting mechanical energy can power a range of appliances; currently a coffee grinder, hand blender and food processor.

R2B2 as a coffee grinder....

With the fly wheel running at 400 rpm R2B2 can store enough energy to provide the equivalent of 350 watt for 1 to 1.5 minutes.

More than enough time to grind some coffee, chop celery or beat egg whites.

Fly wheel driven devices are not new, their use just having been superseded by a blind electrification of everyday products.

R2B2 contains technology that makes the renewed use of fly wheels in everyday domestic situations not only possible and attractive, but also desirable.

R2B2 is still in development, but we genuinely hope that in the not to distant future we can report a commercial version.

The commercial version will almost certainly not have the rustic charm of the current prototype, but we can accept that when the technology helps reduce our dependency on electricity and so allow us to head towards a more sustainable future.

As we say, we won’t forget the moment we first saw R2B2 in Weimar, because something went “click” and we suddenly started to question a whole load of things that until that point we had taken for granted.

Which is surely one of the principle features of genuinely good, innovative industrial design.

More details can be found at http://christoph-thetard.de/

R2B2 by Christoph Thetard - pedal power rather than electrical.

The various utensils can be stored within the body

Bauhaus University Weimar Summaery 2010

On account of other commitments we sadly had to cancel our trip to Karlsruhe, and so the (smow)summer tour 2010 started at Bauhaus University Weimar.

Or better put start on a wonderful summers evening at Bauhaus University Weimar.

Over the years and the trade shows Bauhaus University has always been the university that has left us feeling a little bit under-nourished: the few tasty morsels on display whetting an appetite that couldn’t be satisfied by the remaining works.

For all the “My Bauhaus is better than yours” exhibition tends to lean more towards art than design. It may be that those students who are attracted by Weimar do have artistic leanings; but one needn’t automatically bring that into the furniture design. Or at least not so prominently.

My Birdhaus is better than yours - as seen at DMY Berlin 2009

And so we were glad to see one of the few “product” products from “MBIBTY 2009″ now being produced by the Bauhaus Univeristy Transferzentrum: Birdhaus by duunddu Design.

Proof that at least “My Birdhaus is better than yours”

Furniture per se was relatively thin on the ground at Summaery 2010, something which given our past experiences didn’t actually disappoint us – and indeed those chairs that we did see belonged to the category “Seen the same a thousand times, ain’t going to waste our time again”

A further disappointment was the project which had set itself the goal of designing furniture for prison cells. As one of our crew rightly commented it all just looked a little like “Inspired by I***” Not just in form and quality, but also in materials and colour. In addition, is your average career criminal really going to “feel” the green of the shelves or care that the coat hook looks like tree branch? The ones we know certainly wouldn’t.

But enough moaning, for us Summaery 2010 was a wonderful exhibition that inspired and amused as much as it questioned and irritated.

Among the high-points for us were “Tischzeug” by Viola Ahrensfeld, “R2B2″ by Christoph Thetard and “The Knife” by Mareike Hornof.

Tischzeug by Viola Ahrensfeld at Bauhaus Uni Weimar Summaery 2010

Tischzeug is one of those almost obscenely obviously products that you know you’ve actually developed yourself a thousand times – yet only subconsciously.

Or at least it is if, like us, you focus on the plate and the plate alone.

A plate that fits over the corner of your laptop and as such solves that eating/typing problem.

So simple, so well executed.

The Knife by Mareike Hornof at Bauhaus Uni Weimar Summaery 2010

Equally simple is The Knife by Mareike Hornof. Not a product, The Knife is a beautiful piece of criticism on the design industry and the completely over saturated “design” market.

On the left had side of the table a knife; on the right hand side a collection of objects, found in almost every home, and which can all be replaced by a knife.

Yes the pizza cutter is a nice idea; but is it necessary? Do they have to be produced? Or could we just all use a knife?

Indeed The Knife caused us to consider if the current Vitra Design Museum exhibition “The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction” didn’t need a 13th thematic section “Reduction by not producing but rather using that which already exists”

All in all Summaery 2010 provided a wonderful overview of the past years work in Weimar and as we headed back to Leipzig the warm glow in our souls was matched only by the sunset over the Thüringer Wald.

A few more of our impressions from Summaey 2010 can be found on (smow)flickr

And from Weimar the (smow)summer tour 2010 continued on to Halle and Burg Giebichenstein.

The journey back from Bauhaus Uni Weimar Summaery 2010

Yesterday afternoon took us over the border to Thüringen and the opening of the annual summer exhibition at the Bauhaus Univeristy Weimar.

Our full review of Summaery 2010 will follow in the coming days, along with those of the summer shows at Burg Giebichenstein, UDK Berlin, KH Weissensee Berlin and the HGB Leipzig.

Until then a couple of photos, and the recommendation that if you are in or near Weimar – or indeed merely using the A4 through Thüringen – a quick stop at the Bauhaus Uni is definitely worth it.
Although obviuosly we do have one or two “issues” :)

We wouldn’t be us if we didn’t.

The Bauhaus Lamp by Wilhelm Wagenfeld as part of the path to enlightenment?

Bauhaus Uni Weimar Summaery 2010

An architecture atelier at Bauhaus Uni Weimar

(smow)blog - never knowingly stationary