Extra: core-dispatch from London, England
100% Design
October 5-8, 2000 - London
This just in from Core's special London core-e-spondent:
100% Design,
The UK's largest commercial showcase for design, boasted "more visitors
per square meter" than any other international design show.
::Of this last fact there is no doubt. Especially in the square meters
surrounding the food court and bar. The bar! The one situated in the middle
of the exhibition -- an exhibition with a chain-smoking populace. The booths were
occupied predominantly by cool independent designers, interlaced with interior's
industry giants and design
school programs.
|
| |
|
:: As for the latter group some
of the best work appeared in booths dispaying the produce of commissioned artists
or sponsored competitions: A glass sphere magnified the shadow
of a delicate figurine under the output of a lighting manufacturer's product; A visitor
sizes up
a very ergonomic-looking student toilet; A sedate consumer television? No: a
student's amazing model.
|
|
|
:: The
Royal College of Art's design program decked
out their space like a medieval living room--all black with spiky typography,
2 slick vinyl EZ-Boys and a mini ping-pong table (but, a white ball).
|
|
|
::
A surprise: Zanota's "hi-tech" lounge has a structure of interwoven
nylon straps supporting a Gel-foam mat (just like my lawn chair).
|
|
| |
:: Proportion London,
a manufacturer of mannequins launched a small but tight collection of sculptural
furnishings at the show.
|
 |
|
:: Squeezably-soft, imperially-proportioned,
the Ozabu chair by
Yasumichi Morita seems to dare people
to sit. So regal: it begs the butt to bounce but firmly supports the back.
|
|
|
:: Chunk-style minimalism -- standard
bare-bones minimal aesthetic but with a proportionally-primitive and exaggerated
thickness implying solid internal volumes -- a strong theme in recent years,
has transformed a bit
to include a nice hint of 70's flavor. Last seen in abundant
combinations -- in the era of shag-filled sunken living rooms --
dark, richly hued wood, black metal tubing, and cold, sparkling chrome have returned to give an appropriately
big and bold texture to the chunk-style. Check SpaceSpice's
coffee tables and Yukiharu Takematsu's table/chair set.
|
|
|
:: "Mature Designers" and brothers,
Keith and Ralph Ball presented a
retrospective collection of beautiful, concept-oriented domestic objects that proved to outshine
much of the contemporary output from younger exhibitors. A Core
favorite was the De Rarum Natura chair which
is covered with cushiony oranges in all the right places and includes a pair of
pruning shears for a custom fit.
|
|
|
:: Some of the exhibitors had constructed booths which were as interesting as
the products they were (or were not) displaying: View's chunk-style cross-sections
gave hint of how to decorate your tubular domicile.
Inflate's inflatable roof sheltered their new collection of inflatable(!), glowing, and
rubber-dipped objects. El Ultimo Grito gave up their space to the masses as
a graffitti free-for-all and DesignRAW (a previous Core feature) again went the abstract
route with their elemental distillation of design installation.
|
|
|
:: Continuing on the abstract tip:
-Zaaf Design, an Italian lighting group, offers a low-tech cardboard fixture
whose dominant visual elements are its shadows
-Thai editorial designers
Propaganda translated some of
their witty, ironic graphic notions (please see the bronchial-cigarette ash tray)
to volumetric representation: the camo and fly-dotted shower caps are fine examples
-Tokyo based design group Normal showed off wit more firmly grounded in 3-D.
Their work ranged from a salt and pepper shaker named
Dolly which seemed to be in the process of
cell division to a bust of Beethoven wearing a pair of time-telling LED Vuarnets to a
Western-style chair that splits into an Asian floor-level table and chair set.
|
|
| |
:: Nice stuff. Cheers!
Reporting by Jack S. Lepidus
(by the way, if you click on the image, it gets bigger.
|
|
| |
:: back to core!
|
|