Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
This past weekend, we took the water taxi to Randall's Island for the second edition of Frieze New York, which has established itself as an extremely well curated and produced art fair. The 250,000-square-foot temporary tent by SO - IL architects provides generous space for exhibitors, amazing natural light, and stood up remarkably well to the rolling thunderstorms that struck on Saturday afternoon.
Not one to shy from controversy, visitors were greeted by Paul McCarthy's giant 80 feet tall inflatable 'Balloon Dog', a dig at Jeff Koons' failed attempt in court to get exclusive rights to balloon dogs worldwide, if you're skeptical of the stakes, McCarthy's homage sold for $950,000.
LA-based Pae White won hearts with her suspended installation of tiny upward facing mirrors reflecting their bright geometric patterns underneath. Dan Colen's circular sculpture made from basketball backboards at the Gagosian booth provided awesome photo opps for 2001 style shots, and as far as found objects go, it's hard to beat the cement mixer by Alexandre da Cunha.
There was an abundance of bold new work on display with a lot of galleries choosing to promote the same artists they represented last year. Tom Friedman's solo show was hugely popular; we were really into Daniel Arsham's volcanic ash and broken glass cast resin pieces; and Liam Gillick's 'Scorpion or Felix' decorative door screens would probably do quite well at the ICFF this weekend.
Clearly, the organizers know their audience partnering with food vendors—Frankies Spuntino, Prime Meats, Roberta's, Mission Chinese Food and Blue Bottle Coffee, to name a few—and we were really impressed with the amount of water taxis they secured to ferry visitors to-and-from Manhattan. We'll see if The Armory Show, which takes place in March at the crowded Pier 92+94 complex, steps up its game in response next year...
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Posted by
core jr | 9 Dec 2012
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Photography by Junya Hirokawa, Text by Kai Mitsushio.
Checkout our highlights from the Tokyo Designers Week and DESIGNTIDE TOKYO exhibitions here. We're always excited to see what's coming out of Japan and this year's work emphasized natural materials, used a playful integration of emerging technologies and traditional forms that delight in new ways.
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See more coverage:
» Graphic Design Meets Traditional Japanese Craft in Shinna Asano's Furniture
» The Koshirae Light
» Paper-Wood by Drill Design
» Kamidana, the Modernized Miniature Shrine
» Revitalizing the Tohoku Region through Film: The Moveable Movie Theater
Posted by
LinYee Yuan | 6 Nov 2012
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Photography by LinYee Yuan for Core77
We were back in Beijing for the 2nd annual Beijing Design Week festivities. It was exciting to engage in the conversations surrounding the future of design and craft in a country with over 5000 years of craft history and a reputation of being the manufacturing capital for the world.
The Dashilar hutong opened to the design community once again with the Campana Brothers designing an outdoor pavilion, the Brachina, inspired by a native Brazilian cashew tree. Design exhibition pop-ups were sprinkled throughout this historic residential area intermingling local flavor with global design practices. We especially liked BCXSY's site-specific public bench created as a response to spending two weeks in the hutong.
The 751D Design district provided a stunning industrial backdrop for some larger exhibitions including the Dutch Pavilion and Space Magazine's architectural prototypes. The UCCA retrospective of Yung Ho Chang's FCJZ practice, Material-Ism, was a highlight of this year's events in the 751D Design District.
Although this year's events did not include the Triennial at the National Museum, the addition of the Caochangdi Arts District and a more diverse showing from the larger design community generated much excitement for this year's events. Organized by BAO Atelier's Naihan Li and Beatrice Leanza, the bulk of the exhibitions took place in the red-bricked galleries designed by Ai Weiwei.
Traditional materials and craft practices were merged with contemporary design aesthetics, most popularly in displays of porcelain objects, reinterpretations of everyday Chinese objects and archetypes. The work itself looked towards a future where Designed in China becomes more ubiquitous than Made in China.
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See more coverage
» Linlinsays and Jellymon in Dashilar
» Mian Wu, "Start from a Ring" at WUHAO
» ILIVETOMORROW's Radical Materiality
» MICROmacro's CON-TRADITION at Caochangdi
» Henny van Nistelrooy's Craft & Industry
» Paper Instinct, Zines and Indie Press at The Factory, Dashilar
» Nike Flyknit Collection, Feather Pavilion—Architectural Installation Inspired by Sport
Posted by
core jr | 9 Oct 2012
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Photography by Sam Dunne & Perrin Drumm for Core77
Every year the London Design Festival grows in scale and this year was no exception—celebrating it's tenth anniversary—the city was overrun with hundreds of exhibitions, events, installations, and workshops. Designjunction was hands-down one of the most popular destinations packed with some really great work presented in an awesome industrial setting.
One recurring theme this year was the use of wood in conjunction with metals like copper and bronze, and there was an overwhelming amount of lighting concepts proportional to other furnishing items. A big digital presence was felt with the V&A Prism, Philips Lighting, BE Open Sound Portal, Google Web Labs, and Nokia getting in on the action at Designjunction.
The presentation of Lee Broom's Crystal Bulb Shop was incredible and also of note was a little townhouse in the Brompton Design District showcasing new designs from some really talented and experimental young designers. Catch all the highlights in our gallery and checkout more LDF goodness in the links below.
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Related Coverage
» Journey of a Drop by Rolf Sachs
» Established & Sons Present 'Bench Years'
» The Crystal Bulb Shop by Lee Broom
» 100% Design - La Boite Concept's Hi-Fi Desk
» Live Vertically with the Magnetic 'Magic Wall' at 100% Design
» Wonder Cabinets of Europe
» Celebrating 50 years of Arne Jacobson's Oxford Chair
» Keiichi Matsuda's "Prism" at the V&A Museum
» Field Guide's Happiness Machine
» Google Web Labs
» Nendo 'Mimicry Chairs' at V&A
» Tom Dixon On How To Design a Vibrator
» 100% Norway
» Designjunction
» Swarovski's "Digital Crystal" at Design Museum London
» Kopiaste
» A 'Living' Credenza with a Hidden Plant Feature at 100% Design
» Design Fund New Acquisitions
Posted by
core jr | 25 Sep 2012
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Photography by Jessica Charlesworth for Core77
Jessica Charlesworth joined nomadic design studio Unknown Fields Division (UFD) on their trip to the Burning Man Festival in a modified school bus built to survive off-the-grid with solar panels and deep cell batteries. Follow her journey into the Black Rock Desert in our latest photo gallery and check out some of the elaborate camps, insane vehicles, sculptures and installations seen this year—our favorite of course—the torching of a life-sized Wall St replica that cost $100K to make with buildings labeled "Bank of Un-America," "Merrill Lynched," "Goldman Sucks," and "Chaos Manhattan."
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Unknown Fields Division Does Burning Man 2012
» Prepping the Solar Bus
» Survival Gear
» Walking Pod, Mechanical Beest Vehicle
» Building the Off-Grid Solar Bus
Posted by
core jr | 28 Aug 2012
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Photography by Sam Dunne for Core77
The latest installment at the Wellcome Collection in London 'Superhuman' explores the extraordinary ways people have attempted to improve, adapt and enhance their body's performance throughout history. Ethical debates around the augmentation of our bodies are becoming as widespread in everyday life as they are in sports. By including objects such as spectacles and false teeth, the curators of 'Superhuman' reflect on how technologically enhanced our lives already are, thereby drawing our societies fears of technology into question.
With artifacts ranging from mechanical limbs to sports equipment, and a winning mix of historical, technological and artistic perspectives, the exhibition had plenty of ID eye candy for the design-inclined and, for the equally philosophical, a delightfully constructed exploration of what it means to be a human in an age of 'transhumanism.'
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Superhuman
Through October 16th, 2012
Wellcome Collection
183 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE
Wrapping up our second year, the Core77 Design Awards is proud to honor over 200 award-winning design innovations from around the world. Representing 17 categories of design enterprise, the Core77 Design Awards celebrates the richness of the design profession and the brilliance of its practitioners by encouraging designers, researchers and writers a unique opportunity to communicate the intent, rigor and passion behind their efforts.
A truly global effort, the Core77 Design Awards would not be possible without the insight and participation of our international juries. Representing 13 cities in 8 countries, the results of the 2012 Awards program encompass the perspectives of 74 outstanding jury members who shared their thoughts, directly with you, in our live jury announcements. From Paris to Pretoria, Chicago to Changsha, the Core77 Design Awards is truly a current reflection on the global state of design.
For a quick look at this year's program, we have a full gallery of the 2012 awardees. For more in-depth analysis, go to Core77DesignAwards.com
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Posted by
Sam Dunne | 30 Jul 2012
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Photography by Sam Dunne for Core77
The Barbican celebrates 50 years of Bond films with a huge exhibition featuring costumes, props, gadgets, and design drawings from the Dr No debut in 1962 to Skyfall (the 23rd film) due for release later this year.
Designerly expectations were set at salivation levels with the awesome press release video doing the rounds earlier this month. Stopping by the show this week we're glad to report moments of child-like glee in contemplation of the impressive array of original concept artwork, guns and gadgets and other gems from the films such as a classic Aston Martin DB5 and Halle Berry's dagger wielding orange bikini. We've got serious design envy for the guys that get to let their creativity loose in the world of 007.
Bond fan's will be able to revel in 007 design geekery at the Barbican until September 5th, after which the show is set to tour internationally for the next three years.
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Posted by
Brit Leissler | 25 Jul 2012
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Photography by Brit Leissler for Core77
Every second year the aviation industry and aircraft enthusiasts from around the world converge at the Farnborough Aerodrome in Hampshire (just outside London) for the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA), the world's most iconic global aviation event. This year attracted over 107,000 trade visitors with 1500+ exhibitors showcasing their technology. Over 70 military delegations from 46 countries attended with a further 13 delegations from the civil sector. It was a diverse gathering of all kinds of aircraft under a true British sky—thick grey clouds that ensured the event never turned dry.
Despite the shrinking economy, business was flourishing with orders and commitments confirmed at $72 billion, covering a total of 758 aircraft. The figures represent a 53% increase on the 2010 show. Over 140 aircraft were on display including the impressive Boeing 787 Dreamliner which flew on the first three days of the show and the Airbus A380 in attendance for the full seven days.
We shot them all (with a camera of course) and are delighted to present a visual summary in this gallery to you. Highlights also include a full scale model of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, a flying display of the tilt rotor Bell Boeing V22 Osprey, a look inside the Boeing Globemaster III, and a private aircraft converted to be flown by wheelchair users.
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Posted by
core jr | 10 Jul 2012
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Photography by Brit Leissler for Core77
This year's Royal College of Art annual summer show included work by the greatest number of graduating students in the college's 175-year history. Nearly 500 art and design postgraduate students from more than 40 countries exhibited the results of their creative undertakings during the past two years in what is considered to be one of London's most prestigious creative hubs.
Show RCA 2012 took place simultaneously in six buildings across the college's two campuses in Battersea and Kensington. We scoped out the best work on both sites, from the Design Products, Design Interactions, Innovation Design Engineering, and Vehicle Design departments.
Projects ran the full gamut from the subversive to socially responsible to scientific and engineering research driven. Some of our favorites included the proposal for a one way ticket to space, an eight-wheel skateboard designed for riding down stairs, the nutritious grasshopper pate, a superstitious trading algorithm that trades live on the stock market based on numerology and the moon, and a thread-wrapping machine for binding parts together to create objects. Check it all out in our latest gallery.
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Posted by
core jr | 1 Jul 2012
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New York-based designer and educator Anna Rabinowicz shares her photos from a recent trip researching metal factories in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Guest post by Anna Rabinowicz
As part of my research on bio-inspired design, I took a trip to the south of Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), where, for nearly the past ten years, I have worked with artisans to create my designs. On this trip, I decided to investigate the metal molding industry in this region, with the hope of uncovering new manufacturing and collaborative opportunities.
During the course of this journey, I visited both sand and die casting facilities, each with their own level of technology and craft. The sand casting facilities showcased the least expensive and most primitive of the processes, in which molten metal is poured into a sand mold. Other factories focused on die casting, a process by which molten metal is poured into a machined mold (or "tool"), to produce higher-volume parts. This process affords thinner-walled parts, sharper detail, and greater precision and flexibility of materials; but also has an associated mold fee. One horizontal cold-chamber die casting facility that I visited utilizes such a precise process that the Brazilians even called it by the misnomer of "metal injection molding." This process utilizes extremely expensive molds, but creates beautifully-detailed parts, with excellent surface finish.
During this trip, each factory emphasized the percentage of aluminum that they recycle; all claimed that they recycle between 99-100%. One reason that they are able to achieve this high recycling rate is that they use ethanol instead of using typical oil-based lubricants, when machining their parts after casting. According to Jose Augusto of Fundicao Zatti LTDA (Imeza), ethanol is used because, unlike traditional cutting fluids, it evaporates, leaving virtually no residue on the aluminum chips. When factories use traditional lubricants, and put their chips (coated in lubricant) into the furnace to be re-melted, this liquid ignites, leading to losses of about 30% to 40% of the metal. With ethanol, this loss is reduced to approximately 12%!
In fact, Brazil has one of the best global recycling rates for aluminum. According to the World Steel Association, in 2005, Brazil recycled over 96% of its aluminum cans.
Metal molding in the south of Brazil is a fast-growing industry, one which primarily appears to be supporting Brazil's burgeoning domestic market. I believe that the challenge for foreign designers wishing to work with these manufacturers is to properly engage their interest; all seem to be operating at capacity simply to supply the domestic market. Another challenge is price — as the cost of labor and materials in Brazil is rising rapidly, the manufacturing quotes that I obtained after the trip were more than double those quoted in Asia. In order to work with Brazilian manufacturers in this region, speaking Portuguese is a major advantage, as is the willingness to travel to Brazil and to spend time in the factories. After ten years of doing business in Brazil, it is clear that building personal and long-standing relationships with the factory owners, and showing seriousness by returning year after year, are the keys to successfully working with manufacturers in this region.
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About Anna Rabinowicz
Anna Rabinowicz is the founder of RabLabs, a home design company that creates objects inspired by nature which fuse ancient, precious materials with cutting-edge design. Having designed such intricate objects as prosthetic knees and devices for cardiac surgery, as well as webcams and concept car interiors for consultancies like IDEO Product Development and Design Continuum, she brings her experience and understanding of biology and nature to the design of elegant objects for the home.
Anna is also an Associate Professor in the Product Design department of Parsons The New School for Design.
Posted by
core jr | 22 Jun 2012
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Photography by Brit Leissler for Core77
Now in it's 10th year, DMY Berlin has grown into an extremely diverse 10 day design festival, and the organizers still place an emphasis on providing a platform for younger designers.
For the first time DMY played host to the official "Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" design award which took place in the former Tempelhof airport. The awards are broken into four categories; Product Design, Communication, Ecology, and Youngsters, and for football-loving design fans, the venue provided live screenings of the Euro Football Cup.
There was a strong emphasis on visitor interactivity such as "Shapes in Play" which translates a persons voice into a flower vase form, and the "We are Rundlauf" project allowing people to design and produce their very own CNC'd ping-pong racket (and of course play with it).
Satellite show highlights included "China New Design - Revisit and Reflect", focusing on the rapid transformation of Chinese aesthetics, lifestyle, culture and society. The "Taste Festival" in Direktorenhaus was about "everything" food related, and "Connecting Concepts" by the Netherlands Institute for Design and Fashion. Check it all out in our gallery!
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Posted by
core jr | 4 Jun 2012
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Photography by Perrin Drumm & Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
New York Design Week was back in full force this year with an abundance of satellite shows which added some welcome substance to the design week's festivities. The most notable of these was Wanted Design who returned for their second year with an amazing line-up of work including François Chambard's crowd pleasing interactive Craft System.
The NoHo Design District grew in scale with some really inspiring work seen at new Standard, East Village hotel with group shows Hotel California, Scale, the Sonos Listening Library, and a live demonstration from Wicklow woodworker James Carroll in the hotel bar window.
The American Design Club's Raw + Unfiltered show focused on material and process, Model Citizen presented a diverse range of work from young designers and this amazing interactive installation by Brooklyn-based design collective The Principals who lead a team of 20 students from the Art Institute of New York City to build it.
Checkout the gallery for more highlights from this year, and if you missed our exhibition OPEN, there's a gallery here featuring all the work.
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Posted by
core jr | 21 May 2012
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From Broadway to Rockaway, Pelham to Freshkills, 8.2 million people call New York City home. On the occasion of New York Design Week 2012, Core77 takes a moment to survey the landscape of all five boroughs with an open call to designers to represent their hometown. Since its very beginnings, the city has been a trading grounds—a venue at the crossroads of ideas, commerce, materials and innovation. The 35 designers representing nearly as many neighborhoods in the ALL CITY ALL STARS continue to explore that space, negotiating technologies, materials, histories and futures in the crucible of a dynamic city. Interpretations may vary, but the voice of New York City is as bold, inquisitive and imaginative as ever.
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Posted by
core jr | 20 May 2012
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Photography for Core77 by Nicole Lenzen
For its New York debut, the Frieze Art Fair was held on Randall's Island Park, in an expansive 225,000 sf. tented structure custom-designed by Brooklyn architecture firm Solid Objectives — Idenburg Liu (SO — IL). Many Manhattanites were skeptical at first of the location choice, but access to the fair was made easy by regular ferry trips, shuttles from the subway, or quick cab rides from Manhattan. Attendees seemed to enjoy the adventure associated with going to a dedicated self-sufficient location, where they were greeted with outdoor sculptures and installations upon arriving on the island.
The fair hosted 180 international contemporary galleries, representing over 1,000 of today's most important artists. Critics argued that the fair did not bring enough newness and lacked risk-taking on the part of the galleries, but that did not seem to hinder the business of art, with many galleries reporting significant sales on the first day. Overall, the event was well produced, and the high quality of the galleries represented were positive factors that would most likely encourage the fair's subsequent return to New York. In addition, the tasty food vendors nourishing Frieze visitors certainly trumped most trade fair food options.
Repeating themes throughout the fair involved conveying and challenging notions of time and space, as with Darren Almond's piece Perfect Time. The use of color provided splashes of energy, such as Paul McCarthy's blue silicone sculpture portraying the dwarf Sleepy from the classic, Snow White. Many artists created works from found objects, like used clothing tacked compositionally to wood in Tom Burr's These Patterns of Public Display. Other mediums ranged from traditional to unconventional, such as acrylic paint, paper, canvas, wood, textiles, plastic, mirrors, glass, metal, resin, and not to be neglected, Damien Hirst's formaldehyde-preserved dead animals. Physical floor or wall installations and sculptures seemed to dominate the show over paintings, drawings, and video. Design and art overlapped on occasion, with some works serving to both aesthetic and function, such as Andrea Zittel's Aggregated Stacks and Richard Artschwager's impressive red oak and cowhide chairs.
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Posted by
core jr | 16 May 2012
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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
There's so many events and exhibitions all over Milan during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile that you could almost be forgiven for skipping out on the long trek to the Rho fair grounds. Luckily for the organizers we're in the minority, and the exhibition halls were packed. So packed it was a little uncomfortable at times feeling more like navigating a crowd at the end of a gig than a trade show.
There wasn't much press-worthy new product launched this year, most companies were content reissuing updates to their classics which could be a reflection on the European recession. In fact, so many of the established design-driven companies focused on their legacies with the use of product timelines incorporated into their exhibition booths that we could have made it a category.
Some highlights included this minimal wall mounted desk/storage unit for small apartments by Core-faves Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay and we're loving the shadows cast by Sunrise, an outdoor table setting by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba for Driade. As usual, the SaloneSatellite was full of inspiration, especially this stunning bench by student Danah Al Kubaisy as part of a materials and fabrication class at the American University of Sharjah. At the Melbourne Movement stand, Tate Anson's Tryst Stool was getting a lot of attention with his water-jet cut pattern technique for bending timber, and Thomas Schnur's Rubber Table was just straight-up awesome!
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Related Blog Coverage
» AUS puts Sharjah on the map at SalonSatellite
Posted by
core jr | 13 May 2012
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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
The best thing about Milan Design Week is using the satellite exhibitions as a premise for exploring the city and seeing spaces you might typically miss. In this gallery we clustered highlights from group shows seen at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, La Triennale di Milano, and Tom Dixon's MOST exhibition at the National Museum of Science and Technology.
Tom Dixon's contribution (both as curator and exhibitor) at design weeks in London, Milan, and New York increases every year, but more importantly his exhibitions serve to champion the role of the industrial designer. This year's lighting exhibition simply titled Luminosity revealed the process behind minimizing material waste, demonstrated the digital fabrication technology—literally, and pointed to the shifting marketplace where large-scale manufacturers are interfacing directly with their end customer.
Other big names doing some interesting work included Ross Lovegrove with his new architectural glass laminate venture LiquidKristal in partnership with Czech company Lasvit, and Naoto Fukasawa's range of paper products for the Japanese company Onao. As always, everything on display at Rossana Orlandi was extremely well curated and it was great to see new work from the super-talented Nika Zupanc.
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Related Blog Coverage
» La Chance, Jekyll and Hyde at MOST
» Transnatural Art & Design Collection at MOST
» Tom Dixon's Luminosity at MOST
» Fabrica x Benetton Bring the Italian Chair District to MOST
» Ross Lovegrove's Liquidkristal for Lasvit at Triennale
» Fabrica x Grand-Hornu asks, "Objet Prefere?"
» TDM5 - Graphica Italia
» Roberto Giacomucci, "Il Piccolo Designer," at the Triennale
» Konstfack, Design for a Liquid Society
» Dennis Parren, Colorful Mysteries of Light
Posted by
core jr | 11 May 2012
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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
The historical neighborhood of Brera is full of high-end furniture showrooms, boutique shops and galleries, with tiny picturesque streets and hidden courtyards embodying everything you would imagine a design destination in Italy to be. We headed straight to Via Palermo, home to some of the most sophisticated and well-curated group exhibitions seen in Milan this year.
Our favorite show in this year was presented in a small Milanese apartment by Japanese manufacturer Karimoku New Standard. For drama, the Austrian Design show, staged in a jai alai stadium, was filled with trees that were grown and then trucked on site specifically for the exhibition. Right across the street, the restrained exhibition design for Japan Creative's Craft and Design collaborations created a stark contrast—we especially loved Jasper Morrison's cast iron collaboration with 160-year-old Oigen Foundary. Other Brera district highlights include a crazy basket-making machine that we saw last year at Art Basel Miami, a minimal pendant lamp by French designer Florent Degourc, and Inner Design, a new design network that presented the winners of their Eco-Creative contest in historic bike shop, Rossignoli's.
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Related Blog Coverage
» Japan Creative's Simple Vision, Craft and Design
» Nilufar Unlimited/Limited
» Nodus, New Work from Campana Brothers, Studio Job and Kiki van Eijk
Posted by
core jr | 9 May 2012
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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
If you were looking to uncover the freshest work from the next generation of designers in Milan this year, the Ventura Lambrate design district was your one-stop shop! With almost 90 exhibitions, the industrial neighborhood of Lambrate located to the northeast was overrun with design enthusiasts exploring the numerous warehouse spaces, galleries and studios which seemed to go on endlessly.
Checkout out our gallery of highlights and don't miss the Sapore dei Mobili furniture waffle iron also featured here, Bertjan Pot's stunning Downstairs Chandelier, Studio WM's Porcelain lamps, Itai Bar-On's concrete stool, and our show favorite, This Little Piggy by RISD student Taylor McKenzie-Veal.
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Related Blog Coverage
» University of Bolzano presents "Vertigini" at Ventura Lambrate
» Rotterdam's Piet Zwaart Institute Presents "Fabrikaat" at Ventura Lambrate
» Sweet Furniture from Sapore dei Mobili
» Analogia #003, A Sketch of Home in 3D at Ventura Lambrate
» BURG at Ventura Lambrate
» "Contemporary Perspectives in Middle Eastern Crafts" at Carwan Gallery
» Hayon Studio at Ventura Lambrate
Posted by
core jr | 4 May 2012
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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
Every year Tortona Design Week grows-up a little more, and while you might have to visit Ventura Lambrate to see some of the younger up-and-coming designers that would have formally exhibited here, it's still a design destination to be reckoned with. In fact, in scale and quality, it rivals the typical "design week" most cities around the world can put together.
Nendo-fans were treated to not one but three separate exhibitions with the minimal "Black & Black" furniture collection for K%, their "still & sparkling" glass work for Czech company Lasvit, and a new bathroom furniture collection for Bisazza Bagno. Reacting to the economic climate (finally) Established & Sons introduced several new pieces at a more affordable price point and once again their booth design was breathtaking, albeit a little hard to photograph with all the crazy rope lights— possibly that was the point.
Dutch company New Duivendrecht made their debut in Milan this year with a collection that was met with great enthusiasm, it was also inspiring to learn they are committed to working with local factories in the Netherlands. There was more Dutch goodness to be had at the Tuttobene show, the Chinese were out in force with their exhibition "Slow Seating—Contemporary Chinese Design," Diesel's successful living kitchen concept was surprisingly thoughtful, and the installation Past Present Future for Kusch+Co by Atelier Brueckner (pictured top) was stunning.
For those seeking a taste of Tortona-past, Danish design collective operating under the name Dennis Design Center built a temporary workshop in the Superstudio Più car park where they made and distributed free furniture to visitors with the promise of a new design everyday. It was kinda awesome!
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Related Blog Coverage
» Ilide Lighting Launches at Superstudio Più
» New Duivendrecht and Frederik Roijé
» Tuttobene Presents "The New Glint of Things" at Zona Tortona
Posted by
core jr | 15 Apr 2012
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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
Marking the end of auto exhibition season, this year's show was decidedly mainstream with an abundance of plug-in electric options on parade. Stealing the show was the 640-horsepower, aluminum and carbon fiber 2013 SRT Viper (formally known as a Dodge) but our personal favorite pictured top was a classic 1966 Chevrolet Impala SS 427 Convertible.
The next generation BMW i series are getting closer to production and up close the i3 city car and i8 Spyder look amazing! Mini delivered on their April Fools' Day press release and presented the hilarious Yachtsman, an amphibious car/boat combo complete with snorkel — awesome!
Checkout the gallery for more highlights.
Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 2 Apr 2012
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Photography by Perrin Drumm for Core77
With the proliferation of handmade, handcrafted goods entering the mainstream furniture market and capturing the attention of a wider audience, the Architectural Digest Home Design Show is doing its best to keep up with the times. But as it's a largely commercial affair, with huge crowds drooling over shiny new cooktops (though I think that may have been due to the free meatball sliders at the Sub-Zero booth), the show felt divided. The main hall housed your usual suspects—big flooring manufacturers and name brand kitchen and bathroom appliances separated by aisles packed with men in broad shouldered suits and women dressed in the latest from Liz Claiborne.
Dovetail Bench by Analog Modern, one of the exhibitors at MADE
But a quarter of the exhibition space was devoted to MADE, where all the artisans, craftsmen and independent studios making one-of-a-kind designs were cordoned off. MADE is why I went. The usual suspect here were reclaimed wood benches, handmade, naturally oiled wooden chairs and mid-century inspirations made, yes, mostly out of wood. There were also some beautiful felt pieces (usually paired with wood). Our friends at the American Design Club had a well-trafficked booth packed with goods from their long roster of designers, and Matter's lighting display, namely their naked bulb chandelier, stopped me in my tracks. But that's just a taste of MADE. Check out our full gallery of images from this year's Show!
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Posted by
core jr | 29 Mar 2012
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Coverage sponsored by the IHA
As our International Home + Housewares 2012 coverage winds down, we're pleased to present a full photo gallery of some of notable objects and items from that whirlwind weekend in Chicago. From promising upstarts such as Rush3 LLC to DCI's investment in jumpstarting design students' careers, McCormick Place saw thousands of products over the course of the show, from March 10–13, which was extended an extra day by popular demand. Although we could have attempted to present the overwhelming abundance of products, we've opted to stick to an even hundred of our favorite images from the show.
Some of the trends we spotted included alternatives to ice cubes, home carbonation solutions and silicone storage solutions. Meanwhile, our friends at Bodum, Alessi and first-time exhibitors Dyson were happy to show us their latest offerings, many of which debuted at the IHHS 2012.
Our gallery, of course, features everything from award-winning student projects to major players in the housewares category and everything in between, so check it out for yourself:
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Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 13 Mar 2012
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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
I met the founders of The American Design Club a few hours before the opening of their benefit show Threat, an exhibition of objects designed to protect you in case of a break-in or some other 'threatening' situation. All of the 54 pieces were submitted as part of an open call, though most come from AmDC members, an expansive collective of some of the most talented young designers working today. Just being in the gallery space with core members Kiel Mead, Annie Lenon, Henry Julier and Steph Mantis as they put the finishing touches on the show—adjusting the lights, arranging handouts, stocking the bar with bottles of Brooklyn Beer—feels like the beginning of something that's going to be really big one day very soon.
AmDC held their first exhibition in 2008. "We were young then," says Kiel. To be fair, they're all still really young, but in the last four years they've gained considerable momentum, hosting a series of exhibitions each year in addition to representing at NYIGF, ICFF and the Architectural Digest Home Design Show. Of course, all that costs money, hence the fundraiser, which you can visit by appointment—a worthwhile endeavor if you're inclined. The interpretations of defense mechanisms run the gamut from funny to passive to quite beautiful. "Human Catcher," by Ladies and Gentlemen Studio, is riffs on a dog catching device, only it's made from a gorgeous mix of shining silver and copper metals.
Object Trust created a paper bag that comes with three simple instructions: 1) Open bag, 2) Place on head, 3) Enjoy your break in. The outside of the bag reads "Take What You Want," while the inside is lined with images of palm trees and white sand beaches meant to bring the wearer to a happier place. It's a great complement to Reed Wilson's "Defense Mat," a doormat printed with the message "The neighbors have better stuff." Mantis also took a humorous approach with her pizza ninja stars made from actual slices of pizza from her family's Greek pizzeria in Maine, cast in resin to make ninja throwing stars. It sounds funny and they look more like cool desk objects than weapons, but these hunks of preserved pie could do some serious damage.
Rounding out the show are ten, wooden baseball bats that ten designers were asked to treat like a blank canvas. A few went the aggressive route, turning their bats into medieval torture devices with spikes and rusty saw blades. Harry Allen, on the other hand, used Swarovski crystals to spell "Namaste" in cursive at the end of his bat. As you can tell, the range of objects is as diverse as the designers on the American Design Club's roster. Make an appointment by emailing info@americandesignclub.com.
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Posted by
core jr | 17 Feb 2012
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Photography by Mimi Hui for Core77
What is more Scandinavian than white on white with some more white? Stockholm Design Week delivered the essence of Scandinavian design with...yes, white, and many references to nature and Scandinavian life. These served as foundational design elements on which different exhibitors layered a range of textures, colors, and modern day innovations.
Returning for its ninth year, Stockholm Furniture and Northern Light Fair offered 10,000 exhibitors covering everything we could ever imagine in furnishings, lighting, and accessories for home and office. This year the fair brought in 1.5 million visitors, primarily from Scandinavia. Stockholm Design Week offered an abundance of well hosted events in historical venues and notable showrooms across town.
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Posted by
core jr | 14 Feb 2012
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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor and Ray Hu for Core77
The winter edition of the New York International Gift Fair kicked the year off with some fresh new kitchenware, lot's of eco-friendly toys, vintage type, jewelry, and bird motifs—seriously, we weren't the only one's making Portlandia jokes.
In the Accent on Design section, Black+Blum dropped three new products, Core-friends House Industries partnered with AMAC to launch a brand new range of their classic plastic boxes, neo-utility introduced the quirky Chick-a-Dee smoke detector, boutique wallpaper firm Carvern presented their "I See You" googly eyes print inviting the visitors to draw directly onto the wallpaper, and Taipei-based Bitplay entertained us with their interactive "BANG!" lamp.
Design collectives American Design Club (AmDC) and Join set up shop in the Javits Center foyer again presenting objects, jewelery, accessories, and stationary from a curated selection of independent young designers. R&L Goods caught our attention with their recycled leather wallets made from finely ground scraps of leather which would otherwise be discarded, the finished material is 90% post industrial waste combined with natural rubber. As far as finding original gift items with integrity, these booths were killing it!
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FRIEZE NEW YORK 2013
INTERNATIONAL HOME + HOUSEWARES SHOW 2013
TOKYO DESIGN WEEK 2012
BEIJING DESIGN WEEK 2012
