Designmai Berlin is the first major design festival in the city. The hundred or so small exhibitions and events aim to stimulate the creative industries of Berlin and help establish the city itself as a major creative centre. Intrigued to discover what Berlin had to offer, we booked our budget flights and caught the final weekend of the two week event, and we were not disappointed. Far away from the commercialism of the Milan furniture fair, and not (yet) established as an international showcase, the event instead gave an insight into the best of homegrown German talent and the young and vibrant Berlin design scene. In a second Human Beans picture special, we bring you the highlights.

LIVING LONGER - NEW DESIGN FOR OLD

The University der Künste, Berlin, together with the Sentha research project, showed proposals for new products for the aging population. Developed from insights into the way people actually live, these are consequentially intelligent solutions that the new old might actually like to live with. On display were this non-intrusive book holder--fitted to a soft cushion and simply rested on the reader's lap, and a combined stool and step for getting to those things just out of reach. Also worth a mention is the winning product of the 2002 Alternativen competition. A-Button, by Antonia Roth, (far right) demonstrates how just a little change can make a big difference. A-button can easily replace existing buttons and it's slight difference in form makes it easier to slip through the button hole.

SUBLIME

Sharing the same space as Living Longer was this surprisingly enjoyable exercise illustrating the use of CAD to find otherwise inconceivable solutions. A collection of bizarre, yet as far as we could tell, still sit-able, chairs.

ZIRKELTRAINING AND MESO

Zirkeltraining (for us, the stars of Milan) once again showed off their impressive bootleg objects together with a new prototype of Steps_cum_booth street kiosk. In Berlin, they shared their space with friends and associates Meso--a partnership of interaction and sound designers. Amongst Meso's neat sound games, it was this intelligent little installation that impressed us most. Most of us are aware that the standard projection of the globe shows Europe a lot bigger than it actually is. This installation allows users, by moving their finger on a trackpad, to dynamically re-map the projection in favour of others, distorting countries that usually appear 'normal.'

HEISSE WARE (HOT STUFF)

We stumbled across this quirky group show of young Berlin designers, complete with life size cut-outs themselves. Berit Burmester and Nicole Tank's travel jacket features ear protection, a hand warming muff and sleep friendly neck support discreetly inflated by a rubber bulb hidden in the pocket. Blasius Osko's Super Mokka assigns a million over-designed coffee makers to the scrap heap with this simple adaption to the classic Italian espresso pot, allowing it to froth milk. Observing that the best thing to put on a coffee table is your feet, this design includes pull out cushions to make it a whole lot more comfortable.

LOFTCUBE - MOBILE LIVING UNIT

Following the guard's instructions to take a lift to the eighth floor and follow the signs, we found ourselves on the rooftop with a stunning view over the city. Here, Studio Aisslinger was showing its mobile living units. Placed on flat roofs by helicopter or crane, these living pods are designed to offer additional living space in urban communities. The bright one-room unit was clearly designed from the inside out--with attention paid to storage, seating and even where to put the radio in the bathroom. Could this be because it is designed by a designer rather than an architect? Services take up minimum space--one tap is shared between kitchen and bathroom, and the shower head is shared between the bathroom and the indoor garden. The bathroom itself features a sensual loose pebbled floor.

TREIBWERK.DESIGN: DIP

We couldn't really make up our minds about the lifestyle hand grenades with snap-on Pokémon covers, or the frying pans designed specifically for fishfingers - so we'll leave that up to you. However, we loved the idea of Treibwerk.design's shoes with customisable alphabet soles. Slide the letters into place and leave your message on the city wherever you walk.

For more details and more photos of this years activities see www.designmai.de

---

Human Beans live, write and work from their home base of London.

> back to top

> submit a news item