Another development in the increased role auction houses are beginning to play in promoting the next wave of design talent: Sotheby's is now taking an interest in selling work produced by newly emerging designers. To do so, they have teamed up with—who else—the Design Academy Eindhoven to sell work produced by several of last year's top graduates. (For more on auction houses + new design, read our mini-post on Chicago's Wright Auction House).
The work from Eindhoven will be presented at Sotheby's London between May 14 and 18, 2010 after a stop at the Milan Furniture Fair. Much of the work from the graduating class can be seen in our Dutch Design Week Gallery from October, but detailed descriptions and press images of three favorites follow.
Inflatable Void, Yoeri Treffers (top): It is difficult to close yourself off from everything and everyone around you. Images, sounds and objects surround us almost everywhere. Because many people, according to Yoeri Treffers, do need to be completely by themselves sometimes, he devised an inflatable cube made of polythene. The cube is inflated within 20 seconds by a fan hanging from the ceiling. The exact shape taken by the cube is dependent on the objects in the environment, so can vary each time. With its dimensions of three cubic metres, it is large enough for an average living room or bedroom.
Minimal Dress, Digna Kosse: 'May I ask how many costumes she wears out each year?' 'My dear sir, the clothing of a lady does not wear out through her wearing of it, but through her being seen in it.' Richard Steele
Our clothes are more quickly discarded as a result of changing fashion than because of wear and tear. The consumption of material by the clothing industry is gigantic as a result. Digna Kosse designed fifteen dresses that are far from voracious consumers of material. She demonstrates that you can minimize these pieces of clothing to a few threads at the most. Minimal Dresses are wispier than wispy, yet they remain feminine dresses with which to make a fashion statement.
BadKast, Anna ven derLei: In Finland the sauna rituals have ancient traditions but are still part of contemporary culture. During my childhood summers I always spent two months in 'Mökki,' our summer house in Finland. At Mökki the sauna is the only space where you can wash yourself. Beautiful nature and a lake surround this sauna. It is a place of serenity, enjoyment, coming together and relaxing. In those childhood summers I learned that taking a sauna is more than bathing: the magnificent view over clear clean water, the wooden construction with the smell of burned wood, and silence with only the sound of nature. It is not only physical refreshment but psychological refreshment as well.
The sauna has two rooms: the steam or sauna room and the dressing room. In the dressing room you dress, undress, cool off, and have a chat. In this dressing area the sauna ritual begins and ends. Changing clothes in the dressing area prepares you for a sauna, and fully refreshed you put clean clothes on after taking a sauna.
The feelings that I get from a Finnish sauna I wanted to translate into a bathing space that allows for the same feeling but a space that anyone can use. A piece of furniture that can be placed wherever you like; a piece that is part of the house and living room. The Badkast is a combination of a bath and a closet. The bath represents the sauna where you clean yourself and the closet represents the dressing room. The doors at the front of the closet and the backsides can be entirely opened to allow you to feel connected with your environment.
Changing clothes, being at peace in your environment and bathing: a Finnish ritual coming together in the Badkast. The Larch is chosen because it can be used in combination with water. The closet is made out of one large wooden trunk of Larch to make the Badkast the same tone. This trunk has been drying for over eight years and all the useful parts have been used. The construction is simple but smart. The connections that are used are designed in such a way that allows them to interact with water. Even new types of joins, able to interact with water, were developed for the Badkast. The exterior is simple as well and therefore it fits well in any residence, inside or outside.
You give the closet your own colors when you hang your own cloths in it. By opening the doors the closet becomes one with the environment. For me the perfect bath is simple. "Take your time in your own environment."
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