Writing about the ideas behind design. Think about it.
When Danish ceramicist Karen Kjældgård-Larsen was in her final year of university, she had an idea for a pattern that was not only ingenious, but also would make her one of the most successful designers for historic Danish brand Royal Copenhagen.
Kjældgård-Larsen had grown up with Royal Copenhagen porcelain, in particular the classic Blue Fluted pattern her grandmother owned – this iconic pattern was designed for the Danish royal family in 1775 and is still in use today. Read more
Three large dome-like woven structures have been installed in a seating area at Westpac’s Sydney headquarters as a physical manifestation of the bank’s Reconciliation Action Plan. Conceived and designed by Yuwaalaraay woman Lucy Simpson, these “Reflection Pods” are as part of the bank’s new interiors by the design team at Geyer, who worked with Simpson to realise her concepts.
Initially Simpson had envisioned that local artists would weave the Reflection Pods, but in the end, the structures were woven by artists from Elcho Island Arts and Milingimbi Art and Culture thanks to a collaboration with Australian design brand Koskela. Koskela already has a history of working with the artists from Elcho Island Arts on their Yuta Badayala series of light shades. Read more
Australian designer Flynn Talbot has designed the installation ‘Full Spectrum’ as Australia’s exhibit at this year’s London Design Biennale (4-23 September), which explores the theme of ‘emotional states’.
Responding to the outpouring of love and positive emotion from last year’s Marriage Equality vote and legalisation in Australia, Talbot has created a circular screen of rainbow colours made with 150 hanging fibre optic strands. Read more
There is no doubt that the world of architecture and interiors has been under the calming, ordered influence of modernism and minimalism for a long time. Especially in Australia, the majority of designers prefer clean lines, simple colour palettes and form follows function – there’s even a magazine about it. But if you sometimes like breaking rules and shaking things up a bit, Maximalism may give you the licence to follow your patterned dreams.
Maximalism is a direct response to Minimalism – it layers bold pattern and colour on top of each other. Fabulously expressive, Maximalist interiors and designs offer the designer to get really creative – to explore play and to indulge in an orgy of extremes.
The Drake Commissary in Toronto includes the work of a number of artists in an evolving exhibition called “Fast Forward”. Most spectacular is a huge mural by artist Alex McLeod called Ancient Hills, which spans 10+ metres and depicts an incredible fantasy landscape created using 3D modelling tools. Other works include textile works, sculptural pieces and video art.
There’s nothing quite like a whiskey bar – it conjures images of smoky rooms, timber-lined walls, leather furniture, and of course, damn fine whiskey. Sydney’s The Doss House fits this criteria (apart from the smoky air, which is probably best) and adds some more.
Design studio Buck and Simple is responsible for the interiors, which reference the building’s past as an opium den, gambling house, bootmaker and boarding house dating back to the 1840s in the historic precinct of The Rocks. Read more
Checking into this hotel is a unique experience. Each room features a different design, with distinctive colours, textures, objects and even layouts, creating and evoking various moods – and you get to choose which one to stay in. Are you feeling playful today or quiet? Artistic or minimalist? Do you want to keep company with an expressionist artwork or would you rather luxuriate in a fake fur bed spread? Do you want to be enveloped by a sexy all-black room or transported to Africa?
The Collectionist Hotel in Camperdown, Sydney, is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Daniel Symonds and Toby Raphael. Symonds was inspired by a car hire process in the US that allowed him to inspect the various vehicles for hire first. At The Collectionist, this opportunity to select your own room yourself puts the guest in the driver’s seat (so to speak).
The earlier you check in, the more options there are, with open doors to rooms that are available and hangers on the door indicating the different categories you can choose from (determined by price). When you select your room, you let your friendly concierge know, and are welcome to enjoy a free drink from the bar on the ground floor – a small nook with distinctive stone walls and floors and a neon sign that says “I hope this looks good online”. Read more
Guest contributor and European correspondent Lara Chapman visits ‘Coded Nature’ by Studio Drift at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
The audience is sporadically positioned around the gallery, hypnotised by the kinetic sculptures performing their entrancing, electrical dance. The 10 flower-like silk structures drop from the ceiling, opening their textile bodies , then retract suddenly upwards, closing. They pause. Sometimes they move separately, at other times together. They are irregular in their speed and pauses, seemingly autonomous. In an indefinite interval, in which all the structures are motionless, I lean towards my friend and whisper, “Wow! It is so satisfying to watch”. Looking around the room I know that this feeling is unanimous. Each person is silently engrossed. “You’ve said that in every room!” my friend replies.
Why is all the work of Studio Drift so satisfying? It could be the level of detail and delicateness in every piece. The small surprises. The fine craftsmanship. But overall, I think it is the sense of slowness and calm that strikingly contrasts our high speed world that makes the exhibition so enjoyable. Read more
If the purpose of architectural installations is to explore ideas, experiment with new materials and test new forms, then the installation “Somewhere Other” currently on show in Venice has well and truly achieved its brief. John Wardle Architects was one of only two Australian architecture studios (along with Room 11) selected to show as part of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale of Architecture and worked with a range of collaborators on this work.
The exhibition theme this year, across both this exhibition and the whole biennale, is “Freespace”, through which curators Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Irish studio Grafton Architects raise questions about how people relate to buildings and vice versa, what is private and what is public space, and what is the architect’s role in this equation. Read more
The new Jolly light by Melbourne designer Kate Stokes is all about round, joyous geometries. Translucent hand-blown glass forms a bold half sphere, while its solid metal shade creates a more introverted profile in matte black, eucalyptus, burgundy or polished brass. In the wall light variety, this shape hugs the wall, whereas in the pendant variety, it sits at a jaunty angle from straight metal rods.
Launched at the recent International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York, the light is produced by Australian design brand NAU, which also launched the SIA chair by Tom Fereday at the same event, presenting an Australian design showcase to the world stage. Read more
Guest contributor and European correspondent Lara Chapman visits the ‘Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-18’ exhibition at the Design Museum London.
A visual cacophony of objects including memes, posters, videos, balloons and even a fortune-telling machine come together in a narrative of power and protest at this exhibition. The eclectic collection of pieces traces the turbulent political climate of the past decade and the graphic milestones that have shaped, defined and resisted events in this period. The exhibition also charts recent technological developments and their effect on the production and dissemination of media. Graphic design is presented as a tool that can be harnessed by both the most powerful corporations and the most marginalised groups of society.
The title of the exhibition references the iconic ‘Hope’ poster designed by Shepard Fairey for Obama’s 2008 election campaign and various appropriations of this, including the viral ‘Nope’ memes of Trump. Between these two moments of American politics, the world has been shaken by a series of charged situations including the Occupy Movement, The Arab Spring, refugee crisis’, LGBT rights, and climate change, which are all represented in the show. Read more