At the Magis showroom in Milan, I met Dutch designer Rogier Martens who posed with his chair for children, called Trotter, at the Fair the next morning. The chair can be used by small people for sitting, or can be lifted and wheeled around like a wheelbarrow.
In designing it, Martens thought about what he would have liked as a child, and the result is a simple idea, well executed. This chair is part of a series of Magis products for children called Me Too, which also includes iconic design Puppy by Eero Aarnio and Bunky bunk beds by Marc Newson.
“Another theme for the exhibition is the Australian-ness or New Zealand-ness of the work – in her catalogue essay, Hen Zeffert ruminates on the “otherness” of the exhibition title as part of the Australian psyche. But perhaps more crystal clear in capturing something uniquely Australian is the work of Sydney collective The Fortynine Studio. Each of the five studio members showed one piece – all inspired by bushfire.”
Screen shot of The Other Hemisphere article in Yellowtrace’s e-mag
My review of The Other Hemisphere, Sarah King’s exhibition of Australian and New Zealand design held at Ventura Lambrate as part of the Milan Furniture Fair this year, is included as part of Yellowtrace blog’s latest project – a wonderfully comprehensive review of this year’s fair in the form of an interactive e-mag.
PUC near completion with team – that’s me underneath
Last year, I teamed up with a great bunch of designers from Woods Bagot’s Sydney studio to create Planet Under Construction – or PUC. A glowing sphere made of orange construction cones, PUC was suspended from the underside of the Cahill Express Way at Sydney’s Circular Quay as part of the Vivid Sydney 2013 festival of light and ideas.
Tonight, PUC is up for an Australian Interior Design Award in the installation category. If we win, I will be accepting the award on behalf of my fellow team members Guillermo Fernandez, Young Lee, Danny Wehbe, Amanda Gore, Thomas Hale, India Collins, Sophie Bennett and Mohammed Khaled. Wish us luck!
A bookcase and sofa with moving parts for Vitra. A tile series with London themed names for Mutina – fog, lead and ink. A contemporary vase made of Venetian glass for Venini. The London Olympic torch. The new Ace Hotel in Shoreditch. A new £2 coin with an image of the London Underground. An exhibition called “In the Making” at the Design Museum in London.
Portrait of Jay Osgerby (left) and Edward Barber (right) by Mutina. Image: supplied.
The breadth of the work of London design duo Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby is impressive. Sitting down with Jay Osgerby at the Vitra stand at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2014, I ask if this breadth is a result of the thrill of the chase. “It is,” he confirms. “It really is. There’s something about the thrill of the chase which is really creative. If you have a design education you can apply it to anything, really.” Read more →
“While there is much that is innovative at the fair itself, some of the more experimental work happens in other design districts. Ventura Lambrate is a wide-ranging series of exhibitions located in Milan’s Lambrate precinct. It began in 2009 when Dutch curators Margriet Vollenberg and Margo Konings teamed up with architect and entrepreneur Mariano Pichler to provide a new space for design talent during Milan Design Week.
“Growing each year in size and quality, this year Ventura Lambrate showed a lot of the best emerging and unknown talent, both Dutch and international. The strength of the work is due to the exhibition’s careful curation by Vollenberg and Konings, with strict judging criteria applied to each project.”
Thanks to editor Peter Salhani for publishing my review of Ventura Lambrate on architectureau.com.
The story you tell yourself about your world, your life, so often becomes your reality. It’s the same at the Milan furniture fair. It is impossible to see the number of things that are on display during the citywide plus fairgrounds event – or to go to all of the parties. So, each fairgoer’s experience is necessarily different, though there is a lot of overlap.
On Dezeen last week, Marcus Fairs claimed that “The star of Milan this year was Instagram” and this was certainly the first year that I used Instagram as the main tool with which to share in real time the show, and check what my friends and fellow journalists were seeing and doing. The fact that it feeds directly to twitter and facebook is also handy. Read more →
As the Milan Furniture Fair ramps up, one of the common themes across the products from around the world is that of materiality – using materials in new ways, developing new material innovations and unexpected combinations of materials.
Me ringing a ceremonial bowl in brass
At the Triennale, a number of Asian design exhibitions were on display, including “Constancy and Change in Korean Traditional Craft” which displayed the work of contemporary Korean artisans working with traditional processes and concepts.
The ceremonial bowls of Master Lee Bong-ju are made in brass and each one, when struck, resonates at a different pitch. Lee Bong-ju is one of the last of a generation of artisans working in this way and has been named a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Treasure. There is a stillness to the vibration of the bowls which, combined with the beauty of the beaten copper, provides a sense of serenity and majesty. Read more →
“From the highly commercial exhibits of the mega furniture brands, through to the experimental work by designers from all corners of the globe, Milan’s Salone del Mobile 2014 is set to be another extravaganza celebrating all things design.
“This year’s Salone del Mobile is the first chance to see the changes that new president of the fair Claudio Luti has proposed, including making sure there is a concentration of the big brands and making Milan a better experience for those visiting, including doing something about expensive accommodation and improving transport to the fair.”
Here I am in Milan ready to be inspired by the 2014 Salone del Mobile and share all the best design ideas with you.
My preview of the fair for DesignEX is available to view here.
Last year, Korean designer Jinil Park exhibited his Drawing Series chair and armchair – two chairs that look like drawings. They are so realistic it is difficult to believe the photograph of the chair is not a drawing. The designer created these one-off pieces as an experiment, wanting to see whether he could turn his rough drawings into actual three-dimensional objects that work as a seat: “I created the objects by hand without even a single CAD plan,” says Park. “Choosing the materials, refining and welding them together to make an object was very difficult. But simultaneously it is a difficult and a fun process.”
Janil Park Drawing Series
Also last year, the Canvas series, this time by Japanese design studio YOY, also plays with the idea of turning a drawing into a three dimensional piece of furniture. Hanging Canvas Sofa, which was shown at Salone Satellite during Milan Design Week 2013, is on first glance a print of a drawing of a chair (or sofa) on a stretched canvas. However, these pieces, whose frame is constructed out of wood and aluminium, feature an elastic fabric which allows the user to sit on the canvas – rendering the two-dimensional image of the chair, an actual chair that it is possible to sit in (and is apparently surprisingly comfortable). Read more →
