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I presume you all are out watching Robyn’s boss new interactive video for the song “Killing Me” but if you aren’t, you should click here and then think about how THEY JUST GIVE THIS STUFF AWAY FOR FREE! How great is the 21st century, people! Even if it’s a thing that makes you use hashtags which are something I always mess up. #worldcup
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Okay, we’ve seen a lot of not-so-great designs with an “all-inclusive-furniture-environment” theme – looking in your direction here, “XZipit” - but! Check this one out. It’s a dense foam cut-out-office-slash-wheelbarrow by Dutch designer Tim Vinke. What’s a giant mobile office set used for, you ask? I don’t know either! But look at how great it looks, and it has not only a fold out surface but also an ottoman or something. Take that, Äpplarö!
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Okay, I know you might have seen this one with the cigarette floating around everywhere, but did you see this one with the skirt lady?? Maybe! But since you are delighted by it, here it is again. You’re welcome, everyone.
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Everyone’s favorite Dutch designer-slash-heartthrob Maarten Baas designed a new thing! Find out what those funny horn things are after the jump!
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Today we learned that Tobias Wong passed away early last Sunday morning, May 30 2010. He was 35.
Our regular readers know that on this blog we normally keep things pretty light. We draw on pictures to make them better, we make up fake trends, and we barely get let into shows to “review.” The strategy here is something that we felt was underrepresented in art & design writing: take a passion for a serious, academic topic and present it in the conversational style that we use in our actual lives. That concept-based objects can be both inclusive and taken seriously, and that the public is smarter than they’re usually given credit for. They don’t need more pedantic curators. What they need are friends that respect their intelligence and that can lead them toward real ideas in an engaging way.
Tobias was one of the people who made us think this was possible.
Tobias’ creative work was a constant source of inspiration, and that was the idea. In a design landscape where much success can be had using juxtaposition & irony without conceptual backing, he held strong that “leaving room for meaning is a cheap cop-out—the best designers/artists have always been focused on what and how they want to be read. Leaving room for meaning is for those not so confident with their ideas.” Again and again, he managed to present us with objects that hooked us with beauty, challenged us intellectually, and sent us a tiny shiver of danger. Aric Chen put it well in the press release:
… [Wong] held a mirror to our desires and absurdities; upended the hierarchy between design and art, and the precious and the banal; and helped redefine collaboration and curation as creative practices. Working within what he termed a “paraconceptual” framework, Wong prompted a reevaluation of everything we thought we knew about design: its production, its psychological resonance, its aesthetic criteria, its means of distribution, its attachment to provenance, its contextualization and its manner of presentation. Wong was a keen observer, an original mind, a brilliant prankster, and an unerring friend.
Thank you, Tobi. You will be missed.
-Andrew
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“Room dividers” as a furniture type seem a little strange, right? Like, that category can basically include any vertical-ish group of craps. So there are no rules. And since there are no rules they’re hard to judge, which makes us uncomfortable because arbitrarily judging things is really what we do best. It’s like how the “no rules” nature of other people’s dreams makes them not interesting to hear about unless you’re in them. Or maybe I’m overthinking this. In any case, WHAPOW, look at this new thing by Mike and Maaike!
(See also: our 2010 ICFF coverage)
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Arriving with rather low expectations due to all the talk of depressed economies cranking out depressing designs, I was happy to find that not everything at this year’s ICFF was a frankenstein of last year’s show. For starters, this piece was all over the fair as well as the off-site shows and is part of the latest collection from furniture company Council, a company out of SF that won me over last year with their stunning Periodic Table. This year’s room divider still maintains the sort of Designer’s D.I.Y. feel that permeated the show.
Big themes were definitely eco-conscious materials and subtle pared down design. Taking material design to the next level was this “wooden fabric” lamp titled Miss Maple, featured in the Design Deutschland exhibit and made by german designer Elisa Strozyk.
Not all young designers are as experimental with traditional materials. For many, the emphasis on environment has led to a reexamination of the less eco-impacting past. Studio Dunn, winner of this year’s Editor’s Choice award for new designer, is going traditional not only with materials and design, but with manufacturing methods as well. All of the designs are manufactured in the good ol’ US of A by artisans in their native state of Rhode Island (this local pride also informs the name of each piece). Studio Dunn’s design sense references the hand-crafted nature of mid-century modern classics like Haywood Wakefield while also tapping into contemporary collective desires to be equal parts environmentally and aesthetically conscious.
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Scattered about and hidden in the nooks of the all the furniture booths were a couple of really exciting product and jewelry finds from some promising up and commers. Starting with the smallest – jewelry from designer Hao Shi was selling at the designboom mart like hot cakes. Shi’s designs consist of tiny, fantastical creatures made from an opaque white resin.
Hao Shi’s booth was too crowded to take photos. Fortunately I just couldn’t leave without my very own Rabbit X Ring pictured here next to the beautiful package it came in. I have since received many compliments from all sorts of crowds including design snobs and random children on subways. It doesn’t get much better than that!
Everyone’s favorite from Brooklyn Designs, FRAMEicariums was also selling at designboom mart. For those who haven’t already seen them, these are real live ant farms in frames! Absolute genius!
And last but not least, for all of you out there with an irrational fear of numbers, Qlocktwo has found a solution- a typographic matrix that spells out the time in a way we can all understand. If only there was a version for my phone, I just might start being on time to things.
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Alert! From 6-9 pm tonight is the opening reception for Uncomfortable Conversations, a design week offsite show curated by bffs Design Glut featuring some rare No Smarties inhouse design, the Mind the Gap bird-spike gloves you see above. I’d write more about this, but I’m stuck in Scotland because of the ash cloud (le sigh). More soon! Go! Go!
Or read more about the show over at Fast Company.
Uncomfortable Conversations
May 15-18, 2010
10am – 6pm
803 Washington St.
New York, NY
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I enjoy eating fruit and I’m not afraid to admit it. But then again, I’m not afraid of a lot of things. But what about the millions of people who love fruits, but aren’t willing to endure the damaging effects public fruit eating has on their street cred? Well, world, Liam Van Vleet is here to help.
In response to an assignment to design fruit packaging for “hip hop” Liam designed Ciga-Raisin – the ultimate balance of good nutrition and badass lifestyle. Do you want a delicious healthy snack but you’re worried about looking like a wimp? Reach into your pocket and grab your pack of smokes (raisins) and snack with confidence knowing you’re still legit. Raisins have never been so bad.
“hip hop” thanks you – mike
Manifestos are unbecoming on people our age. Luckily, blogs aren't! Objects, culture, art & lies collected by a group of young'uns who should probably know better
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