Nairy Baghramian: Fluffing the Pillows

06/17/13  This young Iranian artist plays on the presumed distinctions between decoration and function, industrial and handmade, and walks the tightrope between commodity, product and art object. By abstracting materials and forms that originated from utilitarian and maritime objects, and in an interplay with forms that relate to the museum’s architecture, Nairy Baghramian engages in a détournement of these forms; investigating gendered notions of labour and craft.  continue...
 

New Designers – and Future Pioneers

06/16/13  The Design Council, working in partnership with new designers, will exhibit the design creations of over 3,000 design graduates. This year as part of a pilot scheme, top designers will be selecting between three and six graduates from the show who will become Future Pioneers: young designers who will be promoted, mentored and supported. This second phase of the exhibition will focus on graphic design disciplines, industrial and product design, and spatial design.  continue...
 

Carte Blanche: Gesa Hansen – M/M (Paris)

06/14/13  Poster Number 20
For a little over 20 years the French designers Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak, alias M/M (Paris), have been practising their successful blend of graphics, print, drawing, photography, film, art direction and typography. Their distinctively romantic and yet rather rebellious-looking imagery has come to define a certain area of fashion and music graphics and be associated with the names of clients ranging from Björk to Madonna, Marc Jacobs and Yohji Yamamoto.
The young half German, half Danish, designer Gesa Hansen grew up in Germany as part of a furniture-making family. She studied at the Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar before moving to Paris aged 21 where, she says, she applied for an internship with M/M (Paris) but ended up working for the architect Jean Nouvel instead. Now a successful designer in her own right, she has created a range of furniture for her label, The Hansen Family, and last year also co-founded the interior design office Hansen Feutry Bihr which is in the process of creating interiors for the actress Marina Fois and the boutique chain Le Mont St Michel.  continue...
 

form 248: Generation Grey – Design für die jungen Alten

06/13/13  “I have always been 55, now I am in sync with myself,” replied the German talk show host Harald Schmidt (55) when asked about how old he felt “inside”. With this statement, and in his typical ironic manner, he has exactly pinpointed his generation’s attitude to life: they don’t get older and they haven’t been doing so for their whole lives. A senior citizen existence belongs to their parents’ and grandparents’ generations – they are not even close to it. Our focal theme is concerned with today’s Generation 50+, the spryest bunch of “Best Agers” there has ever been. The London-based architecture and design critic Peter Maxwell presents the online platform Fixperts. We have a sketch feature where we invited a selection of product and communications designers to present their ideas for suitable objects for “Generation Grey”. In her contribution, design expert Laurie Haycock Makela calls for closer collaboration between design and healthcare. And to round it off the economist David W. Galenson, author of the book “Old Masters and Young Geniuses”, explains why creativity has nothing to do with being young or old and is rather a matter of both – depending on your standpoint.  continue...
 

Beat-Generation / Allen Ginsberg – Reality Sandwiches

06/11/13  An exhibition devised by the Centre Pompidou Metz, that presents the entire saga of the Beat Generation via manuscripts, books, films, photos and performances of Allen Ginsberg and his contemporaries digitally, displayed in a virtual collage across seven screens. This unique presentation includes an unprecedented compilation of extracts from little-known films and video reports, on the ‘uprising of youth’ that began in the United States. Allen Ginsberg guides through a poetic vision of the world.  continue...
 

Continuing Beyond Fashion

06/06/13  What is fashion now? Curator and writer Mahret Kupka will explore this difficult topic in the exhibition ‘Draußen im Dunkel: Weitermachen nach der Mode’ (‘Out in the Dark: Continuing Beyond fashion’) as guest curator together with museum director Matthias Wagner K in the newly restored and redesigned spaces of the Frankfurt Museum of the Applied Arts in June. Here she will illustrate how much more there is to fashion beyond tailoring, colours or seasonal hemlines.  continue...
 

Designs of the Year

06/05/13  This annual design exhibition is a chance to scan the best of contemporary achievements across seven categories: architecture, digital design, fashion, furniture, graphics, product and transport. This year’s nominations include the Olympic Cauldron by Thomas Heatherwick, the newly inaugurated Shard building by Renzo Piano, that pierces London’s skyline, and – surprisingly – Microsoft Window’s mobile phone 8 has outdone Apple’s iPhone this year.  continue...
 

LOOS. Zeitgenössisch

06/04/13  Yehuda E. Safran, a renowned expert on Adolf Loos, has developed this travelling exhibition that takes a fascinating look at the way in which one architect left his mark over the last 100 years. Works by Le Corbusier, José Paulo Dos Santos, Eileen Gray, Rem Koolhaas and Richard Neutra, shown by way of models, photographs and sketches explore the endless search to achieve a balance between interior and exterior worlds.  continue...
 

East London Comics and Arts Festival

06/03/13  A brand new festival initiated in 2012, ELCAF will feature stands from the very best comics publishers such as Jonathan Cape, SelfMadeHero, Blank Slate and Landfill Editions, along with panel discussions, drawing marathons and workshops. A must-see event for an insight into what is a thriving culture for artists and illustrators.  continue...
 

Von Kaschemmen und Nobelherbergen: Alt-Frankfurter Gastlichkeit

05/31/13  Whilst still in Frankfurt, there is a unique opportunity to explore the broad range of accommodation that distinguishes the city as one of the three main tourist attractions in Germany. The hotel types range from the cosmopolitan to the cosy, from half-timbered houses to traditional apple cider pubs.  continue...
 

Design Miami/Basel

05/29/13  The global forum for design accompanying Basel’s major art fair moves into the new Hall 1 of Messe Basel designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron this year. The state-of-the-art space allows the fair to further develop its gallery programme and initiate site-specific design projects. The design fair will host many big name collectors and purveyors of classical modern and innovative design objects and furniture.  continue...
 

Sinnfindung im Erbe Mies

05/27/13  Werner Blaser, the Swiss architect and publicist born in 1924 is an astute eyewitness of modernism’s greatest icons, and has collected here 135 photographs that include the American buildings by Mies van der Rohe, and the classical architecture of Japan. Blaser’s travels also took him to Alvar Aalto’s ateliers in Finland, where architecture merges with untrammelled nature. Included in Werner Blaser’s works is the furniture series ‘Principle of an Architecture’, that he designed for the manufacturer Löffler.  continue...
 

Search Find Like Share

05/26/13  In a society dominated by images, communications designers enjoy growing influence, with the better ones being versed in various forms of visual storytelling. ‘Search Find Like Share’, a four-part publication that came out of the Graphic Design Festival Breda 2012, presents communications design projects grouped according to their approach.  continue...
 

Lewis Baltz

05/25/13  The American landscape photographer Lewis Baltz was the pioneer of the urban periphery in the 1970s. He drew his inspiration from derelict industrial buildings, urban sprawl and derelict sites. His precise series on “Tract Houses”, or “New Industrial Parks Near Irvine” catalogue the disastrous effect of technological progress on urban landscapes.  continue...
 

Dieter Roth: Wait, Later This Will Be Nothing

05/24/13  Dieter Roth was an artist known for employing an extraordinary range of media in his work. MoMA focuses on Roth’s edition works – prints, books, and multiples – where, it is said, he made radical statements. Roth used organic materials (book sausages stuffed with ground paper, plastic toys buried in chocolate), plastic toys buried in melted chocolate and designed a huge collection of printed postcards. Handmade books, and radical experiments with the book format are also on show, all of which offer inspiration to rethink an often staid and traditional medium.  continue...
 

Illustrative 13

05/23/13  The 6th edition of this illustrative arts festival will feature 190 leading illustrators, graphic artist and collectives from over 20 countries. Work covers a wide range of established illustration art to the latest generation of young artists working in various media – painting, drawing, installations, paper craft, book illustration and animations. A programme of over 50 events accompanies the main fair.  continue...
 

Design Ah!

05/20/13  Japanese educational television has thrown down the gauntlet to western media with their new TV show for children. ‘Ah’ is the first letter in the Japanese alphabet. The show aims to rethink everyday objects from a design perspective in order to educate children about the joys of design. The segments span themes of observation and sound, to deconstruction and perspective, and have been devised by a graphic designer, a musician and an interface designer.  continue...
 

BOOM

05/19/13  A book about sound art seems contrary, but has been deftly achieved by London design collective Åbäke, which designed and edited BOOM, an exploration of artist Yuri Suzuki’s sonic creations. The format mimics Suzuki’s ‘Urushi Musical interface’ – the cover is an instrument clad in black lacquer with conductive gold-inlay circular keyboard – and features photographic documentation and graphic illustrations of his projects and contributions by collaborators, all via a multi-layered reading experience that is as fun to experience as his works.  continue...
 

Junya Ishigami: How Small? How Vast? How Architecture Grows

05/17/13  Junya Ishigami’s ethereal approach to architecture is inspired by natural metaphors. Architecture becomes a cloud, a horizon, a landscape, water. Ishigami aspires to architecture that floats, that is light and transparent; almost insubstantial. This radical spatiality can be seen by way of 56 miniature models of the Japanese architect’s residential works.  continue...
 

Welcome to the Future

05/12/13  By allowing us to give material form to the digital world, new manufacturing processes such as 3D printing are effecting economic and sociocultural change, turning us all into potential manufacturers of individual objects – and thus giving us the ability to reinvent and also rebuild the world. But will we really be able to produce whatever we can think up? How will the creative process change if ideas and intellectual structures whose natural environment is digital (or at least has been up to now), suddenly become tangible? What are the short-term consequences likely to be?  continue...
 

Clerkenwell Design Week

05/10/13  This has established itself as the UK’s leading independent design festival, with over 60 showrooms featuring numerous collaborative architecture and design practices throughout London’s East End hub of design creativity. A number of studios will be open to visitors and host workshops and debates.  continue...
 

International Poster and Graphic Design Festival

05/09/13  This is a major venue for graphic design in Europe, with free exhibitions and performances throughout the city. This year’s theme – Letters to the Fore – gives a lead role to lettering, with a show of Olivetti’s commissions for its communications and typewriter fonts, and an exhibition on Edward Fella. The Bordeaux based studio Gusto will also bring the town’s shop windows to life with Spanish white chalk.  continue...
 

A Century of Pastoe

05/07/13  This centennial exhibition about the renowned Dutch furniture makers reveals the ways in which Pastoe cultivated a fascination for Asian aesthetics and culture and the famous designers who have, over the years, made their talents available to the company. Shiru Kuramata and Shigeru Uchida are two of the renowned Japanese designers that have produced iconic pieces for Pastoe. The minimalism and delicacy of numerous pieces in the exhibition show the enduring links between eastern and western culture.  continue...
 

Interiors LDN

05/03/13  This event is focused upon innovative and inspirational design-led contemporary interiors and is part of the May Design Series in London. The showcase of 100 companies selected by the main organisers will feature a wide range of design-focused contemporary products, including both innovative and traditional design techniques for fabrics, wall coverings, furniture, lighting and flooring.  continue...
 

Getting There: Design for Travel in the Modern Age

05/02/13  The discerning design traveller in transit can take in a fascinating exhibition created in collaboration with the Design Museum Boston. Looking back to the early 1900s and with glimpses into the near future, Getting There explores how design shapes the experience of traveling. Leading fi rms, including Bose, IDEO and Samsonite, have contributed drawings, models and prototypes that deal with the constraints of human travel. In the displays various types of traveller accessories are also featured.  continue...
 

Trading Style and Couture Graphique

04/30/13  Fashion is not only the focal theme of our current issue. There are also some exhibitions discussing it.
Clementine Deliss, director of the Weltkulturen (World Culture) Museum in Frankfurt, heralds an innovative approach to curating cultural tendencies and differences in this exploration of past and present worlds of fashion. The museum’s extensive collection of over 500 objects, photographs and films is reexamined through the contemporary eyes of a selection of international fashion labels (Buki Akib, a Kind of Guise, CassettePlaya, and Perks and Mini). From their investigations into the museum’s ethnographic collections from all over the world, they created new prototype garments inspired by their selections.  continue...
 

Office Next 2013

04/27/13  An international forum for office design, technology and real estate, and with exhibitors such as Bene, Bisley Concept, Steelcase, Teknion and Wilkhahn, Office Next is the only platform solely devoted to the office design scene in Russia. Featuring a central exhibition, a conference and awards for the best Russian and international design projects.  continue...
 

JEX Jewelry Exhibition – Jewelry by Petra Zimmermann

04/26/13  An exhibition devoted to the opulent and sensuous creations by the contemporary jewellery designer Petra Zimmermann. Inspired by fashion jewellery of the Art Deco era, she creates ‘thought pieces’ cast in vividly coloured and sinuous plastics. Her figurative brooches and cut-outs derive from body silhouettes in lifestyle magazines. The exhibition features over 100 pieces, showing her extensive preoccupation with formal and visual ‘found footage’.  continue...
 

VDA Design Award: The Future of Transportation Design

04/25/13  This prestigious award backed by the VDA association for the automobile industry, Audi AG, BMW, Ford and Volks wagen is aimed at freshly graduated designers wanting to make their name in automobile design. The project must have been designed at an appropriate college/design school, but there is no limit to the theme, as long as it deals with the transport of people or goods.  continue...
 

Colour in Architecture

04/23/13  Two exhibitions that focus upon colour – an often under-valued component of contemporary architecture. Rob Wilson has curated key projects by major UK and international architects, who create identity, define space and augment our experience of a building by way of innovative uses of colour. At the RIBA the history of colour in architectural photography is explored in depth through an extensive collection including toned and hand-tinted images of the 19th Century, and the moment when colour explodes in the architectural press of the 1970s and 1980s.  continue...
 

Carte Blanche: Fermin Guerrero – Studio Hausen

04/22/13  This month’s contribution to form magazine’s limited edition poster series comes from a young industrial designer and typographer from Uruguay and a precocious pair of product designers from Berlin.
Jörg Höltje and Joscha Brose founded their design firm Studio Hausen during their second year at college when they began experimenting together with innovative technologies ad traditional production methods. Before they graduated they had already exhibited twice at the Salone del Mobile in Milan and had their first industrial commissions under their belts. Höltje worked for a while in Patricia Urquiola’s studio and Brose for Tom Dixon. Their clients include Camper, Ligne Roset and de la Espada. Höltje is based in Berlin, where he teaches at the UdK, and Brose is currently working in London.  continue...
 

Korea Power: Design and Identity

04/19/13  As one of the leading industrial nations producing a vast array of consumer products, South Korea is featured for the first time in Germany at the MAK. This exhibition focuses upon contemporary Korean product and graphic design and seeks to identify the country’s new identity following Japanese occupation and the Korean war. The photographer Kim Han-Yong shows the country in a period of reconstruction, alongside Dieter Leistner’s images of a divided country. Contemporary design by the foundation ‘Culture Keepers’ show elegance mixed with references to ancient heritage and customs.  continue...
 

DING – what things do to us

04/17/13  Enclosed here as a supplement for our subscribers is the first ever issue of DING – Was Dinge mit uns machen (‘THING – what things do to us’) a new magazine created by students at Munich University of Applied Sciences.

about DING Magazine
The THING is, many magazines devote themselves to objects in a completely superficial way. They give consumers advice, or see objects as innovations or trends. But the muchloved pencil, with which we jot down flashes of inspiration, the memory box or rucksack with which we set off every day, are more than just nicely designed, superficial objects. The various things we surround ourselves with, of all shapes and sizes, do not merely have a function. We use them as stage props in our world to show group affiliation, or even our attitudes towards life. We define ourselves through our possessions, express our personalities with them, and can barely imagine our lives without them.  continue...
 

form 247: Gestaltung à la Mode – Post Genre Fashion and Design

04/16/13  Clothes and fashion seem familiar enough, if only from everyday use; we all put on clothes every day and most of us are swayed by fashion in our choice of what to wear. On closer scrutiny, however, the theme turns out to be extremely complex. What is so special about fashion design and how does it differ from other design disciplines? Is mediocre fashion better than a mediocre consumer product, for example? Is fashion finite? These and other sartorial questions like them are the focal theme of this edition of form. After an investigation of the overlaps and points of contact between fashion, product and communication design, the design and fashion expert Susanna Legrenzi presents some collaborative projects by Italian fashion and furniture designers.  continue...
 

Nippon Chinbotsu – Japan Sinks. A Manga

04/15/13  The Manga illustrator Tokihiko Ishiki created a bestseller with his Manga series dealing with Japan’s downfall as a result of earthquakes. Drawing his inspiration from a 1973 sci-fi book of the same name by Sakyou Komatsu, chronicling the country’s decline and exacting fierce critique of the technocratic leanings of his nation, Ishiki’s pocket book series is known for its dynamic style, and the show highlights his graphic expertise.  continue...
 

Weniger, aber besser. Design in Frankfurt 1925–1985

04/12/13  Frankfurt’s ‘design museum’ looks back on a prolifi c tradition; one that tends to favour a reduced and formal aesthetic in the interests of utility. Beginning with the ‘New Frankfurt’ project of the 1920s that led the way in product design and typography, including countless new designs for the modern household, this exhibition features bicycles, cars and typewriters by the Adler Works, alongside the Bauer Smelting works that produced the ‘Futura’ font.  continue...
 

Seismic Shifts

04/09/13  This exhibition focuses on a range of artists and architects who challenge boundaries between the disciplines and raise critical social, environmental and political issues with their work. Nick Cave, Thornton Dial, Wangechi Mutu, Greg Lynn and Moshe Safdie are amongst those creating newly commissioned works especially for the show.  continue...
 

Starker Auftritt! – Experimental Shoe Design

04/08/13  An exhibition devoted to the design fetishism that surrounds footwear and featuring all manner of experimental and extreme shoe design. 150 pairs of shoes by over 100 international designers introduce a plethora of styles, from those inspired by architecture, to extreme ironic takes on a largely female obsession. Liza Snook’s virtual shoe museum has helped enable a collection of exclusive models from all over the world, from pistol- to shark-shaped.  continue...
 

Female Bauhaus

04/04/13  Gertrud Arndt (Weaver and photographer, 1923-1931) originally wanted to become an architect, but in the absence of a regular course at the Bauhaus at the time, she turned to the field of textiles with the help of Georg Muche, head of the weaving workshop; she then devoted herself entirely to photography. Her ‘Mask Portraits’ – graphic self-portraits using only a few accessories – have now become internationally recognized.



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Salone del Mobile and Meet My Projekt at Milano

04/03/13  A fixed date in the calendar of every designer, most design curators and trade buyers, the ‘Salone’ has been growing exponentially year after year with a huge range of related talks and party circuits by renowned brands throughout the city of Milan, pop-up stores, transformed warehouses and all manner of initiatives to capture the attention of its vast international audience.  continue...
 

Pictoplasma Conference and Festival

03/28/13  The “world’s leading festival of contemporary character culture” is back in it’s home town of Berlin this spring and promises to draw a big crowd of key figures in the field. The programme will include a mix of artist’s talks, exhibitions, animation film festival, lectures and presentations from the best of to day’s avant garde image producers. Speakers will include: LowBros, Jeff Soto, Olimpia Zagnoli and El Grand Chamaco  continue...
 

Designing the Next Economy

03/27/13  This global conversation will assess the role of design thinking in driving innovation and change in business, healthcare, education and the public sector. A chance to look at the creative process as applied to emerging economies, startups and multinationals. Speakers will include educators and business leaders alike.
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Peter Behrens – Vom Jugendstil zum Industriedesign

03/25/13  “Born on 14 April 1868 in Hamburg. And autodidact, by the way.” One of the pioneers of architectural reform in Germany and a creator of the idea of ‘corporate identity’, the industrial designer and architect Peter Behrens embraced all aspects of the applied arts, turning his hand at book publishing, typography, painting and graphic design, ceramics, furniture design and textiles. The extraordinary scope of Behrens’ achievements includes villas, industrial and residential buildings that paved the way to the Modernist era in architecture.  continue...
 

Designing Tomorrow: America’s World Fairs of the 1930s

03/19/13  This showcase of six Depression-era expositions shows how the promise of a brighter future was made to tens of millions of Americans as they waited in the breadlines. Featuring examples of what was later to become commonplace in post war America – suburbs and sprawl, highways and modernist skyscraper, electric toasters and television – these regional fairs heralded a then-unimaginable era of prosperity. Original footage and futuristic drawings complete the picture.  continue...
 

Against the Grain – Wood in Contemporary Craft and Design

03/18/13  This exhibition, previously shown at the Mint Museum in Charlotte NC, is part of MAD’s ongoing ‘Materials & Process’ series, in which contemporary designers and manufacturers explore innovations in traditional design techniques and materials. The sheer versatility of wood and its pervasive use in design is explored here in wide ranging scope and great technical detail. With over 75 installations, sculptures, furniture items and objects, it features the work of over 50 artists, designers and craftspeople, from postmodernist deconstructions of form, to woodturning and furniture techniques applied to sculpture as well as the latest cutting edge technology applied to a much loved and archaic material.  continue...
 

Lafayette Park

03/15/13  ‘Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies’ is an unusual portrait of Lafayette Park, a middle-class residential area in Detroit’s inner city that was designed in 1955 by the architect Mies van der Rohe, together with Ludwig Hilberseimer and Alfred Caldwell, as a modern interpretation of the garden city. The focus of the three graphic designers who made the book, Aubert (Detroit), Cavar (Zagreb) und Chandani (Brook- lyn), however, is not on the architecture and planning of the area, but on its neighbourhood, which they spent three years observing.  continue...
 

Food Design

03/13/13  This is an exhibition that entertains both the sensual and the scientific curiosity of those interested in food design. The smell, the colour and the consistency of food are key factors for the food industry as well as its manufacture and packaging. Connections between style, functionality and preservation of foods are highlighted here.  continue...
 

Leipzig Book Fair 2013

03/12/13  The spring literary event in the charming city of Leipzig attracts both the established and the experimental in the world of book publishing and has grown in signifi cance in recent years. This year’s outstanding fantasy literature will be awarded the Seraph 2013 prize. The air is a massive draw for publishers and an ideal communication platform – reputedly over 2,000 events will be held at 350 different locations during the four days of the fair.  continue...
 

Design Days Dubai

03/11/13  Launched in 2012, Design Days in Dubai is dedicated to collectable design and design art in the Middle East. For those wishing to tap into design trends curated by galleries from this part of the world, such as the Carwan Gallery and SMO Gallery from Beirut, and to take in the young city that has become the playground for starchitects, this is an event to attend. Many galleries will be invited from South America to the Far East, some of whom have never before exhibited to an international audience. The fair will also be enlivened by seminars, performances and presentations.  continue...
 

Ernst Schneidler und die Stuttgarter Schule

03/04/13  Ernst Schneidler was one of the best known typographers of the first half of the 20th century. He had a great influence upon book and font design within the so-called Stuttgart School. His pupils included Imre Reiner and Georg Trump. This exhibition is a retrospective that includes some of his lesser-known typographic works and illustrations that were experimenting with diverse references to contemporary art at the turn of the century up until the 1950s.  continue...
 

The Big Rethink 2013: Brand Power

02/27/13  A marketing event that gathers 150 business leaders in marketing and strategy development together to challenge conventional thinking and share critical visions, tools and insights. This year’s theme is brand development, and will look at how best to maintain the resilience and distinctive quality of a brand.  continue...
 

Buckminster Fuller Challenge

02/25/13  This annual design challenge is generously rewarded ($100,000) and, in honour of the designer who carries its name, is dedicated to strategies that have the potential to solve society’s most pressing
problems. Rated as one of the highest socially responsible design awards, it should attract bold and visionary initiatives. This year new partnerships will enable a lager pool of fi nalists.  continue...
 

David Bowie is

02/22/13  This exhibition could not be more timely, as the British pop icon releases his first album in 10 years at the age of 66. The museum has been given unprecedented access to the David Bowie archive for this first retrospective of an extraordinary career. The homage to one of the most pioneering and influential performers of modern times will trace Bowie’s shifting style and constant reinvention over the last 50 years. The show also features his extensive collaborations with artists and designers in fashion, sound, graphics, theatre and film.  continue...
 

Carte Blanche: Apfel Zet – Arabeschi di Latte

02/21/13  For the ‘Hospitality’ issue, form magazine’s limited edition poster series continues with a collaboration between the Italian food event designers Arabeschi di Latte and Berlin-based illustrator Roman Bittner from Apfel Zet.
Arabeschi di Latte is an experimental food design collective founded by Francesca Sarti in 2001. They “blur the boundaries between food and design” and “use food as tool to communicate”. They have created and exhibited a variety of food-related projects such as pop up cafés, special dinners and workshops around the world including the interactive installation ‘Pasta Herbarium’ for De Etende Mens exhibition at Designhuis in Eindhoven and the M25 Luncheon pop up café at the Studio Toogood Backroom project in London during 100% Design last year (see form 244).  continue...
 

On the death of James Irvine

02/19/13  There are designers who shape their times, and there are those we become fond of in more than just professional terms. The two groups don’t always overlap, but James Irvine fitted in both. In many juries, workshops and discussions, he freely shared his detailed knowledge and his passion for the discipline of design. Few individuals within the scene are as well connected as he was. For Irvine, however, networking was not an end in itself, but something to be pursued as an integral part of his work. Many of the partnerships he initiated gave important stimuli and created new perspectives, not just for his fellow designers but also for businesses, as in 2008 for Muji and Thonet.  continue...
 

Common Roots: Design Map of Central Europe

02/15/13  A team of nine curators have taken on the territory of Central and Eastern Europe in this extensive exploration of shared traits in contemporary and historical design over the last 70 years. The show emphasizes the shift from the functional design agenda during the period of nationalized industrial production to the expression of greater aesthetic freedoms post 1989, and the design categories under which this vast display is organized – “New Democracy”, “Ironic Joke”, “Citation”, “Folk Attraction” make for a discourse that is as engaging as it is wide-ranging.  continue...
 

form 246: Hospitality – Das Geschäft mit dem Gast

02/13/13  “We have friends visiting today”, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she welcomed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to Berlin for German-Polish Government Consultations on November 14th 2012. Which goes to show that Merkel is a woman of her time – at least as far as language dynamics are concerned. It wasn’t so long ago that ‘having friends to visit’ was something one did on special occasions and in private. In most other cases, the host and the hosted are, or at least were, strangers to one another; in fact, the relationship was by definition that of two strangers. Clearly, there has been a shift in meaning in recent years and it is to this shift that we have dedicated this issue of form.  continue...
 

Tempo Tempo!

02/12/13  Tackling a theme that affects us all, the Museum for Communication has made use of its archive to illustrate the ways in which our awareness of time and time management has changed throughout the modern age. This exhibition delivers a broad scope in its experiential take on time – from advertising slogans selling quick-fi x cleaning solutions to comparisons of forms of transportation throughout the ages.  continue...
 

Ambiente 2013

02/11/13  Ambiente features all manner of products for the household, decorating and giving, and with 4 500 international exhibitors it is unrivalled in depth and breadth. In 2013 the world’s leading consumer goods fair will be held under the motto “l’art de vivre à la française”, with France as its partner country on the 50th anniversary of the German-French Treaty of Friendship. Olivia Putman will curate a show on the French way of life, and further design encounters. A wide variety of events and awards ceremonies will also accompany the main fair.  continue...
 

Mythos Atelier

02/05/13  In this comprehensive exhibition the myth of the artist’s studio and its depiction in the art of the modern era is explored and displayed from Romanticism to the present day. Artists like Constantin Brancusi, Kurt Schwitters and Alberto Giacometti made their studios part of their “gesamtkunstwerk”. With Piet Mondrian’s reconstructed atelier the visitor can immerse himself in this all-encompassing depiction of the creative workspace. The space of selfreflection and strategic mise-en-scène is shown by way of numerous artworks.  continue...
 

Metropolis Next Generation Design

02/01/13  A challenge to designers to develop solutions that empower, advance and include those often overlooked in the design process; more than one billion people with special needs worldwide. The competition encourages solutions on all scales – from systems to products and experiences to places. Submissions can be conceptual, or at an early stage of development, but must have the potential to be realised.  continue...
 

German Design Standards: From Bauhaus to Globalisation

01/31/13  From the hidden store rooms at Die Neue Sammlung, one of the oldest and largest design museums in the world, a selection of German design classics convey the full impact of the ‘Made in Germany’ seal of approval. Ranging from the Industrial Age to the Bauhaus and post World War II, this comprehensive show reminds us that one of the first corporate identities in the world was designed in Germany – Peter Behrens’ for AEG. Pieces by Otl Aicher, Dieter Rams, Luigi Colani and Konstantin Grcic make clear the breadth of German design achievements.  continue...
 

Creative Conscience Award

01/29/13  Creative Conscience, the platform for innovative ideas that encompasses world-changing creativity has initiated an award geared towards work by students that use their creativity to make a positive change to a particular moral, ethical or worthwhile cause. Wide-ranging and generous in scope, the award offers a chance for the winning students to gain internships and bursaries, and to network with professionals in their respective fields.  continue...
 

Stockholm Design Week / Stockholm Furniture & Northern Light Fair

01/25/13  The world’s largest meeting point for Scandinavian design makes a trip north worthwhile, despite the cold and the dark at this time of year. This year over 40 high-profile satellite design events throughout Stockholm promise to connect with the main fair. Oki Sato, founder of the playfully minimalist Nendo design studio, is this year’s guest of honour and has been invited to create a lounge in the entrance hall of the main venue.  continue...
 

Mappamodello: Corporeal Geometries

01/23/13  Fashion designer Nanni Strada is interested in oriental fashion rooted in principles of geometry. In many eastern countries, clothing is traditionally viewed separately from specific bodies, not having the function it has in the western world of giving the body a particular shape. In 1974, Strada designed various models for the Arab-Islamic National Dress competition that later became classics. Mappamodello is a blueprint of these patterns that go beyond trends, sizes and generations.  continue...
 

imm Cologne 2013: Fair Report

01/21/13  Around 1200 exhibitors and 150,000 visitors from 50 countries make the imm Cologne furniture fair one of the main global business hubs of the furniture industry. We present a few impressions and our selection of the best of the new at the imm Cologne furniture week: here.
 

A Lesson in Research

01/17/13  Oceans represent unlimited freedom and great adventure, but they are also a globally occupied and toughly contested field of geopolitical significance. Within this fraught context, students from Laboratory Basel (a satellite studio of the Institute of Urban Architecture at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) explored an unlikely theme: architectural aspects of the Barents Sea, a body of water on the margins of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans to the north of Norway and the European part of Russia. Based on extensive research and an expedition to the region, the students developed ideas for projects: from a lighthouse and defence tower against …  continue...
 

Faking It – manipulated photography before Photoshop

01/16/13  Where would we be today without image editing? The Met’s exhibition on manipulated photography from the 1840s to the early 1990s shows us that the trickery of image enhancing is as old as the medium of photography itself. From photomontage to multiple exposure, the many techniques on display explore a longstanding desire to push the limits of the medium – and the fact that photography’s greatest fiction has been that “the camera never lies”.  continue...
 

Isn’t it Romantic?

01/14/13  As contradictory as the word “Romanticism” can be – encompassing positive attributes such as fantasy, irony and wonder, but also summoning associations with kitsch and material excess – as fascinating a contemporary exploration of this theme within the design world promises to be. The poetic and playful principles of the romantic can be discovered in the work of Hella Jongerius, Jaime Hayon, Doshi Levien or Philippe Starck. Tulge Beyerle, one of the directors of Vienna Design Week has curated this show that will coincide with the opening of the imm furniture fair in Cologne.  continue...
 

Heimtextil

01/09/13  The trade fair for home and contract textiles features innovation at all levels in terms of quality and functionality in the textile industry. As the annual starting point for manufacturers it is considered both a trend barometer and benchmark for high-grade textiles. It reflects the spirit of the times and the aspirations of the contemporary consumer.  continue...
 

Macht des Materials / Politik der Materialität

01/07/13  This series of lectures form part of an interdisciplinary studies programme and critically re-evaluate materials and materiality. This examination of the “material turn” brings together scientists with designers and artists in a wideranging discourse. Artists Anja Kirschner and David Panos, for example, will discuss with an economics expert “The Immateriality of Economy” on 10 Jan 2013. Thomas Schröpfer, Professor for Architecture and Sustainability will be in dialogue with Nicola Stattmann, product designer, on “The Promise of Smart Materials” on 22 Jan 2013, and on 5 Feb 2013 Diedrich Diederichsen tackles the philosophies of historical materialism and speculative realism.  continue...
 

Everything Was Moving

01/04/13  This major exhibition surveys photography from an international perspective. It takes us on an engrossing and visionary journey through the social and politicalrealities of two formative decades. Avoiding predictable big names and iconic images, the range of international photographers featured here reflect a tumultuous era from radically different social spheres. It includes works from the Malian studio photographer Malick Sidibe, and little known talents. The featured artists offer “a history of photography through the photography of history”.  continue...
 

Redesign+ Award 2013

01/02/13  Redesign+ is a call to designers and producers who have developed hitherto unrealized design prototypes and ideas for the re-use of materials. As part of an EU-wide initiative, and a partnership between Austria and Hungary, competition entries can be submitted within a number of categories that embrace broader urban issues of mobility and public space as well as accessories, and household and domestic objects.  continue...
 

See you again in 2013

12/31/12  Dear Readers, Dear Friends of form,

we are wishing you an enjoyable end of year, shared with your friends, colleagues and loved ones. We look forward to seeing you again in 2013!

(The photo shows a bar Martin Wenzel created for the 11 years celebration of studio MORGEN in Frankfurt. Also on page 114 of our current issue, form 245.)
 

Anton Stankowski

12/30/12  Anton Stankowski (1906–98) was one of the leading graphic designers, illustrators and photographers of his time. He had a defining influence on the received image of the Federal Republic of Germany with his experimental photography, snapshots, photo montages and documentary images. From the smallest detail of the everyday to large-scale street scenes, he amassed a vast archive of images, and this exhibition is an homage to his work both as photographer and designer. It can be visited until 27th of January 2013.  continue...
 

Bildrollen und Manga

12/28/12  A unique perspective on the Japanese tradition of illustration and storytelling features, caricatures and Manga cartoons that have never before been seen outside Japan. There are 30 original illustrations of the comic “Barefoot through Hiroshima” – a milestone in the history of Manga as it addressed a taboo theme for the fi rst time; namely the dropping of the atom bomb. Political satire and commentary as an integral aspect of this genre features strongly here as is a merging of Japanese imagery with European styles at the beginning of the modern era.  continue...
 

Expected: Louis Kahn – The Power of Architecture

12/27/12  This large-scale retrospective of one of the most lyrical architects of the 20th century features over 40 selected buildings alongside newly constructed and historic models, plans and original drawings and films. Kahn’s complex spatial compositions, his elemental formal vocabulary and his extraordinary choreography of light and architecture set him apart from the modernists and post-modernists of his lifetime.  continue...
 

Bass Awards – International Awards of Broadcast Design

12/26/12  The Bass Awards reflect the exponential growth of broadcast design in recent years, and focus on high-profi le visual design in this sphere from around the world – ranging from fi lm to television. Visual design that excels in this field adds a competitive edge to a product. The categories include the best commissioned pieces, best logo design and the most innovative on-air branding.  continue...
 

PIXAR – 25 Years of Animation

12/24/12  Over 500 exhibits that illustrate the development of computer-animated feature fi lms at Pixar are shown in Germany for the fi rst time. Pixar revolutionised this fi lm genre with Toy Story – which has now been seen by over 40 million fi lmgoers – and this show is an in-house celebration revealing the art of animation behind the scenes. Traditional methods of sketching, painting and sculpting the familiar cartoon fi gures are still employed to develop the characters. The exhibition also features a making-of fi lm and numerous interactive elements for the visitors.  continue...
 

Utopia is Possible. ICSID, Eivissa, 1971

12/23/12  What may at first sight seem like an obscure reference – the 7th Congress of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) held in Eivissa (Ibiza) in 1971, organised by the Association for Industrial Design and the Promotion of the Decorative Arts (ADI/FAD), is celebrated here as a breakthrough in collaborative thinking between international design, architecture and art. Works in a range of materials pay homage to the performative and playful way in which conventions were cast aside for this mutual discourse on designing futures.  continue...
 

Dressing the 20th Century

12/22/12  The Belgian fashion museum presents an exceptional selection of masterpieces and new acquisitions from its own collection. This exhibition illustrates the changing dialogue of women’s fashion in the West, it concentrates on the very diverse group of fashion talents from the Limburg region including Raf Simons, Maison Limberg, Martin Margiela, Les Hommes, and emerging talents such as Sofie Claes.  continue...
 

World Design Capital, Helsinki

12/20/12  Design events and exhibitions have permeated the city throughout the year, and continue with a Global Nordic Design exhibition, a large-scale food and design market that will feature pop up restaurants, talks and food design, ‘Font Walks’ discovering graphic design throughout Helsinki, and exhibitions and events on “Transforming the City”. Also worth seeing are solo shows about Thomas Sarraceno, and award winning architects Snøhetta. For the full programme see website wdchelsinki2012.fi.  continue...
 

Wood Loop – On Bending and Breaking

12/17/12  The long history of woodworking has been influenced by countless technological and design developments that extend the possibilities for shaping and forming this material.
A new digital cutting process, called Dukta, developed by Swiss designers Christian Kuhn, Serge Lunin and Ralf Michel is based on making precise cuts in solid wood to give it a 3-dimensional fl exibility.
This can radically alter the properties of the wood, and to illustrate the wealth of possibilities, this exhibition features architects, designers and artists to develop its full potential.  continue...
 

form 245: Sharing – Vom Ich zum Wir

12/13/12  With the recent insolvency of the Frankfurter Rundschau and the demise of the Financial Times Deutschland, it has become clearer than ever that magazines and newspapers need a strong identity and a distinctive profile to survive in the embattled marketplaces of economy and attention, not to mention the vanity fairground. It is enough to make you want to shout: “No one has ever grown by downsizing!” to all those who are no longer interested in remaining publishers, conspicious only for the way they keep merging editorial staff teams. Identity and profile cannot be strengthened if journalists increasingly feel forced to follow the – often very alluring – temptations and pre-selections set by marketing, PR and advertising. Of one thing we are certain: neither your curiosity nor ours is aroused by the obvious. Only by actively seeking out the hidden, the dormant and the ignored can we consistently identify the genuinely new ([D³] Contest preview), rediscover the almost forgotten (AG Fronzoni) and critically highlight connections (Discourse and Past Present Future).  continue...
 

Design Biennale Istanbul

12/06/12  Istanbul will establish the first instalment of a new design biennial this year with two exhibitions: Musibet, curated by Emre Arolat and Adhocracy curated by Domus magazine editor, Joseph Grima. While Arolat’s show will tackle the aestheticization context and anticontext, Grima’s show will refl ect today’s fundamental shift in design processes with the advent of social and cultural networks. The accent here is on self-organizations, platforms of exchange, micromanaging and empowering networks of grass-roots production. Expect the maker community to be represented in large numbers.  continue...
 

Newtopia. The State of Human Rights

12/03/12  An opportunity for all designers seeking to test their moral and political stance, this international contemporary art exhibition builds upon the long relationship between art and human rights and charts the development of the human rights movement since the post-war era.
Many of the 70 artists involved come from countries where such rights cannot be taken for granted. Includes Mona Hatoum, Hans Haacke, Alfredo Jaar and David Goldblatt.  continue...
 

Slanted Magazine #20: Slab Serif

12/02/12  The Industrial Revolution in Britain saw the emergence of the slab or square serifs. They soon appeared on advertising posters and flyers, catching attention with their strong visual impact. With their recently published 20th issue, the editors of Slanted magazine want to refocus some attention on these typefaces which, in central Europe at least, have become rather neglected.
The design of this magazine for typography and graphic design pursues a development that was already evident in earlier issues: the overlapping of various layers and the interlocking or mixing of categories. Individual elements, such as photographs in a series, push content into the following sections. In issue #19, the editorial ended up on the last page, and this time it has fallen right out of the magazine.
In this vein, the current issue launches straight into the content and a great flood of images. The familiar navigation point to the back section of the magazine where there is additional background information about the various illustrations and projects.  continue...
 

The Problem with Plastic

12/01/12  Every three months, we are supposed to get a new toothbrush. The old one is thrown away, along with inconceivable amounts of other plastic products. We use so much plastic, so often that that we no longer even notice how much we waste. But the impact on nature is huge. The (now infamous) Great Pacific Garbage Patch is only one example of the gigantic carpets of unwanted plastic waste cloggong our oceans.
From 18 Dec, Hamburg’s Museum for Applied Arts (MKG) takes a look at the issue of plastic and how we deal with it in the exhibition ‘Out To Sea? The Plastic Garbage Project’.  continue...
 

It’s Nice That: In Progress

11/30/12  Championing creativity across the art and design world is the aim of the people from ‘It’s Nice That’, not only in their digital blog, but also in various real-world events. Their next one-day conference, scheduled for 7 Dec, is called ‘In Progress’. The organisers aim to showcase pioneering ideas and projects from 2012 and discuss their potential influence.  continue...
 

Art and Design in Miami

11/28/12  Art Basel Miami Beach is to the art scene what Cannes is to the film industry: art dealers, collectors, critics and art lovers rub shoulders with celebrities and the glitterati. Over the past decade, this fair initiated by Sam Keller, former director of Art Basel, has grown steadily and is now flanked by ‘Design Miami – The Global Design Forum’, taking place at the same time.
This integrated design fair offers high-quality curated exhibitions and new works from design studios and agencies, presented and marketed by specialist galleries and dealers. The fair’s director is Marianne Goebl – a former director at Vitra Editions.
Also at Design Miami, designers present their working methods in workshops, while exhibitions around the city showcase design objects by modern high-end pioneers and contemporary limited editions. Various themed talks highlight individual developments in the scene, and the winner of this year’s Designer of the Year Award, Vito Acconci, will inaugurate a playground specially designed for the Miami Design District.  continue...
 

Shaping Tomorrow’s World: Moscow Urban Forum and the Strelka Institute

11/27/12  Moscow finds itself at an interesting point in history: years of stability and economic development have led to a higher standard of living, the average income and the quality of life have risen and the city’s inhabitants expect much from themselves and their surroundings. By contrast, however, the city’s appearance and infrastructure have hardly changed.
The Moscow Urban Forum, taking place on 4–5 Dec, tackles this theme under the title ‘Megacities at Human Scale’. Speakers include Richard Daley (former mayor of Chicago), Simon Anholt (author of ‘Brand America: The Mother of All Brands’), Alejandro Aravena (architect and member of the jury for the Pritzker Prize), Deyan Sudjic (director of the London Design Museum) and Robin Chase (founder of Zipcar and Buzzcar).
The forum’s programme was developed by the Strelka Institute, a kind of modern education centre.  continue...
 

L.A. Auto Show und Design Challenge

11/26/12  North America is still the world’s largest market for the car industry – even if China and Brazil are catching up fast – and it still has some of the biggest automotive fairs to prove it. Besides the Detroit Motor Show, traditionally held in January, the main attraction is the Los Angeles Auto Show, which opened its doors to specialist visitors on 28 Nov 2012. Southern California is home to a contrasting mix of old and new economy, tradition and modernity, extraordinarily bad and especially good design, all mixed up into a vibrant whole.  continue...
 

Russia’s Best: Lissitzky and Kabakov in Eindhoven

11/25/12  In 2013, the Netherlands and Russia celebrate their friendship, as the long-standing ties between the two countries are deepened and carried into the future with innovative cultural, economic and political projects. Since international relations are never just about peace, love and understanding, the Dutch government say they would like to use this year to re-launch a political dialogue with Russia.  continue...
 

The Ulm Talks: Annelys de Vet

11/24/12  The Ulm Talks in 2012 have focused upon “the politics of design”, and attract leading designers and thinkers. Annelys de Vet is a graphic designer best known for creating subjective atlases of Palestine and Serbia, counteracting the primarily negative imagery and press that shape our awareness of these states. Her collaborative designs with artists engender a more human vantage point.  continue...
 

The Architect – Past and Present of a Profession

11/21/12  Until 3 February 2013, visitors to Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne can see an exhibition organized by the architecture museum at Munich Technical University about the history of architecture in general and the role of the architect in particular.
The show focuses on various aspects of the profession: historical context and its development; the status of the architect in various cultures based on portrayals in myths, stories and films as well as the tools and aids required for a range of specific planning briefs. This rich content is matched by a wealth of media: photographs, models, films and original plans offer useful insights for both experts and non-architects.  continue...
 

Inside Appliances

11/14/12  Vacuum cleaners, printers and coffee machines are appliances we use on a day-to-day basis. We can deduce their functions from their outward form – but how these functions are delivered (what kind of technology the devices contain) is not usually revealed by this exterior. On 16 November, Berlin’s ‘Museum of Things’ opens an exhibition offering new insights into technical appliances and their shells.
The artist and model maker Matias Bechtold reinterprets the inside of devices as a habitat, thus drawing attention to their special properties. Little becomes large and the real dimensions of an object, be it a vacuum cleaner or a skyscraper, become less important as the focus shifts to structural affinities of shape and design. The back of a television set suddenly becomes a futuristic building or a cockpit – and a portable vacuum cleaner becomes a spaceship.  continue...
 

Beyond Tellerrand

11/13/12  This two day conference, plus a further day of intensive, small-scale designer workshops are sure to draw a number of web enthusiasts. Andy Baio, collaborative software programmer, Ben Bodien of Neutron Creations and Hellicar and Lewis, creators of marathon social network events, are amongst this year’s
speakers.  continue...
 

UrbanTec – Smart Technologies for Better Cities

10/21/12  Since 2007 there have been more people living in cities and metropolitan areas than in the countryside. The implications for infrastructure and the urgent need for sustainable planning – for mobility, building and networks, for energy and water resources – are challenges that this event confronts. The timely trade fair presents system solutions and products for urban infrastructures from market and technology leaders, and is accompanied by a high level conference.  continue...
 

form 244: Erneuerbare Tradition – Secrets to a Long Life in Design

10/10/12  Our relationship with history is ambivalent. At one time or another, we all wrestle with aspects of our past – a wrong decision, a missed opportunity, or even a loss of memory – as reflected in the often-heard sighs of “if only I’d done …” or “things were better back then”. Even “former glory” may pursue those concerned for the rest of their lives if they come to see themselves as has-beens.
The pasts of our respective nations also refuse to leave us in peace. Whether we like it or not, we are obliged to deal with various excesses of torture, persecution or killing. Designers have ways and means of representing, illustrating and visualizing this process of coming to terms with history in very concrete terms, and we can only hope that they do so much more often in the future.  continue...
 

Common Ground: 13th Architecture Biennale

10/09/12  The entire architecture profession seems to descend upon Venice for this huge and countless independent shows. The city’s secret palazzos, garden pavilions and former munitions storage spaces are taken up with installations, performances and exhibitions that lay claim architecture discourse. This year David Chipperfield has chosen a title and theme that celebrates architectural culture as vitali interwoven with numerous other disciplines. Common Ground denotes a crucial mutuality in shaping and rethinking our cities; the political, social and public realms.  continue...
 

form 243: Architektur – Just Big Design?

09/12/12  We used this year’s 13th Architecture Biennale in Venice as an occasion to take stock of the relationship between architecture and design (page 30 and page 50). This major event in the architectural calendar is curated this year by David Chipperfield, who has chosen “Common Ground” as his motto. The German contribution, conceived by architect Muck Petzet, approaches the theme in a manner familiar to designers with an exhibition entitled: “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” designed by Konstantin Grcic. This, we felt, was reason enough to ask British curator Francesca Ferguson, the German commissioner for the 9th Architecture Biennale in 2004, to conduct an interview with Petzet and Grcic about their own common ground as architect and designer.  continue...
 

The magazine form has a new owner and a new editorial team

06/06/12  The continued existence of form, one of the world’s longest running and best-know design magazines, is secured. As of April 2012, chartered accountant and consultant Prof. Dr. Peter Wesner is the sole owner of the form publishing company and therefore the new publisher of the magazine form. The renewed independent status of the publishing company will grant the new editorial team, under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Stephan Ott and Executive Editor Sophie Lovell the flexibility to bring fresh input to the magazine. A re-launch planned for 2013 with a broadening of scope and a stronger international focus will also be reflected in the magazine’s design.

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