Posted by
core jr | 5 Jun 2012
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In case you missed it, the American Design Club put on a great show under the banner Raw + Unfiltered during ICFF. Our photo editors captured our faves in the NY Design Week Photo Gallery but now we've got a great look at the behind the scenes!
Meet the five managing members of AmDC, check out great insight from participating designers (we were particularly psyched about Fort Standard's bronze candelabra's cast from the sprues at 1:11). Interviews with Kiel Mead, Bec Brittain, Henry Julier, Fort Standard, Annie Lennon, Sam Cochran and more. (Warning...gratuitous plug at the end of the video.)
Posted by
Ray | 5 Jun 2012
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We've documented the work of our friends at Hellman-Chang as exhaustively as any studio, but it's worth revisiting their work on the occasion of ICFF, where Daniel and Eric debuted several new pieces.
"Avery" Chair
The "Anora" lamp marks Hellman-Chang's first foray into lighting.
"Parker" dining table
If the centerpiece was the new "Parker" dining table, the live workshop was the main attraction. One of their studio assistants invited passersby to try their hand at carving the legs of their iconic "Z side table."
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Posted by
core jr | 4 Jun 2012
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Photography by Perrin Drumm & Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77
New York Design Week was back in full force this year with an abundance of satellite shows which added some welcome substance to the design week's festivities. The most notable of these was Wanted Design who returned for their second year with an amazing line-up of work including François Chambard's crowd pleasing interactive Craft System.
The NoHo Design District grew in scale with some really inspiring work seen at new Standard, East Village hotel with group shows Hotel California, Scale, the Sonos Listening Library, and a live demonstration from Wicklow woodworker James Carroll in the hotel bar window.
The American Design Club's Raw + Unfiltered show focused on material and process, Model Citizen presented a diverse range of work from young designers and this amazing interactive installation by Brooklyn-based design collective The Principals who lead a team of 20 students from the Art Institute of New York City to build it.
Checkout the gallery for more highlights from this year, and if you missed our exhibition OPEN, there's a gallery here featuring all the work.
» View Gallery
Posted by
LinYee Yuan | 1 Jun 2012
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New York City-based industrial designer Lindsey Adelman is best known for her wonderfully crafted lights that incorporate hand-blown glass shades and brass armatures. Besides debuting new lighting and interior objects, Adelman showcased her manufacturing process in a live workshop staged for ICFF. Highlighting the intersection of craft and made-to-order practices, Adelman's team busied themselves wiring sockets and assembling handblown-globes to brass tubing.
It was great to see the evolution of Adelman's explorations in interior objects. As we reported last year, Adelman first played in the space with collaborative items and even did a small jewelry collection for the Sight Unseen pop-up shop. This year's collection expands the vocabulary of her lighting and tabletop objects taking cues from the unexpected beauty found in nature.
The Stalactite Candleabra was originally inspired by "icicles melting off an aging barn"—translucent glass structures hang from a coral-like brass armature.
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Posted by
LinYee Yuan | 1 Jun 2012
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We were delighted to see Core77 friend François Chambard of UM Project at the opening of WantedDesign 2012, but were even more delighted to see the debut of his Craft System collection. In our NY Design Week studio visit previews, we got a line on the new collection at UM Project HQ in Brooklyn when Chambard mentioned that he'd be debuting a piece at ICFF with three market-ready variations. For Wanted he planned to "take this same piece and doing a series of totally unexpected, whimsical, playful and serious versions."
The Craft System, "takes a system approach to craft, blurring the line between the mass-produced and the handmade." A single Corian base serves as a foundation for an LED Grid or small incandescent light bulbs—an oversized dial on the face of the base invites users to "dial-in" to the fun and interact with the light. Varying tops and bottoms combine to create an infinite number of playful lighting options.
Two variations of the Atum Lamp
We love Chambard's approach to the market—the Craft System highlights the strengths of an independent designer that can turn their limited and specialized production capabilities, "into an advantage by enabling the manufacturing of market-ready series and one-off pieces at the same time." This philosophy of "serious play" opened the door to the wonderfully whimsical Theremin, Greenhouse and robot shapes.
Core77 had an opportunity to chat with François about his unique project to get some insight into Sci-Fi inspirations, the development of his "silver bullet" base and his plan to add a new piece to the Craft System each month.
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Core77: Where did the inspiration come from for the Craft System Project?
François Chambard: As a member of the New York design community, it is important to show some work during Design Week. But somehow I have always struggled with the dual format ICFF vs. off-site shows. One is too corporate and business-driven. The other ones are too artsy. I am neither a business person nor an artist, but I am somewhere in the middle, immersed in the marketplace with a point-of-view and a story to share. I was looking for a format to show what UM Project does—a combination of unique, one-of-a-kind projects and production work sold at retail—in a novel and engaging way. Like so much of our other work, mixing cues from industry and craft was the obvious answer and Craft System does it quite literally. A central part speaks the language of industry: standardized, repeated, manufactured. Attachments speak the language of craft: unique, unexpected, handmade. The formula was established, providing the key to multiple variations. Hence the name, Craft System.
This year provided a unique opportunity to show new work in a different way during New York Design Week. We knew that Wanted Design would make a great comeback for its second year. Very early, we decided to use it to our advantage by sharing a story and a process at Wanted Design, while still being visible at ICFF, showcasing products for the trade. Craft System was our message. Wanted Design provided us the medium and it has worked just wonderfully.
From a formal point-of-view, inspirations for Craft System comes from the imaginary and the real worlds with designs inspired by comics and appliances, toys and tools, sci-fi movies and science labs. Design-wise, Craft System mixes multiple influences including Memphis through the stacking of simple geometric shapes, and mid-century modern design, especially Jean Prouvé, through the mix of the tech-y and the beautifully functional.
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Posted by
LinYee Yuan | 1 Jun 2012
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Kyle Fleet's "Private Rocker" for Rest and Concentration
Herman Miller's annual showcase of student work at this year's ICFF looked to define a healthier and brighter future where well-defined personal spaces bridged the experience between office and home.
Cranbrook Academy of Art's Department of 3D Design tackled the question of Rest and Concentration in the workplace. "If new work cultures require an integration of living and working, then what is the new vision of physical rest in a professional setting?" Kyle Fleet's "Private Rocker" project creats visual and acoustic privacy perfect for working on a tablet or laptop (above).
Matthew Plumstead's "Integrated Workstation" allows for a flexible workflow from standing-sitting-reclining by including a daybed in its design.
Douglas Leckie's "Tri-fold Bench" employs upholstered panels to transform group seating to personal daybed.
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Posted by
Ray | 31 May 2012
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We're well aware that the majority of our U.S. design coverage focuses on certain urban areas known for their highly concentrated creative capital... which might be why stories on the likes of, say, 2nd Shift Studio are so well-received.
Misewell is an independent furniture studio that hails from the heartland, predating the Cleveland upstarts by a couple years—the Georgeson brothers made their ICFF debut back in 2009. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based duo prides itself on local production, and they were pleased to make a triumphant return to the furniture fair with several new products.
The Tokyo lamp comes in two sizes
Fun fact, via Paul: "Misewell comes from the slang for 'might as well' or 'may as well,' so it's pronounced like myze-well."
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Posted by
Ray | 31 May 2012
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We finally had a chance to check out a few new designs from Design House Stockholm, which have been making tradeshow rounds as of earlier this year, at their booth at the ICFF. (It doesn't get much more Scandinavian than this... not that that's a bad thing by any means.)
The new "Form" pendant lamp (at top and above) is the namesake of up-and-coming Swedish design trio Form Us with Love.
Lamps are like people, they are happiest in families. The Form Pendants from design group Form Us With Love are a bunch of glass lamps that are stronger as a group. The basis consists of three blown glass forms borrowed from the timeless world of the light bulb with industrial shades and globes but refined to a beautiful abstraction in white with a spatial sensation. The idea is that we should find our own combinations of lamps at work, or at home above the dinner table... [from] Three lamps together or 25 of them in an illuminated sculptural mobile.
The blown-glass fixtures take halogen bulbs.
From left: The Cord lamp and Work Lamp Gold are also by FUWL, shown alongside iconic block lamps.
The "Rock" chair by Fredrik Färg is essentially a rocking chair that has been reduced to its simplest possible form, developed by the designer "during an exchange term in Australia where I was given an assignment to created a chair using only MDF board and a jig saw." He relates that "It was a challenge to produce something personal and coherent using the simplest means."
Rock Chair is a knock-down design sold in a flat pack. The five pieces are easy to fit together. When the chair has been assembled, the construction is its expressive feature. Nothing is hidden and one can see how the chair holds together. There is a toy-like charm to its simplicity. As a model, Rock Chair is like a drawing that one can sit on, as beautiful as it is cleverly functional.
Rocking chairs encourage one to sit for a long time. While working on the Rock Chair Fredrik also had the idea of producing soft cushions for it. The round cushions are a graphically elegant addition to the generous forms of the rocking chair and make it comfortable. Rock Seat comes in two variants, one in leather and one in cotton canvas. The idea is that the cushions should last for a long time and gain a more beautiful patina with the passing of the years.
Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 31 May 2012
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It's no surprise that people were flocking to the affordable and approachable pieces at the massive Blu Dot space at ICFF. This time around, Blu Dot got a little luxe with a few of their classic designs, like the ubiquitous Real Good Chair. Formerly the chair has only been offered in red, black, white and aqua, but now it comes in glorious copper. Sturdier and heavier than its thin, powder coated steel counterpart, the copper version will patina with age, like a fine leather chair. No word yet on what the price will be, but even if it's twice as much as the current $139 version, it'd still fit in with Blu Dot's modest price point.
The second piece worth noting is the Stamp table, a low lying coffee table that works indoors or out. Like the Real Good Chair, the Stamp's base comes in a few bright powder coated varieties with a glass table top, but it was the shiny copper model with a white marble top that caught my eye. This one's so new there aren't even any decent pictures of it yet, but Blu Dot is working on getting it up on their site, so stay tuned. BONUS: Check out more pics from Blu Dot's new collection after the jump.
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Posted by
Ray | 31 May 2012
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Brooklyn-based designer Brian Volk-Zimmerman can claim a bit of heritage that many of his fellow RISD grads can't muster: his great-great-great uncle John Volk was a "furniture maker of local renown in the early 19th Century." Thus, Volk-Zimmerman's semi-eponymous efforts are an endeavor to "honor a family tradition that he discovered when he found a simply-constructed wooden side chair in the attic of the family farmhouse in which he grew up... The promise of Volk Furniture is that future generations will treasure the simplicity, care and craft embodied in each piece."
Origin aside, the Volk-Zimmerman produces uncommonly fine furniture with a strong sense of craftsmanship and attention to detail in equal measure, and his booth at the ICFF was an understated standout if there ever was one. Of his latest work, he says:
The Spring 2012 collection by Volk Furniture expands on the themes of incorporating re-purposed vintage items and using the tactile beauty of wood and fabrics in unique and inspired ways. Inlaid brass follows the patterns formed by pinhole knots in the solid walnut body of the dresser and hutch. Harris Tweed as upholstery imbues a chair with both style and history and also serves as a beautiful screen for whatever one might store behind the sliding doors of the hutch. Vintage typewriter keys not only mark the focal point of a circular side table of fumed white oak, but can personalize a stool.
The Walnut Dresser with a matching hutch features a Harris tweed panels on the sliding doors and the subtlest of inlays: tiny brass eyes inserted into the existing pinhole knots.
Photo by Maria-Teresa Capelle-Burny, courtesy of Volk Furniture
The custom "mid-century inspired brass V-shaped pulls" match those of the cerused white oak side table, which is paired with a different shirting fabric as the interior lining of the drawers.
Abigail's stool is inlaid with vintage typewriter keys
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Posted by
LinYee Yuan | 31 May 2012
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Since 1875, Japanese manufacturer Kaikado has been creating beautifully crafted tin canisters, Chazutsu for tea and drygoods storage. These airtight containers are simple, everyday objects of form and function that get better with use—the patina from regular handling can be admired below and some Kaikado chazutsu have been passed down through generations. The 6th generation family-run company has been handcrafting each canister from their Kyoto-based studio for over 130 years.
The manufacturing process for the Kaikado chazutsu involves anywhere between 130 to 140 steps, "the hand-made tea caddies have virtually remained true to the designs established by Kaikado's founding generation. The die and mold used in the early years of the company is still in use today, whilst some shapes of tea caddy used 130 years ago are still in production today."
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Posted by
Ray | 30 May 2012
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Yep, that's more or less exactly what it looks like: the sweetest ping pong table you've ever seen. The "Pingtuated Equilipong" by Akke Functional Art is intended to embody a quantum leap in sport and dining alike with the convertible piece.
Niles Eldredge and Stephen J. Gould's Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium proposes that most species exhibit little evolutionary variation for most of their history until rare and rapid events create significant changes.
The ping pong table has just experienced such a phenomenon. This regulation-size ping pong table (that converts to a dining table by removing the 'net') has revolutionized the traditional form.
Since the photos from ICFF hardly do it justice, designer and principal Axel Yberg was happy to provide hi-res photos of the piece...
The materials, per his description: "Mulberry, Chinese chestnut, black walnut, sycamore, red oak, black locust, cherry, holly, sassafras, and ash, reclaimed plumbing pipes and fittings, glass, mirror, steel, aircraft cable, and Edison reproduction light bulbs."
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Posted by
LinYee Yuan | 30 May 2012
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Stars Above Desk Lamp is a take on 2011's We Are Made of Stars LED Floor Lamp. The colors and form is a nice nod to Memphis.
If the pegboard flooring didn't tip you off, Core77 fave Joseph Ribic of Cleveland-based Objeti takes pride in the hands-on crafting process for his furniture. For 2012's ICFF, Objeti debuted a collection that explores familiar archetypes of Americana.
Objeti's Windsor Chair is a subtle take on that American classic and the Shaker tradition of woodworking. The spindles that make up the back of the chair gently slope into a comfortable seat.
Ribic demonstrates the opening action of his new side table. It has a multi-tiered hinge opening that was inspired by old school sewing boxes and fishing tackle boxes.
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Posted by
Ray | 30 May 2012
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It was bound to happen sooner or later: this year's ICFF saw not only a handful of (good-to-excellent) satellite shows but also a satellite of a satellite. In homage to the original Salon des Refusés, the 1867 exhibition held outside the official Paris Salon, the nine designers in the 2012 edition have set up some 15 blocks south of the 'parent' exhibition, Sawkill Lumber's 12x12 at WantedDesign.
The city's first flash furniture exhibit made it's debut during New York Design Week 2012, with record crowds passing through the outdoor location at the intersection of 9th Ave. & 14th St. in NYC's Meatpacking District. The show included local designer/makers that were not accepted by a juried show, organizing as a Salon des Refuses (French: Exhibit of the Refused)...
The works, made of locally reclaimed lumber, and a range of other refuse, are a mix of furniture types—benches, chairs, tables, consoles, and an iChamber (part homage to its location opposite the Apple Store). Whether the furniture measures up to other 2012 Design Week installations (the public and critics will judge), does not detract from it's celebration of local craftsmanship, sustainability and public accessibility.
The exhibit is free to the public. As one Refusé reported, "People have interacted with the furniture and designers, and appreciate the relaxed outdoor spot. We definitely didn't feel refused. Other NY Design Week events, by economic necessity, need to charge for admission, though attendees experience an exceptional collection of international and local design. It's hoped that future NY design weeks serve to engage the public more widely and that the success of the Salon des Refusés in terms of public outreach and the inclusion of designers with limited marketing resources, can be multiplied. Restraint in branding the event critical to it's happening.
John Pellinghelli (Whiskey Neat) - The Whiskey Neat Bar (red spruce t/g flooring, scrap metal)
Mairo Notton - Hi-Lo Bench (various pallet woods)
Matthew Hogan (Reliquary Studio) - Refuses Coffee Table (301 W 72nd St)
While it's not quite as cheeky (or outright egalitarian) as the DENNIS Design Center in Milan, the Salon de Refusés was a success, insofar as it embodied both the conscientious mission of Sawkill Lumber and a more public approach to the design festival.
Tony Stanzione (Stanzione Studio) - 2 Chairs (found chairs, reclaimed sapele)
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Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 30 May 2012
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After Artek, the Finnish furniture design powerhouse, turned 75 in 2010 their goal was to expand their time-honored collection of furniture that Alvar Aalto developed in the 30's and 40's and begin collaborations with like-minded architects and designers. "While valuing traditions Artek has at the same time entered a new era. Combining the ideology of the radical founders and a contemporary and dynamic approach to product development, the company is more art and tech than ever."
At ICFF this year, Artek debuted an expansion of their Kiki collection, which earned Ilmari Tapiovaara the gold prize at the Milan Triennale in 1960. Called the godfather of Nordic modernism, Tapiovaara skyrocketed to fame with his Domus chair collection. An interior architect, he noted that "a chair is not just a seat—it is the key to the whole interior." With the Kiki collection, he furthered his goal to design inexpensive furniture for a broader audience. As opposed to Tapiovaara's more organic forms, Kiki is extremely pared down and clean cut. Made from steel tubing instead of wood—his usual material of choice—the Kiki chairs are stackable and durable, and are one of the most popular pieces of public furniture in Finland. For ICFF, Artek added a range of new color options for the fabric on the chairs, benches, lounges and sofas.
Artek's presentation also included the Lento chair by Harri Koskinen. "Lento," Koskinen said, "means flights and its design can be associated with lightness and airiness." He started designing the collection in 2006, and has recently expanded it to include an upholstered version of the chair and lounge chair. Like Tapiovaara, Koskinen wanted to design something practical and affordable. "He searches for clarity and innovative solutions that meet the needs of the consumer and the manufacturer alike. Lento is a graphic product family, but also pleasantly anonymous."
Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 30 May 2012
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I've been impressed with the work coming out of Autoban's Instanbul-based studio ever since I saw their first interior project for the House Cafe restaurants in Turkey. After the success of the Instinye location, which featured large clocktower-shaped framework structures that resemble human-sized birdcages, Autoban designed two more restaurant interiors for House in 2008 and 2009. For New York Design Week, Autoban brought their work Stateside and we finally got a chance to see their blend of luxury and handcrafted design in person.
You might have seen the Q&A that Matter hosted at ICFF with Autoban's founders Seyhan Ozdemir and Sefer Caglar, who spoke about the four new products they collaborated on with De La Espada for their 2012 collection. Three of their pieces were also on display at Matter's design week pop-up location: the Tulip Lamp, the Reedy Bookcase and the Deer Armchair, so called because its legs and arms are "inspired by the thin and fragile legs of a deer." The Reedy Bookcase is a sliding, modular unit that allows you to customize it according to your space. This one gets its name from "the tall, water-side grasses of nature," but I prefer my interpretation of Reedy as a play on the word read, which is what you do with the books you stack in it, right? All these sleek pieces (and more!) are available from Matter's online shop for a price, but hey, those massive ICFF booth spaces don't come cheap.
Pill Lights
Daisy Lamp on Holy Table and Butterfly Chairs.
Tulip Lamp, Nest Chair, Reedy Bookcase
Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 29 May 2012
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Designed for people convalescing at home, the Throne by Universal Kinetics is a modular, highly configurable furniture system that's less expensive than the standard issue in-home hospital bed and attractive enough to use later on. The Throne is basically made of two boxes on wheels. One box supports a "surprisingly comfortable" couch with side tables and lamps than can be attached per your specifications. The other box holds a video monitor for watching movies and using the Internet. To turn the couch into a bed, simply roll the two boxes together to extend the platform. An extra perk are the sliding drawers that are built into the box, so you can store clothes, books etc. right underneath you.
The entire unit is controlled with SmartGrips, a super sensitive contoured grip sensor that can be attached around the neck of a lamp, for example. To change channels on TV or adjust the position of the bed you simply squeeze the grip - perfect for people with reduced motor skills who have trouble using small buttons on a standard remote. And when the convalescing period is over you can keep the Throne as a bed or take it apart for a rolling coffee table/storage unit, a home theatre or love seat. It even acts as its own shipping container and can be assembled at home with just a screwdriver. If images of IKEA are dancing in your head, fret not. With parts made by precise, computer-guided machinery and industrial strength hardware, the Throne is built to last.
The basic configuration starts at $1,300 and goes up from there depending on what features (drawers, trays, tables, a set-up for Tele-Medicine) you want to include. Use the visualization tool to see a rendering of your personalized configuration.
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Posted by
Ray | 29 May 2012
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As much as I hate to say it, I've heard the term "reclaimed wood" so much recently that it's starting to lose its meaning, perhaps as an inevitable corollary to the buzz surrounding sustainability and increasing demand for transparency... not to mention epiphenomena such as green fatigue.
In any case, Sawkill Lumber Co. is a NYC-based salvage outfit that specializes in that very thing, and based on their recent exhibition for NY Design Week 2012, I must say that they do it right. They partnered with non-profit Brooklyn Woods, Build-It-Green and 3rd Ward to produce 12x12 at WantedDesign, "a juried design event that brought together twelve designers and the lumber of twelve demolished New York City structures, each transforming the scrap woods into exceptional works of contemporary furniture."
The city's multi-layered history has been renewed through contemporary design, resulting in unique handcrafted furniture works. The 12 pieces will also be sold in a silent auction over the course of the exhibition and through May 25, 2012. Through Brooklyn Woods, a local non-profit, proceeds will benefit a citywide woodshop training program for low-income and high risk New Yorkers.
Nikolai Moderbacher - SI: Progress (862 Washington St., Manhattan)
Each piece is listed with the source of its raw material, a dozen fine timbers from four of the five boroughs.
Moderbacher's piece was a crowdpleaser
Louis Lim - Round & Round (1090 Legget Ave, Bronx)
It's hard to tell from the photos, but the drawer slides freely through the length of the circular bench. Suffice it to say that Lim's piece was a real showstopper
Ten more gems after the jump...
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Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 28 May 2012
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The San Francisco-based furniture brand, Council, used ICFF to debut its 2012 collection, which included Eric Pfeiffer's award-winning Plank collection and the striking Twig chairs, by Chad Wright. The extended back on the Twig was apparently inspired by the form of the Golden Gate Bridge. It adds a subtle touch of interest to the simple chair, but practically speaking it provides a hook for hanging a bag or a jacket. They come in an array of bright colors just in time for summer.
However, the ICFF Editor's Award for Outdoor Furniture went to the Plank collection, a series of lounges, tables and stacking chairs made from Perrennial Wood, a new material that Council decided to work with after the manufacturer expressed an interest in collaborating on an outdoor collection. With their relaxed slatted seat and minimal frame, the Plank is a contemporary take on the traditional Adirondack chair. Pfeiffer describes it as
...restrained, almost utilitarian in its material use. Each piece boasts a simple curve in wood lightly resting on a powder coated rod base to create an expressive, inviting form. Perennial Wood is a beautiful, humble material providing unique aesthetics and performance characteristics not currently available for the outdoor market.
Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 28 May 2012
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Similar to France's Nouvelle Vague exhibition at WantedDesign, DMY Berlin curated "BER-JFK" at 22 Bond as part of Noho Design District. The exhibition featured work by sixteen designers living and working in Berlin. Whereas most designers are either marketable or experimental, the showing from Berlin bridged both categories with products that are functional, often beautiful and play with form in exciting new ways.
Llotllov's Earl light is made of twenty wooden balls strung on a cable that you can adjust the height and angle of depending on your needs. The strand is capped off by a big wooden bead embedded with an LED light and covered with a silicone shade that you can rotate to direct the light stream.
Hermann August Weizenegger presented the Botanica light, inspired by striated forms in nature. The shade is both spooky and beautiful, resembling, perhaps, a floating marine organism, a strange rock formation or a curtain frozen mid-rise. You can't tell from the picture, but each layer is a sheer strip of fabric so that when it's illuminated in a dark room it gives off a warm glow.
Werner Aisslinger's Hemp Chair is a concept for a monobloc chair made by compressing natural fibers, in this case hemp and kenaf, with Acrodur, a water-based acrylic resin. Unlike other reactive resins, this method releases no phenol or formaldehyde during the cross-linking process. The only by-product of the curing procedure is water. "Design history is driven by new technologies and material innovation," said Aisslinger. "For us designers, the advent of these technologies has always been the starting point for new objects and typologies in design."
My favorite chair in the exhibition is David Geckeler's Fragment Side Chair, a powder-coated steel chair with a unique three-legged orientation. The two front legs have feet that are turned inwards and are balanced by a third tripod leg that extends directly from the chair back. Geckeler plays with form even more with the slightly angled seat and the notches cut in the lower back. Shown here in a sumptuous, light mossy green, Fragment is even more gorgeous in person.
Lastly, Aylin Kayser's show-stopping Schrank 11 is a cabinet inspired by Russian Matryoshka dolls. Made up of eleven cupboards, one placed inside the other, each piece can be taken out and used individually, stacked or hung on the wall. "The trans-generational, open-ended and participatory concept offers users an array of choices and ways of intervening in the system," said Kayser.
After leaving New York, the exhibition takes a break before heading to Buenos Aires Design Festival, Sao Paolo and Design Miami. See more of the work on the exhibition website.
Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 25 May 2012
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In 2011 Rich Brilliant Willing won the ICFF award for Best New Designer and now, just one year later, they seem like seasoned pros. Their booth was stocked with a few of last year's favorites along with their 2012 collection, the Cask Stool, Fawn Tables, Radient Light and Trig Floor Lamp (as seen in the Core77 OPEN!)—all thoughtful extensions of the simple but striking mix of materials and geometrical focus of their previous work.
The through-tenon joinery and metal braces used in the Cask Stools are reminiscent of the metal enclosures in RBW's popular Branch lighting series. The stools, available in two heights and two colors—white or ebonized oak—are fitted with a foot rest in either blackened steel or a very gorgeous satin brass plated steel. What I love about the white oak option is that at first it looks like a simple, nicely made wooden stool until your eyes drift downwards to the bling—and then POP! That one simple addition really makes the piece sing.
Like the Cask Stools, the beauty of the Fawn Tables is all in the details, like the way the solid wood table top angles inward to meet the legs, which are also solid wood. The simple, elegant design choices highlight the quality of the materials and the obvious consideration that went into the craftsmanship. "The construction includes an engineered solid wood top for rigidity and durability," making it a piece you buy for life.
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Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 25 May 2012
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In a charming French accent, Romain Lagrange explained the intricacies of "Gates," his wooden croquet set, to a small gathering that was equally charmed by his design objects on view at WantedDesign. Details like a hand-stitched leather-wrapped handle, a custom-made compressed cork mallet and six sycamore maple gates drive the price of this prototype upwards of $400. It's beautiful, though, and photos scarcely do justice to the truly stunning piece of craftsmanship. Except for the mallets, the entire set—six gates, two stakes and two balls—can be packed up into a tidy little carrying case, complete with a leather strap.
Lagrange decided to remake the croquet set because he felt the traditional game sets were cumbersome with too many parts that were awkward to transport. He also wanted to make the game more accessible by creating an indoor version, a throwback to Louis XIV who liked playing croquet but ultimately gave it up when he couldn't play during the winter months... which makes Lagrange's set fit for a king.
Posted by
Ray | 24 May 2012
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Nine designers continue their exploration of the original brief of the Designers in Residence program at Northumbria University, posted in full in our interview with Director Rickard Wittingham during the inaugural program last year. Once again, residents have set out to "investigate the language of task-focused objects"—i.e. tools—specifically to "design and make [or have produced] a tool that carries out one, some or all of the following physical actions: Ctrl. CSVXZ."
Neil Conley's poster design was featured on the newsletter, which included an excerpt from our interview with Rickard
To that end, the designers created working prototypes—and a requisite bit of documentation, per the directive to include "something that illustrates the design process"—that meet the primary criteria of "[not making] us look stupid when we show it in NYC." As this last tongue-in-cheek bit implies, the results were exhibited at the ICFF this past weekend, alongside several of last years' projects (again, seen in last year's coverage).
Tatsuya Akita's "Chronovora" (Ctrl +) were a personal favorite
David Irwin - Rivet Lights (Cmd+Opt+ -)
Philip Luscombe - Cabinet Knobs (Ctrl O)
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Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 24 May 2012
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France may be a leader in many disciplines—food, film, fashion, art—but so far design is not one of them. That, however, may be beginning to change. In the last three years France has been undergoing something of an "entrepreneurial design frenzy" with an accompanying design market boom and an influx of new design galleries. To show the world what France's emerging design scene has to offer, they're touring around an exhibition called "Nouvelle Vague: The New French Domestic Landscape."
The first stop on the tour was at WantedDesign, and if the five studios whose work was included in the show are any indication, France is on the cusp of not only one of the most refined, considered and beautifully crafted design movements, but one that honors the intellectual and conceptual side of design as well. Here, there were no cute lamps or chairs that were simply cool looking. Each design had not only a purpose but a philosophy.
Juan-Pablo Naranjo, a co-founder of Studio Nocc, expressed his fascination with design Darwinism, the evolution of objects and furniture design. After looking at how the design of a chair or table has changed over time, he considers the individual elements of a single piece of furniture and asks why it evolved that way and whether changing it - adding a kink in its evolutionary timeline—will increase its functionality. What he's discovered is that at the very least these modifications get people to reconsider the way they interact with daily objects.
Take, for example, Nocc's Hypertrophy Chair (above), a basic white chair with one curved, wooden armrest that we might call a normal, standard armrest, and one armrest that arcs from the chair's back down to the floor. How does elongating the armrest make your interaction with this chair different? Suddenly, with this one slight adjustment, it's no longer just a chair anymore. Now you're really thinking not just about how you're going to use this chair, but how you've come to treat chairs in general over the years. From a purely practical point of view, the extra long armrest is great for holding a blanket, your jacket or the newspaper, but it really does much more that.
In the Siamese Table, Nocc gives the side table a side table of its own. In their Objects of Sounds collection, the shapes of the vases, pendant lights and candlesticks are derived from the shape of a sound recording of your voice as your say the name of the object. Both black candlesticks are the physical manifestations of Nocc's two founders saying the same word (see a quick video of how it works).
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Posted by
core jr | 23 May 2012
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During NY Design Week 2012, Core77 has been following students from six design schools from the United States and France as they employed digital fabrication methods to compete in a 3-Day lighting challenge. Participating schools included Art Center College of Design, Parsons The New School for Design, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), ENSCI les ateliers, Ecole Boulle and Ecole supérieure d'art et design Saint-Etienne.
After a two-part competition where students were first asked to create individual designs and then assigned to teams, the race to the finish line was fast and furious.
In the end, the team of Johanna Lapray (ENSCI), Florent Julien (ENSCI) and Joseph Willet (SCAD) impressed our team of jurors: Core77 Editor-in-Chief Allan Chochinov, Dror Benshetrit, Giulio Cappellini, Simone Rothman (TaiPing) and Chantal Hamaide (Intramuros).
"The SUV Lamp impressed the jury because it was a big idea, perfectly executed and off the beaten path from most laser-cut modular lamps. It's sly use of the marble-ized 3M film, the front grill pattern, the 'volume described by a curved plane'—these were all very sophisticated elements that combined to create a very resolved, unique product." Core77 Congratulates all the students for a job well done!
Posted by
Perrin Drumm | 23 May 2012
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The main attraction at the Standard Hotel—aka Noho Design District HQ—was "Making 101," a live demonstration from Makers & Brothers, a design and craft collective located in Ireland. Jonathan and Mark Legge (the brothers) teamed up to create "an online retail venture founded on simple things; the handmade, objects of integrity, contemporary vernaculars, a curation of everyday design and craft." They had an offering of some of the items they sell online available for purchase, like Padraig Larkin's Willow Rattle made with nuts inside, the housemade Wooden Spinning Top and the 3-Legged Stools by James Carroll, who was making them there in person.
Based on an old Irish milking stool archetype, Carroll's stools are roughly hewn; The seat is smooth but pocked with his carvings and the legs are whittled to an approximate size and then fitted into the base of the seat. Carroll moved with ease around the stacks of timber in his temporary studio in the front window of the Standard. While we chatted it was clear he had made this stool hundreds of times. The back and forth motion of working the shaving-horse was so natural to him that he didn't miss a stroke as he casually reached into his pocket and handed me his business card.
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FRIEZE NEW YORK 2013
INTERNATIONAL HOME + HOUSEWARES SHOW 2013
TOKYO DESIGN WEEK 2012
BEIJING DESIGN WEEK 2012
