Designboost has explored the personal viewpoint of sustainable cities of some of
the worlds most acknowledged designers. To find out Designboost went to
Milan Design Week and made a MiniBoost.
The MiniBoost resulted in thirteen unique interviews. The seven first interviews are released and include personalities like Ilse Crawford, Tom Dixon, Konstantin Grcic, Arik Levy, Ross Lovegrove, Katrin Olina and Satyendra Pakhale.
The questions asked look at sustainable cities from a holistic point of view and touch among other subjects sustainability according to cultural life, emotional amplification and the personal stories of the inhabitants. The questions are written by different Boosters at the DesignBoost 2008 key event "Long Live the City" in Malmö, Sweden. One may say that the MiniBoost is like a relay race with questions as batons passed on to new Boosters.
Listen to what Ilse, Tom, Konstantin, Arik, Ross, Katrin and Satyendra have to say about it.
Next week Designboost will release six more interviews from the Milan Design Week MiniBoost including Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Kristina Dryza, Richard Hutten, James Irvine, Tim Power and Patricia Urquiola.
Interview Magazine has just posted online a few interviews they did with Marc Newson, Konstantin Grcic, Ron Arad, Shigeru Ban and Alasdhair Willis for their May Issue.
From David Coggins' interview of Konstantin Grcic: "Design is a serious thing—it’s not just fun. It demands concentration, and it’s about responsibility. At the same time, for me, the hard reality is sometimes so comical because it’s about life, isn’t it? Everyday life, and how all of us struggle with life, and in this material world we struggle to come to terms with objects—something we have to sit down on, or open a latch on, or all of these essential kinds of things. I’ve always been fascinated by observing the relationship between human beings and objects. And, really, how do we come to terms with them? How intelligent are we? Is there a category of objects that are helpful and accommodating and accessible? Because there are objects that are totally the opposite and they are here to make you look like a fool, or they make you uncomfortable. I guess there is a certain form of humor in my work. It’s not that I just want to be funny. It’s not something I do deliberately. But when you accept the world with all its perfections and imperfections, and tragic and comic sides, then somehow this humorous aspect is part of it."
"Muji manufactured by Thonet" is a collection of simplified, stylised Thonet icons made of bentwood and tubular steel.
Thonet, the oldest furniture brand in the world and the German manufacturer of high-quality furnishings, is producing a simplified form of bentwood and tubular steel furniture for the Japanese retail chain Muji. The products are manufactured completely at Thonet’s headquarters in Frankenberg, Germany to the company’s customary high quality standards.
The first models are reminiscent of those bentwood chairs that were the cornerstone on which the Thonet success story was built.The most famous bentwood chair, No. 14 (still featuring in the latest Thonet collection under the product designation 214) is celebrating its 150th birthday and, as such, is probably the oldest industrial product still in production today. The chair is sold alongs idea range of tables that has a convincingly understated elegance thus marrying perfectly with the expressively styled chair. The English designer James Irvine, now domiciled in Milan, and also creative director at Thonet, is responsible for the reinterpretation of the bentwood furniture.
In addition to the bentwood tradition, the "Muji manufactured by Thonet" collection also features the second revolutionary trend associated with the Thonet brand, namely the company’s tubular steel furniture tradition dating back to the 1920s. An iconographic tubular steel cantilever chair is sold alongside a desk and a range of side tables that have a convincingly effortless style and cool beauty, as did the models onwhich they are based. This collection was created by the German designer Konstantin Grcic.
In Europe, the "Muji manufactured by Thonet" collection is to be distributed as from spring 2009. It is to be marketed via Muji’s own chain of stores. The collection is to be enhanced in the near future to include further models.
Serafino Zani will be presenting its new collections at Interieur 08.
A new cutlery set has been added to the 'Passami il sale' and 'Al
Dente' project, developed as a result of the partnership between
Serafino Zani and German designer Konstantin Grcic.
The Festa series, designed by Liliana Bonomi, is a group of steel, wood and porcelain objects that emphasise and enhance the daily task of carrying food to the table.
Designed also by Liliana Bonomi, the Giocorotondo series includes baskets, trays, cakestands, placemats, all made by laser-cutting.
The 'Passami il sale' project, developed as a result of the partnership between Serafino Zani and the German designer Konstantin Grcic, has been extended with the addition of the 'Al Dente' pieces.
After the series of trays and containers in laser-cut steel, presented in 2007, the project is now focusing on the kitchen, with a series of pots, saucepans and frying pans in stainless steel. The additions brought to the classic form of the pot is the inclined profile of the handles and their large dimensions, designed for a safer grip and a lid housed within the body of the pot, and thus closing much more securely.
This line will be presented at the Ambiente Frankfurter Messe from February 8 to 12 2008.
On October 24 2007, during the opening of K2007, the world´s biggest trade fair for the plastics industry in Duesseldorf, the 'Myto' chair has been officially presented on the BASF booth in the presence of its creator, Konstantin Grcic, acclaimed industrial designer.
The chair made of easy-flow plastic Ultradur® High Speed has been developed with the Chemical Company BASF and is produced by Italian company Plank.
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