Arkitekturmuseet presents the first major retrospective exhibition on Swedish-American designer and architect Greta Magnusson Grossman. The exhibition includes architectural commissions in Sweden as well as Northern and Southern California and designs for the many companies she worked with including Barker Brothers, Ralph O. Smith and Glenn of California. The exhibition also includes exemplary pieces of furniture and lighting, prototypes and textiles, original drawings and photographs, film clips as well as a 1:1 reconstruction of an interior.
Greta Magnusson Grossman (1906-1999) maintained a prolific forty-year career on two continents, Europe and North America, with achievements in industrial design, interior design and architecture.
( Portrait c 1950)
In the late 1920s Grossman finished a one-year woodworking apprenticeship in her hometown of Helsingborg, Sweden and was awarded a scholarship to enroll at Konstfack (then known as Högre Konstindustriella Skolan), the renowned Stockholm arts institution. At Konstfack she excelled in her mastery of technical drawing and focused her original design work on furniture, textiles and ceramics. In 1933 Grossman received second place for furniture design from the Stockholm Craft Association , becoming the first woman to receive an award in that category. In 1934 the Swedish Society of Industrial Design awarded her a scholarship to travel throughout Europe and she filed reports of her observations on interior design and architecture for the “Women and Home” section of the Swedish paper Nya Dagligt Allehanda.
In 1933 Grossman and Konstfack classmate Erik Ullrich opened Studio, a store and workshop, at Sturegatan 12 in Stockholm. From Studio, Grossman took on numerous commissions designing unique furniture and interiors, garnered abundant press attention and accolades and exhibited frequently at Galerie Moderne, a cultural mecca in Stockholm at the time.
'Good Design' chairs, USA 1954
The unique approach to Swedish modernism that she brought with her when she moved from Stockholm in 1940 proved to be incredibly popular in the United States. She opened a much-publicized shop in Beverly Hills in 1940 selling her own designs billed on her business card as “Swedish modern furniture, rugs, lamps and other home furnishings.” She attracted celebrity clients such as Greta Garbo, Joan Fontaine and Gracie Allen and began making connections that would lead to a number of projects both from her own shop and from Barker Brothers’ Modern Shop launched in 1947, for whom she was designing exclusive pieces and taking interior design commissions.
'Cobra' table lamp, USA, 1948-49
In the late 1940s Grossman designed a groundbreaking and successful line of lamps for Barker Brothers, later produced by Ralph O. Smith.
'Grasshopper' floor lamp, USA, circa 1947
Over the next twenty years she produced work for companies like Glenn of California, Sherman Bertram, Martin/Brattrud and Modern Line. The work for Glenn of California is arguably her most sophisticated and best known. These pieces were characterized by the materials she used, such as rich, colorful textiles and woods like California walnut paired in surprising and elegant combination with black plastic laminate and wrought iron. The uniquely petite proportions and asymmetrical lines of her furniture also set her work apart.
Desk, USA, circa 1952 - Designed for Glenn of California
Grossman’s most enduring work in Los Angeles came in the form of her built architectural commissions. Between 1949 and 1959 Grossman designed at least fourteen homes in Los Angeles, one in San Francisco and one back in her native Sweden. Of these, at least ten are still standing. The homes were often perched on stilts at the top of a hill, overlooking a canyon, with magnificent views through curtain walls of glass. The homes featured extensive built-in shelving and the uniquely open and free flowing floor plan popular at the time. She worked several times with celebrated landscape architect Garrett Eckbo on the outdoor spaces. Grossman’s houses are designed to the diminutive scale of the Los Angeles based Case Study House program—most of them have a footprint of less than 1,500 square feet (ca 140 square meters).
Her architectural work, as well as her design work, was featured extensively in Arts & Architecture, the magazine edited by Case Study program founder John Entenza.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s Grossman’s designs were included in numerous international exhibitions and exhibited at institutions such as The Nationalmuseum (Stockholm, Sweden), Röhsska Museet (Gothenburg, Sweden), Museum of Modern Art (New York, United States), Museum of Industry and Science (Chicago, United States) and the de Young Museum (San Francisco, United States). Articles about her work were published during her career in American, British, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Polish and Swedish magazines and newspapers. In 1952 the United States Department of State distributed an article about her in 75 different countries to present “a true picture…of the American way of life.” In the 1950s Grossman taught industrial design courses at the University of California, Los Angeles and at the Art Center School in Los Angeles. She retired from design and architecture in the late 1960s.
Exhibition: Greta Magnusson Grossman Arkitekturmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden From February 10 to May 16 2010
An extremely stable and easy to mount table designed by Roderick Fry for French producer Moaroom.
Pi is a flat-packing table, which helps minimizing carbon footprint during shipping. The table is simply assembled by inserting a tabletop, without any screws or Allen keys.
It is very easy to slide a wooden board in the superior angle (natural wood, plywood, old floorboards or even old wooden doors) and to block the board by repositioning the feet on the floor to insure a maximum stability.
Its strength is gained by cross laminating layers in the seat. The method makes possible a cantelivered surface and robust structure. A series of laminated ‘bridges’ complete the form. The chair is also stackable and without the additional two legs of conventional chairs it can be suspended on a table for easy cleaning.
The goal is to create a short video in the form of a Public Service
Announcement on the topic of genuine design and the problem of
knock-offs.
Use concrete examples to demonstrate why furniture
designers deserve the right to protect their work against unauthorized
copies and counterfeits.
Since 1992, M2L - a furniture importer and distributor specializing in genuine modern design - has been dedicated to finding and sourcing truly iconic pieces that define the classic modern aesthetic. However, the practice of selling “knock-offs” has become widespread in the furniture and interiors industry because designers, manufacturers and consumers are unfamiliar with intellectual property rights. From pieces “inspired” by other designers to actual counterfeits that are marketed illegally, it is important for the next generation of designers to know where the lines are.
Four students will be awarded scholarships of $3,500, $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000 respectively. The winners will be announced at the end of March and honored at an event in M2L’s New York showroom. The winners’ videos will also be featured on the Genuine Design website.
Submission Deadline: March 5 2010 at 6pm UTC.
Genuine Design is an effort to inform consumers and designers about plagerism, and why it presents a threat to our culture and industries. They are dedicated to ethics and authenticity in the designer furniture industry. Their goal is to expose frauds, counterfeits and knockoffs, and educate designers about the importance of respecting the intellectual property of their colleagues.
'Match' Radio by Gabriele Pezzini (AreaPlus 2007) - 'Pago-Pago' by Enzo Mari (Danese 1969)
This exhibition is born from the idea of comparing the work of two designers who agree upon several aspects of their working practices in spite of having been formed in very different periods of time.
Enzo Mari, maestro and moral conscience of design, and Gabriele Pezzini, seeker of exactness in design: two generations faced to the same problems, both advocates of a point of view focused on what is essential, doing what they know how to do best: analyse and decipher.
Both creators will be showing some of their major pieces in the exhibition opening at the Alain Gutharc Gallery in Paris on January 9.
'Box' by Enzo Mari (Castelli 1971) - 'Wired' Chair by Gabriele Pezzini (Max Design 2004)
"The parallelism that we trace in this small exhibit goes beyond the exposed products. These represent us and are a pretext to compare two generations that share a vision and discuss over the same issues. Che Fare (What to do), the title of the exhibition, poses a clear question, although it does so without using the question mark, as we probably know there is no answer. The uncertainty on what the project will be and on the drift of society, on the future of many young people who are facing this profession/passion today, is evident enough and cannot be hidden away any more." Gabriele Pezzini
'Moving' Stool by Gabriele Pezzini (2004) - 'Putrella' by Enzo Mari (Danese 1958)
Exhibition "Che fare" Enzo Mari / Gabriele Pezzini From January 9 to February 20 2010
This is the first eco piece manufactured by Artelano. The bookshelf designed by Ora-Ito is made out recycled material taken from certified forests. The assemby is done without fastenings, by simple fitting of the different elements: Ecco (here you are)!
The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) presents an exhibition (now in Chicago) with 99 actions that instigate positive change in contemporary cities around the world. Seemingly common activities such as walking, playing, recycling, and gardening are pushed beyond their usual definition by the international architects, artists, and collectives featured in the exhibition. Their experimental interactions with the urban environment show the potential influence personal involvement can have in shaping the city, and challenge fellow residents to participate.
The 99 actions featured include projects related to the production of food and possibilities of urban agriculture; the planning and creation of public spaces to strengthen community interactions; the recycling of abandoned buildings for new purposes; the use of the urban fabric as a terrain for play such as soccer, climbing, skateboarding, or parkour; the alternate use of roads for walking, or rail lines as park space; the design of clothing to circumvent urban barriers against resting on benches or sliding on railings; among others.
The Table Tennis Fence subverts the fence as a dividing element. A built-in ping pong table can be opened for neighbours to play with each other, transforming the fence into a meeting place. Share Fence is a related project with cut-outs in the shape of gardening tools like trowels and a watering can. Neighbours can hang tools to be shared in fence holes where they are accessible from both sides. Droog Design was founded in Amsterdam in 1993 by Bakker and Renny Ramakers. NEXT Architects was founded by four graduates from the Delft University of Technology.
The city of Turin saved 30,000 euros by using sheep to mow lawns at three public parks. In Pasture in the City, cows were also used during the experimental first year, but because they produced too much manure they have not returned. Traffic is diverted for the herd of sheep to enter the city. After the animals are rotated through fenced-off parks for two months, they return to the Alps for the remainder of the summer. The sheep aerate and fertilize their temporary pastures.
A proposal made to the city of Seville for legislation to assist in the temporary transformation of public and private solares – vacant lots walled off for security – into public spaces for at least six months. Wall rubble is incorporated into the design, and elements of car and pedestrian barriers are used to construct benches, see-saws, swings, and bike racks with readily available plastic materials like concrete. Instruction sheets were produced to allow residents to construct their own furniture. The project is designed to minimize material movement, cost, and other barriers to change. Santiago Cirugeda is an architect based in Seville who has proposed semi-legal strategies for housing and urban renovation under the name Recetas Urbanas, or “urban prescriptions,” since 1996. He inhabits gaps between laws, exploiting overlap and oversight to practice autonomous architecture.
Richard Reynolds, or Richard 001, as he is known in the Guerillagardening.org organization, descends on traffic islands, forgotten parks, public gardens, and roadway edges with troops around the world; he transforms ignored spaces into beautiful gardens. Other troops focus on productive planting, encouraging vegetable and fruit farming in the city. Although Richard 001’s little war against mundane landscaping began in 2004 when he became fed up with the sorry condition of the yard in front of his apartment building, the guerrilla gardening movement can be traced back to at least the 1970s, when artists like Liz Christy and Gordon Matta-Clark used the term to describe illegal, and often nocturnal, horticulture missions.
Joseph Ribic is launching Objeti, a new design and manufacturing company which features the Aerialist Series™, their first line of furniture.
The Aerialist Series are a set of versatile coffee tables which, with a turn of a lever, easily convert to an ottoman or additional seating.
The surface of the table top transforms to reveal the upholstered cushion. Simply turn the spring loaded lever to unlock one of the squares, allowing it to rotate along the fixed axis. As you rotate the top you will notice it will click, or locate, every 30 degrees, which is a safety feature assuring the top does not spin out of control. In order to lock the table top again, make sure it is located in the correct position and turn the lever back into position.
Green Furniture Design focuses on the concept of sustainable design,
which centers not only around a responsible use of materials and
methods of manufacture but also on issues of object life span, energy
usage, and recycling/disposal. The exhibition explores how 21st-century
furniture makers seek to modify our aesthetic expectations—especially
when it comes to forms that are multifunctional, recyclable, or made of
alternative materials. Work by contemporary artists is featured
alongside historical objects, exploring roots of the green idea in
furniture design.
The exhibition curators also strive to achieve a level of "green curating" that cuts down on this exhibition's carbon footprint. The team is scaling back the use of paper in design, planning, and writing practices related to the show; incorporating local objects and materials that do not require crating and shipping from far away places; and using bicycle transportation for objects from as far away as Madison and Green Bay. In the gallery, the design team will use recycled materials for labels and platforms. Electronically activated lighting will control energy consumption, as well.
'Softseat' made from kraft paper and recycled cardboard (by Molo)
'Adjustable folding chair' made only from small wood scraps-- recycled and renewable (by Hongtao Zhou)
'Soft Rock' seat reusing sweatshirt and other recycled materials (by Tanya Aguiñiga)
This exhibition is curated by Ethan Lasser and guest curator Hongtao Zhou. Photo credit: Hongtao Zhou
Exhibition 'Green Furniture Design'' Milwaukee Art Museum From November 12 to March 14 2010
Young Polish designer Maciek Wojcicki designed an interesting, cutting edge stride toy. Designed as a children vehicle which moves forward driven by the child's hips and body movements, it can be also used as light movement malfunction rehabilitation tool for 5-6 years old as well as for adults in a larger scale.
The brief was to design an attractive toy which, helps to stimulate motor development and improves movement coordination of the child through ideal postural alignment, postural muscle strengthening and active rehabilitation by playing and having fun. Designed movement types based on postural muscle strengthening movements are proven to contribute to positive physical and emotional health balance of the child. Functioning of it is strictly connected with the child's emotional and physical development. Movement characteristics have been described in Maciek's paper entitled "Types of movement driving children vehicles - deliberations". Designed in co-operation with academic physiologists in Gdansk (Poland).
The toy has been shortlisted for President of the Republic of Poland Design Award and also for Selected Works programme finals of INNOVATION RCA in London this year.
Maciek is a recent Royal College of Art, Design Products, MA course graduate.
From his studio in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin, Swiss designer Daniel Heer manufactures high quality leather bags ('Chrom'), seating furniture ('Keil'), and horsehair mattresses ('Rosshaar'). In doing so he is part of a family tradition dating back more than one hundred years, a tradition that he carries over into his contemporary designs.
Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog.
advertising
DESIGNER FURNITURE SALE
Great selection of home furniture: Bedrooms, living rooms and wardrobes.
MODERN FURNITURE
Designer modern furniture and contemporary furnishings from top Italian furniture manufacturers and renowned European furniture designers for every room in your home.
photo by Fredrik Carlson
