"The designer Jens Quistgaard - A saucepan for my wife" is a new documentary film about Danish designer Jens Quistgaard (1919-2008) who from the mid-1950s introduced Danish Design and Scandinavian Modern in the USA.
Many American's are familiar with Quistgaard's designs, but few have met the man behind. For the first time in this filmed portrait, the designer invites a camera into his own universe. Shooting was carried out over a period of three years, ending only a few months before his death in 2008 at nearly 89. We follow Quistgaard at close range in his unique home; watch him in action at his working table; and we hear him talk of his life, his work and what drives him as a designer.
Casserole "Kobenstyle", enamel on steel, Dansk Designs 1955
In the film he tells the story of his first meeting with the recently deceased, successful American businessman, Ted Nierenberg, who one day in 1954 appears at his studio in Copenhagen. It is a meeting of two personalities, each talented within his own field, and it marks the birth of the company Dansk Designs, where for decades, as chief designer, Quistgaard charted the course with his design lines for table and kitchen - everything from flatware, saucepans and pitchers to glassware, trays, bowls and pepper mills of teak and exotic woods. The idea was to create a sense of aesthetic and functional unity for all objects we place on the table; and Quistgaard's designs put a new and practical stamp on kitchens and tables in many American homes.
Sugar bowls "Smooth Flamestone", Dansk Designs C. 1964
The film shows examples of the breadth and range of his output and includes unique 16 mm clips from the 50s and early 60s from his exhibitions and his architecture in the USA, culminating in the the large and unique house at Armonk north of New York City that he designs for his partner, Ted Nierenberg. Quistgaard designs everything for this house: door handles, bath tubs, newel stair, windows and roof. Completed in 1961, the house stands as a unique testimony to Quistgaard's ideal of architectural unity. Personally he is deeply rooted in the old traditions of craftsmanship, the ship-building of the Vikings, the temples of the Incas, the pottery of the peasants as well as the fashioning of tools, weapons and clothing among Eskimos, American Indians and Bedouins. Quistgaard acknowledges his debt to tradition by translating it into a modern design language with a prominent personal stamp.
Pepper mills in teak, wenge, cocobolo and mutenye. Dansk Designs 1956-61
Today, his best things are icons, and Quistgaard has become a cult figure for younger generations. His designs from the 1950s and 1960s are prized by collectors all around the world, and after his death a number of his designs have once again been put into production.
Pitchers "Kobenstyle, enamel on steel, Dansk Designs 1955
Stig Guldberg is an Associate Professor at Metropolitan University College in Denmark. His educational background is in the History of Ideas, Literature and Design, and he has been National Adviser for the Danish Ministry of Education in the areas of Art and Design for many years. The documentary on Jens Quistgaard marks Stig Guldberg's debut as a film director.
The documentary film by Stig Guldberg is now available on DVD for sale on Amazon.
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.
A fascinating 3D animated film that illustrates architecture across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal. Directed by Alex Roman. Watch the video (12 min)
A book that reveals how thinking like a designer can help solve
the greatest challenges we face in business, society, and our daily
lives.
What can we learn from the ways great designers think-and how can it
improve our world? In this book by journalist Warren
Berger, in collaboration with designer Bruce Mau, ten
groundbreaking principles of design are shown in action-addressing
business, social, and personal challenges and improving the way we
think, work, and live.
Glimmer takes readers on a journey through today's fascinating world of design, where the formerly distinct disciplines of graphic, product, and social design are undergoing "smart recombinations." In the cutting-edge studios of Mau and other visionaries, everything is ripe for reinvention-including the ways businesses function, children learn, and communities thrive. Designers are solving problems at an unprecedented pace today by using improved technology and the highly practical design principles described in this book, such as "Ask stupid questions," "Make hope visible," "Work the metaphor," "Embrace constraints," and "Begin anywhere." Glimmer inspires readers to apply these same principles to their own life challenges.
While celebrated designers work on re-creating the world, Berger reveals the growing grassroots "glimmer movement" in which everyday people are emerging as designers and problem solvers. Readers will be fascinated by how "transformation design" is reinventing companies and addressing thorny social problems. Berger shares stories of how burned fingers, wrenched backs, and mixed-up pills all led to ingenious new product designs.
In a time of anxiety and retrenchment, this book illuminates "the glimmer of possibility and potential-that first spark of an innovative idea or a life-changing plan." According to Berger, "This faint light is all around us and also within us, if we can learn to recognize and nurture it." The best designers already know how to transform that glimmer of possibility into the steady glow of creation and innovation-and with the inspiration of Glimmer, we're now all able to do the same.
A former editor at Dwell, Virginia Gardiner is an industrial designer at Design London Imperial College, where she is developing and promoting her plumbing-free toilet, the Gardiner CH4.
"In America, we have a flush and forget mentality," she points out. But 2.6 billion people in the world lack any form of functional toilet, and humans create an average of two pounds of excretion per person per day.
In the video, Virginia shares the ins and outs of her low-cost, low-tech concept for a waterless toilet system. She reviews some new ideas for enabling better sanitation in even the most remote areas of the world, and breaks down the details on turning human waste into a high-value commodity.
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.
DETAILS.com just posted their newest “60 Seconds” Q&A. This time
they sit down with Gary Hustwit, director of “Objectified.” The film
explores our relationships with manufactured items, everything from
cars to a potato peeler, and the designers behind them. Plus, Hustwit
tells us his favorite design items.
Q: Helvetica traced the history of a typeface, and in Objectified you examine industrial design—a category that includes things as disparate as potato peelers and sports cars. Is it tough to make movies with such seemingly uncinematic topics?
A: My films are about asking audiences questions, not about finding answers or teaching. You can do proper documentary films and get people off death row—or you can ask questions. I focused on design, but everything is designed. Part of the reason for making a film about stuff is to make people think about that stuff. It tells a story—where we came from, where we're going, the issues that are facing us as a culture.
Q: How is our relationship to objects changing?
A: It's funny: I just moved, and I spread out all of my stuff beforehand. Most of the things I have are media —books, records, DVDs. I asked myself, "Why am I carrying this stuff around? This could easily fit on a JumpDrive." There's no need to have a physical object for them anymore.
Read More and make sure you check out the trailer for the movie - it’s really beautiful.
Mattresses are our friends. For years, mattresses selflessly serve our sleeping pleasure. We should all be grateful for our mattresses; after all, most of us were conceived on one. Why, then, are our mattresses being abandoned in dumps and left to the seagulls? Every year in the U.S. 40 million mattresses get thrown in the trash. Don’t our mattresses deserve another chance? The problem is, the nature and construction of mattresses has made them difficult to dispose of. They often end up in landfills because they cannot be broken down and their component parts are hard to utilize.
Until now:
Architecture for Humanity and Rubicon National Social Innovations invite entrants to create innovative ways of converting used mattresses into useful products. The competition aims to encourage entrants to form groups capable of creating a consumer product, instructions detailing how to make the product, and a plan for production on a larger scale. Entrants must create designs that take into account the volume of mattress waste generated each year. Groups are encouraged to utilize local resources, including existing manufacturing facilities and other waste products.
In the series 'the most stupid object ever', this one deserves a special award!
'Zuse' engages its optical sensor to recognize bread and thereon activates the digitalization process of the toast. 'Zuse' doesn’t see itself merely as a compact toasting device but more like a print-maker of the traditional kind. Inspired by the early matrix printers, it now engages in burning black & white pictures with 12 by 12 pixel resolution into the toast by diligently marking line by line. With its candid intention of providing happiness to its owner Zuse can randomly draw from its repertoire of images encoded in its memory chip.
Designed by Inseq Design, an Austrian Studio specialising in product and graphic design.
Louise Campbell is the featured designer on dkVogue.com, a large source for Danish design that introduces modern, authentic Danish furnishings, lighting and accessories to North America.
Bille goes Zen - Cabinet maker Lars Bille Christensen (2003/2006)
Louise Campbell’s work is playful and experimental, and is increasingly gaining a reputation for gently twisting not only every day objects and situations, but also materials and manufacturing processes in new directions. The combination of Scandinavian rationalism and femininity, and perhaps her dual nationality (Danish and British), give the works of Louise Campbell an unusual edge. Illustrating contrasts seem to be an issue, that keeps returning in her work.
'Spiderwoman' - HAY (2008) 'Retreat' (1998)
'Seesaw' and 'Entertainment' - Erik Jørgensens Møbelfabrik (2002)
'Veryround' - Zanotta (2006) 'Prince Chair' - HAY (2005)
Legendary designer Philippe Starck -- with no pretty slides behind him -- spends 18 minutes reaching for the very roots of the question "Why design?" Along the way he drops impressive insights into the human condition and totally charms the TED audience.
