If you are like me and that you often change the place of your furniture in the garden and as you are not Superman of course, you might be interested in this new bench designed by Dutch designer Rogier Martens (his website doesn't mention if the bench is delivered with an anti-theft system).
Jamie Ward produces eco-friendly pieces made from second hand furniture which has been found discarded around Manchester.
"The lack of value these pieces have in a modern wasteful society I find surprising, the value for me has always been the individuality and character each piece of metal and wood has due to the weathering which rusts, warps and discolours the materials."
From November 15 to 30 2008, Saint-Etienne, France will host the tenth edition of the International Design Biennial. An original and unique event in the world of design, created in 1998 by the Saint Etienne School of Art and Design, this Biennial has since it began been bringing together creators of different cultures and professions both French and international.
'The other Belgians' is part of the 'Flight number 10' exhibition which has one area devoted to young European creators and a second area open for people to discover projects from other continents.
The 'Flight number 10' exhibition looks at Belgium, this country in the heart of Europe whose identity is still developing. Referring to the present geopolitical situation the project suggests a reflection on migratory patterns at the cultural level and in particular on their impact on design and project activity in the broadest sense.
This means looking at the multicultural nature of a country where the ideas of belonging and of nation often tend to be championed by those who do not 'belong'. Grandchildren of immigrants, cultural nomads, temporary residents, Belgian citizens with names that suggest a link - active or passive - with other origins; and some 'native' Belgians, first witnesses of the 'non-violent conflict' of multiculturalism.
Flight number 10 > L'Europe des designers (Designers' Europe) > La Belgique des autres (The other Belgians) November 15-30 2008 Exhibition curated by Giovanna Massoni
Urs Schweizer (design) and Arnold Meusburger (master cabinet-maker) are presenting the new furniture collection 'Decarus'.
Every piece of furniture is designed in a reduced form, extracted from very old, matured wood which was used in a building for at least 150 years and manufactured with the characteristical “dovetails” in ultimate perfection of traditional craftmanship in Vorarlberg, Austria.
There are many design related exhibitions in Brussels for the moment. The one organised by Galerie Diito has drawn our attention. On the three levels of the beautiful space of the rue de l'Aurore, Diito was showing a selection of works by a confirmed designer (David Trubridge), emerging designers (Charlotte Lancelot and Dustdeluxe) and by a group of 9 very young women designers who have just graduated (V.I.D).
Tom Loeser's latest work, which is currently in a one-person show called "Flotilla" at Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is about conceptual proposals for "bad" ideas for boats.
"I'm curious how tweaking function and the symmetrical organization of the boat ends up generating dysfunctional but really interesting forms. Also interested in alternative means of locomotion. What would a boat look like that could swim or screw or roll its way through the water?"
The forms are built from white oak using traditional boatbuilding techniques.
Exhibition from September 2 to 30 2008 Mobilia Gallery Cambridge MA, USA
Contrasts Gallery presents the Shanghai Riddle - The first solo exhibition of the work of Dutch designer Maarten Baas in China.
Featuring works inspired by the designer’s experiences in China, the exhibition will include the latest iterations of his Sculpt, “Hey, chair, be a bookshelf!” and Smoke series, as well as new versions of his carved wood interpretations of plastic furniture.
While participating in Contrasts’ residency program, which brings Western artists to China to study local artistic and cultural practices, Baas became fascinated with traditional Chinese woodcarving; this exhibition is dominated by the results of this interest. His work pushes the boundaries of this time-honored Chinese craft, while also revealing the designer’s playful imagination.
“Shanghai is a city full of contradictions: old/new, high-tech/low-tech, tradition/revolution, fake/real, cheap/expensive, original/copy, etc. Together, all these contradictions seem to form a big and interesting paradox, the complexity of which you can't exactly define. What you can feel is the atmosphere, the energy coming from it, a kind of chemical reaction to what's happening. This was what encouraged me to develop the exhibition ‘The Shanghai Riddle,’ also full of paradoxes and experiments, inspired by a city in which everything seems possible.”
The intersection of traditional craft and China’s contemporary culture of mass production are addressed with Baas’ wood carved furniture. Pieces like Plastic Chair In Wood, which reproduces a basic plastic lawn chair in luxurious hand-carved elm, reference the contrast between disposable, mass-produced goods and treasured, handcrafted objects. Baas’ Transformation installation plays with traditional Chinese furniture forms; handcrafted elm and camphor wood furniture look like they are melting into a wooden pool.
Baas’ original “Hey, chair…” series consists of found furniture and other objects assembled to form sculptures that act as multi-functional bookshelves. Baas made a unique piece from this series especially for Contrasts Gallery. The piece is made up of various objects, handpicked by Baas from the streets of Shanghai during his visits, and finished with traditional Chinese red lacquer.
Chinese Objects Object is based on the “Hey, chair…” series. Baas made an assemblage of different kinds of wooden Chinese objects, which was then carved out of solid wood by local Chinese craftsmen.
The lighthearted, purposefully imperfect Sculpt series, which Baas began in his Netherlands studio in 2007, has evolved in China with the addition of two new works. The concept behind the series is to capture the spontaneity and roughness of a sketch in a fully realized, life-sized object. The Sculpt concept, which was initially applied to furniture, has expanded to include two musical instruments: a typical Chinese “pipa” and a western piano. Baas hopes the instruments can be played during the exhibition.
New additions to the designer’s celebrated Smoke series will also be on view. The series, which began as Baas’ graduation project at Design Academy Eindhoven, consists of pieces of wooden furniture that have been set alight. The remained charcoaled pieces are preserved in a clear epoxy.
Contrasts Gallery No. 133 Middle Sichuan Road, 5/F / Shanghai, China 200002 August 15 – September 4, 2008
