Last week we photographed the outfits for the annual CLASH Project that I execute for Fashionclash. Every year I invite 10 non-fashion designers to make an outfit that is presented on the opening of the 3-day event in June. What I enjoy is that the outcome is unpredictable and the choice of material is surprising. The participants come up with new techniques that lead to little inventions how to make something wearable.

This year one of the participants, the Polish stylist Natalia Kacper Mleczak , did a very colourful suit with massive hands and a mask. I am fond of masks.

Therefore I was delighted to see Bertjan Pot‘s Masks at Plus Design Gallery in Milan this year. On the website he sates that this project is a result of trying to make a carpet from titching a rope together. At the end it didn’t work and the research became a selection of masks. It is nice to see how a failed attempt can lead to something unexpected.

Cirkel collection by Daphna Laurens, Myltada by Henny van Nistelrooy and Time by Studio Like This

THE FRONT ROOM is the most diverse of our domestic space. It is where we mingle and entertain, read in solitude, stay up late and doze off early. This was a presentation in a 18m2 space filled with beautiful objects and furniture by various designers that took place last week in Milan during the Design Week.

Mieke Meijer‘s Power Plant 01 and Phil Cuttance‘s Faceture vases

Eclipse from the Syzygy lamp collection by OS∆OOS

Miya Kondo‘s Composition lights, Posters for Daphna Laurens by Raw Colour and Cirkel Wall light 01 from the Cirkel collection by Daphna Laurens

Time by Studio Like This

Transience by David Derksen and Lex Pott together with Occultation from the Syzygy lamp collection by OS∆OOS and two small table mirror by Daphna Laurens

The New York City Bulk and Wave Collection by Fabian von Spreckelsen

Ubuntu by Karolina Agata on a Phil Cuttance sidetable

Cirkel Collection mirror by Daphna Laurens

Hummingbird by Dana Cannam and Agata Karolina on Franziska Wernicke‘s C2 rug

Transit from the Syzygy lamp collection by OS∆OOS
The lamp is actually not yellow, that’s just something that occurred through the light

Swell by Earnest Studio

Ubuntu by Karolina Agata with a selection of cactuses in Mieke Meijer’s winding tower 01 for Christian Ouwens and a bowl by Fabian von Spreckelsen

Cirkel table by Daphna Laurens

All pieces together.

Once a year, during April, there is a showdown of design that takes place in Milan. Last year I curated a show called Achille is watching us with Marco Lorusso at Via Laghetto. Since this year the space belongs to an association called Ca’laghetto that my friend Marco belongs to. There will be a presentation Brussels-based gallery by Victor Hunt with Tom Price and Johannes Hemann, a marbeleske presentation by Ora Ito and THE FRONT ROOM, a presentation of new objects for the front room by me and Marco. We started to set up yesterday -

Via Laghetto 9/11

Marco Lorusso and Mimmo Calcagno are painting the panels for THE FRONT ROOM

THE FRONT ROOM door hangers

Miya Kondo, Rachel Griffin and Sabine Marcelis
- three of the designer of THE FRONT ROOM

THE FRONT ROOM is featured in the Connecting the Dots, Belgium is Design and the Designlink Poland publication. Thank you all.

Work by Daphna Laurens and Mieke Meijer

Tom Price is building up his Meltdown Swing

Marble chair by Ora Ito and sidetable by Fabian von Spreckelsen

Pressed wood and storm by Johannes Hemann

I wrote ‘behind the duomo’ on all printed matter for THE FRONT ROOM. I still think you can call the distance ‘behind the duomo’ don’t you think?

I instantly watched the Dutch TV program and it’s really sad. How can he even dare to be pissed off that the Groniger Museum doesn’t want to present a tablecloth that is obviously inspired by concentration camp motifs. I mean, I would give you that, Job. One tablecloth is ok. Even of you says that it is justifiable in context of your work, which is bullshit, because I don’t see any context, which leads to another question: Where is the context of the copy of the Buchenwald concentration camp you are making for one of your dearest private collectors. Who is it? Geert Wilders? Sorry, I forgot, you don’t like to answer questions. You like avoiding them. You are obviously not thinking further than ‘nice patterns, think big and sell well’. You must be stupid. I am disappointed.

Note: One week later Gabrielle Kennedy and Design.nl were forced to delete the article from their website. Now you can find a new article on the website with the title ‘Job Smeets and the Holocaust’. It’s a reserved summary of the happenings and some statements from Job Smeets. At the end of the article you find this: ‘This article is a revised and updated version of last week’s Studio Job piece, which is no longer available.’ Now I am angry.

Poznan’s town hall at the Old Market Square

Last month was an eventful month in Poland. The School of Form, a design school that combines humanities and design co-founded (some would say initiated) by trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort. On top of that Concordia Design, a unique center that aims to combine design with business, officially opened on the same weekend. The focus is a new approach of Polish design.

At the opening Li Edelkoort hold a speech about the potential she always saw in Poland, how she got on touch with the Polish culture through Zuzanna Skalska, Senior Consultant Trend Research at VanBerlo Eindhoven, and Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka who has curated many exhibitions supporting Polish design. Li thinks good things shouldn’t be rushed and that we can expect good things from a new generation of Polish designers.

Ewa Voelkel, president of Concordia Design, wants to create an arena linking designers and entrepreneurs and creative agencies with business. Also outside of Poland. Her father, Piotr Voelkel, is the owner of the School of Form. It is located just 5 min walk away from the refurbished historic building of the old printing house in which Concordia found its place. I appreciate when people preserve old buildings instead of building new ones. The town hall pictured above for example is now used as a museum.

‘Designing the future’ – big words. Will they come true?

Champagne and work by Polish designer Oskar Zieta and his team. He has definitely something to celebrate at the moment. Not just because he is the head of the industrial design department of the School of From, also because Tokujin Yoshioka has nominated him for the Audi Mentor Prize.

Klara by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso

Part of the opening of the new center is the exhibition ‘The Mothers of Invention’ of Patricia Urquiola and Patrizia Moroso. It is the first time that they present their work together in one show curated by Li Edelkoort.

The Spanish designer and the creative director of Italian brand Moroso have been working together since eleven years. Both became good friends in this long time. Patricia Urquiola designed a complete house for Patrizia, which was one of the topics they presented during the lecture.

Both women are part of the new curriculum of the School of Form. They will be the godmothers of the Domestic Design Department. They have so much energy together. It was a real treat to watch them talking about their work. Apparently the joint lecture was one of the first they did together.

Termo by Tomek Rygalik for Noti

There are also two more exhibitions dealing with Polish design, which should be pointed out. “Comforty – Real Industry” by Tomek Rygalik, Art Director of the furniture brand Comforty focuses on products walking the paths of industrial furniture tradition.

The other show is called, ‘Polish Design’ curated by Dorota Koziara. Some people would say it’s not an in depth title. At least it’s obvious what you get. =) The lamps above are designed for Polish brand Schattdecor.

Another piece by Oskar Zieta, which is similar to the Architonic Pavilion he did for the IMM Cologne couple years ago. Maybe it’s the same. I should find out.

After a long, eventful day a lovely dinner is necessary; together with the head teachers of the School of Form, the Architect of the ‘Stary Browar‘, an impressive shopping mall combined with cultural institutions, and his wife, journalists, all trend forecasters and supporters that are involved including their entourage. Things are happening in Poland, people!

Design Museum London put their current location on sale. The museum will move from their top notch location at the Thames to the former Commonwealth Institute. All this will happen in 2014.

This is actually old news, but I found the pictures that I took begin of November of this newspaper articles today and feel like to share them. When I am in London, I commute from very far East to Shoreditch and read a free copy of Metro in the train. You can find daily news, a huge gossip celebrity section, theater reviews (so typical London) and the usual bits like Sports. On the 2nd November I was amazed how much ‘Design News’ you can find in one single issue of the paper. Here is what I found our or already knew that day.

The Science Museum presents a new show called ‘Hidden Heroes’ focusing on daily things we use that are so common that we rarely think about them, for example teabags and scissors

Lovely Libby Sellers opened a show called ‘Granmateria’ on her new gallery location in West End. And there is a ‘Designbazar‘. I actually just checked the website and I am don’t think that this belongs to this ‘Design News’ post, because what I found is quite kitsch, graphic and jewlery focused, but that might be interesting for someone else.

True colours by Lex Pott

For the Dutch Design Week 2011 last month the curators Rachel Griffin and Elise van Mourik invited 10 designers to deal with methods, materials and manufacturing thoroughly in order to design a new project. All 10 Netherlands-based designers have a complete different approach. Some of them analysed surfaces or developed new material, some came up with new types of moulds and others worked intuitionally with the idea of ‘power of making’ in their heads. This process can lead to innovations, which are the grounds of the show. Find some images of MASS below and make sure to check every designers website for more details on their projects. Have a look at Niek Pulles vertical movie of all designers. I find it strange to watch a movie from this angle.

True colours by Lex Pott

Stencil by Julien Carretero

Job Dispenser Francois Dumas & Erasmus Scherjon

Job Dispenser Francois Dumas & Erasmus Scherjon

Acciaio series 2 by Max Lipsey

Acciaio series 2 by Max Lipsey

Reformed objects by Adrien Petrucci

Void Vessel by Jonas Lutz

Void Vessel by Jonas Lutz

Video by Niek Pulles

BCXSY: Sayaka Yamamoto & Boaz Cohen

I was invited by BCXSY to participate at the ‘Neofarm’ exhibition they curated for the Łódź Design Festival. It was their first show. Boaz and Sayaka made a selection of 23 international designs. For them ‘placing works side by side’ is like building their very own farm. That’s why they choose the title ‘Neofarm’. During the opening weekend both hold a lecture about the 23 choices they made, describing every single piece. It was a pleasure to listen to their aesthetic sensation and to be a part of their show. Thanks again!

Overview of the ‘Neofarm’ exhibition

‘Caution this is rodeo’ by Ika Kuenzel

‘Potato music box’ by Juliette Warmhoven

‘Wood stove’ by Yanes Wühl

‘Coathooks’ by Max Lipsey

‘Tableware’ by David Clarke

‘Chimney light’ by Benjamin Hubert

‘Sarpaneva pot’ by Timo Sarpaneva

‘Great Camp Chair’ by Paul Loebach
together with ‘Daddy would be proud’ by me

‘Still lives’ by Kraud

The proud Wera Modzelewska at the Łódź Design Festival

Once I arrived in Łódź for the Design Festival last month, people told me about an armchair of an Polish design pioneer, that was introduced to the world in the exhibition ‘Chcemy Byc Nowoczesni’ (We want to be modern’) at the National Museum in Warsaw this Summer. I haven’t seen the mid-century Polish design exhibition myself but it is described as ‘featuring the most important examples of polish design, rarely seen in the west’ and ‘exemplifying the richness of Poland’s design history’. I was curious, even hungry to get to know more. That’s when suddenly an old lady asked Małgorzata Żmijska (Programme Director of the Festival) and me, if she can sit next to us at the table in the coffee bar. Here she was, the woman that lost her husband in 1997, eating cheesecake and telling me about her beloved Roman, who in her eyes, was the most talented man in the entire world. Not just because he designed a revolutionary armchair.

She pointed at her ring with the big amber stone and said’ this precious piece is also made by Roman. He was able to do anything’.

The armchair was displayed before, for example at the Cold War Modern: Design 1945-70 exhibition at the V&A, but attracted even more attention since announcing that there will be a retrospective of the late designer in 2012 who was also sculptor, artist, teacher, jewelery designer – and boat builder. He was also one of the first artists in Poland experimenting with plastic. Revolutionary in the 50s! Modzelewski presented the first two prototypes in 1957. I was amazed, when Lady Wera told me that Le Corbusier was interested in buying her husband’s patent of a plastic armchair. Le Corbusier’s idea was to to implement the design into mass production. Wow!! ‘Unfortunately back in the days a cooperation between Poland and France was practically impossible’ Wera tells. ‘They tried many years until they had to give up their plans’. That’s when Roman Modzelewski put his chair design aside.

Roman and Wera Modzelewski together at an opening of an Art exhibition. Lady Wera had a little photo album in her handbag. She showed me many private snaps together with her late husband. There were also some images of unpublished work that will be on show next year in Warsaw. Some of them were surprising, not all of them were my taste. I guess, if the situation in Poland in the 50s would have been different, people all other the world would sit or eat on furniture pieces by Modzelewski now. But back than the boundaries didn’t allow it to be spread.

In the mid-1970s Modzelewski designed and built a yacht to be made completely out of plastic named ‘Amulet’. It was a great success and became a legend in the Masurian lakes. He worked on another boat called ‘Talizman’ in the 1980s. I guess after the disappointment with the Le Corbusier collaboration Modzelewski was looking for a greater challenge, which he obviously put into practice. Now Lady Wera Modzelewska takes care that the artistic heritage her husband left will be unforgotten. I am delighted and I fell honoured to have met this gracious woman.

Armchair fully made of plastic by Roman Modzelewski, 1956, on a postcard from the National Museum Warsaw for the exhibition ‘Chcemy Byc Nowoczesni’ (We want to be modern) June 2011

Miya Kondo recently graduated at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. The Canada-born presented her project ‘Composition Light’ at the Graduation Galleries during the Dutch Design Week last month. The five different lights have a simple but highly aesthetic appearance that satisfy the eye. I’ve got a notion that these lights should get into production. We need something aesthetically pleasing like Miya’s work in our homes.

Kasia Jeżowska, curator of ‘Design Faction’

I got to know Kasia Jeżowska in London this year, where she works as assistant at Fumi Gallery and studies History of Design at The Royal College of Art in London. Last week Kasia started opened their exhibition called ‘Design Faction’ at the Design Festival in Łódź. The Poland-born told me that she wanted this exhibition to be a mood-board that presents not only the final stage of the concepts’ development but also the main part of visual and verbal research that designers undertook. Instead of listing all exciting 12 projects here, I send Kasia couple images of the exhibition and asked her to commented on them. Read what she said about them below:

Inspired by Aby Warburg’s extraordinary collection on renaissance. Here’s a photograph from his Mnemosyne Atlas from the 20s.

Marek Kultys

Otomixer designed by Marek Kultys would enable in the future to regulate our hearing abilities. By adjusting the density of the colorful liquid it would be possible to control the duration of the toxic intervention so that it can be everything from a daily wellness pill to a life-long vaccination against noise.

Marek Kultys

Hearing trade-off tests questionnaires were part of the first presentation on Marek’s End of the Hearing project. They revealed that 1. we believe that future can be shaped through design, 2. we can adapt to future soundscapes, 3. it is difficult to say what role noise plays in our lives.

Studio Duho – Hina Thibaud & Olivia Decaris

The hat designed by French duo Hina and Olivia from Studio Duho aim to provide a bit of privacy when traveling by public transport. The acrylic lace that cover wearers eyes was inspired by carved wood latticework characteristic for oriental architecture.

James Auger & Jimmy Loizeau

The audio tooth implant that was voted the invention of the year 2002 by the Times Magazine, is a project with a fascinating narration that seductively blurs edges of fiction and reality.

Vilma Jaruseviciute

Vilma’s project is an alternative for an aesthetic surgery – small prosthesis can transform face in a quick and effective way to make it closer to the ideal of contemporary beauty. I keep wondering how different they are from using triple-extra-4d-volume mascara or nail tips?

Revital Cohen

What if we could replace the vermiform appendix that actually has lost its functional significance with an electrocyte appendix that would generates electric energy? According to the forecast, in the 2050 humans would be able to design their own evolution (Homo-Evolutis) and the energy would be necessary for survival. Therefore the new organ converting blood sugar into electricity, that mimic and improve the electrocyte mechanism used by electric eels, sounds like a genuine user-centered solution.

Exhibition overview of ‘Design Faction’ at the 3rd floor of the Lodz Design Festival. The other 6 projects that are not mentioned here are by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Dominic Wilcox, Gerard Rallo, Gunnar Green , Ludwig Zeller, Sitraka Rakotoniaina. The show has been developed in partnership with the British Council.

‘A proud 5 year old’

Tomek Rygalik, who worked in NY for a while and then did a Masters degree at the RCA in London, opened a design practice exactly 5 years ago. That’s why, for the Łódź Design Festival, it was time to celebrate with a party, where everyone was invited and welcome to join the festive occasion.

Usually the studio operates in two locations. They have a tidy and clean office space in North Warszaw and the brick house workshop in Łódź, where they focus on specific prototype work. Tomek says it’s a project space devoted to experimentation. That’s where the party was last Saturday.

The guests were served Polish Wodka and homemade Sake by Tomek’s dad. The glasses were filled with alcohol on the second level and were let down by his wife in a wooden tray to the ground floor, where the dancing guests grabbed one of the drinks.

Whomus, an invention of Tomek’s brother, was the snack for the evening. The pots were attached on a white board and the crowd was dunking a stick with a piece of bread in the Houmous. Obviously any buisness stays in the family. Now I actually wonder what his mum does to contribute.

The team of Designalive, popular design news blog from Poland, also celebrated their one year existence. Ewa Trzcionka (editor in chief), Marcin Monka (editor), Bartek Witkowski (Art Direction) and Tomek were pouring the good old Polish Wodka for a ‘Nazdrowje’.

All outdoor furniture are the result of the “Prowizorka (engl. for ‘makeshift) open source” workshop before the party. The Trabant is owned by Ernest, one of Tomek Rygalik’s studio members. The practice consists of 7 people. Additionally they invite the Design students from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warszaw, where he teaches since three years, to contribute to the workshop.

See Tomek Rygalik’s Drawn Interview HERE

Artistic Director Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka being interviewed

I got lucky and got invited to the 5th Łódź Design Festival 2011. The city in central Poland hosts the probably best known design festival in Poland. This year’s theme is ‘Change’ and in my opinion, underlines the aim of the Polish culture to be more recognised among the design scene in Europe. Here are some impressions of the first night.

The opening ceremony took place on Thursday evening. The organisers have done a good job; the huge industrial location was filled with design and culture interested people. Director Krzysztof Candrowicz and the main supporters from the community in Łódź were holding a speech thanking various institutions who made this event possible.

Entry of the Festival Center on Targowa Street. It took them about 5 months to find this location, which is a real find. The 5 level building is an unutilised office space with spacious rooms. Unfortunately the location will be transformed into new offices end of the year. I am sure the Design Festival team will find a adequate replacement for 2012. Łódź is an industrial city with some industrial architecture and the festival contributes to transforming its poor industrial economy into creative economy.

Sayaka Yamamoto and Boaz Cohen from BCXSY curators of the Neofarm exhibition which presents a selection of European design in their ‘very own farm’

Next to examples of product, furniture, architecture and fashion design you find an exhibition of STGU, Association of Applied Graphic Designers Exhibition

Exhibition design by Warszaw-based studio 137kilo

Another picture of the exhibition design, because stretching shiny foil in between the pillars in this old industrial building was a great idea. Have a look at the website of 137kilo for more.

Entry area of ‘Must have’, a selection of 28 objects that are worth having, curated by Ewa Solarz

One of the four levels at the Festival Center

Gigantic billboard advertising for the festival

Weißwurst by Nic Stubbenhagen
‘Bavarian veal sausage’ (so German!)

On my way to Basel I stopped in Karlsruhe for the “kkaarrlls! Furnishings to come” exhibition, which has a better title in German that says “kkaarrlls! Perspektiven für den Hausrat von morgen”. That’s an excellent example for what can wrong when you try to translate titles.

‘bow bin’, by Cordula Kehrer

Have a look at names. They are to the point, mostly even funny and a nice exception, because they don’t feel the pressure to translate them in English. I mean, it’s a German edition collections and they stay true to their ancestry. I made this selection mainly because of their names (also aesthetics!) but even if Cordula Kehrer decided to use an English title, I simply love what she has done with this old bins by adding wickerwork. That’s why she is a part of this post.

Hochstapler by Silvia Knüppel
conman, but it means ‘stacking high’

The exhibition at the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe runs until 8th January 2012.

‘bow bin’, by Cordula Kehrer

Zinfandel by Tom Pawlofsky
I am not sure what it is, to be honest. But it’s definitely German!

Explosit by Tina Becker
Third-person singular perfect active indicative of explodō. It’s latin. Also German is build on the Italic language.

Schlummerschlauch by Daniel Wandres
Dozzing hose could be a possible translation.

Kleiderspender by Silvia Knüppel
Clothing dispenser

In front of the museum

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky was the first woman who studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (today University of Applied Arts Vienna). In 1926 she was also the person who designed the first prototype of the built-in kitchen, ‘The Frankfurter Küche’ or ‘Frankfurt Kitchen.’

This elegant and blue version of the Frankfurt Kitchen is on display at the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe.

When people in Austria talk about Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky they call her the first female architect of Austria. Please, watch Robert Rotifer’s tribute to Margerete Schütte-Lihotzky in music video format here. He is telling you everything you need and even mentions the lightweight aluminum drawers.

Today it is hard to get a nice kitchen. Schütte-Lithosky’s aesthetics are classy and the blue is just perfect. Why don’t the kitchen manufactures take an example of this woman’s work!

v.l.t.r: Charlotte Dumoncel D’Argance, Martino Gamper, Julien Renault, Felix Baumsteiger, Jan Boelen, Fabia Zindel, Formafantasma, Theda Schoppe

A little side project. One day, before London Design Festival, I realised that I need new business cards. I usually put the portraits of the designers I met for Mat & Me on them but I wanted a change. I asked some designers directly, others via a Facebook status, if they fancy to design an ‘MK’, my initials for the backside of my cards.

Julien Carreterro

Here it is. That’s the outcome of 22 hours. Every single one was a truthful happy moment of my day. I carry them around in a little booklet and people that I run into get to make their own pick. Like a little artwork. Have a proper look at all of them on my website. Click here. Thanks again! I am happy to have them all! Lalala Btw. I am planning to print more once I gave all of them away. Feel free to send me an MK, if you are up for it. Send it to: matylda@matandme.net

Below: v.l.t.r: Tilmann Appel, Charlotte Dumoncel D’Argance, Moritz Firchow, Rob Truijen, Llot Llov, Sven Franzen, Tina Roeder, Victor Hunt

ps. No complains! I LOVE all of them. Check the website for all. This is just an extract of the project! =)

Olivier Lebrun & Olivier Lellouche at the entry of the Past Vyner Street project space in East London. The two Paris-based Olivier’s brought the De Stihl Camp to London.

Olivier Lellouche checks the potatoes in the steamer

One week earlier they presented their project in Paris during Design Week in a huge space. Both told me that it’s interesting to see the same set-up in a new context just one week later at another location and another Design Festival.

Steamer

During the day they cut, steamed and bend the wood in or with their self-constructed devices in order to pay tribute to Alvar Alto’s three-legged stool. The late Finish designer developed the bent L-shaped leg in 1932.

Bending device no. 1

Being half-finish Olivier Lellouche must have decided to imitate the beauty of the patented craft and celebrate it during these two major design show-offs. As Alvar did, Olivier also used solid birch for his version of the stackable stool that was back than produced by Artek in Finland.

Bending device no. 2

At De Stihl Camp the workday starts early. First you wet the wood and than you put it in the steamer for a long time. This process takes a lot of time, but at the end you will have your very own l-shaped stool. Finally you get together with some good people around for some steamed potatoes accompanied by amazing extras and dips created by Maori Murota. All food is her recipe but unfortunately her parents came from Japan to visit her in Paris and she couldn’t come to London.

De Stihl Library

All graphics, posters and booklets are made by Olivier Lebrun. Him and the other Olivier form the core of De Stihl. The concept text is written by Laura Chenus. Designmarketo invited them to come to the London Design Festival and to become a part of their operations.

De Stihl Camp’s version of Alvar Alto‘s three-legged stool from 1933

My first encounter with Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of Formafantasma was in October 2009 at their Graduation Show at the Design Academy. Back then I did an interview with them for Designguide.tv and a drawn interview. In between times I met them on various exhibitions they participated with. This time around we saw each other at Gallery Libby Sellers in London.

Libby opened their new space in Berners Street featuring the ceramic series, Moulding Tradition, and a new textile series, Colony, by Formafantasma. After four years of pop-up galleries and temporary spaces, she decided to settle down in Central London, in between the Art galleries and the Design manufacturers. ‘Just where I belong to’, Libby said on that night. She seemed to be very happy, like a confident woman, who knows what she wants and knows that she got it. Go and see yourself.

1:4 project by Phillippe Malouin

Who is Vera? Vera is a fictional person that came to existence through a staple of photographs that were found on a second hand shop in Brighton, England. The two curators of the show of Vera, Chapter One gave one of the pictures to a selection of designers who were asked to interpret a possible life for Vera.

Conch shells by Loris & Livia

Kirsty Minns and Érika Muller are KM and ÉM, let’s say the brains behind this concept. On the website its stated that the original idea came up in 2006 between Érika Muller and Adrien Pelletier but was never executed until Érika introduced the project to Kirsty. Thanks god good things won’t be forgotten.

Brush from the ‘Play it louder’ collection by Study O Portable

The location was carefully chosen. Vera’s life is displayed in a cozy basement apartment with a plush carpet and beige walls. All 13 pieces have their own little spot and are accompanied by a fictional text written by every designer that gave Vera an identity.

Strap lamp by Camille Blin

The exhibition seems to be in its first edition due to the title. It runs until Sunday in the Brompton Design District during the London design Festival. I truly look forward to the second edition!

Paperwight from the Aintree collection by Tomás Alonso

There were more designs on display. But I was there at the private view and due to the busy crowd I was just able to take some images. Check the website for more!

1:4 project by Phillippe Malouin

I came across Johannes Nagel‘s work couple months ago, when I visited Fumi Gallery. One of his recent pieces were exhibited on the main floor of the East London gallery.

I got really exited about the randomness of the stacked vessels. Plus it is porcelain, a fragile material that makes such a clumsy but precious appearance in Johannes’ pieces. Back then Bernadette told me that more of his work will be presented during the London Design Festival, which I looked forward to.

Entering the gallery 2 days ago, I wasn’t disappointed at all. The pieces are composites, consisting of various forms brought together into new ones. What I like most is that every shape surprises me. There is no ‘I have seen something similar before’. Just astonishment. It is also a relief, because they are allowed to look rough. He has also an eye for the colours he applied on his pieces. It is never too much or too less, it is just right.

The German porcelain improvisator’s pieces are on show under the title ‘Studioware’ together with Max Lamb and Studio Glithero until end of the month. Each designer has created projects in which they used their full potential of their own studios, says the press release.

Gisela Stiegler and Marion Friedmann

Marion Friedmann proudly opened her first temporary gallery space last Saturday. This year the Austrian-born and her two protégés are part of the Brompton Design District during the London Design Festival.

Marion Friedmann Gallery presents Austrian artist Gisela Stiegler and French-Mexican designer Thierry Jeannot. Marion had an eye on Gisela’s work for years. Once she came across Thierry last year in Mexico, she felt it was the right time for a show with both of them. Also to launch the first exhibition of the Marion Friedmann Gallery.

‘Enlighted waste’ presents two different artists that work with waste packaging material in order to create light sculptures. A poetic interpretation of what some people consider scrap and some as valuable objects. The chandeliers PET bottles are from the trash of downtown Mexico City, while the polystyrene boxes are from a fish market in Vienna.

Thierry Jeannot

Thierry told me that one of these chandeliers consists of 500 pet bottles. Some of the bottles are very rare, for example the big one in the centre. It’s production stopped. There is a video where you can watch how Thierry designs some of his lights.

I have been in the location of the exhibition last year. I wasn’t really impressed by the building because the space in the basement was really dark and you couldn’t see much of the colours of the exhibited objects. But this time the lighting exhibition nailed it. The dark wooden floor, the rough walls and the length of the room complement the selection of the exhibited work nicely.

Above and below: Total view and detail of chandelier made entirely out of pieces of PET bottles by Thierry Jeannot

Below and above: Total view and detail lamp sculptures carved out of polystyrene by Gisela Stiegler

FW & Ausgebrannt in my bedroom

I turned 29 the other day. To my surprise two of my friends blew me away me with two very personal presents. Valentin Loellmann and Kaspar Hamacher, both working mainly with wood, gave me one of their recent pieces; Fall/Winter stool by Valentin and Ausgebrannt by Kaspar.

Valentin embossed ‘From Valentin for Matylda – 28th birthday’ on the side. He thought that I turned 28th instead of 29. I forgive him because my boyfriend thought the same and somehow both are just men, who are obviously terrible when it comes to counting. =)

Both pieces look similar in choice of material but different in use of form. Valentin’s Fall/Winter stool is made of hazel branches combined with an oak top. The dark parts are burned and treated with wax. Kaspar’s Ausgebrannt is made of oak. The bark is stripped of and the legs are created by fire that hollowed out parts of the trunk.

Kaspar, Valentin and me studied together in the Product Design department at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Maastricht . I watched closely how they became the designers that they are now, which makes me proud to own these pieces. I have been telling them since a while that they should do an exhibition together because their close friendship and sometimes similar way of working would make a beautiful show. For now I have my private Kaspar and Valentin show at home but one day I will be maybe the person who presents their work somewhere.

Pop-up restaurant by Maurer United

REcentre is a center for sustainable design that focuses on the Meuse-Rhine Euregion, which consists of Belgian and Dutch Limburg, Regio Aachen and Liège. Last weekend I went to one of their recent activities which was called ‘Local Food Local Homes’, a pop-up restaurant in Maastricht, NL that proves that the best food comes from nearby.

A booklet with all contacts & stories about the food that was served

The entire pavilion is made from scaffold boards and executed by Maastricht-based Maurer United architects. I just read that the design is a mix of two former projects by Maurer United: the ‘Boerenwereldkeuken’ pop-up restaurant (2003) and the ‘Guesthouse Belvedère’ folly (2007).

Branded napkin, probably natural paint from the region

Located in the backyard of the Timmerfabriek, the wooden pavilion seems to belong to the collection of Art currently being displayed there. This is what I assumed the first time I went to visit the Out of Storage exhibition. But in fact it was build for the purpose to serve as a Recentre project.

The ‘local herbs’ garden

In order to serve the best and freshest ingredients the designers from Institute Of Relevant Studies insisted on a temporary garden to grow produce for the dinners. The herbs of the garden were provided by Puur Aromaone, of the producers.

Chef Nora Rödner went around the Euregion, visiting local producers, selecting an array of produce to use in her 3 week culinary venture. A couple of them are Wijngoed Thorn and Buffalo Foods Limburg.

The kitchen was located in a small truck, also in the backyard. The operating team for the evening were Linde Dorenbosch who coordinated everything, Roos Greve and Fien de Graaf who were excellent in serving and finally the chef, Nora Rödner (alias Nora Bell) who was assisted by a young man, whos name I did not discover.

The food – Starter: A incredibly delicious buffalo mozzarella and pumpkin salad with capers fried in grapeseed oil – Main: tender pork with three sorts of carrots and potatoes in a succulent sauce – Dessert: a mini apple cake (unfortunately not the sugar experience my body craved for and the only personal disappointment ) with cream – all together an authentic and honest composition. I had to force myself to not lick the plate in front of everyone.

The drinks – beer: Het Loorberger, a new polycultural beer. Also by Maurer United, specially brewed for the pop-up restaurant. Red and white wine came from Wijngoed Thorn. As last treat we got served coffee and fresh tea from the garden. A four hour dinner came to an end: I consider myself a local food connoisseur now.

The company: Natascha Rommens – director of REcentre, Liesje Dessers – Communication & press Officer, Priscilla Machils – collaborator, Veerle Verbakel – ex press officer, Bert Sohl – in-house photographer, Tom Astrella – my favourite entourage and Tom Pepels – Foldit and me shared one of the three exclusive tables for dinner

Camille Blin, Julien Renault & Tobias Schäfer

The guys from Artless Films made a second video for Depot Basel. Have a look at the different work approaches of the 9 designers we invited for the first hands-on occurrence of our place for contemporary design.