Wednesday, October 27, 2004

This year's Coram Sustainable Design Award entries were also exhibited at Week van het Ontwerp Eindhoven. The watertap design on the left is my favorite. It seems to be working like an overflowing ceramic carafe someone left on the bathroom sink. The use of ceramics for both sink and tap is quite aesthetic and smart. Please drop me an email if you know more about this entry or it's designer.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Elske van der Putten's graduation project is titled "loved ones". Ceramic heavy armor copies in a luxury gift box. I'm not sure what the idea was, but I guess it's the perfect rebound gift. Although it will probable get you arrested these days, interpreting it as a death treath. I must add that the looks of this design are near perfect. It wouldn't look bad on a Colette shelve either.

Great new talent, Eric Klarenbeek. The lamp you see here is a balloon made of lunchbag plastic. The balloon floats in the air, caused by a 2000 watts light source that heats up the air inside the balloon. It sounds dangerous I know and it probable is, but it is an amazing sight and clean fun. Keep an eye on Eric (Li Edelkoort does). He's got a few other cool designs up his sleeve. More soon...

This year's Design Academy graduation show was open for visitors last week. My hopes were high, because word was that this year would be especially good. I'll have to agree. (images again by Sietze Kalkwijk)



The image left is Annemarijn Hoorens with here "Sampling the Past" lamp. The shape is a stacked collage of typical antique glass lamp shades, casted in plastic. I love modern products that have an odd feel of nostalgia to it.

Friday, October 22, 2004

How can I have missed out on this. A book about the Bouroullecs by Phaidon. The cover image doesn't look very promising, but anything Bouroullec must be great. And it's less than $35,-! Where's my credit card...

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Belgian furniture fair Interieur 04 in Kortrijk is held every two years. Local and international furniture designers and manufacturers show what they have got. And believe it or not. Most of it is new to me. Designvormgeving posted an image gallery of the event.

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

The most anticipated event during Week van het ontwerp is the Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show. Most start Dutch designers graduated in Eindhoven and were first discovered during one of these shows. The show will start tomorrow, but here are some exclusive sneak preview pictures of the show preparations.

Another great new product by designer Kiki van Eijk. Kiki also designed the Kiki Carpet for Moooi. The white and blue print on this set of stools is very similar to the traditional "Delfts Blauw" prints on tiles. I am sure this will look great in any interior and it's also a small piece of Dutch history. A perfect export product indeed.

Reluct.com contributor and this year's Design Academy graduate Sietze Kalkwijk reports exclusively from Week van het ontwerp (design week) in Eindhoven. The images above are taken at Dick van Hoff's Work in Progress exhibition at CBK De Krabbedans. The image on the left is a machine that is used to produce randomly shaped vases. Right image is a water tap made with two tubes for hot and cold water and industrial fittings.



I will post more images at the event reports section in a couple of days.

Design Sucks, a network of 36 designers, presented their Design Rules exhibition at Week van het ontwerp. It's not just a show of works by participating designers. Two teams of four designers will try to create objects with garbage and scrap at the spot. A quick warning though. Some of the participants have a Brent-alike sense of humor :)

Monday, October 18, 2004

The results of a Sony Ericsson design competition for students in China are in. The results are not very surprising. Most of the designs are very similar to existing mobiles and surprisingly enough, to Nokia designs. I wonder if brand awareness and authenticity were part of the competition brief. There are still quite a few nice design ideas however. Especially on the gadget front. Check the results for yourself.



Via Core77

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

I have only one reason to get rid of my Sony Ericsson K700i mobile. It's design. For some reason, Sony made the back of the phone better looking than the front. No need to worry though. The Talby concept design for KDDI by Marc Newson is going into production. Possibly the best looking phone ever. I hope it will be sold outside Japan too. Retail price will be around $140,-. I think I'll pre-order my dual sim right now, just in case it will. Via gizmodo.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Taschen books are so affordable you can't get around them. And not just affordable. Their previously announced Architecture Now III book is probable as good as the previous versions. You can pre-order Architecture Now III at Amazon and be the first receive it.



















When I visited the Marc Newson at the Groninger Museum exhibition, this book was everywhere. It's a pop book with Marc Newson products you can move and turn. Not a lot of text, but great fun. There's a t-shirt and button to go with it too for the hardcore fans. Marc Newson Pop is also available at Amazon.















I remember my obsession with the previous Spoon. You gotta have a book with a metal wave cover and some of the best recent product designs in your bookcase. The latest addition of Spoon doesn't have a metal cover, which made it much more affordable. It's just $27,17 at Amazon!

Core77 anounced the winners of the Timex 150 years celebration contest. The competition theme was to create a watch, or time concept 150 years into the future. The stickerwatch design by Alexey Koptev (see image) is my favorite. Not because it's so futuristic, or original, but because I can imagine it being a product people would actually use. Check out the other cool and sometimes wacky designs.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Vivid design features the Premsela / BNO exhibition The foreign affairs of Dutch design. An impressive overview of the most successful Dutch design export products. Every field of design is presented with great names like Dick Bruna, Hella Jongerius, Kessels Kramer, Li Edelkoort and many more. You'll have to go to Heerlen (of all places...) to visit the exhibition, but it's probable worth the effort. I hope our minister of culture will attend the expo too. His recent cuts in budgets is going to affect the quality of Dutch design and culture in general more than he can imagine.

The Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague started an interesting show a couple of days ago. The theme is "Scandinavian Design Beyond the Myth" The exhibition not only shows five decades of Scandinavian design, it also discusses it's heritage and future. The exhibition will end on 2nd January 2005. And if you are going, send me some photographs.



Thanks Cl·udia.

Friday, October 08, 2004

Here's a nice room divider for the winter by Nendo in Japan. Yuki (=snow) is a kit of plywood snowflakes that can be joined into a screen. I think, because the snowflakes are placed in different angles, it can also be used to improve your room's acoustics.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

The third edition of the annual Peugeot Design Competition is still open for submissions. The competition theme is: Design the Peugeot of your dreams for the near future (2020). The winning design will be shown as a full scale concept car at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show. Submit your design now!

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

 



Product designer Eric Degenhardt is based in my favorite city in Germany, Cologne. I always thought of it as an inspiring and creative city (with a great museum!). Check out his work and you'll see that I was right.

The fifth edition of Swedish Style Tokyo started today. Swedish Style is an event held in Tokyo to promote trade and cultural exchange between Sweden and Japan. Between 6 and 16 October you will be able to see 60 events at 35 different venues around Tokyo. Not in Tokyo? No problem. They have an event report page at their site. Thanks Cl·udia.

Monday, October 04, 2004

London based Barber Osgerby launched a website with product designs starting from '96. A lot of instant classic designs and new work. My favorite is still the loop desk for Cappellini.



Thanks Eric!