Agenda
WashHouse
HELMRINDERKNECHT, Berlin, Germany
For its first show at this gallery, Dutch design studio Makkink & Bey (Rianne Makkink & Jurgen Bey) has created a site-specific walk through the three-dimensional landscape of a rural village. Resonate with the designers’ narrative based processes, Mohair woollen blankets hang on a clothesline giving shape to the space and dividing it. The woollen blankets were produced at the Audax Textielmuseum’s workshop, Textilelab, in Tilburg, Netherlands, and the five patterns and ten colour combinations are limited to 20 pieces of each, which are available exclusively at HELMRINDERKNECHT.
London Design Festival
Various locations across London, UK
From big brand sponsored events to individual gallery & designer shows, more than 200 events feature in the programme that sees 100% Design at Earls Court providing the trade core. Other candidates for highlights include Clemens Weisshaar & Reed Kram teaming up with Audi in Trafalgar Square to create an enormous mechanical octopus; Paul Cocksedge’s Size + Matter public design commission at the Southbank Centre; Stuart Haygarth’s installation at the Festival’s hub, the Victoria & Albert Museum; and Tent London at the Old Truman Brewery, which this year will also showcase new talent in the realm of digital design.
Abitare Il Tempo
Verona Fair Grounds, Italy
It’s 25th anniversary time for Verona’s interiors fair, which along with its mix of traditional & avant-garde, classic & contemporary, prides itself on the quality of its 700 exhibitors in 18 categories fields from kitchens & bathrooms to lighting, furniture, textiles and flooring. Abitare also presents a rich selection of cultural exhibitions, with this year’s edition featuring Living Utopia curated by Alessandro Mendini. Uncovering the emotional story of 100 Italian objects of different shapes and origin, the circuit reflects not only on the great transformations of the last two decades or so, but invites the viewer to rethink our relationship with the environment, and the objects that surround us.
MoOD
Brussels Expo, Belgium
Last year was the first outing for MoOD (Meet only Original Design), the trade fair for upholstery, wall & window coverings that was formerly known as Decosit Brussels. With some 250 exhibitors participating, the organisers are emphasising the contract element of the event with the introduction of the Contract Square, a meeting point for specialists that focuses on new materials, architectural applications of textiles and other issues relevant to the sector. Also part of the fair are the (Re)Naissance Trend presentation, the Innovation Platform, Young Belgian Creativity and an section devoted to Outdoor products.
Design September
Various locations across Brussels, Belgium
Across the Belgian capital more than 100 locations will host nearly 80 events that encompass design in the form of furniture, objects, industrial products, graphics and architecture. Featuring both national & international talent, the likes of Michele de Lucchi, Harri Koskinen, Ineke Hans and Kiki Van Eijk take part in exhibitions, conferences, debates, open studios, film screenings and city tours. Other highlights include FIGHTING THE BOX, where 20 Belgian designers (Bram Boo, Marina Bautier, Alain Berteau, Benoît Deneufbourg, Nathalie Dewez, Nedda El-Asmar, Stefan Schöning, Diane Steverlynck, Danny Venlet and Sylvain Willenz, ao) will reveal the stories & processes behind their product work.
CODE 10
Bella Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark
With both regional and international exhibitors, the second edition of this trade fair of Nordic design aims to break from the traditional concepts of such events and highlight new approaches to design form, design thinking and the creative process. The event will also coincide with the launch of the new BC Design Centre, formerly known as Scandinavian Trade Mart, which will provide a permanent focus for design in the area with showrooms, a knowledge centre, material library, workshops, seminars and exhibition spaces.
Helsinki Design Week
Cable Factory & other locations throughout Helsinki, Finland
Design, architecture and fashion meet up for this week-long series of exhibitions, seminars, workshops, catwalk shows and open days. With the city’s eyes already on its role as World Design Capital in 2012, the events of this year are centred on the theme of storytelling. Collaborative partners include the Dutch Design Week and the Nordic Fashion Association, with one of the special features, Design Exchange, reflecting the spirit of ‘Open Helsinki’ through its use of Facebook to generate design-related content. Elsewhere, the Designpartners100 exhibition curated by Kari Korkman will present an overview of new design at the Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre during the Habitare trade fair (1 – 5 September).
Hidden Heroes: The Genius of Everyday Things
Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
The daily gets the David Bowie treatment in this exhibition, which is devoted to ‘heroes’ of everyday life. Design (sometimes) without unnecessary capitals; homage is paid to the likes of the tea-bag, a Kleenex, Band-Aid or Scotch tape, presenting their histories, patent drawings, past & contemporary advertisements & films, and also design and art objects that have been inspired by them. From items that have developed in an almost evolutionary way to the ‘eureka!’ moment of an individual, other examples of anonymity include plastic bubble packaging wrap, created by Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding at the beginning of the Sixties.
Sydney Design
Powerhouse Museum & other locations throughout city, Sydney, Australia
Over 70 events and activities engage with the theme ‘tell us a story’ in this design festival. Aiming to reveal the fascinating tales behind design ideas, objects and processes, the programme highlights include the exhibition Creating the look: Benini and fashion photography, in which the Powerhouse draws on the collaboration between photographer Bruno Benini and stylist Hazel Benini from 1950 to 2000; the 2010 Australian International Design Awards; Iron Designer, a live stage event that gives participants 20 minutes to design a concept or product; designer markets Young Blood and designboom; and Sydney-based industrial designers Adam Goodrum & Kristian Aus running a two-day workshop with secondary school students.
DMY International Design Festival
Against the backdrop of a former power plant (Kraftwerk), DMY aims to give its offer of contemporary design projects a unique platform. Reuniting its component parts in one venue, the established brands and designers of the Allstars section will rub shoulders with the experimental endeavours of the Youngsters. The Festival is supported by a number of symposiums, workshops and other design-fuelled events, and for a taste of what’s to come DMY is organising an exhibition during Milan design week called Made in Berlin – Open Process, featuring seven new products and design editions by designers living & working in Berlin.
Built to Resi(s)t
from 13-18 April 2010, Via Corsico 3, Milan, 10.30 am to 10.30 pm and on the Milan Fairgrounds, Hall 12 Booth C23
Exclusive launch party 14 April, Via Corsico 3 (guest list)
EASTPAK takes its high end collaborations to the next level. For the first time, EASTPAK has joined forces with a furniture design label and is presenting a range of upholstered lounge seats. Called ‘BUILT TO RESI(S)T’, the product line combines abstract QUINZE & MILAN shapes with authentic EASTPAK product characteristics, including bags, zippers, handles, colorful strong fabrics and popular prints.
Rodrigo Almeida
FAT Galerie, Paris, France
Rodrigo Almeida’s work bears the mark of the multicultural inspirations behind his Brazilian origin and we can, therefore, see Portuguese, Brazilian, Indian and Afro-Brazilian influences in his creations. This exhibition, entitled? The poetics of miscegenation? showcases his latest productions, which continue to demonstrate a style made up of a multitude of cultural influences. Created using Almeida’s preferred material of choice, MDF, the pieces are created in sharp contrast to an ultra-smooth approach, favouring instead a rich handcrafted look where designs are assembled intuitively or emotionally.
The State of Things: Design and the 21st Century
Design Museum, Holon, Israel
2010 is the inauguration year of the Design Museum Holon and in this, the opening exhibition, it seems fitting to focus on design that can be seen as culturally significant for the times we live in. Some 100 products are presented, broken into eight distinct categories: New Essentialism, Mutant Remix, Of the Body, Social Anxiety, Beyond the Designer, Super Beauty, Craft Economy and Design Lab. Objects showcased range from ordinary household items such as plastic chairs and printed wallpaper through to technological designs that offer life-saving abilities.
Richard Hutten: 18 Years of Playing
Design Museum, Ghent, Belgium
As its title would suggest, this exhibition celebrates the body of work that Dutch designer Richard Hutten has produced over a career that has spanned nearly two decades The Rotterdam-born designer, who has turned his hand to furniture, products, interior design and exhibitions, has always taken a conceptual approach to his work and while his designs are thought-out down to the smallest detail, many are also linked by their playful and humorous elements.
What Things We Are
La Triennale Design Museum, Milan, Italy
After having answered the question What is Italian Design? through the Seven Obsessions of Italian Design and Series, Off Series, this latest exhibition presents a third interpretation of Italian design. Arranged sequentially, the show focuses on the histories and stories originating from individual objects and the network of relations and connections they form. With a selection of works by masters, artists and young designers the content aims to reveal an alternative definition of the identity and essence of Italian design, which is staged using an installation by Pierre Charpin.
Design by Performance
Z33, Hasselt, Belgium
An unusual slant on the traditional exhibition, which takes as its focus the production process in design rather than a finished object and is therefore less of a static exhibition space and instead one open to action and change. Contributors to the show, which include designers such as Maarten Baas as well as America’s David Bowen, Italy’s Bruno Munari and Studio Glithero from the UK, will demonstrate that the realisation of an object is affected or indeed formed by the situation it is placed in or indeed by the visitor themselves.
Design Indaba Conference & Expo
Cape Town International Convention Centre, South Africa
Just the mere mention of a cup and a game with two halves gives this edition of the Design Indaba an extra thrill. Becoming an 'event' for local & global creative industries, in its relatively short history the Conference’s initial nine speakers has grown to today’s 40, and the Expo’s wide-ranging perspective on craft, product, industrial, fashion, film, animation, graphic, jewellery and architectural design, among many other disciplines, seeks to maintain the organisation’s original mantra of a ‘benchmark against best-of-class’.
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Stockholm Furniture Fair & Northern Light Fair
Stockholmsmässan, Stockholm, Sweden
Billed as the ‘biggest meeting place for Nordic design’, building work on the fairground means that the Stockholm design fest will give exhibitors and visitors an extra 10,000 sq m of space to play with. A wide survey of furniture, textiles, lighting and other design for both public and private spaces, guest of honour in 2010 is British designer Paul Smith, with Jens Fager designing the Greenhouse hall for selected international design schools and newly-qualified designers.
IMM Cologne 2010
Koelnmesse (Cologne), Germany
It's barometer time and the international furnishings and interior design trade fair has made reclaiming top German and international brands a main priority. One of the most important developments is the creation of Pure Village, a literal crossroads juxtaposing the established design brands of Hall 11, selected names from Design Post (including Arco, Arper, Desalto, Kvadrat, Linteloo, Matteo Grassi, Montis, Moroso and Nya Nordiska) and the D3 Design Talents section. An invigorated sounding off-programme by Passagen will also provide temporary installations, exhibitions & events at galleries, showrooms, cultural institutions, museums and other locations throughout the city.
Design Talks
School of Visual Arts, Design Criticism Department, New York
Just one last date in the SVA MFA Design Criticism autumn/winter lecture series, which so far has included talks with Pentagram partner Abbott Miller, Museum of the City of New York curator Donald Albrecht, photographer Jason Fulford and design critic Peter Hall. The 15th of December is the turn of Antenna Design co-founders Masamichi Udagawa and Sigi Moeslinger, who are headlining under the banner 'Design for Activation'.