Hasta La Ideas

The Bouroullecs’ Aim lamps for Flos

“All that we see or seem / Is but a dream within a dream” -Edgar Allan Poe

The 50th Milan furniture fair was crawling with millionaires—but Justin McGuirk argues in the Guardian that designers are being exploited by these same millionaires in making work for free.

The trouble is that the royalty system was introduced in the 1950s, when Italy was still the furniture manufacturer to the world. In those days, the risks of a royalty-only payment were worth taking. With an entire country to modernise and a rising middle class, a piece of modern design could shift hundreds of thousands of units. But with the advent of cheap manufacturing in China and budget retailers such as Ikea, Italian furniture is now a luxury industry. Not only do they sell less, there’s more competition. And yet no up-and-coming designer would dream of turning down an opportunity from a manufacturer, because there are hundreds of others waiting to take their place if they do.

This year journalists quizzed manufacturers about their payment structures, and posted whatever they could dig up on Twitter through #milanuncut, a feed that asks, “designers, journalists, manufacturers to engage in an honest discussion about the industry and answer questions such as: Do designers get a raw deal from brands? Are royalty deals unfair? Is the design world a slave to the media? Who makes all the real money? Are there better ways for designers to do business? Has design lost its idealism?”

>> Read article

(more…)

Milan 2011: Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune presented this series of sofas with different-height backrests for Italian brand Tacchini in Milan last week.

Intended to be grouped in clusters for contract interiors, the Highlife series comprises seats with the same arms, frames and cushions but interchangeable backs.

See all our stories about Milan 2011 »

More about Claesson Koivisto Rune on Dezeen »

More furniture on Dezeen »

The information below is from the designers:

HIGHLIFE seating collection

The basic sofa as landscape.

A family of sofas and easy chairs – fairly simple in form – with one prominent feature: different heights of the backrest. A family of furniture that creates dynamic spaces within interiors when used in contract spaces such as hotels etc.

The high backrest is today something that has gotten a renewed interest in the contract market, since the need of privacy has arrived with the use of cellphones, laptops, iPads, e-readers, etc.

However, most of the current designs often have three of their four sides high, giving a box-like appearance, ”closing off” these pieces into individual cocoons. We believe this is excessive. In our opinion, the greatest need is actually for visual privacy from behind.

By giving each piece in a small collection – where many of the components, such as armrests, pillows and seat cushions, are essentially the same – a different backrest height creates an interesting visual dynamic.

Backrest comfort can be created with a double row of loose pillows. This eliminates the need for a perfect backrest angle.

Detailing

Within our design team are people with tailoring experience. During the development of HIGHLIFE we played with familiar fasteners from clothing. Columns of buttons on the armrests and backrest are the result of this idea.

This detailing, together with carefully selected fabrics – chunkier for the backrest, smoother for the armrests and seat – help strengthen the appearance of the sofas as being ‘well dressed’, a bit like an elegant city gent.

See also:

.

Baklava by Claesson Koivisto Rune	Vindobona by Claesson Koivisto Rune	Eve bracelet by Claesson Koivisto Rune

Swedish architects Johannes Norlander Arkitektur have renovated this 1950s island cottage near Gothenburg.

House Morran has been re-clad in tar-coated plywood and the roof, eaves and gutters are also coated in black.

The interior of the house is finished in natural pine.

More stories about renovations on Dezeen »

Photography is by Rasmus Norlander

Here are some more details from the architects:

House Morran

Date: 2010.11.01
Construction year: 2010

Client: Private Architect: Johannes Norlander Arkitektur AB
Location: Gothenburg Archipelago , Sweden Area: 80 m2

The house is located on an island just by the sea fairway to the port of Gothenburg.

The project is a transformation of a worn down cottage from the 50’s with an extension from the mid 70’s.

The building volume and most of the structure has been kept intact, in order not to exploit the landscape but just to refine and strengthen the qualities already existing on the site.

The new facade is cladded in plywood, coated in black pine tar just like the traditional way of preserving wooden boats.

The roof is coated in simple tar paper and has thin plywood eaves with integrated aluminum gutters, coated in black. The interior is all in natural pine and where plywood is used for both cladding and construction.

See also:

.

Belle Iloise House by Opus 5	House in Hiyoshi by Hiroyuki Tanaka Architects	Solbrinken Ordinary House by In Praise of Shadows

Dans cette série “In The Playroom”, le photographe Jonathan Hobin a voulu créer une métaphore autour de l’omniprésence des médias et de l’actualité. Il montre des enfants recréant des situations catastrophiques visibles dans l’actualité. Des clichés à découvrir dans la suite.

Previously on Fubiz

• WVIL Concept Camera
• Sonya Kozlova
• Refuge Series

Copyright Fubiz™ – Suivez nous sur Twitter et Facebook

The Designers Accord Sustainability in 7 video series delivers a daily dose of design inspiration by today’s leading sustainability experts. Join in the conversation as they share 7 things every designer should consider when integrating sustainability into design practice.

As the Chief Design Officer of one of the largest consumer goods producers in the world, Chris Hacker certainly knows a thing or two about design. Here, the Johnson & Johnson innovator offers “seven questions to ask before you design, specify or buy anything.”

About Chris Hacker

Chris Hacker is the chief design officer for Johnson & Johnson, leading all creative direction for brand identity, packaging design and brand imagery for the company’s consumer division. Prior to joining J&J, he was the Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Design for Aveda. Under his leadership, Aveda received the 2004 National Design Award for Corporate Achievement from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

The Designers Accord is a global coalition of designers, educators, and business leaders working together to create positive environmental and social impact. Adopters of the Designers Accord commit to five guidelines that provide collective and individual ways to integrate sustainability into design. The Designers Accord provides a participatory platform with online and offline manifestations so that members have access to a community of peers who share methodologies, resources, and experiences around environmental and social issues in design.

(more…)