Hasta La Ideas

As part of Peroni Nastro Azzurro‘s series of talks on Italian design at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs will chair a discussion with Milan designer Fabio Novembre on 29 November. 

The talk will focus on the importace of and trends in Italian design, with anecdotes from Novembre leading to a discussion with the audience.

Tickets are free but must be booked in advance – click here to reserve your place.

Portrait is by Settimio Benedusi.

Here are some more details from Peroni:

Peroni Nastro Azzurro’s Collaborazioni Talks bring together Italy’s most iconic designers to celebrate its unique values and discuss the future of Italian design starting with a personalised talk with Fabio Novembre

What: The Peroni Collaborazioni Talks: with Fabio Novembre
When: 29th November 2011
Where: The Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Italy is globally renowned for its ability to consistently create some of the most iconic pieces of design. Indeed, the country boasts a long list of well known designers who have become global names in their own right including Alessi, Mendini and Piano. Their success has been built from a unique set of values and traditions that result in beautiful, stylish yet ultimately practical products.

The Peroni Collaborazioni Talks will celebrate these values and traditions of craftsmanship, passion and attention to detail so often found in Italian culture and trends by bringing together two of Italy’s most influential designers who will also share their view on what lies ahead for the future for Italian design, starting with an evening with Fabio Novembre.

The evening will offer a unique insight into the personal reflections and anecdotes from Fabio himself, one of Italy’s most innovative and influential designers, whilst creating and encouraging an audience discussion and debate around the importance of Italian design, its values and the people and trends that will shape its future.

Novembre’s work has played a pivotal role in the development of Italian design and in the past he has worked with leading Italian design brands from Cappellini to Casamania. His first commissioned architectural project was the Anna Molinari Blumarine shop in Hong Kong in 1994 and previous projects also include the unique design and architecture of the SHU bar in Milan and the Stuart Weitzman shoe store in Rome. The talk will allow a rare insight into his work and will address his forecast for the future of Italian design and his thoughts on the new designers that might shape that future.

Peroni Collaborazioni will be hosted by renowned design journalist and critic Marcus Fairs and is the first in a series of talks which will examine the past and future of Italian style and design.

Date: 29th November 2011
Time: 7-9pm
Location: The Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Admission: free, booking essential.

During my third semester of college over twenty years ago, I was studying the wrong major at the wrong art school. I remember having a conversation with a professor, explaining my frustrations with a particular assignment and explaining what it was I wanted to do, when she said “Hmm, sounds like you should be studying industrial design instead.” I remember thinking What the hell is “industrial design?”

“Sounds great,” I said, after she finished explaining what it was. “I’ll change majors, I’m in.”

“We don’t offer that program here,” she said. Shortly thereafter I left the school and never went back. Four years later I had a B.I.D. from Pratt (where I met two ne’er-do-wells who would become the founders of Core77).

When did you realize industrial design was the discipline for you? That’s what the IDSA wants to know as part of a research inquiry to teach design education. Take the survey here (and while you’re at it, share in the comments too).

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(Photos: Raul J. Garcia)

For the past few years, we’ve been telling anyone who would listen about Denver’s imminent Clyfford Still Museum, designed by Brad Cloepfil and Allied Works Architecture. The frequent response: “Who’s Clyfford Still?” Exactly! On Friday, the museum opened its doors and commenced reacquainting the public with the life and work of the late artist (meanwhile, earlier this month at Sotheby’s, one of his canvases fetched $61.7 million, a record for the persnickety Abstract Expressionist). The majority of the museum’s approximately 2,400 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures—a mind-boggling 94% of Still’s total creative output—has never been on display, and the inaugural exhibition fills the nine second-floor galleries with 110 works (including the only three Still sculptures in existence). The show “aims to redefine our grasp of Still’s vision in both its scope and sustained intensity—highlighting his extraordinary use of color, draftsmanship, gesture, figuration, serial, procedures, and scale,” said adjunct curator David Anfam in a statement issued by the museum. Stay tuned for further reports on the cantilevered concrete marvel after we visit next month, and get a feel for the 28,500-square-foot museum in this virtual tour:

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving in the U.S. and if you’re at work, it’s very likely your brain isn’t. Oh look, Sharon from accounting brought in doughnuts! I really should talk about the game/movie I saw this weekend with ALL my coworkers! Now is a great time to make my holiday wish list! Shiny!

On a philosophical level, your employer is paying you to do a job, so you probably should be doing something work related. If you don’t have it in you to focus on creating a viable work product right now, consider doing a little mindless work that supports your work functions:

• File. Put on headphones (if they are acceptable in your workplace), and start putting papers away where they belong. If all your papers are filed, review your files to make sure you’re not keeping any information that doesn’t need to be archived. Organize your papers so that they help you do your job.
• Review your bulletin board. How recent are all those items hanging on the walls of your cubicle or bulletin board? Can you easily see all of the most vital information? Is the calendar from two years ago? Is there anything that can come down or be replaced?
• Clean your phone and work surface. When was the last time you scrubbed either? The dust bunnies behind your monitor aren’t going to clean themselves.
• Enter information off business cards. If you’ve recently acquired business cards from important contacts, enter the data into your address book.
• Backup your computer. If it’s not done automatically, now is a great time to backup the information off your computer’s hard drive. Be sure to follow your employer’s system for doing this task.
• Unclutter your bookshelves. Do you have any out-dated manuals or irrelevant reading materials taking up space on your bookshelves? Now is a great time to recycle, shred, or remove these items from your office.
• Equipment check. Are you using all of your equipment in your office? Is it in its best possible shape? Could you benefit more by knowing how to better operate the equipment you do have? Make a request to have the item serviced or take the time to read the operator’s manual or get rid of anything you don’t use.
• Restock. Do you need more tape, more pens, more notepads, or any more office supplies? Go “shopping” in the supply closet if you do.

Mindless work often gets a bad reputation as “not working,” but the reality is that you need some down time to let your brain process all that mindful work you are usually doing. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that “alternating between mindful work (work that requires intense thought and focus) and mindless work (routine activities that require very little processing power) enhances your efficiency and creativity.” In the end, a little mindless work might actually help you do a better job at producing your mindful work — I call that a win-win.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.