Hasta La Ideas

News: Piero Ambrogio Busnelli, founder of Italian furniture brand B&B Italia, has died aged 87.

One of the great pioneers of Italian contemporary design, Busnelli founded B&B Italia in 1973, after previously co-founding C&B Italia with Cesare Cassina.

From the outset Busnelli worked with leading designers to create a series of iconic furniture products, including three Compasso d’Oro Award winners: Mario Bellini’s 1972 Le Bambole armchair; Studio Kairos’ 1983 Sisamo wardrobe system; and Antonio Citterio’s 1987 Sity sofa system.

In 1989 B&B Italia was the recipient of the first ever Compasso d’Oro Award to be given to a company. The award was given for “the constant work of integration carried out in order to combine the values of scientific and technological research with those necessary to the functionality and expressiveness of its products.”

The company is based in Novedrate in Italy’s Como province, in a building designed by architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano in 1972.

In 2011, Busnelli’s sons Giorgio and Emanuele brought the company back under family ownership after a majority stake was sold to private equity firm Opera in 2002.

Piero Ambrogio Busnelli was born in Meda on 13 April 1926 and died on 25 January 2014.

Here is a statement from B&B Italia:

Piero Ambrogio Busnelli, founder of B&B Italia, died on 25 January 2014. He was a visionary entrepreneur on the scene of design and an extraordinary ambassador of “Made in Italy” in the world.

The furnishing sector has lost a great interpreter in the history of Italian design, a pioneer who believed in it from the onset by furthering its success in the world with farsighted initiative.

Born in 1926, he grew up in Meda (Milan-Brianza), distinguishing himself from a young age for determination and courage to explore new avenues, especially in the professional framework. His experience as entrepreneur began in 1952 but Piero Ambrogio Busnelli’s dream of an “Industry For Design” came true in 1966, when he created C&B along with Cesare Cassina. A man of great courage and determination, Busnelli never hesitated to leave the handcrafted heritage of his native land for a new industrial culture of design that embraces an all-round approach and focuses on exports throughout the world.

By introducing an extraordinary technology for the production of padded furnishings (cold polyurethane foam moulding) to the sector through his own initiative, and by partnering several widely renown designers (Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Mario Bellini, Gaetano Pesce, Ludovico Magistretti, Marco Zanuso and many others), the company won a series of awards and recorded growing international success.

In 1973 the company’s conversion into B&B Italia marked a momentous change in the life of Piero Ambrogio Busnelli. His insight and entrepreneurial vision take shape and accelerate the company’s race to carry out highly qualifying projects, both architectural (the headquarters were designed by R. Piano and R. Rogers) and in terms of product, with icon items, such as Sisamo, Sity, Domus, Charles and many more. These were projects that contributed to write the history of Italian design, with the contribution of a new generation of designers (Antonio Citterio, Patricia Urquiola, Paolo Piva, Naoto Fukasawa, Jeffrey Bernett and several others).

From the onset, Piero Ambrogio Busnelli built his company by referring to a new industrial model, without ever being daunted by challenges. His innate dynamism and great intuition led him to extend the innovation process and seek other domestic settings, finally also including offices, contract furnishings and cruise liners.

Four Compasso d’Oro Awards acknowledged a series of successful items: Le Bambole in 1972, Sisamo in 1984, Sity in 1987 and, finally, in 1989, the first Compasso d’Oro Award ever assigned to a company, and unquestionably the most appreciated, rewarded B&B Italia “For the constant work of integration carried out in order to combine the values of scientific and technological research with those necessary to the functionality and expressiveness of its products.”

Today the company is managed by the second generation of the family that has been guiding it for many years along the path of international growth.

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dies aged 87 appeared first on Dezeen.

News: the Russian designer of the AK-47 assault rifle Mikhail Kalashnikov has died aged 94.

A general in the Russian army and the designer of the widely used weapon that bears his name, Kalashnikov died in hospital yesterday after a long illness.

The AK-47, abbreviated from Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947, is a selective-fire, gas-operated assault rifle and one of the first to have been mass produced.

Kalashnikov and his team developed the gun at the end of the Second World War to function reliably in harsh conditions. Its success was put down to the simple design, compact size and cheap manufacturing cost.

The firearm was adopted as the standard issue assault rifle of the Soviet Army in 1949 and was later disseminated worldwide, undergoing a series of modifications until the present day.

Kalashnikov continued working as chief designer at the firm that first built the AK-47 in Izhevsk, Russia, into his late 80s.

He received many state honours and was twice lauded with the honorary title Hero of Socialist Labour by the Soviet Union.

The AK-47 was added to the collection at London’s Design Museum in December 2011.

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1919-2013 appeared first on Dezeen.

News: London interior designer David Collins has died after a short battle with skin cancer, his office has announced.

Collins, best known for restaurant interiors including The Wolseley, J Sheekey, Nobu Berkeley and Massimo (pictured), died this morning. “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of David Collins following a short but valiant battle with cancer,” reads a message on his website.

“David died this morning at 1.20am surrounded by his family and loved ones. A truly gifted and inspirational man who has left us with some of the most remarkable and treasured interiors.”

“David’s death is a real shock,” wrote Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman in a tribute on vogue.co.uk. “As well as being responsible for designing many of the most influential London restaurants and bars of our age, he was a dear friend of many at Vogue.

She added: “His work merged luxury, glamour and heritage in an inimitable fashion and his company was always of the first and most enjoyable order.”

Born in Dublin, Collins founded David Collins Studio in London in 1985 and landed his first big commission when he was hired to design every branch of French-style restaurant chain Cafe Rouge.

More recently Collins designed retail interiors for fashion brands including Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen and Harrods.

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News: Danish architect Henning Larsen has died in Copenhagen at the age of 87.

Henning Larsen founded his practice in 1959, becoming one of Denmark’s most prolific modern architects. Celebrated buildings in his home country include the Copenhagen Business School Dalgas Have and the Royal Danish Opera, while abroad he is best-known for designing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the Malmö City Library in Sweden.

His most recent projects include the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavik, Iceland, which won this year’s European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, the Mies van der Rohe Award.

Larsen was praised by critics for the quality of light and shadow in his buildings and in 2012 he became the first Danish recipient of the Praemium Imperiale arts prize.

Although he was no longer directly involved with projects at Henning Larsen Architects, he closely followed the development of new designs and would often discuss details with his staff.

From 1968 to 1995 Larsen was a professor of architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, where he himself had trained as an architect.

He died at home in his sleep on 22 June.

See all our stories about Henning Larsen »

Here’s a statement from Henning Larsen Architects:

It is with great sorrow that we have learned of the death of Henning Larsen. Architect Henning Larsen died in his sleep in his home in Copenhagen Saturday 22 June 2013. Henning Larsen was 87 years old.

In 1959, Henning Larsen founded his own architecture studio, and he was active for more than 50 years. Henning Larsen’s life work counts a number of significant building works in Denmark and abroad. He was often described as a “master the light”. From 1968 to 1995, he was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen.

Henning Larsen’s significance for architecture goes far beyond his own projects. He has inspired generations of Danish and international architects with initiatives such as the architectural journal Skala, which he published for more than 10 years. His unique approach to architecture, combining a sharp artistic and analytical eye, allowed him to ask the exact question that grasped the opportunities of a given project. His tool was space and daylight.

Henning Larsen has received a number of awards and recognitions. Most recently, His Royal Highness the Prince Consort of Denmark’s Europe Nostra Award 2013 and in 2012 what is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of art, the Praemium Imperiale. In 2001, he established the Henning Larsen Foundation with the objective of promoting and disseminating architecture in its broad sense.

Henning looked upon the world as a palette of professional, artistic challenges and thus he was also one of few architects in his generation who actually worked in the entire world. Throughout his work as an architect, he managed to attract talented architects from all over the world. After their time working in his studio, they went home as ambassadors for Danish architecture.

Among Henning Larsen’s most important works abroad, you find the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia, 1984), The Danish Embassy in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia, 1987) and Malmö City Library (Sweden, 1997). In Denmark, his most essential works include Copenhagen Business School Dalgas Have (1989), Enghøj Church (1994), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (1996) and the Royal Danish Opera (2004).

Henning Larsen’s influence on architecture has been grand. He created a culture in the company that is driven by professional ambition and a desire to work with projects where architecture can make a difference. This is a heritage that we will carry with us.

The funeral will take place in silence.

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1925-2013 appeared first on Dezeen.

News: American architect Rick Mather, whose projects included the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, UK, and the masterplan for London’s Southbank, has died aged 75.

Mather studied architecture at the University of Oregon before moving to the UK to study at the Architectural Association. He founded his studio Rick Mather Architects in London in 1973.

Nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2010 for his extension to the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, Mather’s practice also designed masterplans for several universities across the UK.

His other award-winning work included the £20 million extension to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, London, which won a Civic Trust Award after its completion in 1999, the same year he completed an extension to Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London and was appointed to masterplan the city’s Southbank development.

More recently he completed an extension to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, USA.

Mather also served on the councils of the RIBA and the Architectural Association and was a trustee of the V&A Museum.

Photograph is by Andy Matthews.

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1937-2013 appeared first on Dezeen.