Hasta La Ideas

DMY Berlin 2011: here are some photos of an exhibition presenting work by London designer Benjamin Hubert at the Direktorenhaus in Berlin.

Called Materiality, Hubert’s first solo show features products for companies including Italian brand Casamania, Dutch furniture brand DeVorm, and Swedish lighting firms Zero and Örsjö.

The pieces are presented in rooms overlooking the river Spree at the Direktorenhaus, which was built in 1935 as part of the State Mint in Berlin.

Curated by Johansssen Gallery, the exhibition continues until 30 August.

DMY Berlin took place 1-5 June. See all our stories about the event »

More about Benjamin Hubert on Dezeen »

The following is from the gallery:

The industrial design of Benjamin Hubert

Benjamin Hubert’s approach is inspired by a tactile response to raw materials and the experiences of a close working relationship between product, process and craftsman. The team will often starts projects by sourcing a new material or working closely with a production factory or process, before designing the physical object, in order to fully understand the subtleties and opportunities a material can offer.

His desire to work closely with materials and process is a reaction to training and experience working for a number of established industrial design consultancies throughout the UK. This included Seymour Powell, DCA design and Tangerine, working on a variety of projects including transportation, consumer goods and interiors. Although valuable experience, these larger groups often work with a theoretical approach to materials and utilising heavily industrialised processes.

Ideation

When a project begins, Benjamin Hubert establishes the types of materials and process that are compelling for a given brief or strategic vision. At this point, ideation will starts with the generation of many ideas often in sketch form, models or prototypes.

The designer conducts this process covering the entire studio space with a world of sketches and models to integrate the design language, function, visibility and materiality of a project.

Detail development

The Projects undertaken by Benjamin Hubert often take up to 5 years in development before arriving on the market. This long process is due to the nature of the materials led approach, with the more unusual construction methods and material selection driving a long process of finding the right production partner.

The research can take the form of alchemy and experimentation in the studio or it can happen on the factory floor of the producer. This is a long process to get a partner to invest time and energy in diverting from standard production and guaranteed revenue to an unknown process. In this way of Focusing on trying to innovate with materials and technology allows the designer freedom and a platform to create new products that differentiate from the existing market.

Collaboration

Industrial design projects at the studio are a collaboration between the designer, material and craftsman. The studio works closely with the factory or workshop in any project whether it’s an injection moulding factory or a hand made ceramic process. The knowledge and experience of the people making the artefacts is utilised in every project to gain a better understanding of the material.

Projects also often change and develop through the insights learned from the crafts people as products are manufactured. The process behind each project is always documented and publicised to allow the consumer a greater connection and understanding of the finished article.

Material selection for a project is a defining aspect, with emphasise on material appropriateness in conjunction with a playful look at context to try and change the users perception of an everyday object.

See also:

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Cast Desk Tidy by Benjamin Hubert	Chimney by Benjamin Hubert	Maritime by Benjamin Hubert

Ten years of photos in a new book by one of the world’s foremost fashion photographers

Peter Lindbergh‘s sixth book On Street has recently been released, following up his C/O Berlin Exhibition by the same name. An archival collection of the famed fashion photographer’s most influential work, the book spans the past ten years and includes 120 images, from his fashion photography to his Vogue Berlin series of 2009.

As one of the most recognizable and influential photographers working in the world of fashion and portraiture, Lindbergh avoids the bland monotone studio backgrounds in favor of more realistic cityscapes, breathing new life into a genre that has become riddled with clichés. The approach means he has shots like those capturing a rare glimpse of the most famous models void of all artificial styling and makeup. Even Lindbergh’s carefully staged photography manages to maintain a powerfully straightforward atmosphere, dominated by his purely naturalist style.

On Street also features a forward by German writer Klaus Honnef, as well as a selection of his favorite Lindbergh images. This outstanding collection of iconic and previously unpublished photographs is available through Amazon or Photoeye.

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Four experimental fashion designers’ hand-built reinterpretations of classic Benzes

Berlin’s fashion week might not have the glitter of other fashion capitols, but then again Milan and Paris don’t have Recollection Quartett. The project, under the supervision of art director Frederik Heyman, tasked four of fashion’s more indie designers—Henrik Vibskov, Bernhard Willhelm, Mikio Sakabe and Peter Pilotto—with visually exploring how four cars from Mercedes-Benz’ “Young Classics” collection play against the contemporary context. Sponsored by the luxury automaker and Antwerp’s fashion museum MoMU, Heyman helped execute each designer’s unique vision with hand-built sets.

Henrik Vibskov‘s interpretation of the Mercedes S 123 expresses its popularity as a family car thanks to its spacious trunk. First released in 1977, the model is regarded as one of the first “lifestyle” models and a precursor to the wagons seen on streets today. Vibskov’s take on the car sees an interesting use of the anarchist’s palette of black, white and red.

Bernhard Willhelm was given the SL-Class Roadster 107 from 1971 (later updated in 1985) as his source material. An accessible sports-mobile with a powerful engine and a removable hardtop made this a big hit in the States. At the same time it enjoyed a nice slice of the limelight as the go-to car for bachelors or ladies of leisure. Willhelm’s installation sees two happily buff mannequins towing the car and a goddess-warrior-like woman in front of a large frothy wave.

Mikio Sakabe revisits the W 115 Saloon, which still operate on many European and Asian streets as taxis. Reliable, yet considered rather uninspiring, it’s a cultural icon in its home country and is typically found in the hands of company carpool drivers. Sakabe’s vision takes the business dimension of the car quite literally, save for spidery wooden legs sprouting from the windscreen like creepy typewriter arms.

Peter Pilotto gets the diplomat’s favorite to play with—the S-Class Coupé from the W126 series. While the straight lines scream ’80s urbanity, this was a subtle masterclass in quiet luxury with the long hood hiding a small coal factory of an engine. A bent-wood canopy adorns the car in Pilotto’s installation while horse silhouettes take the place of shadows in the work, hinting at the concealed pulling power under the hood.

The exhibition is open during the Berlin Fashion Week, from 19 to 23 January 2011 at the Stiftung Oper in Berlin.

Beautiful work by Berlin-based photographer Matthias Heiderich.

See more on his flickr stream.