Whether it’s a cookie factory turned into a hostel or, in this case, furniture inspired by candy, Icelandic design is often conscious of the country’s collective sweet tooth. Driven by childhood memories of Reykjavik’s old chocolate factory—and the rich smells that would blanket…
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We recently had the chance to spend some time with David Edwards, founder of Le Laboratoire, an unassuming space in Paris which houses a very modern center for art, science and design. Edwards, a Harvard…
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Alors que nous avions pu parler des sculptures impressionnantes qu’il a pu réaliser avec son frère Gehard Demetz, l’artiste italien Aron Demetz présentera à partir du 28 mars de nouvelles oeuvres faites de bois à la Gazelli Art House de Londres dans le cadre de l’exposition « The Tainted » en collaboration avec Shan Hur.
Vi ho già detto che adoro le sedie wireframe? Forse si. Questa è di Dem Bitantes.
News: architects and designers including Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Ross Lovegrove, and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have sent an open letter to Milan’s mayor calling for the reinstatement of architect and editor Stefano Boeri (above), who was sacked last week as the city’s councillor for design, fashion and culture.
In the letter, signatories including Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, French design duo Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and Domus magazine editor-in-chief Joseph Grima expressed their “regret and disappointment” over Boeri’s sudden exit.
“This unmotivated dismissal seems to us inexplicable,” states the letter to Mayor Giuliano Pisapia, which was also signed by architects Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel and Bjarke Ingels of BIG.
“Stefano Boeri is one of Italy’s foremost cultural exponents: he has taught in universities in Italy and abroad, curated exhibitions, designed buildings and written books that have been translated into many languages.
“Thanks to Boeri’s many initiatives […] Milan had finally succeeded in reaffirming itself forcefully on the international stage as an epicentre of art, design, fashion and culture.
The letter closes by urging the mayor to “put personal differences aside” and reconsider his decision to dismiss Boeri.
Trained as an architect, Boeri had relinquished a teaching post at Politecnico di Milano and resigned as editor-in-chief of Abitare magazine in order to become a councillor for Mayor Pisapia, to whom he had narrowly lost in the primary round of the mayoral election.
Since taking up the role in June 2011, his efforts to promote Milan’s reputation for art, design and culture included Piano City, a scheme encouraging piano-playing residents to perform concerts in their living rooms, and Book City, a festival of readings, author talks and literary events.
He also organised major exhibitions of artists such as Picasso, Bramantino, Jeff Wall and Marina Abramovic, another of the letter’s signatories.
His unexpected departure comes just a fortnight before thousands of international guests descend on the city for the Salone del Mobile and numerous other design events and exhibitions taking place alongside it – see all news and products from Milan 2013.
We previously reported on a complex of buildings completed by Stefano Boeri Architetti in northern Sardinia.
Here is the letter and the full list of signatories:
March 27th, 2013
Dear Mayor Pisapia,
It is with regret and disappointment that we learn that Stefano Boeri was dismissed from his position as Councillor for Design, Fashion and Culture for the city of Milan.
Thanks to the energy and commitment of Boeri, and despite the deepening of the gravest crisis to have faced Italy since the postwar years, since 2011 Milan has succeded in projecting an image of renewed cultural vibrancy and dynamism onto the international stage. Thanks to Boeri’s many initiatives — citywide events such as Book City and Piano City, or international exhibitions of internationally renowned artists such as the Marina Abramovic, Picasso, Bramantino, Alberto Garutti and Jeff Wall — Milan had finally succeeded in reaffirming itself forcefully on the international stage as an epicentre of art, design, fashion and culture.
This unmotivated dismissal deprives Milan of one of its greatest assets—an individual who possesses the intelligence, energy, motivation and global network of relationships needed to make Milan an unrivaled protagonist of the European cultural scene of the 21st century. Stefano Boeri is one of Italy’s foremost cultural exponents: he has taught in universities in Italy and abroad, curated exhibitions, designed buildings and written books that have been translated into many languages. As such, this unmotivated dismissal seems to us inexplicable.
In this moment of grave crisis, we urge you to put personal differences aside and, for the good of the city, reconsider your decision.
Yours sincerely,
Marina Abramović – Artist, New York
Iwan Baan – Photographer, Amsterdam
Tatiana Bilbao – Architect, Tatiana Bilbao Architects, Ciudad de Mexico
Daniel Birnbaum – Director, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Petra Blaisse – Landscape Architect, Inside Outside, Rotterdam
Erica Bolton and Jane Quinn – Directors, Bolton Quinn, London
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec – Designers, Paris
Maurizio Cattelan – Artist, Milan
Teddy Cruz – Architect, Teddy Cruz Architects, San Diego
Chris Dercon – Director, Tate Modern, London
Elizabeth Diller – Architect, New York
Jimmie Durham – Artist, Berlin
Okwui Enwezor – Curator, Munich
Amos Gitai – Film Director, Tel Aviv – Paris
Joseph Grima – Editor in chief, Domus, Milan
Zaha Hadid – Architect, Zaha Hadid Architects, London
Nikolaus Hirsch – Dean, Städelschule Frankfurt
Li Hu – Architect, Beijing
Bjarke Ingles – Architect, Bjarke Ingels Group Architects, Copenhagen
Rem Koolhaas – Architect, Rotterdam
Koyo Kouoh – Art Editor, Dakar
Armin Linke – Photographer, Berlin
Ross Lovegrove – Designer, London
Qingyun Ma – Architect, Shanghai
Michael Maltzan – Architect, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Los Angeles
Giancarlo Mazzanti – Architect, Mazzanti Arquitectos, Bogotà
Shelley McNamara & Yvonne Farrell – Architects, Grafton Architects, Dublin
Mohsen Mostafavi – Dean, GSD Harvard, Cambridge
Alexei Muratov – Journalist, Moscow
Jean Nouvel – Architect, Paris
Hans Ulrich Obrist – Co-director, Serpentine Gallery, London
Julia Peyton Jones – Director Serpentine Gallery, London
Bas Princen – Photographer, Amsterdam
Edi Rama – Artist and politician, Tirana
Anri Sala – Artist, Paris
Tomas Saraceno – Artist, Berlin
Milica Topalovic – Architect, Zurich
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dismissal of Milan councillor appeared first on Dezeen.
Dezeen and MINI World Tour: Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde spoke to us at Design Indaba in Cape Town about his designs for glow-in-the-dark roads and clothing that will literally expose dishonest bankers.
Roosegaarde, who runs Studio Roosegaarde, explains that his Smart Highways project is an attempt to move the focus of road safety away from car design and onto the roads themselves. “Why is design always focussed on cars, on how they look and how they behave, and not on the roads, which determine our landscape much, much more?” he asks.
The studio has developed concepts including a priority lane for electric cars (above), which incorporates induction coils under the tarmac to recharge them as they drive, as well as road markings that glow in the dark or react to temperature change (below).
“We’ve been working with paints that can change colour based on temperature and literally adding this to the road,” Roosegaarde explains. “So the moment the road starts to freeze these huge snowflakes start to appear and when the sun comes up they disappear again.”
Roosegaarde was one of three speakers to receive a standing ovation at the Design Indaba conference, which took place in Cape Town at the start of this month.
He believes it is important that designers look at how new technology can be applied to existing infrastructure in this way. “I think that’s the role of the designer, to create missing links between this old failing world and the new world,” he says.
Roosegaarde also explains the concept behind his Intimacy project, a series of dresses that become transparent when the wearer’s heart rate increases. “Technology is our second skin, our second language, in the way we communicate our experience, our information. But why are we looking at these bloody iPhone screens the whole day? Why can’t it be more tactile, more intuitive?”
Finally, he reveals that his studio is currently taking the project in an interesting new direction. “Right now we’re also working on a suit for men, especially for the banking world, which becomes transparent when they lie,” he says. “Let’s see what reality looks like then.”
This movie features a MINI Cooper S Countryman.
The music featured is by South African artist Floyd Lavine, who performed as part of the Design Indaba Music Circuit. You can listen to Lavine’s music on Dezeen Music Project.
See all our Dezeen and Mini World Tour reports from Cape Town.
The post “We’re working on a suit that becomes
transparent when you lie” appeared first on Dezeen.
We were recently invited by lighting specialists Lasvit to visit their production sites in Nový Bor, a small town north of Prague in the Czech Republic. We visited two different plants, met designers Maurizio Galante and Arik Levy, and previewed their products that will debut at Milan Design Week….
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Voici la dernière réalisation du collectif français Megaforce pour le groupe « Yeah Yeah Yeah ». Illustrant le morceau Sacrilege, ce clip à la direction maîtrisée nous propose de revenir sur les évènements amenant à la scène initiale montrant la mise en place d’un bûcher pour une jeune femme dans une ville des USA.
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