Hasta La Ideas

To help raise money for the restoration of the historic Eames house, Lucia Eames is opening her Petaluma home and private collection to ticket holders of the first annual Eames Foundation Fundraiser. The afternoon sounds action-packed with exhibitions of furniture and photographs, film screenings, kite making, and a group activity inspired by the Powers of Ten film. Finally, the evening will end in a silent auction, including a chance to bid on an overnight stay for two in the house in question. Tickets are $500 for the general public, $400 for members and $250 for students and teachers. More information can be found on the official invite.

Eames Foundation Fundraiser
June 21, 2009, 1:00 PM-6:00 PM
Petaluma, CA

(more…)

The Mighty Bearcats have teamed up with the newly formed Object Design League to present The Promise of This Moment, a collection of pieces from 14 Chicago designers that “augment the everyday”. Coincident with NeoCon, the show will open on June 15th in Wicker Park, Chicago.

This exhibition highlights the capacity of objects to transform banal and commonplace activities into moments of play, relief, beauty and delight. While the objects presented in this show fit squarely into the corners of the everyday — like buttoning up your shirt in the morning, switching an appliance on and off, or not making the bed–they also create new aesthetic and experiential opportunities within routine.

Participants include: Craighton Berman, Greg Bethel, Peter Bo, Jason Chernak, Bradley Duncan, Giffin’Termeer, Steve Haulenbeek, Materious, Bryan Metzdorf, Michael Savona, Garrett Smith, and Smith & Linder.

Pictured above are Michael Savona’s Goose Cones and Smith & Linder’s double-sided Pipette Lamps

The Promise of This Moment
2035 W. Wabansia
Opening: June 15th, 6-9pm
June 15-22: Viewing by appointment only (contact jchernak@gmail.com)

More images after the jump.

(more…)

Design Miami’s move this year to a larger venue closer to the hub of Art Basel is paying off with increased foot traffic and buying buzz for the fair’s fourth go-round, which runs through Sunday in Hall 5 of the Basel exhibition complex. Design Miami/Basel‘s 27 exhibitors—which include some of our favorite New York City design emporiums: Max Protech, Sebastian + Barquet, and Cristina Grajales Inc—are reporting “reassuring results,” according to ARTINFO’s Judd Tully. “I had no big expectations,” gallery owner Patrick Seguin told Tully, “but people are really buying.” And by “really buying,” he means parting with €130,000 ($183,200) or so for a unique Charlotte Perriand bookcase from 1960 and paying €6,500 ($9,100) a pop for Le Corbusier wall units. Seguin is also doing a brisk business in the enduringly irresistable work of Corbu’s talented cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, whose sofa sets and armchairs have commanded five figures. On the contemporary side, the Eindhoven crew are a smash hit, with “Designer of the Future” Nacho Carbonell earning the approval (and the €84,000) of none other than Brad Pitt.

Next up for the Design Miami juggernaut? Asia. According to The Art Newspaper, Design Miami founder Craig Robins has entered into preliminary agreements with officials from Seoul (your 2010 world design capital) to bring the fair there as early as March 2012. The specifics will depend on the progress of the city’s new design museum and convention center, designed by Zaha Hadid.

Recently on UnBeige:

Sick of sitting at your computer? RECESS is a new series of creative-community sporting sessions that offer “an alternative lifestyle to the otherwise rudimentary activities that dominate and sometimes dull our urbanite senses.” Simply put, it’s an ongoing series of sports and games featuring, no not Bjorn Borg (darn!), but some super stars from the creative world.

Make it out to Colonel’s Row at Governor’s Island, NY on June 20th to ring in the first RECESS, featuring a badminton competition sponsored by Tretorn. Van Leeuwen ice cream & Le Gamin food mobile truck will be onsite to offer delicacies while Kronan and BioMega will offer attendees an opportunity to test ride their bikes. You can watch, laugh, point fingers — all that stuff you gotta keep to yourself in the office — while meeting a bunch of creatively-minded folks. Not to mention learn how to hit some shuttlecocks. Now that’s a good time.

(more…)

Registration for the Icograda World Design Conference 2009 is now open. The event will be hosted by the Central Acadamy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China from the 24th through the 30th of October.

The theme of this year’s Congress is Xin. Literally signifying human speaking, and hence Message/Letter in Chinese, Xin represents a primitive means of communication. Today, however, it has come to encompass many more dimensions. Under this theme, Icograda World Design Congress Beijing 2009 will explore contemporary issues surrounding communication design through a series of presentations, discussions and pre-Congress workshops.

Speakers include:
Jan van Toorn, Sol Sender, Patrick Whitney, Kohei Sugiura, Huda Smitshuijzen Abifares, Studio Pip & Co/Andrew Ashton, Peter Bankov, David Barringer, Ruedi Baur, Pierre Bernard, Brian Collins, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Base Design, Kiko Farkas, Peter Hall, Dan Hill, Zuzana Lednicka, Laurence Madrelle, Victor Margolin, Achyut Palav, Peet Pienaar, David Pigeon, Rick Poynor, Qiu Zhenzhong, Dexter Sinister/David Reinfurt, Michael Rock, Helmut Schmid, David Small, Hilton Tennant, Troika, Michael Vanderbyl, Yao Dajuin and Yoon Ho Seob.

Many institutes throughout China will also host a variety of pre-conference workshops, including: Chinese Banknote Design in Shenzhen, Contemporary Creativity of China Traditional Hand-woven Fabric in Ji’nan, and Sign’s Design and Application of the Shanghai Style in Shanghai. Icograda is seeking both workshop leaders (airfare provided) and participants for these workshops. Browse the full list here.

(more…)