A quick reminder that Ron Gilad’s first American exhibition, Spaces Etc/An Exercise in Utility, is opening next week at Wright. To kick-off the show, the designer will be in conversation with Zoe Ryan, the Neville Bryan Curator of Design at the Art Institute of Chicago, at Wright at 5pm on April 28th. More information and a selected preview is available here.
SVA’s MFA Designer as Author program will be presenting its first-ever Thesis Forum at the new SVA Visual Arts Theater next Wednesday, April 22. It’s a marathon event–running 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. (yikes!), where students will present their theses “on the big stage.” Open to the public, moderators will include Milton Glaser, Scott Stowell, Brian Collins, Steven Heller and Lita Talarico. I’ll be giving an end-note to the thing (if I’m still conscious at the end of listening, and synthesizing, 8 hours of design presentations), but there will be plenty of breaks and snacks.
The SVA Theater is located at 333 West 23rd St. And if you can’t make the event, you can always attend the opening of the exhibition on Tuesday, May 5 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th Floor. (Up until May 16).
An Evening with Ezio Manzini, brought to you by o2NYC
Where: The Cherry Lane Theater
38 Commerce Street
West Village, NY City
When: Wednesday, May 6, 2009
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Tickets: Register Here
Whether you’ve been tirelessly working away on sustainable design strategies for years, or have only recently joined the movement, you must be wondering, what do we do NOW? Design for positive social and environmental impact – let’s admit it – it is easier said than done, even when the economy was booming, and the demand for shiny green things was on the rise. The more we seemed to dig deeper and learn about the environmental and social consequences of design, the more we struggled with the moral quandaries built into our systems of production and consumption. Sure, we could do better, but would better get us to where we need to go? Now that the global economy is on the precipice, can we rethink and reframe our goals? What IS our exit strategy?
Ezio Manzini, author of Sustainable Everyday, Professor in Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Milano, and founder of o2 Italy, will join us for an evening conversation. Ezio has been on the journey towards sustainable design for over 20 years, and has noticed a growing trend to move beyond first measures of eco-efficiency, to seek larger vision of sustainability.
We are always excited to see the Droog exhibition, here’s a highlight from FormaFantasma:
In the middle of the table a box is preserved under the surface. Raising the box its inlayed decor is set against the industrial assemblage of OSB wood. An element of craft is introduced by integrating carefully cut inlays in the shape of the tools used to make the furniture piece, amongst the randomly broken chips of chipboard. The material, changed from cheap to valuable by refining the new surface with gray transparent resin, reveals its nature by opening the box filled with saw dust.
Click below to see another highlight!
Dutch designers Jack Brandsma, Lambert Kamps, Studio Frank&Lisa, Jenske Dijkhuis and Elmo Vermijs teamed up to create an fresh group show under the umbrella of 20134 Milano.
Jack Brandsma, known from last year’s SpareSpace (photo), will be presenting a new collection of tables, lamps & barstools. Studio Frank & Lisa present their mural tapestry ‘Whole lotta Rosie’, constructed of the waste from printing offices. Studio Elmo Vermijs presents a series of objects originiting from the fascination for the recycling of materials, mobility, construction, and detail. Lambert Kamps presents six new projects amongst which two inflatable tents for in-and outdoor at Salone 2009. Studio Jenske Dijkhuis will be revealing ‘The Baether’ leather bath and the ‘ToCan Chair’ rocking chair.
Click below for more project photos!
If you are in Pennsylvania next week don’t miss the Philadelphia Designers Accord Town Hall Meeting on Sustainability:
Sign up now to discuss sustainable design practices. Local members of The Designers Accord are calling all design professionals to action. The Designer’s Accord is a global coalition of design leaders working together to create positive environmental impact.
SCHEDULE: 6:00-6:30 Socializing, networking. Light refreshments will be served. 6:30-6:45: Update on the Designers Accord Movement. 6:45-8:00: Unconference format, where up to 10 people have 5 minute slot to present ideas, cases, provocations. Suggested topics include sustainable business practices, product life cycle analysis, and knowledge sharing platforms. Presenters sign up at the event. 8:00-9:00: Identify key themes based on locally relevant issues, and the content of the presentations, and conduct short breakout groups to discuss the major themes identified.
Admission is free, but space is limited, so RSVP to esoffer {at} bresslergroup.com.
Thursday
April 23rd 2009
6 to 9pm
Bresslergroup
2400 Market St Suite 1-2
Premsela, the Dutch platform for design and fashion, just updated us on their yearly lecture. For those who missed the live story, prepare yourself a big cup of tea and enjoy the Premsela Lecture online.
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“Creativity is moving out of the designer’s inner world and into the space between disciplines and between the producer and the consumer,” Professor Henk Oosterling (photo) argued in his Premsela Lecture on 1 April. Oosterling described a new tendency and ethic he called ‘relational design’, which is concerned with relationships more than with individuality. He suggested this would be the way to move beyond the problems of excessive consumerism and individualism.
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Each year, Premsela invites an ‘outsider’ to share his or her vision of current developments in design before an audience. You can find earlier lectures by Jozef Mrozek, Ann Meskens, Werner Sewing and Michael Rock right here.
In celebration of Earth Day (that’s April 22 in case you didn’t know), international fashion e-tailer yoox.com is introducing its latest endeavor, YOOXYGEN. The initiative will be an ongoing part of the YOOX site devoted to selling ethically conscious products and reducing the carbon footprint left by shipping orders to customers. In addition to eco-friendly and sustainable products, YOOXYGEN will also showcase designer collaborations, featuring limited edition items for YOOX customers. Think along the lines of fashions from Stella McCartney, vegan shoes from Camper, eco-sustainability books from Phaidon, accessories from Carmina Campus by Ilaria Venturini Fendi, and rare Brazilian jewelry line Caboclo. Another part of YOOXYGEN is Leny, an eco-brand which will support Al Gore’s Climate Project, helping raise awareness of environmental crises and global warming through the sales of totes and t shirts designed by fashion designers and icons. Click here to find out more about YOOXYGEN!
What do you get when you mix design, innovation, a shaky global economy, and an abiding love for hand-stitched, buttery leather? “Craft Punk,” a new collaboration between Design Miami and Fendi, the LVMH-owned luxury goods brand known for its enduring baguettes and keen eye for talent (they signed up Karl Lagerfeld to design furs in 1965 and have held on to him since), that kicks off on the afternoon of April 24 during the Milan Furniture Fair.
Expanding upon Design Miami’s design performance program, Craft Punk will set invited designers including Simon Hasan, Yuri Suzuki & Household, Studio Libertiny, Peter Marigold, and Massimiliano Adami loose in the sprawling Spazio Fendi to work their own brands of low-tech design magic with the help of discarded materials from Fendi’s production process—think leather, Zucca-branded fabrics, plastic decorative elements, and metal hardware. Fendi artisans will be on hand throughout the three-day event, should the designers need some advice on how to get that Selleria leather to fold just so.
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