Hasta La Ideas

Just a few months shy of a year ago, the “film, fashion, art and music” events company Gen Art, suddenly announced that, after 16 years of operation, its money had run out and they were shutting down immediately. So quickly did it fold that it reportedly left a large number of exhibitors without refunds for the fees they’d paid up front for future shows. But as we’ve learned from companies like Polaroid, it’s hard to let a familiar brand die. A statement has been released from Sandow Media, who owns a number of magazines, including Worth, Luxe Interiors + Design and Interior Design, saying that the publishing company has acquired Gen Art and have plans to relaunch it this May, reviving the organization’s now-16 year old film festival in New York. So far as the announcement goes, it appears that the founders of Gen Art, brothers Ian and Stefan Gerard will not be returning to run the company, instead acting as advisers on the re-launch. Longtime executives within the recently-folded company, Elizabeth Shaffer and Jeffrey Abramson, will serve as co-presidents. Here’s from Sandow’s CEO, Adam I. Sandow, commenting on the acquisition:

“Gen Art is a unique organization that understands the value of experiential marketing and uses this expertise to support emerging talent by introducing them to a savvy consumer audience. Marc Lotenberg, Founder & President of 944 magazine, introduced me to Gen Art and his passion and support for the organization was instrumental in orchestrating this acquisition. I immediately recognized that Gen Art’s innovative approach was a perfect fit for our organization. Sandow Media is thrilled to work with Elizabeth and Jeffrey as they lead Gen Art into the next chapter.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Core77 welcomes Erin Lolcama of Acanthus Green Upholstery to our bi-weekly creative speaker series: The Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club hosted at the Hand-Eye Supply store in Portland, OR.

Erin Lolcama’s talk will give on overview about the upholstery trade, it’s history and origins and how she got started and eventually trained as a professional upholsterer. This section will include her observations and stories about her store such as: “What people leave behind in their furniture might surprise you”, “Are booger collections okay to leave for your upholsterer to clean up?”, and “That’s not cat pee on your chair, that’s Grand Pa’s pee”.

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Photography by Sam Dunne for Core77

Celebrating it’s 60th Anniversary, visitors to the Scandinavian fair this year were treated to a free iPhone app to help navigate the events, much of the work took visual cues from mother nature and there was an abundance of highly crafted woodwork.

As usual the Greenhouse Show which featured 35 young independent designers stole the limelight and for some reason it had a circus theme—we’re still trying to figure that out.

One of the many stand out pieces this year (pictured top) was K-Chair & K-Plus by Danish designer Helle Damkær for Japanese manufacturer Kitani.

» View Gallery Here

Check out more highlights from our live blog coverage:
– Corentin Dombrecht’s “Megaphones” speakers
– Charlie Heyward and Peter Bingham’s “Something” Nuts and Bolts Stool
– Minimalist “Myk” clock
– oOo Design Lab’s “Book of Light”
– Clara Sjodin’s Shoe Lamp
– Marta Mattson’s Laser-Cut Jewelry
– Jaeuk Jung’s Amber Bottle

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What I wouldn’t give to have cheap access to my own ID shop, rather than the pair of sawhorses, hallway and irritated neighbors I have now.

Tomorrow, those of you lucky enough to be in San Francisco can attend the Grand Opening event of TechShop’s new SOMA location. (Above is a shot of the Portland location.) After the 1pm keynote by Adam Savage from Mythbusters, visitors can see demos and tours of the workshop, which include…

– a Tormach 1100 CNC milling machine
– Lincoln welding stations
– sheet metal working equipment
– drill presses and band saws
– industrial sewing machines
– hand tools
– woodworking equipment including a 4′ x 8′ ShopBot CNC router
– plastics equipment
– electronics design and fabrication facilities
– Epilog laser cutters
– tubing and metal bending machines
– a 3D Systems ProJet-3000 3D printer
– 2D and 3D design software including applications from Autodesk and Adobe

…among other things.

The address is 926 Howard and the ribbon-cutting ceremony starts at 12:15pm. Presumably they’ll lay the ribbon across that Tormach 1100 and CNC the crap out of it.

Good news for us New Yorkers: TechShop Brooklyn is reportedly coming in Fall 2011!

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Photography by Cemal Okten for Core77

Returning for it’s fourth year at the Design Museum in London, the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year exhibition opened yesterday presenting around 100 projects which fall into seven categories – architecture, fashion, furniture, graphics, interactive, product and transport. The winners for each category, and an overall winner for the best design of 2011 will chosen by an international jury and announced on March 15.

Core77 readers will be very familiar with the nominated entries. This year’s highlights include the One Arm Drive System for wheelchairs by brothers Mark and Jon Owen, the YikeBike by New Zealander Grant Ryan, Nendo’s Thin Black Lines furniture series, and the energy saving light bulb Plumen by Samuel Wilkinson. Of course the iPad and Dyson’s Air Multiplier Fan are going to be tough products to beat.

Check out more of our favorites in the gallery and if you’re in London in the next few months, the exhibition is an absolute must for designers and design fans.

Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2011
Feb. 16 – Aug. 7, 2011
Design Museum
Shad Thames
London
SE1 2YD

>> view gallery

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