Hasta La Ideas

WE-ARE-FAMILIA was co-founded by Jennifer Garcia and Christian Calabro nearly four years ago as “an extensive global network of creative individuals from all disciplines whom have come together to explore the powerful, complex ties which consciously and unconsciously touch all that we experience as humans.” Their primary ongoing project has been a series of 25 unique keepsake boxes:

Each Keepsake Box is a sculptural assemblage of found, recycled and surplus materials [that houses] approximately 40 original ‘mementos’ contributed by its family of artists. Possessing nostalgic warmth yet employing contemporary forms of expression, the boxes provide a new and exotic understanding of ordinary things.

Last Thursday saw the opening of KIN CODA, a group exhibition comprised of boxes 12 through 25, at the Fritz Hansen showroom in New York City, which is home to the majority of the artists and designers. The latest installment of works completes the collection, featuring work by Brendan Ravenhill, Fort Standard, Chen Chen and Kai, David Weeks, Joe Doucet, UM Project, Nightwood, Silva Bradshaw, Steph Mantis, Kiel Mead, Iacoli + McAllister, Patrick Townsend, MN*LS, Brian Balderston and Garcia herself.

The challenge for each of the 14 artists and designers was to incorporate scrap material from none other than Fritz Hansen itself, including bits and pieces from, say, highly iconic Arne Jacobsen designs.

Fritz Hansen… donated a bulk of products and materials [that were] rejected, damaged or otherwise unmarketable. Fritz Hansen has long believed that sustainability, quality and design are all equally important. By creating products that are meant to last forever, even the remnants are considered useful.

A closer look at some of the pieces after the jump…

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Graphic artists modify imagery of the metropolis

Following an event in Hanoi earlier this year, Tiger Beer brought its free art and music series, Tiger Translate, to Beijing. The most recent installment brought together artists from East and West to collaborate on the theme of the metropolis. This time around, however, Tiger Translate tweaked the creative process and came up with “Double Vision,” for which four artists were each given photographs of Beijing to overlay with their graphic designs live during the Tiger Translate showdown.

Michael Paul Young, Mojoko, Marcie Liu and Shadow Chen worked alone and in teams to apply their signature designs to shots of the city’s iconic skyscrapers, landmarks and everyday street scenes. The results were wildly diverse, with some works exuding a comic book feel and others taking inspiration by the free form and colors of street art.

While the artists did get to preview the photos, they had to design on the fly, cut-and-paste-style. Each round lasted 20-30 minutes and audience members could watch the whole process go down on big screens. In all, almost a half-dozen images were produced for the event.

Tiger Translate’s next events will be in Manila on 18 November and Sydney on 23 November 2011. To see more images, check out the slideshow below.

Art and design collide in a thought-provoking show that encapsulates the beauty of brotherly collaboration

A project four years in the making, Kin Coda comprises a range of 25 uniquely crafted keepsake boxes, each an assemblage of art by the diverse design collective We-Are-Familia. Since graphic designer Jennifer Garcia began the project in 2007, several of the first 11 boxes have been featured in galleries or snapped up by discerning collectors, debuting at Colette and then coming stateside to Open Space in Beacon, NY and Fountain Art Fair.

For boxes 12-25, We-Are-Familia used damaged furniture from the sustainably-minded Danish brand Fritz Hansen. In order to protect the integrity of their classic designs, Fritz Hansen is forced to destroy a small amount of unusable furniture each season, and when sales director for North America David Obel Rosenkvist heard about the collective’s forward-thinking project, he and his team decided to donate the damaged chairs and tables to Garcia and her team.

Garcia originally started the project to exemplify the synonymous nature of art and design, and has brought her point to life with this second wave of furniture-based conceptual boxes, currently on view at NYC’s Fritz Hansen store. Several notable designers, including David Weeks, Iacoli & McAllister, Kiel Mead, Joe Doucet, UM Project and more, have put their own distinctive twist on the Fritz Hansen furniture, which rounds out the project. Serving as a stimulating foundation for the ingenious designers, the Fritz Hansen furniture takes new shape in works like Chen Chen and Kai Williams’ deconstructed Star Base Swivel Chair in fire engine red, or Nightwood’s rustic Swan chair-turned-“Hunter-Gatherer Chair,” and UM Project’s modern armoire made from Arne Jacobsen Series 7 chairs.

Living up to the We are Familia name, Garcia tells us that when one of the pieces sells—prices top off at $10,000—they all split the profit. It’s with this communal enthusiasm that the designers created the singular keepsakes, each brimming with the works of 40 different artists. The full collection of collaborative creations, combined with the support of Fritz Hansen, perfectly illustrates the familial spirit of the artists’ collective.

Kin Coda will be on display for just a short time at Fritz Hansen, from 17-23 November 2011. To see more of the series, including the original 11 keepsakes, check out the gallery below.

Asia’s first-ever homage to Dieter Rams’ core beliefs by ten graphic designers

Commandments as legendary as the man who created them, Dieter Rams’ ten principles of “good design” provide an essential guide for any creative seeking to produce high-quality work. In an effort to visualize the enduring concepts beyond the many products inspired by them, Singapore-based studio Anonymous asked ten graphic designers each to transform one of the tenets into an expressive poster, interpreting the fundamentals of Rams’ thoughts on design, from minimalism to innovation, in one concise collection.

Dubbed “plusminusten,” the exhibition itself embodies Rams’ philosophy on effective design, with a simple presentation that makes its purpose clear. The clean aesthetic creates an attractive space with an unobtrusive ambiance that allows visitors to contemplate the works without a forced point of view. Curator Felix Ng also emphasizes the principle that “good design is thorough, down to the last detail” by tapping Singapore’s cult music producer Nick Chan (the brains behind experimental group Muon) to create a soundtrack purposely for the exhibition.

Much homage has been paid to the industrial designer’s seminal set of beliefs, such as Bibliotheque‘s poster for Vitsoe or Inksie‘s essay project, but the Anonymous-led exhibition is the first-ever tribute in Asia. Included in the momentous display are graphic designers Edwin Tan, Abdul Basit Khan, Aen Tan, B.A.L.L.S., Daniel Koh, Hanson Ho
Jonathan Yuen, Larry Peh, Roy Poh and Yong, who each offer a distinct perspective on what it means to be true to his craft.

“Plusminusten” is on view at The Gallery (Old School) from the 11-24 November 2011, where you can snag one of 50 lithographic prints or 250 box sets.

Photographs by Caleb Ming

A conceptual artist’s first solo show explores the duality of human nature using hairnets, fish hooks and more

Rubber dairy hoses, human hair, fish hooks and other oddities serve as standard materials for Manchester-based artist Susie MacMurray, who explores the human condition with a beautifully eerie approach. Curious about life’s delicate balance, MacMurray explains she is fascinated by “how amazing and successful we are” and yet how “fragile and weak” we can be, and her unsettling compositions and shapes poetically express this duality.

MacMurray often experiments with concepts in her studio, but much of her work is site-specific, making her current London exhibition at Agnew’s Gallery the first to encompass a range of her talents in one location. “The Eyes of the Skin” showcases various drawings, sculptures and large-scale installations which give physical form and emotional context to her questions about seduction and repulsion.

The symmetry in her work seemingly serves as a metaphorical seesaw, representing the ability we have as humans to easily shift from one point to another, from calm to chaos. It’s this type of tension that captivates MacMurray, and from her thoughtful nature comes meaningful, striking work. Household gloves turned inside out, hairnets and Saran wrap are transformed to make ethereal statements about what it means to celebrate life when death is an inevitable outcome.

Her painstaking production methods and theatrical executions mark the upshot of her former career as a professional bassoonist, during which she gleaned insight on the importance of creating a piece that reaches people viscerally, not just as an intellectual narrative. In an effort to explore her own concepts instead of following the lead of a conductor, MacMurray retrained as an artist and struck out on her own in 2001.

Ten years later, MacMurray’s oeuvre contains an impressive array of works that turn banal objects into elegant displays of thought. “The Eyes of the Skin” is on view at Agnew’s Gallery from 09 November through 04 December 2011. Those in London can also check out her piece entitled “Widow”—an evening gown made of black leather and nearly 100 pounds of dressmakers pins—at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the group exhibition “Power of Making” through 02 January 2012.