Design Notes

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Opening this weekend at MoMA is Design and the Elastic Mind: an exhibit that “focuses on designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and social mores, changes that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people understand and use.”

The exhibit was organized by Paola Antonelli, Curator, and Patricia Juncosa Vecchierini, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.

Design and the Elastic Mind

February 24–May 12, 2008

For more information, visit moma.org.

Inside Modern.

If you’re in New York you may want to swing by the Noguchi Museum this Sunday. As part of the Second Sunday lecture series the museum will host The Market for Mid-Twentieth-Century Modern Design: An Insider’s View, featuring Richard Wright of the Wright auction house, Benjamin Pardo, Director of Design for Knoll and Eames Demetrios. Those three are about as insider as you can get in this industry. You might even get Eames to expound upon the new stamps. The discussion begins at 3pm and is free with museum admission. 

A DWR buyer in Tokyo: Part 2.

Held on the grounds of the National Stadium (home to the 1964 Olympics), the 2007 100% Design served as a platform for both well established vendors and those emerging. Regardless of size or application, sustainable solutions were a hot theme. Fumiko Ikeda and Niromi Nishi’s Treasured Trash Project allowed designers to submit their green friendly designs for application in both residential and commercial spaces. Akiko Fukuda’s Recycling Bin made out of Ecoply (recycled bottle caps) and Askul’s Recycling Post concept were two of the standouts. And a personal favorite was Piet Hein Eek’s Go-Kart made out of recycled machine parts.

Larger brands like Metaphys showcased their new designs, many of which have already won Good Design Awards.

Posted by Kari Woldum

A beforehand glance.

I was in Manhattan late last month to view MoMA’s Lost Vanguard: Soviet Modernist Architecture, 1922–32. Those of us waiting for the corresponding lecture were queued in a corner of the second floor, overlooking the main gallery where an installation of work by Martin Puryear was taking place. As much as I was focused on Soviet modernism, I was transfixed by what was going on below. Puryear’s art is gloriously accessible, with its use of traditional materials (mostly wood) and craftsmanship that evoke the elegantly functional Shaker style or that of Isamu Noguchi. Unfortunately for me, the show was opening days later, when I’d be back on the West Coast. Still, I’m grateful for the look I had. To read more about the exhibit and Puryear click here.

Posted by Kristine Langevin

My DWR radar is always up.

At the Venice Biennale (the bi-annual international art exhibit in Venice), I spotted Ero/S/ Chairs in a work of art by Isa Genzken at the German Pavilion. Genzken’s work employs wood, plaster, epoxy resins and above all concrete – the materials of modernism – but primarily synthetics, as well as everyday objects. She places design classics alongside cheap camping chairs, clothing, kitschy figures and plastic dolls and animals.

Running through November 21, there are 76 countries represented at the Biennal. This year’s exhibition is tilted Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present was curtated by Robert Storr. If your travels take you nearby in the next couple weeks, be sure to make the stop.

Posted by Jackie Hoving

Design as art as design.

Thanks to the heads up on MoCo Loco, I made my way to San Francisco’s Hedge Gallery this past Saturday morning for Not Furniture XXI Design. The show underlines the blurring of art and design, and features a carefully edited selection of works by Ron Arad, Wendell Castle, Forrest Myers, Droog Design, Marcel Wanders, Maarten Baas, Mathias Bengtsson and Arik Levy. I was the only one in the place, which was cool because it gave me the freedom to slowly make my way up to and around each of the 19 featured designs. From Baas’ “Second Hand” – a teetering totem of discarded everyday objects – to Arad’s shiny-seamed, woven aluminum mesh “Blo-Void,” the show succinctly captures a wide range of materials and construction. I’d own any of them, as art, design or both. On view through November 10th.

Posted by Kristine Langevin

The culture of cool.

Newport Beach’s Orange County Museum of Art exhibit Birth of the Cool is shaping up to be worthy of a Mile Davis song, and DWR is honored to be one of the sponsors. According to the NY Times, “the show promises to be one big, sexy mix of painting, photography, music, graphic design, architecture, animation and film from the 1950s, and what may be most famous of all, mid-century furniture.” The list of 150 objects and corresponding artists on view reads less like a Who’s Who list, and more of a thoughtfully collected congregation of mid-century modernists. Adding to the show’s vibe, the Birth of the Cool exhibit features a jazz lounge with Saarinen furniture donated by DWR and a media bar. How cool is that? Opens October 7, 2007.

Posted by Kristine Langevin.

The king of fashion.

Paul Poiret was an artist who used fabric as his medium and in doing so saved women from corsets and the overly the constructed garments of Paris before the First World War. How he did this was to elevate draping, the process of hanging fabric on the body to create garments, to its current day popularity.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art is celebrating the work of Poiret with the exhibit "Poiret: King of Fashion."

The exhibit's title comes from Poiret's own declaration of his royal artistry.  And it is hard to argue with the man after seeing the exhibit.  His work is beautiful, detailed and thoroughly original.  If you cannot make it to the Met swing by Bergdorf Goodman. Their windows are also displaying Poiret's creations. "Poiret: King of Fashion" runs through August 5th.

A showhouse goes modern.

Many of New York's DWR peeps ventured to the east side last week to see the annual Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse, a traditional showcase that is getting more and more modern with each passing year. The showhouse is a charity event for the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club and features many of New York's top interior design firms.  Sadly, the show ended this week but I'd be remiss to not mention a few highlights.  The design duo of Randall Beale and Carl Lana created the entryway to dramatic effect, complete with a pair of silver leather Egg chairs. Warhol would be proud.  Speaking of Warhol, a pair of his paintings hung in the one of the bedrooms designed by Jed Johnson Associates. Johnson was a onetime lover of Warhol’s and, though he died in 1996, his namesake design house created a pristine bedroom suite filled with understated designs and a perfectly curated show of remarkable art. However, it was Amy Lau's room that seemed to get the most DWR praise.  She uses modern in a way that remains clean yet warm, colorful yet calm.  Her citron and turquoise room was a perfect match for a warm spring day in Manhattan.

The Cooper-Hewitt awards the best in design.

The Cooper-Hewitt has just announced the winners of their eighth annual National Design Awards. Meant to promote innovation, they manage to find the best and the brightest across a wide range of design disciplines – you can see the esteemed list of winners here. In particular, we’d like to extend congratulations to Maharam. A fourth generation, family-run textile company, they were honored as a Design Patron. (What is a Design Patron, you ask? It recognizes outstanding support and patronage within the design community.) And we would have to agree. This year, DWR and Maharam have partnered to offer an expanded assortment of innovative upholstery options for some of our most popular sofa collections. Looking to learn more about design? Cooper-Hewitt’s a great place to start. The Awards are accompanied each year by a variety of public education programs, including lectures, roundtable discussions and workshops. Plus, they’re planning a National Design Week in October. Spend some time on their website, there’s so much there.

Live from Milan.

Several of our buyers at Design Within Reach are in Milan at the Salone Internazionale Del Mobile, Italy’s world-class design showcase. I can’t help but be jealous. It sounds so dreamy to see all the latest technologies, materials and designs coming about before anyone else. Thanks to businessweek.com we can check out a few of the items they’re seeing. My favorite is a light in the shape of a sea urchin (above) by Kyttanen. The light isn’t actually produced until it’s ordered. When it is, it's using stereolithography to 3-dimensionally "print" the lamp. Wow. Here’s a link to the slideshow with some of the products that are appearing at the fair.

Downtown Meets Uptown.

The Cooper Hewitt/Kid Robot love affair continued this past week when the youthful toy shop opened its doors to the museum’s members for a private event.  Kid Robot’s buyers discussed the evolution of the urban toy craze, from its beginnings in Hong Kong and Tokyo to the pop culture phenomenon it has become.  It was a strange, but inspiring group. Normally Kid Robot is packed with teen boys in oversized A Bathing Ape gear.  This night the place was filled with Upper East Side society women drenched in pearls and holding Goyard bags. And they too are in love with the toys! The juxtaposition of young and old; establishment and anti-establishment is a wonderful thing to see.  One thing connects Kid Robot fans: a love of art and design. That transcends everything else.

DWR folks Sandra Hansel and Kimberly Oliver joined me there.  And no trip to Kid Robot would be complete without a purchase: I scored two Keith Haring  Andy Mouse toys.

Captain Kirk within reach

 

I just read in the New York Times that, starting October 5th, Christie’s will be auctioning off “40 Years of Star Trek.” So why did it catch my eye? Well, where else can you find Captain Picard’s commando uniform, romulan warbird emblan pins, vulcan mummies and…mid-century modern? Apparently the Star Trek crew were also into mid-century furniture, and now’s your chance to own a little slice of that futuristic TV show. The prices aren’t too bad, but if you’re really interested you better act fast before they’re transported to someone else’s living room.

September in San Francisco: AIA’s Architecture and the City

The American Institute of Architects is putting on its third annual Architecture and the City event. This month-long series, running throughout September, features architectural tours, film screenings, exhibitions, design lectures and more, all to celebrate and explore the architecture of the Bay Area. There's tons going on, all catered to the design-inclined. We're especially excited about Dwell magazine's event, Dwell on Design, September 15–17 at the Concourse Exhibition Center. Dwell invites you to "experience architecture through the lens of prefab, sustainability, affordability and urban design," and speakers, panels and exhibitions will abound.

Racecar spelled backward...

More than 4000 drawings are generated in the design of a Formula One racecar, and while they’re not all on display (thankfully) at London’s Design Museum, the exhibit’s online feature is worth a look if you’d like to take a spin in a Renault R25, practice pit stops or see a movie about how the R25 is designed. While most of the features could use editing, the trip around the track is delightfully disorienting as you watch where you’re going while being distracted by the controls on the steering wheel. Is he shifting gears with his thumb? 

See also: Design This Man's Helmet or He'll Run You Over