Passport. The Spyfrost Project by David Trautrimas, LE Gallery Toronto, 28.04-30.06.2010.

More from the Gallery. In The Spyfrost Project, photographer David Trautrimas hypothesizes the origins of iconic modern appliances by reassembling them into top secret, Cold War era military outposts. These skunkwork structures, hybrids of both machinery and architecture, stand as colossal weaponized ancestors to common objects such as refrigerators, lawnmowers and washing machines. Fashioned with aspiring futurism, yet an ominous sense of militaristic purpose, these installations link the parallel development of capitalism’s postwar consumer culture and the Military Industrial Complex. Balanced between the promised utopian culture of leisure, facilitated by what the latest in modern manufacturing had to offer and the threat of a global catastrophe wrought by ICBM’s, super sonic jet fighters, and spy satellites, this series elicits the tense equilibrium between the extremes of design and technology during the Cold War era. Critical to these works is the representation of both forces within each composition, as these devices of destruction are assembled from the very appliances that promised deliverance to a post WWII paradise. As Nixon said to Khrushchev at the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959, “… would it not be better to compete in the relative merits of washing machines than in the strength of rockets?” Within this series the consumerism vs. militarism conflict is expressed as an inextricable paradox within each composition.

Passport. Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec – Lianes – Roches – Conques, Galerie Kreo Paris, 24.04-22.07.2010.

More from authors. “Our interest in industrial design is linked to the unlimited reproduction of objects. Nevertheless, for the past ten years, we have been producing work in the unique framework provided by the Galerie kreo. This unique context allows necessary respiration in our work, helping us to breathe into between other projects. It has often led us to compare our work for the gallery to the use of a sketch pad, a more natural form of research, free from the constraints imposed by industry, the norms, weight, size or other issues more or less justified by mass production. Here, we give ourselves the time to explore MORE..

Jörg Boner by Claudia Barana

Biography. Diplomato nel 1996 alla School for Design Basel, nel 2001 fonda la Jörg Boner productdesign con sede a Zurigo. Dal 2002, al suo lavoro di designer si aggiunge l’insegnamento alla Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, ECAL. Jörg Boner è anche Art Director per la collezione nanoo / Jörg Boner, product designer with a 1996 diploma from what was then the School for Design Basel. In 2001 he established Jörg Boner productdesign in Zurich. Since 2002 he teaches at ECAL (Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne) in addition to his work as product designer. Jörg Boner is also Art Director for the collection nanoo.

Project. Nescafé Thermos, 2010, Nescafè. Il Thermos Nescafè è stato disegnato per avere sempre la possibilità di una pausa caffè. Dimensioni ridotte per inserirlo in qualsiasi borsa, è dotato di due tazze da 0,5 litri assicurate al thermos da una banda elastica facile da aprire e richiudere. Durante l’utilizzo, l’elastico cambia funzione e diviene manico e il thermos diviene brocca / Thermos is designed as a coffee container for the road, and therefore comes in dimensions that make it fit easily into your pocket. Two cups go with the 0.5 litre container. During transport these are secured in place with a elastic band. When used, the elastic band simply changes function, becoming a handle, while the thermos flask becomes a coffee jug. The visual play involving these two container archetypes constitutes the special character of the product.

Why Design. JB: Finiti gli studi, ho imparato il mestiere del carpentiere. Ero affascinato dalle competenze nel realizzare le cose e, nello stesso tempo, rammaricato quando vedevo la gamma di oggetti che l’azienda produceva: dovevamo imitare lo stile dei mobili dei tempi trascorsi e mi domandavo sempre quale aspetto avrebbe avuto oggi l’oggetto corrispondente. Allora avevo 18 anni / JB: When I left school I learned the craft of a carpenter. I was fascinated by the expertise of making things. At the same time I was always a bit disappointed when I saw the range of things that we had to produce in our company. We would imitate furniture from times long gone by. I would always wonder what the corresponding objects would look like today. I was 18 at the time.

Workshop. JB: Lavoro insieme a due colleghi in un vecchio, enorme magazzino. Siamo una piccola comunità di architetti, grafici, fotografi e designer. Abbiamo una cucina, un giardino e un laboratorio. Se fossimo negli anni hippie, questa sarebbe una comune. Oggi non so quale nome dare / JB: Together with my two colleagues I work in a very large former storage space. We are a small residential community of architects, graphic designers, photographers, and us designers. We have a kitchen, a garden, and a workshop. In the hippie years this would have been a commune. Today I am not sure what it is called. MORE..

Passport. World Press Photo 2010 Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Roma, dal 14.05-06.06.

100 words. La Foto dell’anno è di Pietro Masturzo: Tehran 24 giugno, elezioni presidenziali, una donna urla in segno di protesta (premiazione, 2 maggio, Amsterdam). Guy Tillim – fellow juror – ha commentato: “The difficulty in photographing conflict situations is one of portraying the parallel lives involved, of people going on with their lives. This picture has made a very good attempt at marrying these two elements, in giving the conflict a context – and that is a holy grail of photography. The photographer does it with a very beautiful image of an Iranian landscape, which would be worth looking at in itself.  But it also arouses our curiosity about the woman shouting – incorporating this moment, the importance of this historical event. It represents a very honest and successful attempt at taking forward our vocabulary of showing things.” Per quest’edizione, la giuria ha selezionato 101.960 immagini. MORE..

Passport. Expo Shanghai 2010, dallo 01.06.2010.

100 words. Conto alla rovescia per Expo Shanghai 2010. Esibizione muscolare con 100 milioni visitatori attesi (95 per cento cinesi), oltre 5 kmq di area espositiva, 260 tra Paesi e organizzazioni invitati. Dall’Italia il ministro Frattini rilancia le eccellenze italiane. In Italia Milano proprio oggi rilancia campi coltivati e corsi d’acqua, e sembra ferma a guardare… Il Padiglione Britannico di Thomas Heatherwick, per esempio. Better City, Better Life…

Passport. Texelaar ottoman by Christien Meindertsma for Thomas Eyck.

Category. Unusual.

Adjective. Knitted (less or more)

If it were an artwork… (It could be Info Box Berlin by Annette Streyl).

Passport. Chambre d’ami by Matali Crasset for Campeggi.

100 words. Crasset e l’arte dell’ospitalità. Ieri era il letto (minimo) Quand Jul monte à Paris, oggi è un’intera stanza. Filosofia del brand: Le cose cambiano. Nel caso: l’appendiabiti diventa letto.

More from Matali Crasset. The behavioral slant in the realm of home rituals is undoubtedly what has always been my synergist for designing furniture.  This dissimilar vision, notably from a hospitality standpoint, makes furniture become an adventurous path to be rediscovered or reinvented. My first association with Campeggi is founded upon a common interest for new symbolic representations of the home. This object is synonymous with hospitality and offers two temporal dimensions. It initially greets us in an entrance hall or a small space in the house, and is used as a coat rack during the day, with its curved metallic structural lines offering hanger shapes placed at different heights.

Passport. New Dance and Music Center  by Zaha Hadid, L’Aia, Olanda.

100 words. Sedici finalisti per il nuovo Dance e Music Centrer di L’Aia. Con Zaha Hadid, Mecanoo, OMA, Diller Scofidio Renfro. La mostra dei progetti è in corso all’ Atrium of The Hague City Hall, fino al 07.05.2010. Nell’insieme, una babele di zollette da zucchero. Qui, la gallery.

Passport. Knoll A Moderne Universe by Brian Lutz Rizzoli International.

100 words. Knoll come case-history del modern design. Una data: 1938. Una coppia: Hans Knoll e sua moglie Florence. Numerosi record. Per esempio: le prime edizioni di Mies van der Rohe e Marcel Breuer, ovvero Bauhaus VS American audience. Faranno il resto: la Tulip di Eero Saarinen e la Wire di Harry Bertoia. Fotografia e comunicazione affidati a due titani d’Oltreoceano: Herbert Matter e Massimo Vignelli. La storia sono loro. Da sfogliare.

1) Established & Sons. E&S celebra E&S. Impresa (im)possibile: convertire Martino Gamper alla produzione in serie. Il risultato è una sedia in faggio: Sessel (in curioso dialogo con Transformation Table by Front). Straordinaria, la collaborazione con Venini & Bouroullec. La coda lunga di Stella McCarty  ha fatto il resto. 

2) Moroso. In show-room affida l’allestimento/installazione a due giovani artisti: Francesco Simeti e Andrea Sala. L’insieme è meno spettacolare ma il segno – natura Vs artificio – è ugualmente poetico. Tra le novità che segnano il passo, Paper Planes by Doshi Levien (+ Swarovski). Fonte primaria: un foglio di carta millimetrata + controllato uso del cristallo + segno grafico contemporaneo. Leggera ma strutturata: bellissimo progetto.

3) Marsotto. Materiale VS processo VS prodotto. Esperimento riuscito. Ponte by James Irvine + Sultan Chair by Konstantin Grcic. 

4) Flos. Lo scorso era Miniteca, quest’anno è Untitled, specchio a doppia funzione. L’autore: l’art/designer israeliano Ron Gilad.

 5) Molteni & C. Semaforo verde per Double by Arik Levy. Misuratissimo.

6) Thonet. Europa chiama Giappone. E ariecco Naoto Fukasawa con la serie 130. Rigore “tedesco” + rigore Japan + una concessione al colore. I mercati chiedono, l’industria si ingegna.

7) Magis. In iperproduzione con più di un progetto interessante. Ma soprattutto l’ardore di chiamare Thomas Heatherwick con Spun.