Passport. Flat Design, Contemporary Design Tablecloths Collection by Fernando e Humberto Campana Matali Crasset Nicola Gotti Martí Guixé Xavier Lust Laura Massa Fabio Novembre and Emiliano Ponzi Pier Paolo Pitacco Massimo Pitis Karim Rashid Harriet Russell Martin Saemmer, c/o Maison et Objet 3-7-09, Parigi, Hall 7.
100 words. Flat Design is the new home collection tablecloths of 100% linen. The main features are represented by the creative imprints of international designers and art directors challenging themselves in experimenting with textile as a bi-dimensional surface like a sheet of paper, imprinting it with their personal poetic touch. Their imprints result in sophisticated embroidery and sharp prints on tablecloths, runners, placemats and towels. Thanks to natural fibers produced and manufactured completely in Italy, the textiles are environment friendly, Flat Design products bring the high quality of textiles to a new dimension. The 100% Linen Embroidery Collection is declined in 6 items: Placemat (46x37cm) Towel (50×70 cm) Runner (50x140cm) and 3 measures of tablecloths (147×200/240/270 cm). Flat Design has been presented the Embroidery on Linen Collection in occasion of the 2010 Milan Design Week and it is currently working on a new selection of designers for next year launch. Flat Design is Maria Cristina Didero, Susanna and Paola Legrenzi.
Eppur si muove… Anche la 12esima Biennale di architettura di Venezia ha avuto il suo bang. Appuntamento a Ca’ Giustinian, dove Frank Owen Goldenberg (“Da sempre parte del nostro zoo” Baratta dixit, dove zoo sta per zoo di leoni (((ndr a questo punto Gerhy con traduzione in cuffia mima un ruggito: grandissimoooo!))))) fa la parte dell’archistar che non c’è… Nero vestito, restio a farsi fotografare a lungo, in compagnia di Maja Hoffmann – chief Luma Foundation (cultura + understatment ennesima potenza + la Camargue c’est moi… La fotografia anche, grazie al sostegno ai Rencontres d’Arles), Frank O. ha presentato uno dei suoi ultimi progetti nella Sala delle Colonne. Si tratta di due grandi torri per la cittadina francese che ospita il festival della fotografia. Il segno è quello rapido di Gehry; il budget arriva da Luma; l’obiettivo, un grande centro polivalente dedicato alla sperimentazione delle arti. La Biennale è partita. Evviva la Biennale.
Passport. iPad (retro) Tv by frog Creative Director Jonas Damon.
100 words. Tutorial online, of course.
Elisa Honkanen by Claudia Barana
Biography. Native from the Finnish lake district that is characterized with crystal clear lakes and dense forests. After her studies in Finland and Italy, she gained experience working for Piero Lissoni in his Milan office for three years until she moved in France and started collaborating with Patrick Norguet’s Studio. At the moment she lives and works in Paris, France.
Product: Fly, 2010. A cloth hook in the shape of an aeroplane (folded and painted metalsheet). Playful element that works both alone and in a group. Allows endless amount of different configurations. Dimensions: 15 x 11 x 3cm
Why Design. EH: It was kind of a compromise; I didn’t know what I would like to do after upper secondary school so I went to the suitability tests. The result was that I should study art, but as I felt that artist is not a ‘real job’ I started studying design that is more practical but where good sense of aesthetics is useful. I’m really happy about that decision.
Workshop. EH: Unfortunately I don’t have any workshop or a place at the moment, so my studio is in my laptop.
Daytime. EH: At a typical day I start working around 9 a.m.. I’m not a morning person so I start with more technical work such as 3d modelling, renderings, technical drawings and so on. If I have time, I’ll take a long break in the afternoon and then I continue with the ‘creative part’, developing the new concepts till late in the evening.
Sources. EH: I think that ‘the masters’ change through the time, but the italian designers, especially Achille Castiglioni and Bruno Munari have been really important to me. I also continue returning to Alvar Aaltos’ works that is a kind of a home to me. I’ve been especially interested in Mies van der Rohe and his projects. Amongst the coeval, my favorite designer is Stefan Diez because I think he has a very special way of working wood.
Voting material. EH: Wood. I work a lot with it and its not just because it allows me to make the very first prototypes by myself, I love how warm it is as a material. I think that as the world is getting more and more ‘high tech’ natural materials get more precious as they give us the sensation of staying connected to the nature.
Other’s Design. EH: Stool 404H by Stefan Diez for Thonet. There is just the very essential presented with highly evolved aesthetics. It’s an amazing piece.
The Bad Master. EH: Can’t really blame just one person or theory, things have to be seen in their context to be able to appreciate and understand them. Design itself has still such a short history and has been so closely connected to the industry that there hasn’t been really space for different theories.
Design To You. EH: Design itself is like a constant evolution, the main stays the same but there are unlimited variations.
Passport. Sismicity. L’Aquila 2010, Loggia Foscara di Palazzo Ducale, Venezia, dal 27.09.
100 words. Un progetto fotografico sulle conseguenze del sisma che ha colpito L’Aquila e il suo territorio. Sviluppato dall’associazione fuori_vista nel corso di un anno, racconta ciò che il terremoto ha crudamente messo in luce: il nesso profondo tra il costruire e l’abitare, il sistema di relazioni tra identità individuale e collettiva, il bene comune su cui si fonda l’agire civico. Nel contesto de L’Aquila terremotata sovraesposta all’attenzione mediatica, fuori_vista ha voluto attuare un progetto di comunicazione composito, innovativo nella metodologia della ricerca, basata su una pluralità di sguardi e di azioni, e nelle modalità espositive. Il primo passo è stata la mappatura completa della “zona rossa” de L’Aquila, strada per strada, con uno stile rigoroso a documentazione dell’entità del danno. Dal silenzio della città inabitata sono così emerse le tematiche che ciascun fotografo ha sviluppato autonomamente alla ricerca delle nuove figure e delle nuove relazioni generate dal terremoto. In parallelo alla campagna fotografica, sviluppata a stretto contatto con gli abitanti e le Istituzioni de L’Aquila, fuori_vista ha organizzato una campagna di raccolta dati volta a quantificare l’entità dei danni materiali, degli sforzi attuati per fronteggiare l’emergenza, dell’impatto sociale dell’evento sismico e dell’opera di ricostruzione.
Passport. One Step Big Shot by Gus Van Sant, Nazraeli Press, 2010.
100 words. Due film, tra i tanti: Elephant e Paranoid Park. E un nuovo libro in assolo dedicato a un vizio privato, la fotografia. Segue a distanza di 18 anni, i primi 108 ritratti da casting. Da sfogliare, quasi fosse uno storyboard. GVS, intervistato da Artforum, ha detto: «The first time I used a Polaroid camera was during the making of Mala Noche (1985). When I bought the camera, I was very excited, although I didn’t have a particular purpose for it. At the time, I was just starting out, so things were slow. I remember that I felt like I had spent a lot of money on a device I didn’t need. But as time went by, it became very useful. I was attracted by the large negative that I could get from using 665 film. The photographs at PDX are created from Polaroid 665 negatives. Eventually, the camera became a tool for making a record during casting, but I also had the negatives to work with. These works are produced on a computer, but I sort of wish they were cut up from prints. When I tried to do that, it was a little strange, not so organic––and not even “organic-looking.” I liked the digital cut more than the physical cut, so I went with that instead. In the end, these are all digital prints, and many originate from black-and-white Polaroid negatives that were shot during the 1990s––casting reference pictures for the films that I was making at the time. I see the subjects in these works as new beings created from elements of others, like in William S. Burroughs’s concept of the cut-up where something new is made from cutting words together. There’s an oddness to the expressions of the subjects, which I always thought was because of the size of the camera I was holding; it was pretty big and old».
Passport. Polyp by Helene Steiner for DesignersBlock exhibition What Women Make from 23 – 26 September as part of the London Design Festival.
More from designer. Polyp is a laundry-basket – and an ornament on the wall. just put the laundry through the hole in front of the basket. if it wells forth, the basket is full – the quantity just fits to load the washing machine. The hole of the laundry basket is concave, so nothing can fall out when the basket is put off the wall. the basket can be carried easily, due to its form. the laundry is well assorted in a few baskets. attached to each other the baskets compose an interesting ornament on the wall.
Passport. Passheures Clock by Laurène Bordes, Ecole Supérieure d’Art et de Design de Saint-Etienne (Via).
Passport. Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 by Elmgreen & Dragset for The Fourth Plinth, The Foyer, St Martin-in-the-Field, Trafalgar Square London, until 31.10.2010.
100 words. Il più votato è il ragazzetto di Elmgreen & Dragset, tra i sei finalisti del Forth Plinth 2010, ora in mostra a Trafalgar Square. Più che il progetto è interessante la “macchina” pubblica che sottointende il “concorso” pubblico per un’opera d’arte pubblica: la faccia ce la mette direttamente Sir Boris Johnson, The Mayor of London. Programma elettorale: “I want to bring out the very best in London – helping its companies to grow, its communities to thrive, and its people to prosper”. Già.
More from the project. Over the past four years the ‘empty’ fourth plinth in the Northwest corner of Trafalgar Square has been home to some of the world’s most innovative artworks. The Plinth was originally designed by Sir Charles Barry in 1841 to display an equestrian statue, however due to insufficient funds the statue was never completed. In 1998 – over one hundred and fifty years later – the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) commissioned three contemporary sculptures by Mark Wallinger, Bill Woodrow and Rachel Whiteread to be displayed temporarily on the Plinth. Following the enormous public interest generated by these commissions, the Mayor of London began the Fourth Plinth Commission to continue this tradition and build on its success. The Fourth Plinth has since featured works including Marc Quinn’s Alison Lapper Pregnant (2005), Thomas Schütte’s Model for a Hotel (2007) Anthony Gormley’s popular One and Other (2009) and the current commission Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle (2010). The choice of works is led by the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group. This choice is in part informed by the comments that the Public submit and in part informed by the views and opinions of the panel so make sure you have your say and tell us what you think…
Passport. My Wild Places by Luca Campigotto, Palazzo Fortuny Venezia, dall0 4.09.2010.
More from Palazzo Fortuny. In quaranta grandi immagini di Luca Campigotto (Venezia, 1962), un viaggio nella natura come percorso iniziatico e necessità del fare fotografico, tra riferimenti storici e suggestioni cinematografiche. Grandi scenari fissati nell’intensità delle loro luci, formano – tra rappresentazione degli spazi e trasformazioni della memoria – una ballata dello sguardo. Intrise di storia e di attesa, le fotografie di questo lavoro evocano l’anima dei luoghi, come fossero documenti imprescindibii di un mondo destinato a scomparire. Le immagini in mostra sono un’ampia selezione del volume My Wild Places (Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, 2010) che raccoglie 67 fotografie – a colori e in bianconero – scattate dall’autore in varie parti del mondo nell’arco di una ventina d’anni.
