EO1

I have been working on this extending coffee table for a while now. I like its personality, its curious but accessible,  the irregular shaped sections really play with the eye, making the table appear uneven. The middle section acts as a lift out tray, allowing the table to be 'closed' to make it smaller if needed. Legs will be American Black Walnut, top sections will be High Pressure Laminate with Birch Plywood detailing. Please click on images to enlarge.

Richard Wilson

I keep coming back to Richard Wilson's work, i find it hugely inspiring. His understanding and interpretation of space is at once, arresting, logical and serene. 20:50, his best known work, is staggeringly good, and has to be seen. What interests me most is that Wilson, in working with such scale, avoids all the obvious logistical questions of production. He challenges your perception of space in bizarre ways but the installations look so easy, natural, as if they are normal. Stunning!

Wattson

 DIY Kyoto are the brains behind Wattson, the home energy meter. Its essentially an in your face, constant reminder of your energy consumption but in a slickly designed object. The technology is really well though out, you do not need to wire it into the mains and the box itself is wireless and can be moved, turned on its side/head and used as an ambient light. I would imagine gadget heads, environmentalists and kids would love it alike. And you can get involved if you want too, as they are running a competition to re-design the exterior casing. I will post my design soon.

 

American Embassy

Sorry again, as i have said before i try to keep the blog firmly in the positive, but occasionally things annoy me and i can't stop myself. Nine Elms Lane is home to some of London's worst architecture, the MI6 Building, the behemoth block of flats opposite and the (because it sits next to the other stuff) unfortunately unsuccessful Bus Station. And i just find the plans for the new American Embassy really uninspiring. I understand the referencing of the old English castle and moat but that notion of isolation in a multicultural integrated city like London just feels wrong. Correct me if i am wrong but the building is yet another glass box, on stilts, with a filter on certain facades to soften its form. Surely things could, and should, be more interesting than this.

Moooi

Lots of things on the Moooi site, some very good some not so, but the Brave New World lamp stands out for its 'Boys Own' fun. I am not suggesting there was not an initial idea, but the is 'make it up as you go along' feeling is really prevalent. Meccano-esque, Heath Robinson type primitiveness. I like it!

East London Goodness

Two good East London furniture shops; Fandango for all things retro and Tye & Co. for more contemporary objects. Not great/very little web presence so i recommend a free Saturday afternoon and a bike! You could even check out some exhibitions on Vyner Street on the way round.

Richard Shed

My penchant for objects with three elements led me to Richard Shed's recent commission for the Shoreditch Trust. Its quite sensitive for a commercial commission, playful and light, which is very on point for the work of the trust. Also, although his Mr Moon shelf has been around for a few years now, its always worth a look.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Design Art and Functional Sculpture are frankly very awkward classifications and i find lots of the work in the Carpenters Gallery Workshop exactly that, a bit awkward. Its all about the surface (finish). I am totally into the idea of editions of furniture, i like to change my products slightly as i receive feedback (and live with them myself) and this eliminates the impersonal, static process of mass production. Surely though, the concept of editions should be about learning, being better, and not primarily concerned with notions of exclusivity or collectability.
All that said, i think Marc Quinn's marble series is quite brilliant! His understanding and relationship, of and with the material is seriously accomplished and successful.

Wood London

Bethan Wood has taken over from me (as the laminate/plywood/sculpture/asymmetry obsessive type) in the London workshop as i am now part time and setting things up in Cornwall. The work is varied but i like the laminated objects; its precise, painstaking stuff, that she totally believes in, and trusts. Using old Formica samples and sheets, then laser cutting patterns and using marquetry techniques, creating really interesting landscapes. It has to been seen in the flesh to get the full affect, but the pattern above is not simply a print, it is made up of hundreds of different bits of laminate. Currently a designer in residence at the Design Museum to boot, so you can check it out if you go and see the Dieter Rams exhibition, (which finishes 9th March btw).

Rocket Gallery

Just been given the upcoming show info for the the Rocket Gallery:

Trio

Herbert Krenchel | Hans Wegner | Ib Geertsen

5 March to 24 April 2010

An exhibition of art and design from three legends of mid-century Danish modernism:
1950s Krenit bowls by Herbert Krenchel; the Getama Daybeds by Hans Wegner;
and Danish Konkrete paintings by Ib Geertsen

Wrought Iron

The choice of materials when designing can be a slow and sometimes arduous task. Much maligned in the design world, wrought Iron is normally associated with a more craft or folk approach to furniture, but the thin section used here allow for a very light result. I have no idea why, but i am drawn to objects which have three distinct elements, interacting with one another, and the Iron, ash and upholstery in these 1950's chairs works for me. Really nicely balanced, with a good stance, big, and yet delicate, they have good presence and personality.

Buoys

Some recent Cornwall pics, taken at Durgan, on the Helford River.

The Weather Project

Predictable one, but could not mention Olafur Eliasson in the last post without showing an image. The scale of the work was just awesome.

White

Came across this really interesting looking new book, White by Kenya Hara. Hara has been integral in forming Muji's design philosphy, he also designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1998 Winter Olymics in Nagano and is "......concerned with thrilling and inspiring the senses". Needles to say, its probably very good.
If you click the image you should be to read Olafur Eliasson's, (remember the giant sun in The Tate turbine hall?),  desription.

Kinetic Art Fair

I wish i could give more info about where this was exhibited because the the websites involved are not that clear. But it was shown during the recent Kinetic Art Fair,  and is linked to A22 Gallery. It is so important, as a designer (or artist), to be able to communicate ideas to the client. Some people are simply no good at reading a technical drawing, and need more of an artists impression, but on the flip side, a computer rendering is the only thing others will react too.
I am not sure who had the initial concept here, but the study at the top and the installation are by two different artists, but two artists who were very much on the same wavelength.

Specific Merchandise

Brooks Hudson Thomas, formerly of Blackman Cruz has just opened his own venture, Specific Merchandise in L.A.
There is a chance my designs could be featuring in the store, but totally regardless of that, i think Specific is destined for big things!

Diesel

Diesel, yes, the Diesel of denim fame, are making furniture. A certain relaxed aesthetic, but none the less, pretty accomplished and accessible.

Walter Frederick Morrison

Morrison, inventor of the Frisbee died recently. It is truly amazing how such a simple object has become ingrained in our lives. The idea of flying is something that mankind has always been fascinated by, from the myth of Icarus to Da Vinci's flying machines and the Wright Brothers we have tried to defeat the grip of gravity. With the fear of over analysing,  I feel in some way by setting a Frisbee in flight, we feel lighter, time shifts slightly, as we are fascinated by this mysterious thing, and i think this why it is so iconic. There is no way that Morrison would ever have dreamt that when he was chucking cake tins around some sixty years ago the phenomenon would exist. There is almost no design involved, it could not be simpler, it is the interaction of, and effect on humans that make it what it is.

The Closerie Falbala

Why did i not know about this before now? Jean Dubuffet's walled 'garden' and 'villa' 30 miles outside of Paris features in the March edition of WOI. "It is a unique piece of art in which a human being may physically stand, as though inside a picture and, as the artist himself says, 'inhabit a creation of the mind instead of just looking at it cautiously in a frame on the wall'."

Dexter Dalwood

Dexter Dalwood is showing work from the last twelve years at The Tate St Ives. Dalwood starts by selecting an historic moment, place or person. A collage is then made in the place of the traditional study or sketch, which is then scaled up and painted onto canvass. This transition works well as the array of marks, patterns and textures from the collage give the paintings added intrigue. And the canvasses are mesmerising in parts, asking the viewer to think, trying to solve the mystery; who is it, when was it? But..... the answer is there, its in the title, right next to the painting, and it left me feeling like i knew everything, when i didn't want too. Titling paintings is a far too large subject to cover here, from 'Still life with fruit on a stone legde' (Caravaggio) to 'Adam' (Barnett Newman) to 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (Hirst) and everything 'untitled' in between. But although I really liked some of the paintings, the punchline titles did not give me the due time to figure things out for myself, and more importantly, learn stuff in the process of that deconstruction.

History of the world in 100 objects

Most of you will probably know about the BBC's epic series currently running on Radio 4. But for those who are further afield and not aware of it, its well worth checking out. Mapping human development and civilisation through objects from the British Museum, the show concentrates on one particular object per episode. Examining the mindset of the instigators, how things were made, what materials were used and why, through to the actual logistics of making some of the enormous works. Ideas of Episteme and Techne are covered, there are also heavyweight contributions from contemporary artists such as Gormley, who comments on this Ramesses II statue, aired last friday. The reason it works so well is because you cannot see the object in question, it is essentially an (oral) essay, deconstructing and questioning each piece. You can catch up/listen again here. 

Holon Design Museum

About to open, Ron Arad's Design museum in Holon, Israel. The steel acts as a filter, wrapping the two more conventional buildings inside. The interest comes from how the steel ribbon and buildings react, creating the 'other' spaces, where you are inside the total form but still outside. I guess the choice of material is partly colour based as it will have strong chemistry with the clean blue skies. Of course there are going to be comparisons made to Richard Serra's sculptures but they only apply to the material used, the form is different, much more designed, dare i say it; prettier. I have seen Serra's Torqued ellipses and they are powerful and arresting, i expect the museum to be a more soothing experience. See loads more images here.

Rietveld - Steltman Chair

This came up in a meeting recently and its well worth an outing on the blog. Rietveld's Red and Blue chair is his most iconic piece but the Steltman Chair is different, it feels very honest to me. The ''4x2 section is evocative of construction rather than furniture, it feels fast and dynamic, like a 3D sketch. But the result of this bold form on the negative space around, under and between the object is very beautiful. The Steltman came forty years after the red and blue chair, when Rietveld was in his seventies, and his experience shows through. A concise yet fluid object which keeps giving me more, the more i look.

ink-dot

A belated shout out to Steve, who is currently planning the next ink-dot exhibition. Some really good graphic work here, and although the last exhibition is long over, you can still buy the prints on the website. (Super nice to catch up with you recently btw)

Precision

"My aim is simply to make the finest hand planes money can buy." I can only imagine how Karl Hotley's planes feel and cut, (they are totally inaccessible at between £2,000-8,000), but i bet they are truly beautiful to use. The thought, time, research and love that goes into each one is astounding.