Rocket Gallery

Rocket are having a re-design of their book room soon and all books are half price from today onwards. You have to go into the shop to get the offer, but that means you also get to see Tomoko Azumi's show in the gallery.

Jasper Morrison Shop

Damn, just missed this, and i like a nice tray! Jasper Morrison's Shop is well worth keeping an eye on though, featuring simple, themed exhibitions.

Marc Newson

Sorry, I mentioned Marc Newson yesterday but did not post a link, so there you go. And it turns out he has an exhibition on at the Gagosian NY at the moment which ".....is a thematic exhibition that brings together for the first time all of his major designs and realized products for transport and human locomotion since 1999."

Daniel Rohr

Daniel Rohr has taken the most dramatic change of direction with his colander tables, and it has thrown me a little. I remember seeing his clamp series a few years ago, an interesting re-purposing of clamps into shelf supports, which also illustrated the process of construction. All very real, accessible and educational. So, the (Mark Newson's 'Event Horizon' inspired) table, being made out of nearly half a ton of Aluminium was a suprise, the total antithesis of the low tech stuff that came before. 

Firstly, i like the object on many levels, the precision, the polished surface and of course; the shadow it creates, although the legs suffer from a lack of attention compared with the top. Then I starting thinking about the material costs, surely it must be a fortune, but at current prices the metal would cost £700, probably cheaper than some top quality english oak to make a dining table of the same size. Then there is the construction; once the CAD drawing is fully developed, they can be turned out easily, with the obvious CNC time and tooling costs. (You can watch a construction video here). And what about  the wastage? as I am guessing the table weighs about a fifth of the weight of the initial materials, but Aluminium is easy to recycle too, and I really hope Rohr addresses this. These objects are also going to last a very, very long time! So i tried to find out how much they sell for,  and i did not have much joy, so i think we can presume they are a small fortune.

To be honest, i would also like the block of aluminium just as it is, there is something very beautiful about it in that form.

Plumen

Plumen, the latest project from the brains behind Hulger, has already been picked up by MoMA and is about to lift off. With a simple concept, it is a reaction against the frankly hideous designs of energy saving bulbs that already exist, but i think the restraint of the shape is why it works so well. I would have been easy to go over the top but Plumen has high design appeal coupled with huge accessibility. Looks brilliant (better!) with out a lampshade too. They start shipping from October 5th.

by other designers

byotherdesigners lighting project is realised through games of (design) 'Consequences', with some good results.

Inhotim

More new works are being unveiled today at the already totally brilliant and epic Inhotim, a private 178-acre botanical garden cum Art Zoo near Belo Horizonte in Brazil. Its a very long way for me to go, but i know it's not for some of you, so no excuses. I will definitely be making the trip at some point.

SplinterBike

The bicycle is an astonishingly efficient design, allowing humans to increase their speed many times over with no additional effort. They have obviously come along way from the Penny Farthing so i am not quite sure why splinterbike are going back to dark ages with their entirely wooden bike? ...but, i think its going to be very good fun finding out how it develops. Follow it through their blog.

How to pirate a vinyl record

I am a big vinyl fan, records are super nice objects in my eyes and i would love to have a go at this.

Seongyong Lee

Seongyong Lee Has been developing Plytube at the RCA. There are all sorts of practical installations, as he explains below, but i am just very into the negative space aesthetic which it gives, almost like a functioning mould from which you could cast another object.

		"Plytube is a new way of tubing wood using the similar principal of making paper tube but with some more process to harden the wooden tube which I made. Plytube is accurate wooden tube, very light but strong, long lasting as for the value of plywood and acceptable with all kinds of tooling and finishing for wood. The diameter, thickness, colour, type of wood and even the section of the shape will be able to be customized. Ultimately, it could also be used for architectural material as well as for life goods. I made some furniture series which should be light. You will see how light but strong the furniture which are made with minimal material could be. For instance, the weight of the stool is 820g even though it is a proper sized stool and with rigid structure. Each furniture shows the good things of plytube such as the structural rigidity, new aesthetic of joints and finish for the stool, extremely strong things for the bench and the hollowness of the tube which is used for a mobile phone charger cable pathway for the small tables. "

Species of Spaces

An extract from 'Moving in' by Georges Perec, from Species of Spaces and Other Pieces.

.......making firm  driving in  pinning together  hanging up  arranging  sawing  fixing  pinning up  marking  noting  working out  climbing  measuring  mastering  seeing  surveying  pressing hard down on  priming  rubbing down  painting  rubbing  scraping  connecting  climbing  stumbling  straddling  mislaying  finding again  rummaging around  getting nowhere  brushing  puttying  stripping  camouflaging  puttying  adjusting  coming and going  putting a gloss on  allowing to dry  admiring  being suprised  getting worked up  growing impatient  suspending judgment  assessing  adding up  inserting  sealing  nailing  screwing  bolting.......

Species of Spaces i a seminal work about space; how we use it, how we think about, how we should/could think about it, interact with and interpret it.

Solomon & Wu

I have thought about the idea of contemporary mouldings for a few years now, i think its a really interesting idea, but have never had the time to realise anything. Cornice, skirting board, architrave and mouldings have obviously been installed for decorative purposes, but there are underlying practical reasons for their existence. Skirting boards were a means of covering the unfinished plastered wall down to the floor, and were high in Victorian times to cover the rising damp stains. In Georgian architecture there was a dado to protect the walls form the backs of chairs as they were stored with their backs against the wall. Door Architraves are a means of covering the the joint between plastered wall and timber door lining, which is unsound and will undoubtedly crack.
Shadow gaps and flat skirtings are normally employed in contemporary new build houses, which is all good, but i think new designs for these mouldings could give structure to an interior. Anyhow, i should get the point now, solomon&wu's small range gives some clues as to where the idea could lead. They will stage a Pop-up Gallery at 6 Whidbourne Street, London WC1H 8EU, all next week.

Finito

At long last, the project i have been working on is finished, the filming is done, it looks great and everyone is happy! Phew. I think there is a good chance that it will be aired in six to eight weeks time and will let you know when i hear.

London Design Festival

I am still unsure whether i am going to be around for the London design Festival this year, so i have been having a nose through the press and design pages. Stuart Haygarth digresses from his usual medium of found and collated objects, (which he painstakingly and sublimely re-purposes), for an installation focusing on framing a staircase at the V&A.  Barber & Osgerby open the doors of their studio in Shoreditch so you can get an insight into their working environment, and just around the corner, Tomoko Azumi goes solo at the Rocket Gallery. Paul Cocksedges' sculpture on the southbank looks very promising indeed, part of the Size & Matter series. And obviously there are the larger shows, TENT and 100% Design where you can see upcoming stars and established brands battle for attention. I do have a soft spot for objects that lean, so instantly noticed andthendesign's Lean Man series (pictured above) which will be shown at 100%.
There are a million other things on, but i suggest you get the printed Design Week Booklet, as i don't think the website makes it easy to discover the little gems that will undoubtedly be out there.

David Weeks

As a total contrast to the normal slick furniture and lighting, last year David Weeks suddenly starting producing articulated wooden animals (Hanno the Gorilla is very cool). And this summer he goes one better with Cubebot. Brilliant, and pretty cheap too, $25 - 35, from here.

Reinhard Dienes

Reinhard Dienes conjures a lot out of very little with his Le belge (The Belgian) series. Simple and elegant flat pack furniture of high quality. Other highlights are the Tonic sideboard/bookcase where locking legs transform a humble box into something far more elegant, and the La grand light. Dienes strips and pares down elements, ultimately making objects that are far greater than the sum of their parts.