curbzone

Rob

Keeping in mind this idea of a new era of design purity.

Konstantin Grcic: Kanu chair for Cassina, Italy 2008






Konstantin Grcic: Teepee chair for Cassina, Italy 2008




Tokujin Yoshioka: 'Heaven' armchair for Cassina, Italy 2008




Stefan Diez: 'Chassis" chair (steel frame with a leather hide seat and back) for Wilkhahn, Germany, 2008




Maria Berntsen: 'Quack' Thermo cup crafted in polypropylene and steel. Made by Georg Jensen, Denmark, 2008


Maria Berntsen: 'Quack' Sugar bowl, creamer and tray crafted in polypropylene. Made by Georg Jensen, Denmark, 2008


Helle Damkær: 'Cocktail' Ice bucket crafted in stainless steel and mouth-blown glass. Made by Georg Jensen, Denmark, 2008

Rob

Furniture and household products are often the first place to see new trends emerging in design -- this product sector quickly and easily adapts to new ideas and is obviously much cheaper than architecture or auto-industry.

Hexagons seem to be everywhere right now -- they are often shown in a cellular formation which fits with the current scientific advances with biomimetics -- engineering mimicking nature. The natural world (at the most molecular level) is a big thing right now but so is 'pixelated' design -- obviously influenced by our ever-increasing reliance on the virtual world (cyberspace).

Zaha Hadid 'Mesa'


Karim Rashid 'Bokka'




Brodie Neill 'E-turn'




Karim Rashid 'Floob'




Osko & Deichmann 'Abuss Spot'


Giorgio Gurioli 'Asana'




Marzio Rusconi Clerici 'Shakti Wall'


Helen Konturis 'La La Lamp'




Massimiliano Fuksas, silver tea service


Inga Sempé 'MOËL'


Patricia Urquiola 'Bohemian'




Piero Lissoni 'Once'




Dominique Perrault and Gaelle Lauriot-Prévost 'Tricot' leather furniture/object


Wieki Somers 'High Tea Pot'


Patricia Urquiola 'landscape'






Patricia Urquiola 'Tropicalia'






De-Signum 'Hexagon'


Leo Krol & Vincent de Rijk, LED light










Philippe Bestenheider 'Nanook'




Ron Arad 'Do Lo Res' Armchair


Frank Gehry 'FOG Office'


Nipa Doshi Jonathan Levien 'My Beautiful Backside'












Nipa Doshi Jonathan Levien 'Principessa'

Rob

Sinosteel International Plaza by MAD, China








It is amazing how current some aspects of these old cars from the '60s and '70s look




Note the 'honeycomb' hexagons

Rob

Plastic Relics

Tokyo Designers Week: London designers Committee launch a collection of lacquered containers with plastic lids for design brand Cibone Editions in Tokyo this week.



Being fond of using devices of the imagination to aid their search for original work, Committee has chosen to place themselves in a future age, (perhaps a post-apocalyptic one) for this project. Oil has run out and the material world is no longer as we know it. The left over plastic items, which today we take for granted, are a source of fascination and archaeological interest, perhaps even great value.



This approach prompted Committee to select examples of humble plastic parts that could possibly come to represent the relics of this age and imagined them as strange curios that might inspire a craftsman of the time to utilise them in a far more precious way than the one they were intended for.



Released from their intended service and isolated from their ’sibling’ components, the functional detail of these plastic parts becomes pure abstract decoration and the items become venerated for their mystery instead of being overlooked and discarded.





Committee’s instinct was to suggest that this fictional craftsman might choose to re-use each item as a decorative lid for a series of ornamental tabletop containers, since this would show them off adequately to the 27th century viewer.





In juxtaposition to these once mass-produced curios, the lower half of the boxes would be fashioned from traditionally produced Japanese lacquer-ware.





The supporting box shape being designed as a black plinth, which is an exact extrusion of the lid profile, making it a shadow of the item cast through time, right back to its deep past in lakes of black oil.




Committee approached Cibone Editions of Tokyo to collaborate on the project as they have a strong interest in forging links between traditional Japanese crafts and new design. The resulting production saw a mingling of skills with 3D scanning and CAD design taking place in London and the traditional urushi lacquering hand applied by craftsmen in Wagima province of Japan.



The boxes created are a peculiar blend of old and new, the lacquer-ware surface making a fitting companion to the plastic since both materials seek to deny the mark of manufacture and to create a super-smooth and idealised finish.

But the plastic does so through the use of science and industrial manufacture and the lacquer through a craftsman’s skill and experience; these works pit man against machine. As with their other exploratory projects, Committee hopes that the Plastic Relics turn well accepted aspects of material value on their head, in order to cast a light on our current situation.

Dezeen Blog Archive Plastic Relics by Committee for Cibone Editions

Rob

Design Real
curated by Konstantin Grcic, Serpentine Gallery London

November 26,2009 – February 7,2010

Grcic’s selection for Design Real focuses on ‘real’ items all conceived in the last decade: mass-produced products that have a practical function in everyday life. The exhibition presents a wide range of objects by leading international designers and manufacturers, from furniture and household products to technical and industrial innovations.


By highlighting objects that have made a significant impact on our lives, the exhibition provides new perspectives from which to look at the material world around us and encourages new insights into design.

















Designws.com - Design Real Curated By Konstantin Grcic, Serpentine Gallery London

Beemer B773ER

Fascinating they may be, but it's interesting that people can make a successful living out of creating such things.

Rob

I'm not sure what you are refferring too Shameel.

The exhibition above "Real Design" is highlighting objects that are in production. Industrial design and components/parts are often over-looked as examples of design excellence in themselves. The exhibition places these objects in the abstract context of an exhibition and so encourages us to view them in a more thoughtful way.

The "Plastic Relics" objects were made purely for an exhibition. They are a one-off design study -- intended to stimulate ideas and discussion among other designers and academics. This is quite normal in any design office to work on projects that are not necessarily intended for production (alongside ones that are purely commercial) ...these are little manifestos that express contemporary ideas and/or experiment with new materials and technologies.