rotterdam-based designer wieki somers has designed a wardrobe for the boijmans van beuningen museum in rotterdam.

she came came up with the idea while watching the jiska rickels film, 4 elements in which mine workers had to hoist their coats back up because the space was so limited.

the red and white fairground carousel is made from plastic pulley blocks. fire hoses and metal weights were used to make the mechanism, which is simple to use – just pull on the rope, hang the coat and fasten the lock. the metal weights ensure that the hoisting up and down works automatically.

the image is a picture of a picture. I took it at the brit insurance awards, designs of the year 2009, at the design museum in london

‘the absent presence’ (june 2005) is a short film by hussein chalayan for the 51st venice biennale. a biologist, played by tilda swinton, extracts cells to examine their dna sequences.

one of this forms was presented at hussein chalayan‘s ‘from fashion and back’ exhibition at the design museum, london. the dna forms in the animation were frozen at a point in action and transformed into 3d objects and put on a table.

It is ‘representing how an individual reacts to their environment.’

I have visited the hussein chalayan exhibition at the design museum in london. its a comprehensive retrospective about the fashion designers work between 1994 – 2009.

this is the aircraft wing chandelier for the swarovski crystal palace at kunsthalle mannheim .

Its a large flap moving slowly up and down, revealing a long strip of swarovski crystals which are illuminated from behind by led lights. the installation is called ‘repose’ and belongs to the autumn/winter collection 2006.

also included into the installation:a digital clock with specially cut crystals, featuring 24 leds and 96 crystal octagons

roy mcmakin is sometimes described as a designer, sometimes as an architect but mainly as a craftsman.

english furniture manufacturer established & sons is presenting an exhibition of selected work of the american creative. It’s his first european debut in london.

high chest of drawers with knobs,
originally made in 1986, made of mahogany

ebonized stools

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london-based designer tom price has designed the panels on the ground floor level of metropolitan works, creative Industries center. It is a specially commissioned frieze that has been laser cut out of the panels to give the structure a sense of movement and life.

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couple days ago I have visited metaalwarenfabriek phoenix, metal working factory phoenix, in eindhoven. designconnection brainport, a network for designers and industry, have organized a guided tour through all facilities of the factory.

I found a case of a henk suitcase in the showroom of the factory and couldn’t believe that $20,000 are standing in front of me. yes, $20,000!! a dutch real estate magnate named henk worked together with frog design to create a strong, agile suitcase for the elite travelers. It is crafted of 500 component parts and its shell is made of super lightweight carbon fiber.

I mean, I am traveling a lot but I prefer to buy a car instead of a suitcase that is worth $20,000.

I can highly recommend this movie about the underside of our production and consumption patterns. annie leonard is guiding through the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues in a way that possibly make you change the way you look at all the stuff in your life.

more about the movie here.

‘de pastoor van arskerk’ is a 20th century church in eindhoven that has been empty for 5 years before a group of designers took it over as a workspace.

It started with the problem that some design academy students had not enough space to work at the academy. they were looking for their own space and wanted eindhoven, the self-appointed design city, to provide the space. I mean, in every city are enough abounded buildings. why not giving it to people who need the space?

otje bastiaanse, djim berger, hilbert tjalkens, vera teunen and rocco verdult founded stichting atelierdorp and searched for other people to join the project that aims to give space to creatives. In 2006 nacho carbonell, veronique lorne, nathan wierink and bas van raay built an atelier in the church, called atelierdorp. a half year later julien carretero joined in nacho’s atelier. later other people joined to the group.

since then they work together in holy facilities of this church. a beautiful space, but unbelievably cold in winter. that’s why the designer have build little workspaces in the church which capture the heat .

bas van vraay
nacho carbonell
julien carretero
ontwerpduo
djim berger
joni neelen
rocco verdult
veronique lorne
marly gommans
vera teunen
hilbert tjalkens

post office boxes of all designers

hallway to the offices

textile workshop

workspace in the old church

view from top –
the space is separated into small work spaces

ceramics workshop