sphinx maastricht: wash-basins, next to urinals

when you find yourself in the south of the netherlands and you talk about bathroom facilities you are automatically talking about sphinx. It is an important player in the european bathroom market, which is celebrating 175 years in business.

the amazing things is that you imagine hundreds of people working in the factory. especially because my experiences with ceramics are reduced to making some cups. I’ve expected that working with this fragile material is a primary manual work. but in fact there are just 15 employees in the rotating shifts. basically the hole production is accomplish by machinery. just the technical details and frequent observations are still done by humans.

sphinx-factory

sphinx factory inside – on the right is the massive oven
around 1000 sanitary arrangements are manufactured every day

toilet-mould

toilet mould made of porous plastic material – its more expensive than plaster but can be used about 30.000 times

clay-washbasin

freshly moulded clay washbasin

sphinx-maastricht

air-dried, glazed toilets with a screenprinted logo
which are ready for baking

washbasin-before-baking1

on the way into the oven – assembly line baking at 1200 degrees

strijp x: an addition for eindhoven

strijp x is a new cross-over store in the industrial area of eindhoven. its a place where different creative disciplines melt together in a single location, an old industrial building.

check the strijp x website for more informations. see the video from designguide.tv for a proper view on the hole concept store. and if you think your work is worth to exhibit and can be sold contact them!

concrete-animal-by-nacho-carbonell

concrete animals by nacho carbonell

wire-chaise-lounge-by-dave-keune

wire chaise lounge by dave keune

see more here

designhuis: fragile part 1

before I ended up at the design in detail award I’ve visited the exhibition ‘glass’ at the designhuis in eindhoven.

the exhibition explores glass as a medium from a purely industrial approach to an autonomous design. the result is a display of beautiful pieces that range from functional objects to sculptural forms. I will show my favourites in 2 parts because they were to many.

blizzard-bulbs-by-hella-jongerius

hella-jongerius-blizzard-bulbs

blizzard bulbs by hella jongerius

more here

design in detail award: make it look good

last thursday. design in detail, an event in eindhoven, presented by design concept brainport, platform for design and technology.

the issue: how can a city be considered a design city when it’s appearance suggests it otherwise? ambition: revitalisation of the retailarea.

marie-josée lacroix, design commissioner of the city of montreal, was giving a speech at this event. she described the dramatic improvement of montreal’s image after the city had sponsored a design award. the awards purpose was to motivate designers and the retail industry to work together to make the city of montreal appear more attractive. the resulting concept aimed at improving city life. the goal of her speech was to discuss such an award as an idea for the city of eindhoven. I don’t think that a lot of people would disagree when I say that eindhoven is probably the shabbiest city in the netherlands. so, bring it on. It can’t do any harm.

design-connection-brainport

location: witte dame haal

design-in-detail-award

design in detail award 2009 – will it work?

ingrid-van-der-wacht

ingrid van der wacht from design connection brainport

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adam paterson: cast your chair

interim show 2009, royal college of art, london:

this is a chair, a concept of making individual chairs, by industrial design engineering student adam paterson. the rca student wants to unite the consumer into the production experience. you are allowed to mix the ingredients for your chair and to appoint the form of your own chair.

adam-paterson-chair

flat-pack-furniture-chair

pack contents:
1 x cleat 480 gauge polythene mold
1 x chair making experience

sebastian brajkovic: spin like a top

amsterdam-based sebastian brajkovic doesn’t just make chairs – there is also a table that fits into his lathe concept.
see previous post.

from the press release of the carpenters workshop gallery, london: ‘the evocative sense of movement is conveyed in the spinning lines of the quasi vortex, offering the past impression of a moment of great movement and now stillness. Inspired originally by a child’s spinning top, whizzing around at high speed, it has the same illusion that once at its optimal speed it is no longer moving but standing up straight.’

lathe-table-by-sebastian-brajkovic

lathe table, aluminium, edition of 8

lathe-sebastian-brajkovic

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