‘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

this couch is standing in front of the church/workspace of the design collective atelierdorp in eindhoven. (I don’t think that it would be easy to steal it) it is a product of designer nacho carbonell and is called ‘soft concrete’. nacho created a concrete bench for outdoor purposes which shape reminds of a soft couch.

soft concrete by nacho carbonell, 2007

if I wouldn’t know what technical approach is hidden behind this ‘thing’ I would just say that it looks awful. but the ‘allegro crescendo’ (means lively and becoming louder) speakers by studio tord boontje are a scan of micro-scale objects put together to a functional cover. they are on display at the metropolitan works, creative industries centre in london, exhibition called ‘digital explorers’.

studio tord boontje has scanned real flowers, leaves and insects by using 3d scanning technology like non-invasive 3d scanning to capture the form of the original objects and direct metal laser sintering (dmls) to manufacture the pieces. for all that I still have an aversion to flower ornaments but I give them my credits for the diversity of innovative processes.

nickel plated nylon, stainless steel
some more pictures here →

young royal college design student matthew plummer-fernandez has made another installation for the selfridges window display in london.

4 containers with coloured ink are hanging at the ceiling and droping the fluid on the white rods. I have been listening to portishead‘s roads while standing in front of the window. it gave me peace of mind.

unfortunately there was not much ink
on the columns when I took the pictures

see more about matthew here
see more pictures here →

oh, I forgot to put in my favourite from the ‘prototypes and experiments’ show at london’s aram gallery. its an quite old project by london-based designer rolf sachs – an likeble concept of bags.

suit-cage and lug-cage by rolf sachs, 1997
maple leaf and merino felt

‘prototypes and experiments’ (2nd edition) is the name of a current exhibition at london’s aram gallery the show features prototypes from various designers. there were also some drawings and sketches from the designs but unfortunately not so many than I expected. I mean, an exhibition called ‘prototypes and experiments’ should show more about the process of the design, shouldn’t it?

table lamp by tomas kral, 2008
cnc milled aggolomerated cork with hand blown glass

cassette table by fran santos and caterina fadda, 2006
mdf for the top and solid-wood planks for the base

see more here →

fashion design student wayne fitzell has designed a biker jacket for puma. wayne, who studies at central saint martins, has won the motorsport re design competition – an collaboration with iconic motorsport brand ducati.

see more here →

people tell me that they get confused when they suddenly have entries from another city/country. I am announcing that I am in london. again!

about 2 weeks ago kymyka, a new shoe and bag store, opened in maastricht, netherlands. the interior is made by designer maurice mentjens.

I like the idea of shoes on pins hold by magnets.
a very classy resolution.

maurice won the dutch design awards in 2005, 2006 and 2007. I think he might look forward the dutch design awards 2009 ;-)

click here for more →

today I popped into the conflict design store in maastricht. it is a little store with a carefully choosen selection of dutch design… and here it was again: the ma-ma vase by designer roderick vos. it is a beautiful vase for royal tichelaar makkum, the netherlands’ oldest company. you can have it in glossy white, matte gold, matte aluminum, matte brass and a decorated version.

marres, centre for contemporary culture, in maastricht has one of my favourite bookshelfs.

amsterdam-based interior studio eventarchitectuur have designed the wooden bookshelf in september 2005. but every time when I am there I realize that I like it more.

see more here →

I am kinda into chairs at the moment because I have to write my bachelor thesis and as I like chairs a lot I choose for them as the main topic…

so the arched gallery in the nai, netherlands architecture institute, maastricht is showing an installation called ‘living with things’ by rotterdam-based architect rianne makkink & designer jurgen bey. the creative duo evoke the industrial hall, where they lived until recently, in the 3th level of the institute – a space that they regarded as the ideal house.

this chair is a little detail of the hole exhibition and one of my favorites. I like the combination of seating object and private space. armchair in a box. and when you sit inside you look through a tv window and you can observe whats going on outside. the only disruptive element are the black stickers on the box.