wednesday evening I attended at the book launch of london-based multi-disciplinary art and design practice troika.

conny freyer, sebastien noel and eva rucki have found troika after their studies at the royal college of art. and now they have published a book about designers, artists and technologists who work on the filthy boarders between these 2 disciplines. the lucky ones at the launch could have bought the book for 23 pounds. what a bargain! and I have even heard some people calling the book the bible.

→

london designer sebastian bergne is exhibiting his new designs for wine consumption at the aram gallery. he is known for design you would put into the category of industrial design. he worked for companies such as authentics, habitat and vitra. but in the current show called cru he plays with cork and makes me wanna have a glass of wine.

corked 4 – trousers glass

→

I have been at the somerset house here in london. there is an exhibition called ‘wouldn’t it be nice… wishful thinking in art and design’, exploring the common ground between design and art. (ok.. another ‘what’s the difference between design and art’ expo, but isn’t that what creatives do these days. isn’t everything melting together?)

the carcanapé by design duo bless was my favourite. a leather couch in the shape of a car, filled with foam. in my opinion they could have called it ‘carnapé’..

comfort for all pit babes

→

I choose for the titel because the german word for mirrow ball is ‘diskokugel’. that means ‘disco ball’.

robert lutz alias kalaman is a german artist from cologne. he was one of the other creatives who were exhibiting at the shopstop event last weekend in maastricht, netherlands. he is doing miscellaneous things with these little mirror pieces. what can I say.. I like the ‘disco ladder’.

→

tonight I have been at the opening of the ‘balke’ bar at the hohe strasse in dortmund, germany. another project of the guys from muto (phillip winterkamp, jan moeller, falk bocker and robin thon).

once again oliver klimpel from buro international london is responsible for the corporate identity. but this time he consulted me about the lighting in the bar. I suggested my favourite torch lamp from sylvain willenz (see my previous entry about the designer). check the result..

the floor – inspired by a scancode

2 loos for the girls – most of them go together anyway

→

the brussels biennial had their showdown this year: the first art exhibition in belgiums capital. it got bad reviews and even the people I know in brussels had not many positive things to tell about the the event.

I havent seen the whole biennial but I went to location a, the old post sorting center at the gare midi (train station). great building with a good view at the rail traffic industry. here is my favourite: my beloved vhs and mounir fatmi‘s brutal statement to architects. ‘fuck architects’ is the title of his exhibited work. (people tend to be very dramatic these days). the biennial continues at 4 January 2009.

corporate identity brussels biennial by base design brussels

skyline by mounir fatmi, 2007

→

arne quinze, belgian designer, has done another wooden installation called the sequence in the center of brussels. I’ve been at the opening last sunday. it looks basically like the one he did a while ago. also in bruxelles. it is called city scape and was opened last summer. the difference between both is that he added some red painted wood to the new installation crossing the parliament with the house of flemish representatives. not just plain wood, like he did the first time. basically an installation of timber wood. something that looks like a floating forest of mikado sticks. I guess its very hip to do random designs right now. besides the red light associated a red light district to some of the visitors …is that bruxelles chance to become the new amsterdam?! haha.. sorry for my sarcasm

→

comme des garçons, the avantgard of fashion, created a collection for hm, the mass market of fashion. today was the official launch of the work of rei kawakabu, the japanese designer of iconic status. also here in london. hm is selling its clothes in 32 countries. a huge chain of 1600 stores. commes des garcons have no stores. some guerilla stores ( see my previous story about the los angeles guerilla store which I’ve visited in may 2008 – greetings to brett westfall, co-owner of the store) their collection is hard to get and over the edge. so opposites attracht.

click here to read my fashion story →

another ‘I need to mention it’ design from the london design festival… the design weeks and festivals just have so much content to show… the first piet hein eek pop-up store was launched at the rabih hage gallery in south kensington, london. it was the biggest solo showcase the dutch designer ever had. piet became famous through his furniture built from recycled wood.

the new trend – the pop-up shop: not so long ago people called it guerilla store. a temporary showroom

→