(I guess lena and jens gonna laugh about the titel)

I’ve been in amsterdam for 2 days and was invited to a dinner at an agency where friends of mine are working – lena steinborn is my ex-roomate (I’ve lived with some people) and jens erfurth is her boyfriend. he is actually the one who introduced me to lena. both studied graphic design at the academy maastricht. lena was a fulltime student and jens was there for a exchange semester. they did their internships in amsterdam and after graduating in 2007 they both moved to the capital of the netherlands. now they even are colleagues at the atelier van gog, which calls itself a creative platform. so isn’t that a real couple?

real

lena steinborn

jens erfurth

lena and jens with wouter overhaus, founder of atelier van gog en designer of the kitsch kitchen corporate identity

jens and wouter as a playing card

lena’s desk

inside the studio

outside the studio – at the veemarkt, an industrial area in amsterdam

there are so many people who romanticize the helvetica. a typeface that affected the life of millions. most, in typeface interested folks, know the helvetica documentary by gary hustwit. now he decided to make a movie about industrial design (I would also mention product design). about the people behind the products you use. to name just a few examples: ronan and erwan bouroullec from paris, jonathan Ive from apple, marc newson from london and hella jongerius from rotterdam. the title is objectified. things are seldom that unambiguous. the movie is currently in production and will have its world premiere in early 2009.

objectified logo by build

marc newson – lockheed lounge

hella jongerius – office pets

ronan and erwan bouroullec – rocks

jonathan ive – iphone

what’s the perfect banana? the brown one, the green one or the yellow one?! people like this fruit in a different way. I prefer a green banana because a brown pulpy banana made me throw up in my childhood. and now my life is affected by a paranoia. and how can people eat a fried banana (this one is even with ice cream ahhh)? you get these often in a chinese restaurant as a dessert. that gives me the creeps. anyway, I am in the mood of some banana topics because I found 2 pictures of bananas in my archive while I’ve been working on a new portfolio.

how to make a gun out of a banana? I am curios what kind of ammo I need for this one

here is the proof: bananas aren’t always curved

yo get what you see – banana juice – clever packaging from naoto fukasawa

the banana wall, an installation from stefan sagmeister – I never expected him to do something like this – but you never can tell

I was really fighting with myself about posting or not posting this, but I need to show it. obviously its a german invention (or a chinese one). and how can they write ‘ ideal for kindergarden, school..’ – I would never give that thing in the hand of my child. it looks so kinky it cries out for a reference in an ann summers or beate uhse catalogue.

banana bunker by erro ‘design’ – be ashamed when you carry this in your bag

last night I have been at the nike store opening in berlin mitte. a nice store and a bunch of people wearing nikes. artwork of diffrent creatives were shown. could not find something that I liked but one. there was this sarah illenberger creation and I immediatly had to think about my beloved maurice scheltens. it’s not that sarah is coping him but I see a striking resemblance (I guess I see a link between the work in the nike store and the one maurice did for psp. check my post from february about maurice’s work) I do not need to say that the dutch wins again, its obvious that he is stronger by use of form. maurice is doing that with an easiness and without adding any unnecessary extras.

sarah illenberger in the nike store berlin

sarah illenberger – mc forest

sarah illenberger – lauter nette kerle

SARAH ILLENBERGER

VS

MAURICE SCHELTENS

maurice scheltens – nike (hey, everbody wanna work for them)

maurice scheltens – fantastic man packing

maurice scheltens – audi

WHAT DO YOU PREFER?

how cool is that – there is an aha video included into one of the family guy episodes. to be honest, it is one of the best videos ever and also a good 80ies song. thumps up for the instructive and brilliant family guy and for the song which was sold 1.5 million times worldwide in one week.

morten harket (aha) + chris griffin (family guy)

the video used a pencil-sketch animation/live action combination called rotoscoping (individual frames of live video are drawn over or colored)

think about your logo!

duncan ledingham – product designer

does it trigger any associations?
duncan, sorry for exposing you in this way. but people use to say that any pr is good pr. my answer is: you are welcome!

I could say that It’s so long since I’ve posted something. 4 days.. very long run. at present I am hanging around at my parents place, herdecke – germany, and they have trouble with the internets. so now I arranged my ‘summer office’ at a friends place in dortmund (he is in possession of the magic internet) where I will spend the next couple nights (the days are too hot) to work on some projects. unfortunatly I forgot all content, asides from the pictures, of the new designers at my home in the netherlands. like I use to say: ‘daring the gap’! – check out the pictures without any further information (or just less) from the newdesigners graduation show in london.

nick sims – graphic design – really average?
(ok, some information)

adam rowe –
I do not like the design realisation but the idea of deleting the legs and giving a ‘podium’ to the armchair makes the barock chair a perfect throne

bad, bad design. I would not even buy that for my kids (if I would have some) but I am a of alice’s adventures in wonderland

baby gangsta clothes. kinda cool.

thats great. not my colours but it helps to distinguish the diffrent cables in the power socket – a solution for a every day problem

a tinfoil table. leaves markes when you use it.

I am still in maastricht and nothing special happend. but there is still some good stuff from the graduation show.. oh, and next time I will show the stuff from the new designers in london. so stay tuned.

meyke link – graphics in ‘textile’

jana walliser – cup – the bottom contains a hidden message

nika rams – useless. water?

kaspar hamacher, julia velednitski, nika rams, jo sijen
dancing designers

after a great weekend in hockenheim I am back in my adopted country, maastricht, nl. I still have a lot pictures from the graduation show of my academy, academy maastricht, and of course I wanna show you my sweeties.

eefje schenk – object – a concept couch

eefje schenk – object – a concept couch – marquettes

laszlo rosznoki – share-a-chair (design with stihl) [chair] – can be used as one comfortable chair and in a case of a lot of guests you can ‘split’ it

laszlo rosznoki – 14 % [table] – concept table with antislip tablecloth (new gecko: specially structured silicone coating)

kaspar hamacher – the leather belt – the combination of gravity and the cow leather belt form a storage space for books (left: the board + the stool – 2 other prjojects)

kaspar hamacher – because of the concave surface of the board the books support each other. the functions of a book shelf unite in this board

sabine scheurer – leave marks when using – imprinTable + carpet

sabine scheurer – leave marks when using – imprinTable

when I was in london last week I was fortunate to see a little preview of the new exhibition in the photographers’ gallery. a show which reveals the fashion industry. supported by the work of international photographers. the show opens today!!

the picture is from harper’s bazaar, 2007

the gallery

maybe 3 months ago I was having a sandwich with a friend in a cafe in maastricht. when we left the building 2 man were passing us on the parking place. I starred at them but had no clue who they were. it was a common feeling that you already saw somebody once, not sure where from. then it came back to me: VIKTOR & ROLF !!! (unshaved, casual clothes) passed me on a ordinary sunday. I didn’t knew what to do. go back, talk to them was the first thought but my friend persuaded me that I wont see them the last time in my life so I did not went back. (I know, I am stupid)

now, being in london for couple days I had to see their exhibition in the barbican. its a 15-year career of viktor & rolf, the ones who convert fashion into fairy tales and theater. the centre of the retrospective is a doll’s house designed by siebe tettero . he is working a lot with the duo and also designed their office in amsterdam and their stores. I wish they would also play the music from their website, that would make the ‘cabinet of curiosities’ more to a cinderella story. unfortunetly it was forbidden to take pictures but I took a risk and shoot some anyway (not the best ones)

the doll’s house by tettero, presenting 54 porcelain dolls wearing a perfect miniature version of all the dresses in the exhibition
photo: dezeen

l’hiver de l’amour 1994
one of their first collections I would call it installation

bedtime story, 2005-06
tori amos playing the piano during the show

black light, 1999

upside-down store in milan by tettero