Prescription: Design Therapy
Apartment Therapy Design Evenings at ABC Carpet are a bright spot in the design scene here – the incandescent lighting flowing through the oversized glasses of wine, the luxurious mishmash of couches and chairs, and a packed room of enthusiastic design and decor citizens smiling in their camaraderie.
It couldn’t be more fun, more lively. But as I looked around, I wondered, what exactly is this scene?
Coming from Europe where there’s a massive design presence to here where there are so many lovers of beauty and talented creative minds of every ilk, I’ve starting to see a distinction between Europe and Asia’s definition of design – the beautiful and functional and functionally beautiful object - and what design is in the U.S.
First, just to get it out of the way, yes there is the design awareness made possible by Steve Jobs and Apple Computers. There’s Fast Company’s championing of design thinking and design in business. But for the lovers of design festivals and design schools, furniture design, and manufacturing, the individual maker and craftsman, there is a big empty silence filled only by ICFF and it’s satellite shows.
New York is largely about Decor and Shelter. It’s Design Sponge and Etsy. Pinterest mood boards and Decor 8. It’s decorating tips and DIY. It’s interior design and real estate lust.
I love decor. I do. I mean where else are you going to put your design but within some sort of decor? Decor can be very practical and personal at the same time. Hey, even I found myself doing a DIY project for the first time and I’m pretty proud of it.
See? Here it is.
From this
To This
I found an old ugly beat up nightstand on the street and went out and bought some white high gloss paint, a bottle of Mod Podge, some paper from Paper Presentation and found endless how-to sites to make sure I didn’t screw the whole thing up.
Pretty cool, right?
But I’m not a designer. I would never call myself that. So there you go. You’ve got design and you have decor. America is about decor.
I really enjoyed what Maxwell, the founder of Apartment Therapy had to say when I asked about the state of American design (which meant where the hell is American design?) because it was clear that he cares about design as much as I do. He told me that it’s hard to nurture design here because manufacturing has left America. I told him about my experience in Europe and he said “yeah, Europe’s ahead of us.” So in our haste to automate and simplify everything, to sell everything and consume everything, to consolidate everything and to watch the bottom line on everything, we forgot about design. Not good. And honestly, not very modern. I think all of this DIY activity is just another sign of how desperately we need design leadership. It’s not just about dressing things up but making things that are truly beautiful, thoughtful and reflective. Right now, the design landscape is practical and commercial, not gutsy. It doesn’t marry inventiveness and innovation with reality. Design can be the perfect summation of right and left brain and, at the risk of sounding lofty, hope for the future. It’s a visual manifestation of spirit, intelligence, and hope. In other words, design is more than a gorgeous bedspread with eclectic throw pillows.
The last Apartment Therapy talk I attended was a few weeks back. It was with the very popular and very personable Deborah Needleman, the founding editor of Domino magazine who has gone on to start a beautiful style magazine at the Wall Street Journal. I was a subscriber of Domino. In fact, it was the very last magazine I subscribed to before moving to Paris at the end of 2006. Domino was so pretty and useful and collectible where nothing else really was. I was tired of the stuffy celebraphotog-generated nonsense, the Vogues and Visionnaires. I was tired of being talked down to and dictated to. Domino was different. It wasn’t ‘design’ but it was great. She herself admitted that while she loves the practical application of decor – she’s coming out with a book about making your home ‘cozy’ – she ‘doesn’t know anything about design’. It’s hard to wrap my head around but I think ultimately I know what she means. I just hope the dialogue will open up and decor-lovers will also start to see just what design is and how much value it has.
Just imagine, a New York with a design scene as robust as London.. Heaven!
(It looks like our company Show Love may be doing some yet-to-be-announced work with the American Design Club led by the effervescent designer and design advocate Kiel Mead so more excitement to come!)
-Chauncey Zalkin
links:
Apartment Therapy
Decor 8
Etsy
Design Sponge
Pinterest
What Women Make Sustainable Gift Guide 2011
For all price ranges and passions (the full post on Tythe.com)
1. COOKING
Epicurean Designer Cutting Boards Though this Duluth, Minnesota run company …
2. HELPING
Nomi Bags Nomi network produces recycled bags that fight human trafficking.
3. INDEPENDENT DESIGNERS
I’ve always loved the spunk of Junk Prints owner / designer Chanel Kennebrew.
4. GLOBAL DESIGN CULTURE
Yoshii Shirt Stripe Towels – Towels have a strong significance in Japan.
5. CRAFTSMANSHIP
Stacking Vessels by Pia Wustenberg – As I see it, design is art and worth the price to celebrate the human ability to transform materials for use in our everyday lives.
-Chauncey Zalkin
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Designers With A Repurpose: Rafinesse & Tristesse
Using discarded oil drums from around the world, Rafinesse & Tristesse (designers Karim Egger and Petra Schultz) make these lively household design items that have just the right dose of whimsy. We first discovered them when we arrived in Barcelona and attended a fair dedicated to recycling called Drap Art. It was the one item we wanted to buy for our new apartment but never got around to it. Now if they’d only come stateside, we’d snatch up a few stools! They’ve recently written to us showing new items that we’d like to share with you. All of their designs are made in Switzerland and Germany engaging two social projects for manufacturing making the ‘goodness’ of their company full circle. One of these social projects is Triva which works with addicts in Bern and USE which is a working station for handicapped persons in Berlin.
Here are their new products:
and my personal favorite:
And here they are:
Visit them at Rafinesse & Tristesse
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Friday Diary: Celebrating & Reflecting on Dieter Rams
- August 24, 2011
“Good Design Is Long Lasting” Exhibition
Phaidon Flagship NY
Core77 and Phaidon held a contest to celebrate iconic German industrial designer Dieter Rams work and his ‘less is more’ design principles. Rams was the head of product design at Braun from 1961 to 1995 and has been described as the yoda of design. His designs are commonly considered to have influenced the designs of Apple, Nokia, Muji and more – that clean rounded nonfussy most modern of aesthetics). The drawings are on display in a product timeline at the flagship store for the next two weeks.
Here is a reposting of Ram’s principles (color) with some of my own thoughts (grey/black) ; Their essence resonates far beyond the confines of design.
1. Good Design is innovative
It does not copy existing product forms, nor does it produce any kind of novelty for the sake of it. The essence of innovation must be clearly seen in all functions of a product. The possibilities in this respect are by no means exhausted. Technological development keeps offering new chances for innovative solutions.
I wrote an article a while back entitled “new lessons from ancient Japan”. In it, i refer to the term “kaizen,” continuous improvement (process focus) which Toyota embraces as a core value. Their motto: ‘the right process, the right result.’
I want to look at the word innovation. I like to check in regularly with words that become buzzwords to make sure they still mean something to me. So why do we need continuous innovation? Did we always need it?
There is no more ‘the way things have always been done’. Has iterative, motivated ($$, survival) change always existed at this urgent alarm-shrieking level? It seems like we can break history down into 3 phases where innovation changes from being a base ‘Maslow’ style need to a self-actualizing ‘nice to have’ Maslow style need. I’d say it goes something like this:
A. The dawn of man, -history, ancient Egypt, Rome, through to industrial revolution: continuous improvement, better tools, better solutions – all the time. Base impulse of humankind. Gets increasingly less urgent once we start lying around talking about philosophy through to committing mass genocide on several continents.
B. Next phase: 40′s on – years of trying to find solutions that last (excepting planned obsolescence of course) so we could rest and be happy fat cats. No need to innovate to survive.
C. Where we are now. Screw ‘innovate and stop, innovate and stop’. Back to the most urgent of loop to loop innovation in every day life.
Is continuous innovation a fact of modern life as well as a fact of primitive life? Is life now mimicking primitive life?
Mandate: how can we continuously improve and reassess, stay objective, keep questioning meaning?
2. Good Design makes a product useful
A product is bought in order to be used. It must serve a defined purpose – in both primary and additional functions. The most important task of design is to optimise the utility of a product.
I used to tutor a 6th grade kid with anger issues and I always said ‘use your resources’. I don’t know where i got it form but it was the way to get him on track when he began to get frustrated with a lesson.
Then I realized that I don’t always use my resources. I forget my resources and seek new ones to the detriment of what I’ve already gathered.
Sometimes things are just easy. Don’t make them hard. What do you already have?
3. Good Design is aesthetic
The aesthetic quality of a product – and the fascination it inspires – is an integral part of the its utility. Without doubt, it is uncomfortable and tiring to have to put up with products that are confusing, that get on your nerves, that you are unable to relate to. However, it has always been a hard task to argue about aesthetic quality, for two reasons.
Firstly, it is difficult to talk about anything visual, since words have a different meaning for different people.
Some designers I speak to don’t feel comfortable with words. My job is sense making in this arena. In others, my words are more essence than organization. Words are my output. On the other hand, i can barely draw a straight line.
Secondly, aesthetic quality deals with details, subtle shades, harmony and the equilibrium of a whole variety of visual elements. A good eye is required, schooled by years and years of experience, in order to be able to draw the right conclusion.
4. Good Design helps a product be understood
It clarifies the structure of the product. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory and saves you the long, tedious perusal of the operating manual.
Every practical interaction should be so easy so we can leave the talking and words for literature, criticism, love, and debate.
5. Good Design is unobtrusive
Products that satisfy this criterion are tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained leaving room for the user’s self-ex ssion.
6. Good Design is honest
An honestly-designed product must not claim features it does not have – being more innovative, more efficient, of higher value. It must not influence or manipulate buyers and users.
7. Good Design is durable
It is nothing trendy that might be out-of-date tomorrow. This is one of the major differences between well-designed products and trivial objects for a waste-producing society. Waste must no longer be tolerated.
8. Good Design is thorough to the last detail
Thoroughness and accuracy of design are synonymous with the product and its functions, as seen through the eyes of the user
9. Good Design is concerned with environment
Design must contribute towards a stable environment and a sensible use of raw materials. This means considering not only actual pollution, but also the visual pollution and destruction of our environment.
10. Good Design is as little design as possible
Back to purity, back to simplicity.
What becomes of the baroque? (it certainly shows up in contemporary television but where else does the baroque make sense?)
That’s all for now. (not the most graceful exit but it’s time to rest and after all this is a blog.)
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Design Spotlight: Favorite Female Designer Pieces From SCP
*Paula Arntzen “Grand Trianon” large chandelier made out of post-consumer coated Tyvek
I just got word from one of my favorite stores, SCP, that they will be at the New York International Gift Fair. SCP is one of the best of British design companies and has featured designs from luminaries such as Tom Dixon, Established & Sons, Jasper Morrison and sculptress Rachel Whitread.
Here are some female-led designs of SCP that I particularly love:
Rose Trivet / hot pad by Anouk Jansen (withstands heat of up to 220 C / 428 F)
and her teapot. I love this use of color against gray. It feels like a Goddard movie.
Then there’s this “Fold Unfold” tablecloth made with color creases by Margrethe Odgaard
an Anna Castelli Ferrieri’s Componibili round (which we happen to have in our apartment full of pots and pans in our pretty but small apartment)
and last but not least, a creation from Spanish design pride Patricia Urquiola here with Eliana Gerotto, a Cabochhe suspension light. The clear version is available through SCP, this gold one is available through Foscarini (Not 100% sure of this. Please check with both stores for details.)
photo via StyleCrave
You can see their 2011 collection at
Booth 3858 in ‘Accent On Design’
From the press release: We have some new designs by Donna Wilson; Bora Da, a range of throws and cushions, the Eadie armchair and the lovely Frank, Ernest and Henry pouffes in a new colourway, Treecloud Blue. Also on show are Lee Kirkbride‘s Calvo side table in walnut and Pelutho low table, as well as Kay+Stemmer ‘s Otto side table and Maude low shelves. And last but by no means least, paper-cut artist Rob Ryan has designed a charming height ruler. It measures up to 7 foot so suitable for adults and children alike.
SCP was founded in 1985 by Sheridan Coakley as a manufacturer and retailer of modern furniture. Inspired by the designs of the Modern Movement, Coakley decided to start selling classic and hard to find pieces and also try his hand a producing new designs in the same spirit. Over two decades from its inception, SCP is firmly established as one of the UK’s most innovative and internationally respected manufacturers and suppliers of contemporary design. SCP is also an acclaimed and award winning retailer, regularly voted as one of London’s finest design shops.
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Industrial Designer / Sustainable Design:
DIANE RUENGSORN
Diane Ruengsorn brings a diverse background of experience that informs her current initiative, the socially and environmentally responsible home furnishings company Domestic Aesthetic.
After graduating from Smith College, she began her career as a writer covering technology and business trends and interviewing political leaders and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, which gave her great insight into the issues shaping industry and the environment. Later, she enrolled in a Masters program at the Pratt Institute and began apprenticing for a furniture designer/manufacturer where she witnessed the chemicals and materials that workers were exposed to on a daily basis. This led her to believe that products could be produced with people-friendly materials and methods that didn’t harm anyone in the process. She has since guest lectured on design management and publishing and presented her work internationally. Through a culmination of all these things, the idea for Domestic Aesthetic was born.
ABOUT DOMESTIC AESTHETIC
“Live well, live right” is the company’s philosophy. You can have products that enhance your life while taking into account people and our planet. Domestic Aesthetic offers consumers affordable products that adhere to environmentally and socially responsible standards.
Since their launch last year, the company has been in numerous publications such as New York Magazine, Interior Design, and multiple features in the New York Times. The company’s line of eco-luxe housewares can be found in stores across the US, Canada, and Australia including the MoMa Design store.
DIANE’S STORE-Y
Diane discusses her work leading up to the What Women Make ~Women in Design 1st ed.~ exhibit at the London Design Festival showing at Designerblock September 23-26, The Bargehouse, Oxo Tower
THE INTERVIEW
wwm: What are these plates made of?
DR: These plates are made from sugar cane fiber, which is a waste product after juice has been extracted from the stalks. In our work, we have several themes and one of them is using materials that take waste out of the wastestream. It’s an amazing material and gave us the look we wanted to achieve while also being sturdy, durable, heat-resistant and completely biodegradable/compostable.
wwm: Walk us down your path of discovery for creating them?
DR: The inspiration for these came from staircases, as I happen to have a thing for staircases. I liked the idea that they are functional but could also be a metaphor for transition. The first of this line, the dinner plates, remind me of Italian piazzas. The bowls will be modeled after amphitheaters, my favorite one being the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It’s an interesting challenge to draw on this inspiration, translate it into a potentially commercial product, and make sure it’s consistent with everything else we’re doing.
wwm: How does this new line fit in with your other products?
DR: I love food – I’m an avid cook – and much of my work involves enhancing the dining experience. Our first line was about trying to create meaningful experiences through products that were timeless and long lasting, items that you could potentially pass on to future generations. For this new line, many of the themes are still there but I wanted to have a different approach. This time I wanted to solve a problem, to provide an alternative to the Styrofoam and plastic plates that are commonly used and thrown away.
wwm: What would you serve? Feel free to give us a recipe!
DR: I just made an arugula and watermelon salad with a balsamic glaze. It’s a light, refreshing summer salad and the first dish I made to test out the new plates. Even for a casual gathering, it can be nice to enhance the presentation a bit. In this instance, the plates worked really well because I used the balsamic glaze to dribble along the edges. It looked great against the contrast of pink and green.
Watermelon, Feta, and Arugula Salad with Balsamic Glaze
- 5-ounces baby arugula
- 8 cups 3/4-inch cubes seedless watermelon
- 1 7-ounce package feta cheese, crumbled
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar glaze
More information on Domestic Aesthetic can be found at domestic-aesthetic.com
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Industrial Designer: HELENE STEINER
Helene Steiner was born in 1987 in St. Poelten, Austria. In her young life, she’s had such a wide range of experience from studying under Frog Design’s Hartmut Essliner at the University for Applied Arts (Vienna) to attending the Bauhaus-University (Weimar) to her original coursework at Design University (Saint Poelten). Helene’s also a natural problem solver, an aesthete that find answers. From her “bag affairs” laptop bag for bikes, to her sink top “Colo” dishwasher, to the Polyp (above) she blends a futuristic sensibility with an ingenious merging of form and function.
Some of her primary interests in her work include: intuition, the vanishing barrier between work and leisure, ecology, social affairs, the economy, exploring and advancing new technologies, the necessary moral boundaries of automation, and a fidelity to what she calls ‘realism’ that is infused throughout her work.
MORE FROM HELENE
- COLO SINK
Colo Sink
designed by: Helene Steiner Description of item: Colo is a dishwashing concept that reduces dishwashing to its essence. It merges the dishwasher with the sink. It consists of trays that are used as storage rack for carrying and as a main component of the dishwasher. To do the dishes, just put the tray in the sink and lower the cover. When the dishes are done, simply place the tray with the clean dishes on the wall. No need to sort the dishes. For Inquiries, contact us.
- COLO DRAIN
Colo Drain
designed by: Helene Steiner
Material: -
Description of item: Colo is a dishwashing concept that reduces dishwashing to its essence. It merges the dishwasher with the sink. It consists of trays that are used as storage rack for carrying and as a main component of the dishwasher. To do the dishes, just put the tray in the sink and lower the cover. When the dishes are done, simply place the tray with the clean dishes on the wall. No need to sort the dishes.For Inquiries, contact us
- COLO RACK
Colo Rack
designed by: Helene Steiner
Material: -
Description of item: Colo is a dishwashing concept that reduces dishwashing to its essence. It merges the dishwasher with the sink. It consists of trays that are used as storage rack for carrying and as a main component of the dishwasher. To do the dishes, just put the tray in the sink and lower the cover. When the dishes are done, simply place the tray with the clean dishes on the wall. No need to sort the dishes.For Inquiries, contact us
- BAG AFFAIRS
Bag Affairs
designed by: Helene Steiner Material: Leather, Aluminium, PE Description of item: Bagaffair is the bag we always complain we can't find anywhere. It protects your laptop from dirt and getting bumped about while hiding your most prized possession in shady places (like the train station) and it hitches a ride on the back of your bike like a charm. It's a chameleon and a jack-of-all-trades. It even carries your important large format papers in a neat roll and has a slide-out mouse pad. Not yet in production. For Inquiries, contact us
- BAG AFFAIRS – more image
Bag Affairs
designed by: Helene Steiner
Material: Leather, Aluminium, PE
Description of item: Bagaffair is the bag we always complain we can't find anywhere. It protects your laptop from dirt and getting bumped about while hiding your most prized possession in shady places (like the train station) and it hitches a ride on the back of your bike like a charm. It's a chameleon and a jack-of-all-trades. It even carries your important large format papers in a neat roll and has a slide-out mouse pad. Not yet in production.For Inquiries, contact us
- BAG AFFAIRS – more images
Bag Affairs
designed by: Helene Steiner
Material: Leather, Aluminium, PE
Description of item: Bagaffair is the bag we always complain we can't find anywhere. It protects your laptop from dirt and getting bumped about while hiding your most prized possession in shady places (like the train station) and it hitches a ride on the back of your bike like a charm. It's a chameleon and a jack-of-all-trades. It even carries your important large format papers in a neat roll and has a slide-out mouse pad. Not yet in production.For Inquiries, contact us
THE INTERVIEW
wwm: What inspired you to create these great wall pods?
HS: The inspiration for the wall pods was the dirty clothing lying all over my flat and the everyday living objects we have around us that look so ugly you have to hide them when you have a visitor.
wwm: Approximately how many, let’s say, tee shirts would fit in one polyp?
HS: I’m not sure. I will have to test that out and tell you when we get to London but it fits a 5kg load of wash.
wwm:Do you use them at home?
HS: Yes, but a very early version of the polyp. I use the grandfather of the finished baskets.
wwm: What room would they go best in?
HS: I see the polyp in the corridor of a flat for a family or a communal residence. If many people live in the flat you need a central position for the baskets, but if you live in a single flat or you live as a couple I see it in the bedroom or in the bathroom.
wwm:Name three of your favorite storage solution products that you’ve found?
HS: 1. I love the storage solutions of workshops. They’re made for really doing and working, and fit the need perfectly. 2. My trouser pockets. 3. The skin of a banana.
wwm:What would the Helene Steiner home of the future look like?
HS: The future will reveal itself I suppose, but i think it will be simple, informal and cozy.
HELENE’S STORE-Y
Helene Steiner discusses her work leading up to the What Women Make ~Women in Design 1st ed.~ exhibit at the London Design Festival showing at Designerblock September 23-26, The Bargehouse, Oxo Tower
2 CommentsWhat Five Japanese Women Make
Ever since I took on my first Japanese client and traveled to Kyoto with her, I’ve fallen in love with Japan like many before me. I was reluctant to present Japanese makers so soon because when I start in on Japan, its an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole. Time freezes and all my other work is left undone. But I took the risk because I happened to find a small gem of a design graduate, Naoko Ogawa, and so off I had to go. I limited myself to two days to find a few more Japanese women, all in the name of a regional focus. And here they are, three Japanese designers and then the interview with Naoko-san which I’ll create for Wednesday’s post so stay tuned!
Emiko Oki
Emiko Oki
Based in London, born in Tokyo
Emiko-san uses each part of a place setting to form a trophy, her comment on what she calls a “fairly useless object” which is “masculine and sports related” rendering it “feminine, fragile, and functional.”
Trophy
Until August 23rd, you can see her work at the Museum of Art and Design in New York as part of an exhibit entitled Object Factory.
Then there’s Rie Isono and her firm Pear Design Studio. She worked for Sony before going off on her own. Here are two products of note, the elegant toothbrush holder and the skin-like fruit basket where the contents give it a unique shape every time you fill it:
Pear Design elegant toothbrush holder
Pear Design skin-like fruit basket
More traditionally Japanese are Hina Aaoyama’s intricate paper art cut-outs that she hand cuts! The zen patience of a saint. Makes me dizzy to watch it. So beautiful and delicate like couture clothing. She lives in France and has a permanent exhibit at the Museum of Miniatures in Lyon.
And I wanted to include the genius of Kazuyo Sejima the architect who makes up half of Sanaa with her protégé and partner Ryue Nishizawa. They are responsible for, in addition to this years summer pavilion in London, Tokyo’s Dior building and “Toledo Museum of Art’s Glass Pavilion, which stunned critics for being perhaps the world’s first genuinely transparent museum — both external and internal walls are made of glass.” –Japan Times
And last, they’re not women, but noteworthy indeed. They fall under the category of “Men We Love” which obviously could be its own website. Check out the whimsy and inventiveness of Kyouei Design - from their oozy liquid bookmark to their aluminum mesh chair and gravity defying wine carafe.
Kazuyo Sejima
-Chauncey Zalkin
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