Objectified: Documentary About Industrial Design

Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them. Personalities include Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art, New York), Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Naoto Fukasawa, IDEO, Jonathan Ive, Hella Jongerius, Marc Newson, Dieter Rams and more.

Objectified, Documentary, Produced and Directed by Gary Hustwit.

Travel: The Pure Design Hotel Frankfurt

Erected from a 19th century loft and completely renovated, The Pure expresses ease as well as clearness and transparency despite being situated right in the heart of Frankfurt. Described as a wonderful place to spoil the soul, the interiors are made of bright and clear material (white lacquer, Thassos Glass Stone, white leather and light grey floor), the hotel itself is no more than a background attraction in the guests’ eyes, while the happenings around will be focused. Furthermore, the atmosphere is adjusted to the course of the clients’ day: In the morning, pleasing light and smooth music welcome the guests in quietness as well as vitality – in the evening, The Pure turns into an oasis full of energy and underlined by visual orange effects.

The Pure Frankfurt, Germany

Paul Evans Architectural Dining Table

Paul Evans (1931-1987) studied sculpture, metal work, silver and gold smithing at several institutes, including the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He began making metal furniture and exhibited in a group show in 1957 at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York. In 1964 Evans became the designer of furniture manufacturer Directional. Most Paul Evans pieces are signed, and all of the custom items bear a signature and a date. Paul Evans furniture has been bringing record breaking prices at auctions across the US and Europe.

Dining Table, model PE631, $12,000, by Paul Evans Studio for Directional, c. 1974, Available for sale at Wright

Icon: Lewis Morley Portrait of Christine Keeler

Lewis Morley became world-famous in 1963 when he took what is considered by many to be one of the photographic icons of the period, his classic portrait of Christine Keeler. Then at the height of her fifteen minutes of fame as one of the protagonists of the infamous Profumo Affair. In 1963 a major political scandal developed in Britain due to model and call-girl Christine Keeler’s affairs with John Profumo, the Conservative Party’s Minister of War, and a Soviet naval attaché. The ensuing controversy was possibly even responsible for the downfall of the ‘Tory’ Party at the following election.

Morley photographed Ms Keeler sitting naked astride a knock-off of an Arne Jacobsen chair (sold by Habitat), her torso tantalizingly concealed by her arms and the back of the chair.

“It was the very last shot on the roll. I was walking away and turned back. She was in a perfect position and I just snapped it. I never found her sexy, though. She reminded me too much of Vera Lynn!”

Christine Keeler, 1963, by Lewis Morley at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

1938 Gerrit Rietveld Zig Zag Chair Sells for $40,625

Two original Zig Zag Chairs made from painted wood and brass hardware were sold at Auction at Sotheby’s. The chair unadorned and the cantilever concept broke new ground in furniture design. They were designed by Gerrit Rietveld and manufactured by Gerard van de Groenekan, De Bilt, in the Netherlands, and then Cassina Italy from 1971.

Zig Zag Chairs, $40,625, Sold at Auction, at Sotheby’s

Designer Water Pipe by Nedda El-Asmar for Airdiem

The traditional water pipe works, but we would be much happier puffing from a well designed hubble-bubble.
The Belgian designer Nedda El-Asmar has designed a sexy, streamlined version of one of the most traditional instruments of relaxation and indulgence in the Middle East. It even comes with its own travel case for the voyage.

Water Pipe, by Nedda El-Asmar, for Airdiem

Gardiner Museum by KPMB Architects

The Gardiner Museum is one of the world’s pre-eminent institutions devoted to ceramic art, and the only museum of its kind in Canada. It is also one of the major projects in Toronto’s cultural renaissance. The Gardiner renewal, together with the Royal Ontario Museum across the street and the Royal Conservatory of Music around the corner on Bloor Street West, will form a new cultural precinct for the city.
Framed between the neoclassical Lillian Massey building to the north and the Queen Anne-style Margaret Addison Hall to the south, the renewal creates a bolder, more welcoming urban presence for the Gardiner. Inside, the interior is completely transformed to prioritize the display of the museum’s collections and to create a memorable, inviting visitor experience.

Gardiner Museumner, Toronto, Canada, by KPMB Architects
via: Arch Daily

Exhibition: Big Game Overview

An Exhibition called Overview will include a look back at the work created since the Brussels and Lausanne-based design studio, Big Game was founded in 2004.

Exhibition of work by designers Big Game, at museum Grand-Hornu Images, Brussels, Belgium, until February 22, 2009.
via: dezeen

Cuban Design Comes Out of the Cold

Lam’ foldable chaise-longue by Luis Ramirez Jiménez

Exhibition: Contemporary Cuban Design Exhibition, part of the Dalón de Arte Contemporáneo de la Habana Galería Villena en la Plaza de Armas, Habana Vieja, Cuba, 21 November – 20 December, 2008
via: designboom

Books: crEATe, Eating Design and Future Food

Food is not just a hot topic in design and cutting edge creativity today but also an enormous industry with changing standards and perceptions. Based upon research by trend analysts Chris Sanderson and Martin Raymond from the London firm The Future Laboratory, crEATe investigates recent trends and visual developments in and around food. The book examines everything from the way we eat, the interiors and furniture of innovative restaurants and shops, industrial design and the packaging of food to branding and consumerism.

crEATe, Eating Design and Future Food, Edited by Chris Sanderson, Martin Raymond, R. Klanten, S. Ehmann, S. Moreno
Buy it here: Amazon