Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Florale by Makoto Azuma

For the first time in its history, Perrier-Jouet is launching a limited edition of its iconic Belle Epoque Champagne Bottle, which has been re-interpreted by the highly talented Japanese flral artist Makoto Azuma.

At the start of the 20th century, master glassmaker Emile Gallé sketched a spray of white Japanese anemones for the House of Perrier-Jouët. Gracefully captured in all their freshness and vitality, depicting the elegant, floral and diamond-cut style of Perrier-Jouët, the anemones became the emblem of the cuvée Belle Epoque.

Today, in an echo of that original design, Perrier-Jouët has entrusted Japanese artist Makoto Azuma with creating a composition of great delicacy, an ethereal arabesque sprinkled with the anemones that, in Iapan, symbolise truth and sincerity.

Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Limited Edition and Florale by Makoto Azuma, Photography © Shiinoki Shunsuke

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Another thing that captures the true essence of Belle Opaque are artificial trees. Reflecting charm and vitality for years to come, they are the perfect decors for display.

Exhibition: Jeff Koons: Schirn Kunsthalle & Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung

In the summer of 2012, the SCHIRN and the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung turn their attention to the work of American artist Jeff Koons (born in 1955), an artist who has been setting trends in the art world since the 1980s. The two simultaneous exhibitions dedicated to Koons’s oeuvre deliberately separate his sculpture and painting, presenting each in its own context. The SCHIRN presentation JEFF KOONS. THE PAINTER will focus on Koons’s structural development as a painter. In his monumental paintings–whose motifs draw upon the most varied sources of high and popular culture–both hyperrealistic and gestural features give rise to highly complex concentrations of image and content. By contrast, in the exhibition JEFF KOONS. THE SCULPTOR at the Liebieghaus, both world-renowned and new sculptural works by Koons will enter into a dialogue with the historic building and its collection spanning 5,000 years of sculpture.

Jeff Koons: Schirn Kunsthalle and Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt, Germany, June 20 – September 23, Curators: Vinzenz Brinkmann (Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung), Matthias Ulrich (Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt), and Joachim Pissarro (New York)
via: Design Art News

Exhibition: Luke Jerram: Revealing the Invisible

In the exhibition, Luke Jerram explores ways to reveal invisible phenomena. The show will include works from three major series: Glass Microbiology, Radiometer Chandeliers, and Rotated Data Sculptures. By capturing phenomena beyond the reach of the human eye and making them material, Jerram draws our attention to a vast array of scientific research and data gathering and questions if and how does this knowledge serve us.

Glass Microbiology continues Jerram’s exploration of clear glass renderings of viruses and bacteria at the root of the most dangerous diseases (such as HIV, H1N1 and SARS). The series presents us with exquisite transparent objects which infer deadly harm. Working with leading virologist Dr. Andrew Davidson from the University of Bristol, Luke Jerram collaborated with specialized glassblowers to fabricate the pieces.

Luke Jerram: Revealing the Invisible, June 8 – July 6, at Heller Gallery, New York

Exhibition: Timelessness: Lella & Massimo Vignelli

An exhibition celebrating the Italian architect and designer Massimo Vignelli. On display is a selection of works designed by Massimo and Lella Vignelli over the course of an outstanding career of almost fifty years.

The pieces on display, which are on loan from the Vignelli Center for Design Studies at Rochester Institute of Technology – as well as other examples of the designers’ graphic, furniture, interior and architectural design, which are featured in a slide show in the gallery – are at once disciplined and playful. A trio of colored glass and silver carafes, produced in the late 1950s by the Italian glassmaker Venini and the French silversmith Christofle, strike a perfect balance between formal rigor and sensuality. (Their handles’ U-shaped profile was later translated into plastic for the cups and mugs of the Vignellis’ famous stacking tableware for Heller, which is also on view.) Simple, elegant flatware and glassware (for Sasaki and for an Italian hotel chain) are shown alongside an array of sleek but practical watches for the Swiss company Junod. If the show has a shortcoming apart from its size – what’s there makes you want to see more – it’s that it doesn’t tell the stories behind the products, like the 1962 table lamp for Arteluce that was designed to be shipped flat and assembled at home, or the delicately colored Murano glass barware by Venini that was originally designed for the Vignellis’ wedding.

Timelessness: Timeless Design, June 4 – July 13, at Italian Cultural Institute of New York
via: New York Times

Exhibition: Gerrit Rietveld: The Revolution of Space

The Dutchman Gerrit Rietveld (1888 – 1964) was one of the most important designers and architects of the 20th century. He was trained as a carpenter and was associated early on with the De Stijl movement and its central figures, Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian. Beginning in 1918, his work reflects the artistic ideals of this group. Rietveld transformed objects and buildings into abstract compositions of lines and planes, mainly in black, white, grey and the primary colours yellow, red and blue. However, he initially developed his legendary Red-Blue Chair in 1918 without the striking colour scheme from which its name is derived – the coloured version dates from the year 1923. Rietveld’s first architectural project, the now legendary Rietveld-Schröder House, followed in 1924. In search of ways to further develop his radical aesthetic ideas, Rietveld soon distanced himself from the aesthetics of De Stijl. Throughout the 1930s, he pursued experimental work, especially with innovative materials such as plywood and aluminium. One example of the unusual furnishings created out of these materials is the Zig-Zag Chair (c. 1932). After 1945, Rietveld was primarily active as an architect, designing prestigious buildings such as the Dutch Pavilion on the premises of the Venice Biennale. By the time of the major De Stijl retrospective at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1952/53, Rietveld had attained international recognition as a pioneer of modern design. This Vitra Design Museum exhibition is the first major retrospective on Gerrit Rietveld to be presented to the German-speaking public since 1996. Comprising around 320 objects – including furniture, models, paintings, photographs, films and approximately 100 original drawings and plans – it offers a comprehensive overview of the Dutch designer’s work. In addition, it incorporates comparative works by contemporaries such as Theo van Doesburg, Bart van der Leck, Le Corbusier and Marcel Breuer, thus shedding light on the mutual exchange of ideas and Rietveld’s place in the context of other modernist currents.

Viewed in the light of this new retrospective, many facets of Gerrit Rietveld’s work prove to be astonishingly relevant today. For example, his urban plans appear to have much more in common with current developments than many radical utopian concepts put forth by other modernist architects, since Rietveld’s were based on social aspects rather than dogmatic principles. And with a series of furniture for self-assembly in the 1930s and ’40s, Rietveld anticipated even today’s do-it-yourself trend and the concept of “open design”.

Gerrit Rietveld: The Revolution of Space, May 17 – September 16, at Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany

Farnsworth House Illustration by Tadao Ando

Illustration by architect Tadao Ando of the Farnsworth House (1945-51) designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. (Image: Farnsworth House, 2009, Ink on paper, 18 1/2” x 12 3/4” each, Courtesy of the architect.)

Martin Creed x Pierre Gagnaire

Eindhoven-based design duo Raw Color toast the opening of Martin Creed’s grand overhaul of London’s Sketch restaurant with graphic still lifes dedicated to the restaurant’s new menu. The Turner Prize winning artist’s takeover saw him entirely revamp Sketch’s interiors, hanging his large-scale paintings along the walls and hand-picking each individual table, chair and piece of cutlery, as well as contributing in the kitchen. Sketch co-founder and Michelin-starred chef Pierre Gagnaire conceived two playfully named dishes dedicated to the conceptual artist–“Navet Martin Creed” and “Dundee Pinky”. Raw Color concocted their Irving Penn-esque visions from each dish’s disassembled ingredients, including black olive jelly, squid ink and parmesan cream. “The cooking side of the project was harder to translate into our own visual language,” says Christoph Brach, one half of Raw Color with Daniera ter Haar. “But looking at Creed and his approach to projects, how he organizes things, stacking from big to small, we knew we could take the ingredients and do something similar with them.” In typical Creed fashion the artist has even given the project a numbered title: Work No. 1347.

Read more: Edible Sculptures at Sketch

Still Life Series, Work No. 1347, Martin Creed x Pierre Gagnaire for Sketch Restaurant, London, United Kingdom, via: Nowness

Exhibition: Antony Gormley: Facts and Systems | Fatos e Sistemas

The first special project by White Cube in Brazil, Facts and Systems (Fatos e Sistemas) is an exhibition of two new series of works. In one room, the artist will present dramatic body forms made from stacked, mild steel blocks that punctuate and articulate the gallery. In another room, he will present a group of linear sculptures made from 6mm steel road that continue his investigation into architectural space.

Antony Gormley: Facts and Systems | Fatos e Sistemas, White Cube, Rua Agostinho Rodrigues Filho 550. São Paulo, Brazil.

Hermès M9 Special Edition Camera by Leica

Following a string of limited edition collaborations, Leica is back with a third in a line of special M-System cameras built with the help of renowned Parisian fashion house, Hermès. The partnership results in two special editions, with a total of 300 Edition Hermès digital rangefinders set to ship beginning in June for $25,000, while 100 “very special” Edition Hermès — Sèrire Limitèe Jean-Louis Dumas models will release in July for — $50,000. Both editions will be offered as complete kits, with the “cheaper” of the two built with soft calfskin leather with a silver chrome finish for its redesigned control points, complete with a Leica Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH. optic. The “other” arrives with three lenses, the Leica Summicron-M 28 mm f/2 ASPH., a Leica Noctilux-M 50 mm f/0.95 ASPH. and a Leica APO-Summicron-M 90 mm f/2 ASPH — all with an anodized silver finish.

Hermès M9, Special Edition Camera, by Leica, via Freshness

Exhibtion: The Utopian Impulse: Buckminster Fuller & the Bay Area

Buckminster Fuller and Chuck Byrne, Building Construction/Geodesic Dome, United States Patent Office no. 2,682,235, from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One, 1981; screen print in white ink on clear polyester film; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Chuck and Elizabeth Byrne; © The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, All Rights reserved. Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati.

Buckminster Fuller and Chuck Byrne, Motor Vehicle-Dymaxion Car, United States Patent Office no. 2,101,057, from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One, 1981; screen print in white ink on clear polyester film; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Chuck and Elizabeth Byrne; © The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, All Rights reserved. Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati.

Buckminster Fuller and Chuck Byrne, Undersea Island-Submarisle, United States Patent Office no. 3,080,583,from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One, 1981; screen print on Lenox paper; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Chuck and Elizabeth Byrne; © The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, All Rights reserved. Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati.

Buckminster Fuller and Chuck Byrne, Non-Symetrical Tension-Integrity Structures, United States Patent Office no. 3,866,366, from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One, 1981; screen print in white ink on clear polyester film; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Chuck and Elizabeth Byrne; © The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, All Rights reserved. Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati.

Buckminster Fuller and Chuck Byrne, Laminar Geodesic Dome, United States Patent Office no. 3,203,144, from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One, 1981; screen print in white ink on clear polyester film; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Chuck and Elizabeth Byrne; © The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, All Rights reserved. Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati.

Buckminster Fuller and Chuck Byrne, 4D House, United States Patent Office no. 1,793, from the portfolio Inventions: Twelve Around One, 1981; screen print on Lenox paper; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, gift of Chuck and Elizabeth Byrne; © The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, All Rights reserved. Published by Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati.

The Bay Area has long attracted dreamers, progressives, nonconformists, and designers. Buckminster Fuller was all of these, and although he never lived in San Francisco, his ideas have spawned many local experiments in technology, design, and sustainability. The first to consider Fuller’s legacy in the Bay Area, this exhibition features some of his most iconic projects, as represented in a Fuller print portfolio recently acquired by SFMOMA, Inventions: Twelve Around One. Along with Fuller inventions like the 4D House, Geodesic Dome, World Game, and Dymaxion car, the exhibition presents Bay Area endeavors — from Ant Farm’s 1972 domed Convention City proposal to the North Face Oval Intention tent, and from IwamotoScott’s Jellyfish House to One Laptop Per Child — inspired by Fuller’s visionary designs connecting technology, ecology, and social responsibility.

The Utopian Impulse: Buckminster Fuller and the Bay Area, March 31 – July 29, 2012,
at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, SFMOMA