Field, Terracotta Figures by Antony Gormley

Field, Terracotta variable size, approx 35,000 elements, by Antony Gormley

New Princi Bakery in Milan

Claudio Silvestrin Architects have completed the new Princi bakery in Via Speronari (Duomo), in the heart of Milan. Silvestrin has chosen a sand-coloured porphyry stone that matches the colour of the bread-flour. Slabs of smooth porphyry cover the floor, while rough porphyry is used to texture the wall that faces the stretched 19m-long bronze counter. The mighty impact of this earth-wall is softened by the gentle features of a waterfall.

Princi bakery, Duomo, Milan, Italy, by Claudio Silvestrin
We like the other bakery too.

Rare Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen Chair up for Auction

Among the most important furniture designs of the 20th century, Eames’ and Saarinen’s prize-winning entry for seating in the famous Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1941 was comprised of various armchairs, a sectional sofa and the present side chair. With their single-piece compound-moulded plywood seat shells, the chair designs were exceptionally innovative and signalled a totally new direction in modern furniture.

Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen chair from the Museum of Modern Art Organic Design Competition 1940 manufactured by Haskelite Corporation/Heywood-Wakefield (Estimate: $15,000–20,000) at Wright

More Than Good Errors by Michele De Lucchi

Since the introduction of CAD drawings everything has been easier and more precise, but simultaneously more rigorous and rigid. What could never have been possible by hand can now be done with digital drawings. Even the most complicated forms and daring joints have become simple.
These are the More than good errors, sought not to make mistakes but to stimulate the search for fresh forms and slight distortions, minute misalignments, missing symmetries and so on. Because making mistakes also means searching when the answer is not clear; it means wandering in order to arrive. Error as the spring of composition can give rise to more surprising, sensitive and exciting objects.
The technique, dating from Etruscan times, is called bucchero. Using dark grayish clay, it is done in three exclusively manual phases. The piece is worked on the lathe, smoothed with boxwood sticks to polish its surface and baked at a high temperature.
The evident imprecision’s in the showcases are not only deliberate in their structure, but actually pursued with great effort, for they are very difficult to achieve. The attainment of slight obliquities entailed the use of advanced manufacturing technologies such as laser cutting and other numeric control systems normally adopted to get straight and absolutely regular lines. We had to examine them so carefully and to understand them so thoroughly that we could bend them to the accomplishment of our own more than good errors.

More Than Good Errors, Limited Editions, by Michele De Lucchi, for Design Gallery Milano

Studio Job at Z33

Z33 has presented an extensive exhibition entirely devoted to Studio Job. The Belgian gallery is continuing its journey exploring the edges between visual art and design.

Exhibition: Studio Job, at Z33

Georg Jensen Eel Dish Sold for $102,000

Georg Jensen silver from Denmark has a tactile quality all its own, probably because it is handmade. It gets only better with age, and the prices fetched at auction are also improving with age. Time to take a closer look of that Scandinavian silver tucked away in your closet.

Eel dish, model 1054, sterling silver, 1957, by Henning Koppel, sold at Objects D’affection auction for $102,000, at Wright

Travel: Spain, Hotel Puerta América

While the facade is the work of the French architect Jean Nouvel, each of the Hotel Puerta América’s 12 floors – from the elevator lobbies down to the blankets and bathrobes – has been conceived by powerhouse architects and design studios, among them Arata Isozaki, Norman Foster, Marc Newson, Ron Arad, Richard Gluckman, Javier Mariscal, Victorio & Lucchino and Zaha Hadid. With public spaces like the Black Tears restaurant designed by Christian Liaigre and the underground garage by Teresa Sapey, the Puerta América can bill itself as “12 floors with 19 stars.”

Hotel Puerta América, Madrid, Spain, $250 to between $1,500 and $3,900 for the suites, designed by Starchitects.

Books: Airworld. Design and Architecture for Air Travel

For nearly a century now the airline industry has been an important player in the field of architecture and design. For many architects and designers it is an honour to design something for this branch of industry, from stewardess’s (and stewards) uniforms to signposting, from a terminal to services and cutlery. Airworld gives a good picture of the history of air travel, with a focus on the developments that design and architecture have undergone.

This is the first time that this theme has been illuminated so widely from the perspective of architecture and design. The exhibition Airworld. Design and Architecture for Air Travel is organized by the Vitra Design Museum. The Stedelijk has added posters from its own collection and objects that are typical for Dutch design.

Airworld. Design and Architecture for Air Travel, Exhibition at Stedelijk Museum
Buy it here: Amazon

Jeff Koons Puppy Vase Available for $7,500.00

Gagosian has released an edition of 3000 porcelain puppy vases signed and numbered by the artist Jeff Koons. Having first made a splash on the contemporary art scene back in 1998, the design took cues from Koons’s mongo-sized puppy sculpture (1992), which was filled with over seventeen thousand flowers. “The vase is a symbol of love, warmth, and happiness,” says Koons.

Puppy Vase, $7,500, by Jeff Koons, re-issued by Gagosian Gallery
via: V Magazine

Eruptions of Fire at the Bird’s Nest, Beijing

New images have emerged of the fire and light display over the Bird’s Nest in Beijing.

Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics at the National Stadium, August 8, 2008 in Beijing, China, Photos by Bill Luan