Friday, May 11, 2012

MILAN: Furniture Fair - Design Academy Eindhoven –



Design Academy Eindhoven – 50 Graduate Projects that Have a Firm Connection with Life and a Desire to Make Sense of It exhibition curated by Ilse Crawford. The Design Academy Eindhoven presented 50 Graduate Projects that Have a Firm Connection with Life and a Desire to Make Sense of It the exhibition was curated by Ilse Crawford. Ilse Crawford is the British designer and curator of the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven and this exhibition presented a clear philosophy “Design is at its best when it addresses real needs.”  In this manner she indicates that the current design projects reflect the needs of society.  The designers of the future make a connection with economic, social and cultural aspects in our society and shape real matters. 


 
Design Department Man and Leisure – Drawing the Passage of Time – Niek de Snoo. Just like a normal clock, Niek de Snoo’s project Time Drawings shows the time.  But the big hand holds a piece of chalk that drops down as the year progresses.  This will fill the space under the clock and literally make the passing of time visible.   After a year the drawing is full and after changing the chalk the process can start all over again.  De Snoo: I wanted to design something that would change in a positive way during use.  I also had the need to gin a more expansive sense of time with this clock, to get a grip of time.”


Design Department Man and Public Space – Weather Conditions in a Glass – Martijn Koomen. In addition to being a designer Martijn Koomen is a captain of a submarine, and he flies hang-gliders.  And in this capacity he is very interested in meteorology.  His Weather, Feathers and Frost project visualizes temperature, atmospheric pressure and wind.   Inside his ‘weather glasses’, downy feathers float on the air currents, and a drop in temperature will cause crystals to form.  Koomen has used two of these weather glasses as construction elements for weather stations that visualize temperature and wind.   They provide information about immediate weather conditions, thus forming a link between two environments and making those indoors aware of the weather outside.

 

Design Department Man and Living – A Shelter Where Nature Reigns – Feike de Jong.  A picnic spot for day trippers an overnight spot for those in search of peace and quiet.  That’s what Feike de Jong’s Biesbosch Expedition is.  The steel frame becomes overgrown by willow shoots taking root.  This will firmly secure the house, also against raising water.  De Jong wants nature to be in charge.  “I tried to think in reverse. Normally everything behind the dikes is kept dry.  Currently we have to leave when Biesbosch national park is covered in water, which occurs about three times a year.”  He also made a shipping crate to go with it, holding goods for an expedition of several days.


 

Design Department Man and Communication - A Serious Game by Tomm Velthus. Parents traditionally teach their children not to play with their food. Tomm Velthius now adds a playful, confrontational gist to this classic parenting mantra.  Hoping to cultivate a better understanding of where the food on our plates comes from, he designed a toy farm highlighting the unsustainable reality of the meat industry. The wooden set, called Playing Food, comes complete with 200 pigs, the enormous amounts of food required to fatten the up, the trees that must be cleared for feed crops, and the acid rain caused by the pigs' manure. It's factory farming packaged as an 'innocent' childhood toy.   The message is unmistakable.


Design Department Man and Well Being - An imperfect Shoe Solution - Sebastian Goldschmidtboing. Shoes lie all over the place; shoes mean chaos.  And that is not what people want. It intrigues Sebastian Goldschmidtboing that people are always trying to order their environment. Visiting friends' houses he would always notice shoes were lying all over the place.  He went about devising a solution for the shoe chaos that would not be perfect.  Goldsmidtboing: "The Shoe Shelf has seventeen bars to hang shoes on. It feels organized, even though it isn't.  It had to be a human solution, because there is no such thing as perfection, which is just as well."


 

Design Department Man and Leisure - Together Forever by Noortje de Keijzer. My knitted boyfriend is a pillow with a story. A pillow with personality. To hug, cuddle and to have a laugh together. Because this is a man who is always in a good mood, sitting on your sofa, on your floor or at your kitchen table.  But what he enjoys most is to be in your bed, with your head on his chest and his arms wrapped around you.  So that you will never feel alone anymore.  Noortje de Keijzer has made two Knitted Boyfriends: white Arthur and dark Steve.  With their knitted accessories you can dress them to suit your own tastes. Will you give him glasses, a mustache, a tattoo? The accompanying film illustrates the story of My Knitted Boyfriend.




Design Department man and Well Being – Mini Display Fridge –Eva Smeltekop. Since the birth some eighty years ago, the refrigerator has hardly changed at all:  It began as, and continues to be, a large steel box with a thick, closed door behind which our groceries disappear.  But in point of fact, the refrigerator is not suited for keeping everything we put in it: for example, it is too cold for keeping cheese, and mushrooms take on its smells and tastes.  Not to mention the fact that attractive products deserve to be visible.  Eva Smeltekop’s Refrigerator 2.0 is a small, transparent storage appliance in which sweets and snacks not only keep well, but also look good.

 
The Netherlands Institute for Design and Fashion – Spring/Excellence, talent and Inspiration in Design exhibition. Rising Talent: Paul Heijnen, translates the aesthetics of old industrial buildings into a series of furnitures.  A 2009 design academy graduate, he’s developing his steadily growing collection as a member of Eindhoven’s new design collective Collaboration O.  Heijnen grew up in the mining region of the southern Dutch province of Limburg, where the pine forests and robust mining architecture sparked his imagination and his father, a drawing teacher, encouraged his creativity.   His feeling for how to combine materials in a simple, straightforward manner began in childhood.



 

Design Department Man and Activity - Disaster Drum Kit - By Hikaru Imamura. In the aftermath of a disaster, the presence of a heat source can make vital difference to survivors.  Bearing in mind the lack of electricity or fuel in such cases. Hikaru Imamura has designed a metal storage and transport drum that contains relief goods and can be transformed on-site into a stove to burn any scraps of wood or refuse. Her Heat Rescue: Disaster Recovery stove thus provides physical warmth as well as hot water for drinking, cooking or sterilizing. "The availability of warmth directly improves the quality of life for refugees and offers the mental solace, as it acts as a social meeting point." she says.


 
Design Department Man and Well Being – An Analogue Database – Marthe Biezen.  Marthe Biezen is fascinated by the fragmented way in which autistic people perceive the world.  This resulted in her project Extended Drawer: a number of stacked drawers 3.2m long, 4cm tall and 24cm deep.  The drawers can be stacked endlessly to form a wall.  Biezen: “It is an analogue database.  I want to show that everyone has their own way of fragmenting and creating order.”  As there is so little space in the drawers, the user has to think very consciously about what to save and what not.  And the limited space means you can only save things if they are fragmented.




Design Department Man and Identity - Ornaments That Protect - Judith Jans. In her collection of head ornaments, Judith Jans combines different functions and unusual materials.   This has resulted in five sunscreens: The Sun Coat, The Sun Necklace, The Sun Glasses, The Sun Mask and The Sun Shade. Each item can be worn in different ways. Sunwear is a geometric, minimalist collection with a monumental, elegant and feminine look.  Bright colors are accentuated by woods in different shades, sparkling an interaction between veneer, Plexiglas and silk voiles.  A short accompanying film offers. An impression of the collection, highlights ways to wear it, and presents the materials.

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