Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2017 i Frame

I have a love-hate relationship with classroom-based learning. Among the scant memories of my primary-school years are winning a ‘child of the week’ award, racing around the playground with my mates – catching girls and letting them catch us, and playing football during Thursday lunch time. No big problems. Even fewer challenges. I sailed through secondary school, too, although it wasn’t much fun being ignored by girls with little interest in bespectacled boys. I wasn’t brighter in sciences than in humanities, generally scoring above average in subjects on both sides of the scale. I had no idea what my professional future might hold in store. When I had to decide, at age 17, what I wanted to do after graduation, I wavered. Did I want to study architecture? Medicine? Journalism?…

Everything that goes into the spaceship has to be of great value to you NILS FERBER ON HIS INFINITY SCALE TIMEPIECE What should we know about you? NIELS FERBER: I grew up in Germany and studied in Hamburg and Eindhoven. I worked for Kram/Weisshaar in Munich before enrolling in ÉCAL’s master’s programme, where I designed a collapsible wind turbine for charging USB devices in remote regions. My inspiration comes from technology, sports and challenging environments. What’s the story behind your Mars concept? The Infinity Scale is a conceptual instrument for keeping track of time and thoughts while hovering through endless space. Rather than telling the exact time and position, it gives you a sense of your progress and visualizes the trail of events and experiences you’ve left behind. You’ve designed…

THE GOLDEN RULE of a successful interview is to irritate your subject. To that end, I ask Misha Kahn whether he differentiates between design and fine art. The pervasive topic, as I well know, is something this 27-year-old American calls ‘crazy-making’. And he answers my question: ‘I try not to care whether a line between design and art even exists.’ Based in Brooklyn, Kahn is an artist-cum-designer whose poetic, sculptural pieces are frequently trapped inside functional bodies that can take the shape of a coffee table, mirror or chair. They can’t be easily categorized. Can I sit on this sofa, you wonder, or does it come with a ‘do not touch’ warning, like many objects on display in galleries and museums? Anxiety, arising from uncertainty about which rules to follow,…

INGA SEMPÉ: ‘I visited flea markets a lot when I was a teenager. I’m very interested in daily life, and a flea market is a strange mix, a summary of many daily lives. I like how everyday things look normal at the time they’re made, before their use vanishes and they become extraordinary. I don’t like to read books about objects; I don’t like to look at pictures. I like to see things in real life – in shops or at flea markets – but not in museums.’ ‘I’m more attracted by objects that you manipulate than by furniture, which involves your whole body. Sofas are challenging, because I always want to give up at the first step. The initial prototype is usually awful, and I really don’t know how…

In recent years, we have begun to realize that every surface – even those in our workplaces and homes – represents a potential experience. Any surface just might transport us. We can change our spaces, but we also want our spaces to change us. Once we wanted our curtains and carpets to match; now we want them to quibble, ponder and prevaricate. Once we compared neutrals for hours at a time; now we have little animal skeletons laser-etched into our parquet. Floors and walls and countertops are no longer for the faint of heart. We finally want to live with ourselves: floors are illustrations and puzzles, walls are trompe l’oeils, surfaces are layered and the layers talk to each other. Now, carpet can look like a hardwood floor, and veneer…

Riddle me this: what do flagstone, marble, terrazzo, travertine and wood have in common with ceramic – yet never the other way round? Ceramic as an interior application can replace all five. And the inorganic, nonmetallic material is more versatile now than it ever was. At the 2016 edition of Cersaie – the annual exhibition of ceramic tile and bathroom furnishings in Bologna – manufacturers set fire to short-lived flings and fixated on the mother of all timeless trends, nature. With a bit of manipulation, a clay mixture can mimic naturally occurring materials or fuse with synthetic additives to achieve nearly sci-fi status. In a time of concern for waning finite resources, durable alternatives for earth’s precious materials emerge, putting to rest their invariably pollution-producing extraction. cersaie. Pastel Patterns Casamood,…

Arne Vodder (1926-2009) Trained to be a cabinetmaker at the Danish School of Interior Design before studying architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where he met notable architect Finn Juhl, his teacher, mentor and eventual collaborator. From 1950 to 1975, Vodder and Anton Borg ran a design and architecture practice together. Modest expression and detailed articulation mark Vodder’s interior and housing designs, as well as his furniture. INTRODUCED AT Copenhagen’s annual furniture fair in 1972, Arne Vodder’s chaise longue features an elongated seat and backrest that follows the contours of the body. True to the design principles of the Danish cabinetmaker-turned-architect, AV72 – an oasis of relaxation – is as aesthetically appealing as it is comfortable. The chair was the first of Vodder’s career to have a…

‘Having the creative freedom to experiment during the shoot resulted in portraits that embody the Misha I have known for years’ JACK SCHOW A former Mark intern, IZABELA ANNA is a writer and the editor of Lyra magazine. She studied communication, curation and criticism at Central Saint Martins, vowing to leave London for sunnier shores with her degree in hand. Instead, she is following post-Brexit weirdness in the UK capital while doing a master’s in critical writing for art and design at the RCA. Fascinated by connections, materiality and the future of built environments, Anna visited Axel Arigato’s London flagship, which is featured on page 96. Brazilian photographer ALEX SANTANA’s studio is in Rio de Janeiro. Santana specializes in fashion, advertising and portraits. His work appears regularly in international magazines…

‘I wanted to outsource my creativity to a computer and see what happened’ SWEDISH ARTIST JONAS LUND approaches his work like a bricoleur, sampling and mixing any materials that come to hand – from digital screens to ping-pong tables. By seamlessly integrating data into the things he makes, he exposes the ways in which algorithmic logic and artificial intelligence (AI) have come to dominate our lives, and questions whether machines operate in our best interests. Data plays a big role in your work. Do you relate to the digital and the tactile in the same way? JONAS LUND: I don’t really differentiate. I’m more interested in building systems that can enrol a whole load of things, no matter what the medium. I have a box of tools available to me,…

‘The whole point of being a designer is knowledge’ CHRISTOPHER JENNER: I get up at 6:10 a.m. and go to the gym for about an hour and a half. The night before I’ve soaked a quarter-cup of chia seeds in water. When I get back, I put them in a blender with an equal amount of flax seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. Before leaving for work, I add two whole lemons and a teaspoon of spirulina to the mix – and I drink it. It’s completely foul and the texture is shocking, but it’s all about getting alkaline into your body and taking away acid. I’ve been doing it for years. 8.15 a.m. I leave the house and cycle to work. I get to the studio around 15 minutes…

‘WHEN IT COMES to leather furniture, many people can’t get past the idea of the classic black office chair, and that’s a shame,’ says textile and colour consultant Georgina Wright. ‘Colour can influence lives emotionally and psychologically. Strong colours animate us, while softer ones are more soothing.’ Why, she argues, should leather sofas and chairs not benefit from such exciting possibilities? Working together with Swedish luxury-leather brand Elmo, Wright is on a mission to update the tired monochrome image with a rainbow of new leather colours. Last year she oversaw the Elmosoft Pastels range, a collection of ten sophisticated ‘iced’ shades. Such developments are a major departure from the black, white or boldly pigmented leathers of the past, as represented by generations of ebony Barcelona chairs and LC3 sofas. Elmosoft…

FRANCINE HOUBEN, who heads Delft-based architecture office Mecanoo, can’t say exactly how many libraries her firm has designed, but it’s enough to have earned her the title ‘the library whisperer’. They are sprinkled around the globe, from Taiwan to Norway, and include acclaimed projects like the TU Delft Library and the Library of Birmingham. Commissions keep coming, and four new library projects are currently under way in the USA and China. We talked to Houben about the importance of making such spaces work on multiple levels – from solitary study, to social interaction, to lifelong education – and how the design of libraries, campus buildings and offices is merging. You’re on record as saying that libraries are the most important public buildings today. Why is that? They are public, free,…

 ➀ Forget well-worn paths and rigid structures. Future educational facilities will blend courses, mix and match skills, and collaborate with industry. ➁ Create public spaces that are inviting, not intimidating. Both dynamic surroundings and tranquil settings can stimulate discussion and engagement. ➂ Consider how learning environments can reflect the skills or knowledge being taught. Studies show that where children learn can affect their academic progress by as much as 25 per cent. You can reinforce lessons or convey information in a more tangible way with a good interior design. ➃ Reuse. In our throwaway society, too many products and projects are based on short-term goals. Fair stands, pavilions and pop-ups can have a second life – including that of a community school or teaching workshop. ➄ Harness the power of…

1 EXTRADIMENSIONAL EXPERIENCES In an attempt to add a third dimension to walls and floors, designers and brands work with geometric patterns and shiny finishes that play with depth perception. The right combination of shapes and colours produces an optical illusion, while low relief creates interesting textures. The multifaceted effect of light and shadow across a subtly sculptural surface intrigues the eye, time and again. Flooring can be designed in such a way that only a second glance reveals surprising patterns and textures ALFREDO HÄBERLI ➁ EARTHLY TILES Though we’re not exactly turning away from synthetics and shiny unblemished surfaces, our cohabitation with technology constantly reminds us of the wonders of Mother Nature, and we want interiors that reflect that outdoor feel. Two earthy tiles demonstrate designers’ experiments with materials and…

92 glass notes were tested to get the little ditties just right 5/4 is the time signature of the vending machine’s custom-created tunes 13 pitches are produced by the instrument, which features 95 glass keys 17 seconds is the duration of each jingle 20 coins were used to determine the average dimension of a single euro coin 535 is the number of acrylic-resin parts it took to piece Glassworks together jellemastenbroek.nl…

Bart Joachim van Uden rocks veneer, FINDS PATTERN ONLINE FURNITURE – Like a weed, veneer invades today’s blossoming furniture industry. Although everyone hates its presence, it continues to thrive. Bart Joachim van Uden knows that the mass-produced staple isn’t going away anytime soon. He treats veneer as a diamond in the rough. The Dutch designer and DAE graduate peeled away the humdrum wooden covering and replaced it with metamorphic rock in his project Marble Earth. Van Uden took a free trip around the world via Google Earth and gathered a virtual collection of rocky landscapes from faraway places. Without reinventing the wheel, he clad chipboard cupboards with printed images of aerial views ‘selected to look like exclusive natural stone’. The surfaces of these pieces resemble marble veining. The project shows how designers…

THE FIRST DOOR in human history was more than likely the door behind which Eve switched fig leaves, although it’s not mentioned in any biblical translation of Genesis: God said door, and there was a door. You won’t find those words anywhere. What we do know is that doors existed in ancient Egypt, no doubt because men at work deep in the pyramids complained of draughts. Not long ago in Switzerland, a group of archaeologists excavated a door that’s at least 5,000 years old. My guess would be: the door to a vault. My earliest memory of the strength of the door as an architectural element dates to the late 1960s and the The Andy Williams Show, a corny variety programme hosted by the eponymous third-rate crooner. Halfway through the…

2009 Heritage Boy London designer Lee Broom founded his company in 2007, just two years before the Heritage Boy collection came out. ‘This was a watershed moment – the first time I created pieces from scratch,’ he says. ‘I think of it as my first collection, even though it was my third. Previously I had worked with existing pieces like Thonet chairs and antique mirrors, but Heritage Boy opened up my world to craftspeople and to traditional manufacturing techniques in the UK.’ By 2009, when ‘we had just settled nicely into an economic crisis’, Broom had a clear vision of the collection, which includes carpet weaving, parquetry and ceramic tiles, but no knowledge of how to realize his designs. ‘Then I started to tap into manufacturers who until recently had…

Light effects form spatial displays at DOLCE&GABBANA’s Tokyo outpost TOKYO — Curiosity brings Dolce&Gabbana’s Italian heritage to the Japanese capital with a 550-m2 store that relies on chiaroscuro for dramatic effect. The location-specific design responds to Dolce&Gabbana’s brief, which asked for the creative soul of the brand and its Sicilian roots to be transported to the East. Founders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana want customers to feel as if they’re experiencing a sunny Sicilian day in Tokyo. Both architecture and decor reflect the distinctive quality of light that bathes the Mediterranean island. ‘The light of Sicily shines in the new Dolce&Gabbana boutique in Aoyama,’ says Gwenael Nicolas of Curiosity. ‘A play of light and shadow reveals the refinement and wonder of the creations.’ Hundreds of ceiling-mounted projectors illuminate merchandise.…

‘CONTEMPORARY WAYS of analogue measurement’ is the phrase that Cindy Strobach and Mike Vanis, founders of London-based Unit Lab, use to describe their work. It becomes easier to understand as Strobach talks about the product, based on her dissertation, that helps people navigate through London using – you guessed it – a completely analogue system. ‘Everyone carries smartphones these days,’ she says. ‘We have an idea of where we are on this blue dot as we move through Google Maps. Really convenient, but what about the natural ability of humans to orientate themselves? Like using the sun to determine where north is. Unfortunately, in central London you hardly ever see the sun. Then I found out that many TV satellite dishes on balconies and roofs can actually work as compasses.…