Archive

Postmodern architecture is not having an easy time of it at the moment. It is the unloved child which everyone resents, but which is still part of the family. In Frankfurt, too, there is currently a great deal of controversy and divided opinion on what would be the best approach to the architectural relics.

There is a legendary furniture scene in Jacques Tati's 1958 film classic Mon Oncle. The lady of the house gives the neighbor a tour of her modern home and stops in front of a paltry composition of wire chairs. "This is our seating area," she says proudly, and the spectator smiles. For let's be honest, wire furniture is a strenuous contemporary. It inevitably has the dreaded ‘rolled roast effect' on the sitter's derrière.

Jaime Hayon's new monograph in Gestalten Verlag

Each year, every year: Cologne invites everyone to attend imm cologne. For all the recent debate on the future of furniture trade fairs, many will take up the invitation. Simply consult the list of selected manufacturers to found out which exhibitors they are, and where you can find them.

Tips for design lovers at the Cologne Furniture Fair

The old year has gone, and the Cologne furniture fair is about to come. Even if everything that glitters is not gold - we cannot do without Cologne. And so we take the imm in the best sense as an event typified by that Cologne casualness: It always somehow functioned, so it will function this time.

The "defects set" provided by karhard architektur + design is a valuable tool for building inspections, offering with practical advice for dealing with botched-up work - including working off frustration with fun and games.

We spoke to the Managing Director of furnishing and decorating fabric manufacturer Backhausen at "Nutec", the first Cradle to Cradle fair congress in Frankfurt. We discussed how easy or difficult it is to manage sustainability.

Two luminaires. The one soft in terms of material properties, yet cubic and linear as regards the design. The other by contrast with a delicate design but made of firm materials. One by One and Disk by Belux.

The number nine is heading straight for us with the inevitability of the calendar. For an entire year, it will be our constant companion behind a two and two noughts. But what kind of a number is nine? What's it made of?

Sep Ruf's international breakthrough came with the German Pavilion at the 1958 World Exhibition in Brussels, co-designed jointly by the architect and Egon Eiermann. For a long time, Ruf's fame was confined to the professional world. Now, a major publication of his work has been published to celebrate the centenary of his birth.

Vacation in Iran. The most frequent reaction to this is the question: "Isn't that rather dangerous?" The simple answer is: No it isn't. In fact, you will most probably meet exceptionally friendly and open-minded people. And be overwhelmed by beautiful mosques and palaces, bazaars and teahouses, gardens, deserts and mountains. A picture story from Iran, starting in Teheran.

Mosaics have been enjoying a renaissance for the past twenty years at least. The beginning of the digital age also marked the start of the triumphal march of the mosaic stone, the smallest element in a complex picture.

During the recent Cologne Orgatec, Claudia Beckmann and Thomas Wagner talked with Antonio Citterio about the office of tomorrow, the relevance of research for the design process, and design's social responsibility.

With white, gold, blue and black, shiny aluminium reflectors they create a variety of light effects. KAP is the name of the new built-in spots from Flos Architectural.

On closer inspection more things in this world than you would initially imagine prove to be translucent - the human skin, plant leaves, paper and even wax. Many creative disciplines have long since been taking advantage of the qualities of transparent materials and make gainful use of the possibilities of specific light modulation, especially in an architectural context.

Strong and light: Carbon is the high-flyer. In product design too and even in times when sustainability should play an ever greater role, the industrial material shows its sensational potential.

All the things you can make from industrial cardboard - the material keeps finding new applications in architecture and design.

Eco-management systems, eco-labels, sustainability certificates – the need for information on ecological aspects of production is growing by the day. Some companies, such as Italian manufacturer Arper, have already pinned proof of the eco-friendliness of their products to their masts.

The term wire mesh initially sounds technical and slightly reserved. However, the possible appearances hiding behind this material are very promising, both in mechanical and aesthetic terms. A picture gallery with selected pieces conveys an idea of the various properties wire mesh can have and how wide its range of possible uses is.