Arik Levy"Rock mirror"

At the ISH Ross Lovegrove presented his new "Freedom" collection for Turkish baths maker VitrA. We talked to him about the change in bathrooms, biomorphic shapes, fat-free design, the responsibility of a star designer, and design in an age of crisis.

Martino Gamper"A 100 Chairs in 100 Days"

Between 1971 and 1973, when the Wall ran through Germany, divind opinions and pooulations, for a short time one company surmounted the barrier. The legendary "Senftenberg Seating Egg" was designed by Peter Ghyczy in the West, ut produced in the East. The history of a joint project.

At this year's ISH, the "World's Leading Trade Fair for the Bathroom Experience, Building, Energy, Bathroom, Air-Conditioning Technology and Renewable Energies" in Frankfurt the economic crisis did not take centre stage. Visitor and exhibitor numbers almost matched those of the previous year and an upbeat outlook was palpable - almost defying the crisis, as it were.

In terms of its minimalist hard edges and intellectual rigor, the thermal baths that Peter Zumthor designed for Vals, Switzerland, and were completed in 1996, eschew all the wellness clichés and continue to set the standard. Today, there are various other examples of spa architecture that are equally joyful and modern, and avoid the twin pitfalls of the clinical institution and the high-gloss polished hotel spa look.

While once we had spas, these days we have wellness temples. At these oases of wellbeing contemporary man sacrifices his vices on the altar of health. But as the author T.C. Boyle reveals he should not be too ill.

In the last 50 years, the number of one-person households has more than tripled. The German Federal Statistics Office predicts that for the next fifteen years more than half the number of people who live in cities will live alone. Time for a few pieces of furniture for singles.

The current Stylepark Magazine for Product Culture is devoted to the return of craftwork in design.

There are any number of trends, but only one can lead the way: The bathroom is expanding and merging with the bedroom to form one large area of relaxation and recovery. This, however, is no easy design task to be accomplished.

In Germany, you might raise an eyebrow if your host invited you to share a bath with him before dinner. By contrast, in Japan a shared bath in an "onsen" is the norm rather than the exception. A report on a weekend in Tokyo and a European's first encounter with the Japanese bath culture.

ISH in Frankfurt calls itself the world's leading trade fair for the "The Bathroom Experience" as well as for "Building, Energy, Air Conditioning Technology and Renewable Energies". But as wonderful as this sanitary world of 21st-century wellness may seem - our old fears live on and new desires are rising to the surface.

"A bathroom with patina" - only recently that was still a euphemism for mold in the cracks, limescale-encrusted fittings and worn enamel. However, designers have rediscovered the central role of water in the bathroom. And with rain showers and mist generators, materials have returned to the bathroom which people had long considered unpractical and easily watermarked: Copper, bronze, brass, unsealed stone and untreated woods tell stories about use and the past.

They can heal everything, other than a broken heart, or so a Japanese proverb would have it. They are the "onsen", the Japanese term for hot tubs.

It could well become a success story, a place that to date has been missing in Frankfurt: from April 2009 Nykke&Kokki together with Stylepark will be presenting a gastronomic concept on the city's Römerberg, the likes of which have never been seen before: In the café at Schirn Kunsthalle, that in future will go by the name of "Table", changing installations by international designers will be combined with superb cuisine.

What is the purpose of the bathroom or baths? Purification or complete regeneration? And what will the 21st-century bathroom look like? In the second part of our brief cultural history of bathing we move briskly toward the present.

For all those who love what true, good and beautiful: An exhibition devoted to the Belgian record label "Les Disques du Crépuscule" showing in Kunstverein in Cologne.

Different ages, different bathrooms. The way an era shapes bathing rituals and the associated rooms and buildings and fits the bathroom into the cultural world per se sheds light on its essence. At least according to cultural historian Sigfried Giedion, who tells the fascinating tale of the bathroom.

Concrete curtains, synthetic paper bags, knitted fabric seat covers - new materials inspire new products.

Every two years the fair Frankfurt invites everyone to attend ISH. From 10 to 14 March approximately 2,400 manufacturers will present the world's largest exhibition for bathroom design, building, energy and air-conditioning technology and renew-able energies. An exhibitor schedule presents the most important manufacturers.

Wellness, spa, ritual baths, the bathroom is becoming the living room, the materials more ecological, the technical equipment more complex. The world's leading trade fair in its field, the ISH, takes place every other year and this year, in March, it is celebrating its Golden Jubilee.

Not always are trend forecasts completely free of embarrassment. For many years now Li Edelkoort has been considered the industry's most influential representative. Her "Archeology of the Future" exhibition is currently on show in Paris - in it, for the first time she presents her work and design trends of the last 20 years. Without in any way having cause for embarrassment.

In 1953, when Gio Ponti was commissioned to design the Villa Planchart, he was not even sure in which country Caracas was located. Nonetheless in the following years on a hill overlooking the Venezuelan metropolis he created a complete artwork of decorative Modernism set. Fifty years later it looks just as fresh as it did on the first day.

In the book "The Language of Things" the director of the Design Museum in London writes about his future vision of a world drowning in things and a society that produces these things.

So much is evident: The big furniture fairs face tough competition. After all, while they are moaning in Cologne about vacant booths at roughly the same time Stockholm successfully hosted a small event that was booked out. Moreover, the Stockholm Furniture Fair & Northern Light Fair have even expanded their capacities and proven that they can certainly play in the first league of the design fairs.

The Design Awards of the Federal Republic of Germany were bestowed in the course of the opening of Ambiente in Frankfurt. There were five Gold and 20 Silver medal winners. Moreover, the designer Richard Sapper was honored for his life's work.

Dubai is a place that is on the one hand the product of immense artificiality and yet, on the other, one where art and design continue mainly to lead a hidden existence. This state of affairs is starting to change on the basis of a new form of interculturality, as evidenced, for example, by the "Traffic" design gallery.

When two brands join up you can expect the results to be surprising: At the Tokyo Design Week, Thonet and Muji presented the first fruits of their joint efforts. Do these furniture designs really reflect the two partners' values?

For the first time in 1972, "Learning from Las Vegas" took an unbiased look at an architectural genre, which consciously bought into ostentatious effects and symbols, so it's hardly surprising that overly serious architects still turn up their noses when they hear the name. Now a beautifully presented illustrated book has been created, which allows the reader to take a look into the photo archives, which form the basis for this book by Venturi and Scott Brown.

The fabrics in the Silver and Steel Collection from Creation Baumann are a technical innovation: Using a thin aluminium or steel coating, these textiles actually reflect the sun's rays, thus controlling light and heat.

Object Rotterdam focuses on contemporary Dutch design. It initially took place two years ago as a one-off pilot project. Now it has been launched as a new trade fair, parallel to Art Rotterdam. So far so good. However, the event format needs some refining.

Don't think graphic designers would be content with giving surfaces an appealing design. They too feel the urge to break out into the freedom of 3D. What happens when they do so can be marveled at in the book ‘Drei D - Grafische Räume.'

Every morning I have my tea from a cup that he designed. The favourite hotel of a friend of mine originated in his work. Matteo Thun is undoubtedly one of the great designers of our time. For Parador, he created several floor designs. We talked with the architect about the tactile appeal of wood and the decline of design.

The trade fair Maison & Objet in Paris only partially exploited the sorry scene the crisis-ridden imm Cologne preented. A gale prevented total triumph.

It is anything but a small fair – sixteen halls in total, which every two years open their doors for BAU in Munich. Visitors encounter a sort of labyrinth-like microcosm of anything related to building. “Same groove as for HP5” the poster reads. I see! A fair for the experts.